Clayton Evans.
Publication date 2003.
296 pages.
Provides an unprecedented international perspective on rescue at sea.
Numerous dramatic accounts of wreck, tragedy and rescue.
Highly illustrated with photographs, scale plans and historical engravings.
Rescue at Sea is a highly illustrated reference and general interest book which deals with all elements of coastal lifesaving and rescue at sea from the earliest times to the present day.
The book is broken into four principle sections.
The first section deals with the history of coastal lifesaving, how lifesaving organizations developed (principally in China, Great Britain and continental Europe) and how the humanitarian ideal would eventually spread to other parts of the world.
The second section, on the development of rescue craft, deals with the more technical elements of coastal lifesaving and provides a chronology of lifeboat and rescue craft design by profiling milestones in the evolution of these vessels from the earliest pulling and sailing lifeboats to the high-tech, high speed heavy weather motor lifeboats of today.
The third section of the book profiles many of the prominent countries and maritime rescue organizations now in operation; their development, their rescue craft and their coastal operating environments.
Finally, section four provides information on aspects of coastal and oceanic search and rescue (SAR) network, including radio and satellite communications and the roles of aircraft and offshore patrol vessels in the international maritime SAR structure.
Special interest chapters tell the stories of the coastal heroes, and the tragic side of coastal lifesaving, the losses of lifeboats and their crews throughout history. On the technical side there is a chapter dealing with current trends in lifeboat and rescue craft design and technology. Rescue story sidebars are featured in most chapters, these describe some of the most awe inspiring, and harrowing, tales of rescue at sea throughout the ages.
RESCUE AT SEA is both a reference and a general interest book that deals with all elements of organised coastal lifesaving and rescue at sea from the earliest times to the present day.
Since mankind first took to the sea in boats the waters have claimed a heavy toll. For many centuries there were no organised efforts to offer assistance to shipwrecked mariners, and hapless victims died in appalling conditions within sight and sound of horrified bystanders ashore. The earliest known attempts at rescue and recovery were undertaken in China where the use of river lifeboats was first recorded in 1708. It would be more than 50 years before such organised humanitarian efforts emerged in Europe but in 1767 the 'Institution for the Recovery of Drowned Persons' was established in The Netherlands while in 1774 the English took up the cause with the establishment of the 'Royal Humane Society'.
From these early beginnings came such organisations as the Shipwreck Institution (UK), the Societye Humaine de Boulogne (France), the Asilo dos Naufragos (Portugal) and The Massachusetts Humane Society (USA).
The middle history (1850s to 1950s) of lifesaving at sea is well documented and read but here, for the first time, the whole story, from the 1700s to 2003, is presented in one volume that encompasses the history of coastal lifesaving, the evolution of coastal rescue craft, and the development of a world-wide network of rescue services. Of particular significance is the comprehensive profiling of the most prominent of today's sea rescue organisations around the world from the Aland islands to Uruguay.
Canadian Coast Guard coxswain Clayton Evans has spent a decade researching, sourcing and bringing together material from all over the world to create a reference book like none other that successfully handles both the wonders of modern lifeboat technology and the emotive stories of heroism and tragedy from all eras.
The Author Clayton Evans has been involved in maritime rescue for over 20 years, working primarily as coxswain on the Canadian Coast Guard's fast rescue craft and lifeboats along the coast of British Columbia. He has also served on the CCG's larger ships, as a rescue coordinator at JRCC Victoria and as a SAR instructor at the Canadian rigid hull inflatable (RHIOT) training centre (Pacific). He holds a degree in history from the University of Victoria as well as a Master of Laws (Maritime) from the University of Wales, Cardiff.
A proportion of the author's royalty income from the sales of this book has been donated to the International Lifeboat Federation.
This is truly an International book, I feel certain that all ex-RN will find this a fascinating book, if you spend any time at all at sea in the Royal Navy, you cannot fail to take part in some “Rescues at Sea” In former days we only had very small cheap cameras, these photos were taken from HMS Chichester in 1958, with a Kodak 127, off the Welsh Coast when we attempted to put out fire on this ship, our only method was to take a portable pump in the whaler and play hosepipes at her, she finally sunk in tow to harbour.
