What’s normal practice, life vests on deck? Which ought to float the wearer well enough to avoid below surface equipment? May the Lord have mercy but sometimes people can be foolish.
I wonder why the skipper was on deck at that time of the morning? Too bad. His career is certainly in jeopardy.
TC
Life vest are not normal unless rough seas.
Life vests will not prevent someone in the water and close to an active propeller from being sucked under and into the props. Navy ships at speed and merchant container ships have huge wakes and so the suction is huge.
Several times saw surfaced boomer subs going slow returning in Strait of Juan de Fuca - wakes were about 4 feet high and 30 across near the boat.
Uninjured sailors are good swimmers and a life jacket is irrelevant when thrown overboard. If a sailor receives an injury and is unconscious then he will likely die if he doesn’t have on a life vest prior to being thrown overboard. The biggest threat to a sailors life when in the drink is water temperature and hypothermia.
We only wore life vests during underway replenishment (Unrep).