QUESTION:  
What types of emergencies might you encounter while
aboard the Polar Duke?

        From Christian C., 8th grader at Juan Morel Campos 
        Intermediate School 71, Brooklyn NY 

ANSWER from Al Hickey, aboard the Polar Duke   1/30/97

There are several things that could happen to the Polar Duke.  
A medical emergency could require that the patient be removed from the 
vessel (that process is called a medivac) if we could not handle the situation 
aboard. Normally, either a helicopter would come to the ship, or we would 
sail to the nearest airbase or facility that has a doctor.  We had to do this
twice last year. 

The next emergency would be a fire aboard ship.  This is scary because we
are all alone out here.  Very few people would be able to come to our
assistance.  If we had to abandon ship the waters are very cold and often
stormy.  We are our own fire department and have a drill every week to
prepare for this kind of situation.  Also, we have safety meetings to
prevent the kinds of scenarios that would cause a fire. 

Running aground on rocks or colliding with an iceberg would be dangerous
if a hole was poked in the hull and we started taking on water.  We also
have drills to learn how to respond to this situation.  Our officers are
very skilled professionals and careful with their navigation.  In the past
few years a few ships have run aground on rocks but fortunately nobody was
hurt.