call should be raised so that vessels in the vicinity and rescue service will be alerted at once. Recovery As soon as possible the casualty should be attached to the boat. Motor vessels often have bathing platforms or ladders at the stern; crew members may be able to land the casualty there. If the vessel has a dinghy available it may be possible to recover the casualty into the dinghy and from there to the main vessel particularly if the dinghy is kept on stern davits. Most hulls have the lowest and clearest side decks mid-ships and this is where the casualty should be brought back aboard. If the guard rails are wire, there should be rope lashings at one end so that the lower, or both, wires can be freed to make recovery easier. All crew members involved in recovery should be harnessed on if the sea conditions that led to the first fall could lead to further people ending up in the water. The answer to a person overboard is never for more people either to jump over to "help" them, or to fall in themselves by accident. The recovery operation is different for a conscious versus an unconscious casualty, After a very short time in cold water, even a fit conscious person will have lost considerable strength and agility and will need help to get aboard, especially in heavy wet clothing. The condition of a person in the early stages of hypothermia can be made considerably worse by hoisting them vertically so that what circulation they have drains from their head into their feet. It is much better to recover the casualty as horizontally as possible. Various pieces of equipment are on the market to help short-handed or weakened crews deal with this problem, but really nothing beats the combined efforts of several strong hands gripping various items of clothing on the arms, body, and legs, and hauling in unison. In a rough sea, the waves that caused the fall can sometimes help by lifting the floating person up within easy reach of the sidedeck as the boat rolls. Care must be taken as to what to do as each wave subsides if the person is not yet aboard, as their weight can pull unsuspecting helpers in themselves. Loops of rope passed under the arms and behind the knees on one wave can be held during the