– 1790
One
day in 1789, a British ship was stranded on a sandbank. The
conditions were so stormy that the crew could not be rescued—and
that's no good! A committee formed to design and build a special boat
that could deal with such a situation, in the future. It would be
called a lifeboat.
A
man named Henry Greathead designed a lifeboat but was apparently
employed to build a lifeboat designed by the committee with some of
his suggestions. The lifeboat had a curved keel that rose higher than
most boats—the better to deal with the high waves of a storm. It
could be rowed in either direction and could be steered by oar rather
than by rudder. The sides were cased with four-inch-thick cork,
covered with copper; the cork helped the boat be extremely buoyant
and able to recover quickly from being upset.
The
lifeboat, called the Original, was able to carry twelve
people. On this day in 1790, she went on her first trial. It was
quite successful and remained in service for 40 years.
Notice
that the Original was not carried about on a ship but was
instead kept in a harbor. She went to sea whenever a ship signaled
distress.
Nowadays
many large ships carry their own lifeboats onboard, and many
lifeboats are inflatable. There are still many harbor-based lifeboats
that are designed to be very speedy, to hold extra fuel reserves, and
to stay afloat in bad weather. Of course up-to-date lifeboats use
modern communication and data technologies to find ships and other
watercraft in distress and to locate and rescue survivors.
Also
on this date:
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