Rescue at Sea

It does indeed provide an unprecedented international perspective on rescue at sea, with numerous accounts of dramatic rescues illustrated with photographs, scale plans and historical engravings.

The first of four sections deals with the history of coastal lifesaving, how lifesaving organisations developed (principally in China where the earliest known attempts at rescue and recovery were undertaken in 1708, followed by the Dutch in 1767 and the English in 1774), and how the humanitarian ideal 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 powered craft of today.

The third section of the book profiles many of the rescue organisations now in operation, from the ASRS of Finland’s Aland Islands to the ADES of Uruguay. It traces the development of each and details its rescue craft and their coastal operating environment.

Finally, section four provides information on aspects of coastal and oceanic search and rescue networks, 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 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.

Author Clayton Evans, who researched and wrote this book over a period of eight years, has been involved in maritime rescue for the past 23 years. For the last 18 of these years he has been a professional employee of the Canadian Coast Guard, primarily as a coxswain on board fast rescue craft and as an instructor at the CCG’s Rigid Hull Inflatable Operations Training School. A proportion of his royalty income from sales of this satisfying book has been donated to the International Lifeboat Federation.

Rescue at Sea
By Clayton Evans.
Published by Conway Maritime Press.
ISBN 0 851779 344.
Hardback, 296 pages.
Price £35