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15th February 2021, 04:52 PM
#1
Hello from Cleethorpes...!
Hi everyone,
I am really pleased to have found this forum and look forward to browsing through the many threads. I collect cap badges for the Royal Navy, Mercantile Marine and the Merchant Navies and love researching the history of these services. Being based in Cleethorpes, near Grimsby, I am particularly looking forward to researching the roles of these services and local shipping in World War 1 & 2.
My work history includes working in the field of "safety at sea", primarily with life-saving equipment. Since the 1970's I have worked with world-leading companies in the innovation and design of life-saving appliances for the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy.
I am now shore based and semi-retired but still enjoy my forays out on the water, albeit on a North Sea Ferry to the Netherlands....!!
Regards,
Andy
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15th February 2021, 11:29 PM
#2
Re: Hello from Cleethorpes...!
Andy you being in the trade , what are your views on the self survival suits.To me they were/are the best thing since sliced bread , the only drawbacks they were too expensive for the average shipowner , and by the time you managed to get on would be sittting on the bottom still trying to find someone to assist you in zipping up.All this apart from them never fitting correctly and should by rights have been tailor made for the individual. The thoughts behind them for survival were excellent but in practice they were as different as a dinner suit and a demob suit. Cheers JS
R575129
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16th February 2021, 12:52 AM
#3
Re: Hello from Cleethorpes...!
Hope to hear more from, of/about and may be assist you.
Regards,
Keith.
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16th February 2021, 04:50 AM
#4
Re: Hello from Cleethorpes...!
Once again can anyone remember when the design of the present day life jacket came into being.I seem to remember that when the Bill was passed in Parliament that all British ships would be fitted with such, even then there was controversy as the person proposing the Bill was financially involved in their construction. The shipowner though was complaining about the cost of the change over. When it comes to Safety the biggest drawback is always the claim of poverty. At what era of time did those on site see the introduction of any safety apparel apart from the basics appear on ships. To my recollection it was when crew changes were conducted abroad and it was cost efficient to supply overall and footwear on board , as to pay for excess luggage on an aircraft. JS
Last edited by j.sabourn; 16th February 2021 at 04:51 AM.
R575129
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16th February 2021, 05:54 AM
#5
Re: Hello from Cleethorpes...!
Wonder if life jackets now have any meaning?
On cruise ships some years ago all had to attend a life boat drill and bring the life jacket.
The there were a couple of incidents were passengers had accidents with the draw stings trailing along the deck.
So life boat drill without them.
The life boat drill in a number of situations around the ship, all were emergency meeting spots.
Now it is only a video on the cabin TV screen, so where do the jackets sit now?
Happy daze John in Oz.
Life is too short to blend in.
John Strange R737787
World Traveller
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16th February 2021, 11:09 AM
#6
Re: Hello from Cleethorpes...!
#6... when I was at sea in the persons cabin and/ or in a life jacket box next to the lifeboat. Suits were in a special storage space hanging up. That’s if a ship had them as were not compulsory when I was at sea and were rare to see on British ships , quite common on Norwegian ships where was the only place I saw them. We now have Safety men on site and they would be more capable of knowing the situation of more modern times. Cheers JS.
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16th February 2021, 11:19 AM
#7
Re: Hello from Cleethorpes...!
Always when needed ..happily not often ..your lifejacket was a good help in getting down on your cabin deck and helping to cushion you in a cornerwith your pillow ....specially if you had the top bunk ..when really heavy weather struck....a five hatch cargo tramp comes to mind carrying iron ore .....a pendelum is putting it mildly....cappy
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16th February 2021, 02:06 PM
#8
Re: Hello from Cleethorpes...!
J.S
Those immersion suits with a one size fits all were a pain in the neck to Don for the likes of the Filipino crew members. We used to have a mix of sizes on board but invariably the majority were designed to fit the average sized western man so some of the crew looked more akin to a seal on land with arms and legs flapping loosely and then there would be the occasional larger guy who would struggle to fit in one. The advent of totally enclosed lifeboats, especially the free fall type was a greater step forward though I'm not decrying the mandatory carriage of immersion suits for all crew members, just wish they could be designed better in order to fit a range of sizes.
Rgds
J.A.
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16th February 2021, 02:08 PM
#9
Re: Hello from Cleethorpes...!
Hi JS,
lol. You are right. My view on them is that they are the last resort, Lifeboat first, failing that a Liferaft and then finally the Survival Suit. Unfortunately it can seem an eternity to don the suit, especially if you are sinking at the time. It will give you chance of survival assuming rescue is not too far away.
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16th February 2021, 02:24 PM
#10
Re: Hello from Cleethorpes...!
"Modern day" survival equipment really came about in c.1914, following the Titanic disaster when a new international treaty was formed to provide safety equipment for Merchant Ships. The old cork Lifejacket had been in use well before this date, but was not adopted for all crew and passengers until the introduction of the International Convention for the Safety of Life At Sea (SOLAS). This has been updated several times over the years with the last major overhaul in 1974.
The old cork Board Of Trade lifejackets were superseded with the new DTI Foam style Lifejackets in the 1960's and 1970's.
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