The History of the PFD
On a recent business trip to London’s British Museum my daughter and I came across several rooms of massive limestone slabs. They showed narrative scenes carved in low relief and had once decorated the palaces of Assyrian kings. The carvings depicted battles, hunting expeditions and other memorable events of the Assyrian Empire who dominated the near east for several hundred years until its collapse in 612 BCE. The empire once stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to Egypt, Syria, parts of Iran and Turkey.
Inflated Goat Skins
I was particularly drawn to a couple of scenes that were carved sometime between 865-860 BCE. These reliefs depicted the Assyrians’ enemies struggling to cross the Euphrates River while under attack by Assyrian archers.  Being in the water rescue business, what fascinated me was that these soldiers were swimming the river supported by inflated goat skins. The scenes show an amazing amount of detail; you can clearly see the soldiers swimming with one arm while holding the inflated goat skin around them with the other. As I stood there mesmerized by these scenes, I began to wonder if I was looking at evidence of the first personal flotation device (PFD). This then led me to reflect on how far water safety had advanced from the PFG (personal flotation goat) to the wide variety of the modern PFD (personal flotation device) on the market today.
Down with the Ship
When I returned home I began to research the origins of the modern day PFD. Aside from the Assyrian carvings, there were relatively few references to life preservers before the 19th century. One of the few I found states that “in earliest years of development [life preservers] were nothing more that a wood plank used by Norwegian seamen, an empty barrel or even a vest of cork blocks.” This left me seriously wondering what happened to the PFG. Was it an invention which came before its time, which, like many such ideas, was buried in the archives of history? Even so, there had to have been a need for some form of flotation device.
Throughout the ages one of the greatest obstacles to mankind has been water. Whether it’s a river or an ocean, people invariably needed to cross bodies of water, and, unlike today, many lacked the ability to swim. For example, prior to 1900, over half of the sailors in the British Navy did not know how to swim. This fact was portrayed in the recent hit movie Master and Commander. The movie, which is about a British ship in the late 1800s, shows how the sailors would lower nets into the water so that the sailors who couldn’t swim would be able to enter the water to bathe with relative ease.
So, despite the brief use of the Personal Flotation Goat, it seems that for a majority of man’s history our forefathers found themselves in water without the skills or equipment to keep themselves safe.
Wood to Steel
According to one historical theory, the modern precursor to the PFD came about because of technological advancements. One important development was the transition in the construction of seagoing vessels from wood to steel. If a sailor on a wooden ship went into the sea, it was usually the result of a catastrophic occurrence such as a shipwreck, an attack by pirates, or an assault from an enemy nation. If this happened, the sea would most likely be filled with debris that could be used for flotation. However, with the invention of more durable hulls, floating debris could no longer be counted on to save someone’s life. Therefore, sailors started to carry something that floated with them in the event they inadvertently entered the water.
Mr. Guerrin’s Waistcoat
This change in boat construction coincides with the apparent evolution of the PFD. Though the Norwegians used wood planks and cork blocks, the earliest evidence of anything resembling a modern version of the PFD appeared in the 1800s. According to the United States Patent Office, Napoleon Edouard Guerin of New York City, New York was issued a patent for “Improvement in Buoyant Dresses or Life-Preservers” on November 16, 1841. Mr. Guerin’s design was for a jacket, waistcoat, or coat made of cotton or other material (double layered) that could receive eighteen to twenty quarts of rasped or grated cork (a profile of the rasp was even included in the patent drawings.) As you can see from the picture, the modern PFD greatly resembles Mr. Guerin’s waistcoat.
From historical accounts, it seems that Mr. Guerin’s invention was right for the times. In the United States in the early 1800’s, the waterways were one of the main means for traversing the country. Because of the growing number of customers and commercial carriers accidents were an increasing in number, including dramatic and deadly steamboat explosions.
Kapok, Balsa and Cork
As a result, Congress passed requirements in 1852 that all steamboats or commercial carriers had to carry a PFD for every passenger on board. They also created a Board of Supervising Inspectors to see that this law was carried out. This board was also responsible for specifying the material and design for the PFD. They wrote a number of regulations, such as one that said a PFD should be “furnished with ready and suitable means for secure attachment to the body of the person, or enable people to hold themselves securely hereto.” Throughout the coming years, the Board continued to amend regulations. They made changes like adding a requirement for shoulder straps, eliminating the use of loose granulated cork, and banning the use of metal components because those pieces might be damaged through carelessness or oxidation.
Components such as material, buoyancy, form and even shape of the PFD continued to change over the next 75 years. Kapok, a natural fiber which comes from the seed of a tropical tree, was first used for buoyancy in 1902. However, it was banned in 1904 when it was found to be flammable and tended to lose buoyancy rapidly when compressed during storage. Even so, the developers of kapok didn’t give up and reintroduced a significantly modified version in 1918. Additionally, in the 1920s, balsa wood was approved for use in PFDs. It was lightweight, highly buoyant and had a long useful life.
Even with the introduction of kapok and balsa wood, the use of cork-block remained the standard against which all other PFDs were measured. This changed in 1928 when the British passenger steamer, Vestris sunk, and many of the passengers on board perished. The following year the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea convened in London to hear testimony from rescuers. They testified that they found many bodies floating face down even though they were wearing cork life vests. As a result, it was recommended that kapok life jackets be required for the merchant marines because they kept an unconscious individual’s face and head above water. Even with this recommendation, cork vests remained the mainstay on most vessels until WWII.
Mae West and the Inflatables - The onset of World War II spawned extensive development in many areas from medicine to nuclear physics. Water safety was no exception. The first inflatable jackets came into use and were worn by air crews, sailors and submariners. One of the most famous types of inflatable PFD was worn around the neck with an inflatable bladder on the front and was activated either with a CO2 charge or by oral inflation. The Royal Air Force called it the “Mae West” after a famous actress of the time. The nickname came from the fact that, when inflated, the Mae West resembled a certain part of the actresses anatomy for which she was quite famous. With the research and developments derived from military technology, the modern PFD was born.
During the same area, legislation was also being passed concerning PFDs. In 1940, the United States passed the Motorboat Act. This act required that all vessels, (not just commercial crafts) carry some form of PFD for passengers and crew. It soon became apparent that the bulky and uncomfortable PFDs designed for large rivers and seagoing vessels did not adapt well to the ever increasing number of recreational boaters. As a result, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) recommended that the designs for PFDs used in recreational vessels be able to support a person for shorter periods of time than those required for seagoing vessels. Their logic was that if the PFD was less bulky and more readily available, people might use them more frequently.
Specialty Jackets - However, in 1964 the USCG determined that many of the recreational boaters’ needs were still not being met. They developed a “special purpose” category to offer minimum restriction while still accommodating boaters’ specific needs. Some examples of “special purpose” PFD’s that have been developed for this category include the Rescuer PFD (or live-bait jacket), water skier lifejackets, kayaker lifejackets and ocean survival suits. The USCG currently has five types of flotation device classifications in use today. They are as follows:
Type I: offshore lifejacket for extended survival in rough open water that will turn a person face-up.
Type II: the classic PFD for calm inland waters and is less bulky and less expensive.
Type III: the most comfortable PFD with styles for different boating activities and sports.
Type IV: a throwable device such as a cushion, ring or horseshoe buoys.
Type V: special use device that include vests, deck suits and hybrids for restricted use.
Light and Easy
In the 1960s, synthetic foams were introduced and quickly began to be used by PFD manufacturers. It allowed designers more flexibility in the form, style, and shape of the PFD. While some worn today may resemble the cork vest of 150 years ago, research and development as well as technological advances are making today’s lifevests more reliable, lighter, and easier to maintain.
While I am still not quite sure why the personal flotation goat didn’t sweep the globe in 800 BCE and become a mainstay on every river and sea traveling vessel, it is fascinating to see the correlations between modern technology and ancient adaptation. The fact that these ancient limestone slabs have survived for so long leads me to wonder what other form of flotation devices have been used over the past several thousand years and were lost to history.
However, what little we do know about the evolution of the PFD over the centuries is a testament to human creativity and adaptation. It amazes me that with this wonderful device readily available, people still choose to ignore it and as a result lose their lives. However, I can’t even begin to fathom how many people have been saved by the PFD and couldn’t imagine doing my job without one. And to think…it all began with a dead goat.
J. Michael Turnbull is the President of Rescue 3 International, the global leader in technical rescue training on land, water and in the air. |
