Lifeboat (rescue)
There are generally three types of boat, in-land (used on lakes and rivers), in-shore (used closer to shore) and off-shore (into deeper waters and further out to sea).
In the United Kingdom and Ireland rescue lifeboats are typically vessels crewed by volunteers, intended for quick dispatch, launch and transit to reach a ship or individuals in trouble at sea.
Characteristics such as capability to withstand heavy weather, fuel capacity, navigation and communication devices carried, vary with size.
Older inflatable boats, such as those introduced by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and Atlantic College in 1963, were soon made larger and those over 3 metres (9.8 ft) often had plywood bottoms and were known as RIBs.
[citation needed] A gap in operations caused the New Zealand Lifeguard Service to reintroduce small 2 man IRB's, which have since been adopted by other organisations such as the RNLI as well.
It was the unsuccessful attempt to rescue Qu Yuan from drowning in the Miluo River (Hunan Province) by local fishermen.
This humanitarian act has ever since been re-enacted in the 2,000 year old annual dragon boat festival, which is a UNESCO-designated intangible cultural heritage of the world.
A regular lifeboat service operated from 1854 to 1940[2] along the middle reaches of the Chang jiang or Yangtze, a major river which flows through south central China.
These waters are particularly treacherous to waterway travellers owing to the canyon-like gorge conditions along the river shore and the high volume and rate of flow.
These river lifeboats, usually painted red, were of a wooden pulling boat design, with a very narrow length-to-beam ratio and a shallow draft for negotiating shoal waters and turbulent rock-strewn currents.
They could thus be maneuvered sideways to negotiate rocks, similar to today's inflated rafts for 'running' fast rivers, and also could be hauled upstream by human haulers, rather than beasts of burden, who walked along narrow catwalks lining the canyon sides.
[3] The first lifeboat station in Britain was at Formby beach, established in 1776 by William Hutchinson, Dock Master for the Liverpool Common Council.
[4] The first non-submersible ('unimmergible') lifeboat is credited to Lionel Lukin, an Englishman who, in 1784, modified and patented a 20-foot (6.1 m) Norwegian yawl, fitting it with water-tight cork-filled chambers for additional buoyancy and a cast iron keel to keep the boat upright.
The design won a competition organised by the private Law House committee, though William Wouldhave and Lionel Lukin both claimed to be the inventor of the first lifeboat.
This was a United States government agency that grew out of private and local humanitarian efforts to save the lives of shipwrecked mariners and passengers.
Canada established its first lifeboat stations in the mid-to-late 19th century along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as along the shores of the Canadian side of the Great Lakes.
The original organisation was called the "Canadian Lifesaving Service", not to be confused with the Royal Life Saving Society of Canada, which came later at the turn of the 20th century.
In 1908, Canada had the first lifeboat (a pulling sailing boat design) to be equipped with a motor in North America, at Bamfield, British Columbia.
Modern lifeboats generally have electronic devices such as radios and radar to help locate the party in distress and carry medical and food supplies for the survivors.
The Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boat (RHIB) is now seen as the best type of craft for in-shore rescues as they are less likely to be tipped over by the wind or breakers.
The Canadian Coast Guard[11] operates makes and models of motor lifeboats that are modified RNLI and USCG designs such as the Arun and the 47 footer (respectively).
The SNSM operates over 500 boats crewed by more than 3200 volunteers, from all-weather lifeboats to jetskis, dispersed in 218 stations (including 15 in overseas territories).
In 2009 the SNSM was responsible for about half of all sea rescue operations and saved 5,400 lives in 2816 call-outs and assisted 2140 boats in distress.
It is a civilian, non-profit organisation which relies entirely on individual funding (no government support) and has a variety of boats and ships, the biggest being the 46 meters (151 feet) Hermann Marwede with 400 tons displacement, the largest lifeboat in the world, operating from the island of Helgoland.
Voluntary organisations such as the German Red Cross (Wasserwacht) and DLRG provide lifeguarding and emergency response for rivers, lakes, coasts and such like.
The coast guard's MLBs, an integral part of the USCG's fleet, are built to withstand the most severe conditions at sea.
Designed to perform search and rescue in adverse weather the vessel is generally operated with a crew of two, a surfman and an engineer.
The class of vessels underwent an overhaul in the early nineties to extend their life until the newer and faster 47' motor lifeboats came into service, and in the late 1990s most of the 30 footers were de-commissioned.
The 47-Foot Motor Lifeboat is able to withstand impacts of three times the acceleration of gravity, can survive a complete roll-over and is self-righting in less than 10 seconds with all machinery and instruments remaining fully operational.
