The history of Lifejackets
Circa 870 B.C. - Using inflated animal skins as flotation aids, Assyrian King Assur-Nasir-Pal's army crossed moats and water sources.
450 B.C. - Herodotus of Halicarnassus, the father of History, Greek researcher and storyteller, wrote about death from hypothermia. “Those who could not swim perished from that cause, others from the cold”.
1700 A.D. - Historical records indicate Norwegian sailors used pieces of wood and barrels to help them afloat.
1757 A.D. - An unknown Frenchman made a jacket out of cork, for emergencies.
1800 A.D. - Inuit understood the dangers of cold-water immersion and made “spring-pelts” of sealskin or seal gut stitched together to make a waterproof covering.
1815 A.D. - Up until this time, the Royal Navy used impressments (kidnapping of sailors at sea to enlist in the army) to recruit members. For this reason, lifejackets, which could help the prisoners escape from the boats, were not encouraged.
1841 A.D. - On November 16, 1841, a patent was issued to Napoleon Edouard Guerin of New York City for his lifejacket design. The patent was given for "Improvement in Buoyant Dresses or Life-Preservers", according to the United States Patent Office. This design looked much like our modern life jackets.
1851 A.D. - British arctic explorer Capt. John Ross Ward took the unknown Frenchman's idea and refined it in 1851, making the first life jacket out of cork. By 1861, cork became the main material for life jackets. Cork was replaced with kapok, a fibrous and supple vegetable material, around the turn of the century. Kapok was easier to shape into vests and the kapok jackets were comfortable to wear. As a result, sailors kept the vests on all the time while at sea, even when sleeping.
1852 A.D. - US Congress passed the first requirement that passenger steamboats on the nation's rivers carry a float or life preserver for every passenger.
1869 A.D. - Kapok, a fibrous vegetable material, was first used in lifejackets. These lifejackets proved much more comfortable to wear. So much so, in fact, that sailors would even sleep with them on. This was abandoned quickly because it lost its buoyancy when squeezed or sat upon.
1875 A.D. - Captain Boyton of the New Jersey Life Saving Service, tested a life preserving suit for inventor Clark S. Merriman when crossing the English Channel. The suit had paddles and a small sail but he did not succeed in the crossing.
1912 - The development of inflatable rings to keep the wearer’s head above water.
1918 - Walter Fry developed a lifesaving suit, which was tested by the US Navy in January, but nothing came of it.
1928 - The SOLAS (International Safety of Life at Sea) Committee used a mannequin to investigate the performance of a lifejacket and protective oilskins on turbulent seas.
1929 - The investigation of the shortfalls of some lifejackets. The main shortfall was that the wearer was often left floating face down in the water.
1942 - Frankenstein’s in the UK developed leather immersion suits for Hurricane pilots who were forced to ditch their planes near freezing water.
1946 - German forces during World War 2 noted the loss of critical personnel in sudden cold water. They were the first to observe the phenomena “after drop”, the continual cooling of the body after rescue.
1952 - The US Coast Guard introduced their Personal Flotation Devices regulations for Types 1-5.
1960 - Self-righting lifejackets become a standard in the United States.
1973 - The US Coast Guard introduced their Personal Flotation Devices regulations for Types 1-5.
1985 - The US Coast Guard proposed adoption of extensive requirements for approving lifejackets and additional requirements concerning their carriage on recreational boats.