A record of life-boat development in Britain spanning nearly 200 years, this book traces in text, drawings and photo¬graphs the evolution of coastal rescue craft from the ‘Unimmergible’ boat patented by Lionel Lukin in 1785 to the latest 70ft long-range Clyde class and the high-speed inshore rescue boats of the RNLI.
Salient features of thirty-three different classes of life-boats are shown in 151 specially prepared scale drawings, together with sail plans of early boats, launching- carriage details and a diagrammatic explanation of R. A. Oakley’s method of self-righting by transference of water ballast. Supplementing the drawings are 28 photographs of representative classes of life-boats.
Detailed descriptions are given of each of the types illustrated and an introductory historical text provides a survey of life¬boat design and development from the inception of the Service, later to become the RNLI, to the present day.
Written and illustrated by a former Second Coxswain of the Barry Dock life¬boat, this authoritative record of the continuous development of one of the most specialised types of