Orals Revision: Responses to Emergencies (Master 200/OOW 500 Yacht Route)

Orals revision card — Master (code vessels less than 200 GT)/Officer of the Watch (yachts less than 500 GT) Oral Examination Syllabus, Section 2.3 'Responses to Emergencies' (MCA, gov.uk, updated 17 June 2026). Small-vessel/yacht route — a different syllabus from the Unlimited CoC track covered elsewhere in this series.

Initial Actions

• Initial action following man overboard, collision, grounding, flooding or major mechanical damage — including initial damage assessment and control, and protecting the marine environment

Fire

• Fire prevention, use and care of firefighting appliances, shutting down and isolating plant and equipment, escape and breathing apparatus, and fire and safety plans

Lifesaving Appliances

• Use and care of lifesaving appliances and equipment, including immersion suits and thermal protective aids, pyrotechnics and line-throwing apparatus
• Launching liferafts and rescue boats, and the correct rigging of liferaft hydrostatic release units — a specific, testable piece of kit knowledge
• Basic principles of survival

Quick Self-Check

• What's your initial action on discovering flooding, versus discovering a fire?
• How is a liferaft's hydrostatic release unit rigged, and what does it actually do?
• Name three basic principles of survival at sea.

Test yourself: Safety Knowledge Checks.

Related Reading

• Revision: Fire Prevention & Fire Fighting (Basic) — the full STCW short-course version of this section's fire knowledge
• Revision: Proficiency in Survival Craft & Rescue Boats (PSCRB) — the underpinning course for liferaft and rescue boat competence
• Nista — a real man overboard case, grounding the 'initial action' bullet in an actual fatal outcome