Lifesaving

Working aloft or trimming sails was always dangerous as just one single misjudged step could send a man crashing to the deck or over the side.

[2] On Wednesday 12 September 1804, the log of HMS Victory, recorded a unique rescue at sea, "Moderate Breezes and hazy, shifted the main sails, at 9 tacked at 9.55 James Archibald, Seaman fell overboard, downed Cutter and got him safe in, being saved by Mr. Edward Flin masters mate, jumping overboard after him.

"From 4 to 8 moderate breezes and clear weather at 5.22 David Black (Cooper) fell overboard, hove to with maintop sail to the mast and sent the Barge & 2nd Cutter in search of him... At 1030 hove to and hoisted up the 2nd Cutter all search proving ineffectual"[8]Herman Melville, who joined the USS United States in Oahu, as an Ordinary Seaman, later used this incident in his novel White Jacket.

[10] While living on the Isle of Man in 1808, he became aware of the treacherous nature of the Irish Sea, with many ships being wrecked around the Manx coast.

Similar services were established in other countries, in Belgium (1838), Denmark (1848), United States (1848), Sweden (1856), France (1865), Germany (1885), Turkey (1868), Russia (1872), Italy (1879) and Spain (1880).

[12] In 1971 Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States founded another international organization called World Life Saving (WLS).

FIS and WLS merged into a new organisation, International Life Saving Federation (ILS) in 1993 with its headquarters in Leuven, Belgium.

General lifesaving does not limit its activities to beaches - its aim is to promote water safety around ponds, lakes, rivers, pools, in the home, at school and in any other applicable environments.

[14] This is why landlocked countries like Switzerland, Austria, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Serbia, Azerbaijan, Czech Republic and Slovakia, are also full members of ILS.