Provides detailed history and technical design information on each and every type of small rescue craft ever used by the United States Life-Saving Service and United States Coast Guard.

Rescue at Sea is both a reference and a general interest book that deals with all elements of organised coastal lifesaving and rescue at sea from the earliest times to the present day. Since mankind first took to the sea in boats the waters have claimed a heavy toll. For many centuries there were no organised efforts to offer assistance to shipwrecked mariners, and hapless victims died in appalling conditions within sight and sound of horrified bystanders ashore. The earliest known attempts at rescue and recovery were undertaken in China where the use of river lifeboats was first recorded in 1708. It would be more than 50 years before such organised humanitarian efforts emerged in Europe but in 1767 the 'Institution for the Recovery of Drowned Persons' was established in The Netherlands while in 1774 the English took up the cause with the establishment of the 'Royal Humane Society'. From these early beginnings came such organisations as the Shipwreck Institution (UK), the Société Humaine de Boulogne (France), the Asilo dos Naufragos (Portugal) and The Massachusetts Humane Society (USA). The middle history (1850s to 1950s) of lifesaving at sea is well documented and read but here, for the first time, the whole story, form the 1700s to 2003, is presented in one volume that encompasses the history of coastal lifesaving, the evolution of coastal rescue craft, and the development of a world-wide network of rescue services. Of particular significance is the comprehensive profiling of the most prominent of today's sea rescue organisations around the world from the Åland Islands to Uruguay. Canadian Coast Guard coxswain Clayton Evans has spent a decade researching, sourcing and bringing together material from all over the world to create a reference book like none other that successfully handles both the wonders of modern lifeboat technology and the emotive stories of heroism and tragedy from all eras.

A riveting account of the greatest small-boat rescue in American history.

The US Coast Guard Training Center at Cape May tells the story of the Center from Navy Section Base 9 to the only recruit training center in the US. Commissioned as Navy Section Base 9 in 1917, the US Coast Guard Training Center at Cape May stands on the site of a former amusement park that bordered the Atlantic Ocean a few miles east of Cape May in southern New Jersey. Dirigibles, submarines, and minesweepers were based here during World War I. Because of its proximity to the ocean and Delaware Bay, the base was used by Coast Guard patrol boats and cutters to chase rumrunners during Prohibition in the 1920s. An airfield was established adjacent to the base in 1926, and in 1940, both combined to become Naval Air Station Cape May. The station protected the coast line from German U-boats during World War II. The Coast Guard took over the facility in 1946, and in 1948, the base became the only recruit training center in the country, today graduating more than 4,000 recruits per year.

Indicting U.S. Coast Guard small boat rescue policy and those who fail or refuse to change it, Noble (a former member of the Coast Guard) narrates a 1997 rescue operation which resulted in the death of three members of the rescue team. Noble himself was present at the rescue station on the night of the operation. He relies on his own observations and the words of a number of other officers involved in the case, who collectively suggest that overwork and other easily addressable problems led to the fatalities. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Like other groups with dangerous occupations, mariners have developed a close-knit culture bound by loss and memory. Death regularly disrupts the fabric of this culture and necessitates actions designed to mend its social structure. From the ritual of burying a body at sea to the creation of memorials to honor the missing, these events tell us a great deal about how sailors see their world. Based on a study of more than 2,100 gravestones and monuments in North America and the United Kingdom erected between the seventeenth and late twentieth centuries, David Stewart expands the use of nautical archaeology into terrestrial environments. He focuses on those who make their living at sea--one of the world's oldest and most dangerous occupations--to examine their distinct folkloric traditions, beliefs, and customs regarding death, loss, and remembrance.

The history of impressive battleships, aircraft carriers, and submarines on Puget Sound has been well chronicled. However, the story of the smaller, fast patrol and rescue boats that have protected its vast inland waters is largely unknown. This book, through more than 200 rare images and engaging text, reveals the fascinating story. It covers Navy, Coast Guard, and Army Air Force craft in the sound, including the famed patrol torpedo boats of World War II. Featuring evocative photographs from the National Archives, as well as veterans' personal collections, this book highlights these military craft, their proud crews, and essential wartime and peacetime operations.