Signalling devices
Pyrotechnic distress signals
also: marine flares
Rockets, flares and smoke signals with which a survivor shows where they are and calls for help.
Key facts
- A rocket parachute flare carries a red light high up and descends slowly on a parachute. At night it is visible from far away.
- A hand flare you hold in your hand. It burns with a red light and confirms your position at close range.
- A buoyant smoke signal gives off orange smoke, a clear daytime position marker.
- The ship carries at least 12 rocket parachute flares, stowed on or near the navigation bridge.
- Each of these is in a watertight casing, with its own means of ignition inside and with instructions or diagrams printed on the casing. The expiry date is printed indelibly by the maker.
Light output and burn times
- Rocket parachute flare: altitude
- fired vertically it reaches at least 300 m and ejects a parachute-suspended star there
- Rocket parachute flare: light
- bright red, average luminous intensity at least 30 000 cd
- Rocket parachute flare: time and descent
- burns no shorter than 40 seconds, descends at no more than 5 m/s
- Hand flare
- bright red light of average intensity at least 15 000 cd, burns no shorter than 1 minute
- Hand flare after submersion
- submerged 100 mm it keeps burning for 10 seconds
- Buoyant smoke signal
- highly visible smoke at a uniform rate for at least 3 minutes in calm water
- Buoyant smoke signal after submersion
- submerged 100 mm it keeps working for 10 seconds; it must not ignite explosively or give a flame
Watch out
Do not confuse the pyrotechnic buoyant smoke signal, thrown as a distress signal, with the smoke signal of a lifebuoy. The latter activates itself and works for at least 15 minutes, because it marks the position of a person in the water.
Legal basis
LSA Code chapter III (rockets: 3.1, hand flares: 3.2, smoke signals: 3.3); the number of rockets: SOLAS III/6.3. Distress signals also COLREG Annex IV.
This is not a legal text: when in doubt, the current wording of the Convention and the LSA Code decides.