SURVIVAL AT SEA

Loss of life at sea during the First World War and previous conflicts was considerable but seems to have been regarded as inevitable. At all events, little or no effort was made to study and overcome the causes. Early in the Second World War the need for adequate lifesaving equipment became obvious and in 1941, at the request of the Medical Department of the Royal Navy, the Medical Research Council set up the Committee on the Care of Shipwrecked Personnel representing jointly the Admiralty and the Royal Air Force - to see what could be done. In 1943 this committee published a summary of the knowledge then available, in MRC War Memorandum No 8 entitled 'A Guide to the Preservation of Life at Sea after Shipwreck'. This short pamphlet was widely circulated and is a milestone in its subject. The Committee also instigated much research. In 1943, the MRC Royal Naval Personnel Research Committee was set up at the request of the Admiralty, and in 1946 the Shipwreck Survival Subcommittee. This was later renamed the Survival-at-Sea Subcommittee and is still in being. In 1970, the Subcommittee decided that the original War Memorandum should be brought up to date and that, as a start, a survey of work carried out on survival at sea should be prepared together with a comprehensive bibliography. The present review is the outcome. The survey covers mainly work done in Great Britain by and for the Armed Forces during the past 35 years. The bibliography covers a wider field and includes material from other maritime nations.

• Corporate Authors:

  Royal Naval Personnel Research Committee

  London,   England 
• Authors:
  • Smith, F E
• Publication Date: 1976-5

Media Info

• Pagination: 127 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Hypothermia; Life rafts; Rescue equipment; Search and rescue operations; Survival
• Subject Areas: Marine Transportation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00144372
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: SS-1/76, DRIC-BR-52714
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 16 1977 12:00AM