This title goes back to 2006!! here. Since that time, I’ve been inside one, although not as it free fell into the sea.
It’s standard equipment on vessels of all sorts. For what’s inside, click here.
Sometimes they make their way inland and form encampments. Just kidding, but this is an intriguing sight in these photos send along by Sean McQuilken.
If this were an Air B & B, I might consider staying. Likely these are for sale or are used for training, or both. Actually, people have turned these into yachts, as in this video.
But the other day when USNS Pomeroy was still in town, I noticed that one of the enclosed lifeboats was beside the hull, floating in the water. It was no doubt a drill before the T-AKR-316 left town after a thorough refurb.
Drill complete, crew transferred from the lifeboat into a launch, the lifeboat got hauled back into its cradle,
and the crew made their way up the long companionway back aboard ship.
Thanks to Sean for sharing the photos. Previous photos from Sean can be seen here. The others, WVD.
Here’s an article I did on lifeboat drills some years ago.
tugster: a waterblog 
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March 4, 2023 at 12:58 am
George R Schneider
A grunch of old lifeboats from USNS ships have been sold in the past few years. They’re attractive buys since they’re large fiberglass boats with engines, but in reality they’re not good for much. Maybe some buyer bid on a batch of them and that’s what’s growing in your forest.
Your first view shows the saucer-shaped capsules, very peculiar to drive because turning the tiller to the right turns the pod to the left. You get used to it, and this is how tillers on old steamboats were often rigged.
The free-fall boats like in your second picture are popular because the maintenance on them is minimal. The drawback is that when you do launch them for practice, retrieving them is a very clumsy operation. You find yourself wishing there were a hull you could snuggle against for stability as you attach the falls.
The other photos show what is a modern lifeboat, not unlike the old open boats carried by ships until the 1970’s, but far more complex and with far less visibility and maneuverability for the operator.
As second-hand boats, lifeboats have never been a good buy, and are even less adaptable now. And no significant part of the B & B crowd would be very interested in their amenities, either. They’re for survival, and that’s about all they’re good for.
Did you ever realize that Great Lakes vessels don’t carry lifeboats? There’s a story to that.