Life Jacket
Life Jacket
Lifejackets, Old & New
The wearing of lifejackets is an important issue within the RNLI. Many are the circumstances in which people may find themselves suddenly in the water, but without the time to don a lifejacket. It makes sense, therefore, to wear one all the time. A lifejacket will keep you afloat long enough for those adjacent to the man-over-board to effect a rescue, or even until the arrival of the search and rescue services. You never know when you are going to find yourself in the water; a small error can often result in a tragedy.
Every year Dart lifeboat station holds a free lifejacket clinic. At this year’s April clinic, 125 lifejackets were brought into the lifeboat station and were professionally checked over by the Ocean Safety team. There was a continuous stream of customers and most of the lifejackets were in good shape but a few had to have replacement parts and 27 would have been unable to inflate in an emergency and had to be repaired.
Several of the arming capsules were out of date or rusting and 25 lifejackets were actually condemned – that should be a wake-up call to those who think their lifejackets are in perfect condition.
John Yunnie, sea safety officer for the Dart RNLI said, “It was a very busy day for the team but we feel satisfied that we have ensured that the lifejackets submitted are in tip top condition and hope they will be worn at all times.”
Interestingly, Dartmouth has a connection with the inventor of the Boddy-Finch lifejackets supplied to the liner Queen Mary and in use worldwide until after World War II. In 1916 Mr Finch Portman Ingram, a Dartmouth benefactor and entrepreneur, had invented, designed and patented the Boddy-Finch lifejacket.
Iris, the daughter of Finch Ingram married Lt Col Richard Webb, co-founder of the Dartmouth & Kingswear Society in 1959 and they lived in Warfleet for many years. The inventor’s grandson, Richard Webb, is a local resident who has published several interesting books on Dartmouth (see www.dartmouthbooks.co.uk)
The lifejackets (pic. below) are described under ‘Lifeboats & other life-saving devices’ on a website about The Queen Mary [www.sterling.rmplc.co.uk].
“Life-jackets - The vessel [The Queen Mary] is equipped with 3,300 Boddy-Finch life-jackets, which have been provided by Messrs. Fosbery & Co., of Barking, Essex. These jackets are made from cotton cloth, and are stuffed with prime Java kapok which, as is generally known, is a fibrous vegetable material minutely honeycombed with air cells.
The resulting buoyancy is more effective than that provided by a cork jacket of the old-fashioned type, and the Boddy-Finch jacket is, moreover, of light weight (approximately 2lb) and comfortable to wear. The jacket is also easy to handle, resembling somewhat a waistcoat, front-fastening tapes being provided. “
What a long way we have come since those days.
First Published June 2011 By The Dart