I first wrote for Safety at Sea in 1982 when I encountered the enclosed lifeboat. As a brave, young captain, I remember saying one nice day at sea, "Let's have an exercise." I went to the wing of the bridge, as I was used to doing each voyage, and, launching the lifebuoy, called "man overboard". The chief officer looked at me in horror. "These are enclosed lifeboats," he said. "Then you won't get wet," I replied and, sounding the alarms, off he went. I watched the boat meander around the ocean, eventually finding the buoy by running over it, and then return to the ship taking two hours to hook back on.
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