Carley Float: a Maritime Lifesaver

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Invented by Horace Carley of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts in 1903, the Carley Float was widely carried by both merchant and naval vessels during the First and Second World Wars. Its small size and light weight made it easier to launch than conventional lifeboats while its robust design allowed it to stand up to the rigours of the open sea. Though it provided it occupants with little protection from the elements, it nonetheless helped save countless lives.
SOURCES:
web.archive.org/web/200807251...
web.archive.org/web/200807232...
web.archive.org/web/200807251...
patents.google.com/patent/US7...
www.minister.defence.gov.au/m...
legionmagazine.com/en/the-car...
ontheslipway.com/night-life-b...
patentimages.storage.googleap...
www.shipwreckworld.com/maps/s...

[@keithagn]

My dad's ship HMCS Trentonian was torpedoed and sunk February 1945. He was badly wounded, but his shipmates got him on to a Carley float, and he survived. Trentonian went down very quickly in under 15 minutes.

[@brushbros]

Your dad and mine saved the world. Today they are all but forgotten. These days "heroes" catch or kick balls in athletic competetiton.

[@user-gs6lp9ko1c]

Betcha the rum ration always "went missing" long before the life preserver was used! 🙂

[@jimoday2078]

The Chinese sailor you spoke of actually awaited rescue on a real merchantman life raft. a larger wooden structure with steel-drum flotation and a lot more supplies than a Carley float would carry.

[@pauljohnstone4723]

I live in Canberra, Australia. The float from the Sydney is on display in the the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. I have seen it several times. It is extremely damaged from the battle.

[@verilyheld]

FYI, the HMAS Sydney has been found. An expedition located it and the Kormoran in early 2008.

[@notlisted-cl5ls]

my late great grandfather, james j. carley saved a lot of lives with his invention........

[@gordoncarass2360]

A very interesting and informative video. As a recently retired seafarer it really highlights how survival at sea has evolved over the last hundred years especially the lack of understanding of the effects exposure to the elements and hypothermia.

[@PlayingWithFireOutdoors]

There's one on display in the RCN Naden museum, in Esqumialt BC. I helped build the display.

[@josedorsaith5261]

The multiple compartments to the core was genius

[@ph11p3540]

I used to build ship models as a kid and always wondered about the true nature of those liferafts plastered all over the ships superstructure. I couldn't see them made of cork because cork is super expensive during war time and rubber was also out of the question for the same reasons. Even steel is prohibitively expensive during wartime yet these rafts were primarily made of steel sheet. For the longest time, I thought they were made from pine as that was always plentiful and cheap

[@ElFlaccoBlanco]

AWESOME!!! Previously all I saw was a life raft. Didn’t realize there was a “Carley Float” among many other variations to save lives at sea. LOVE this channel! Thank you for sharing the knowledge. So glad there are many more to come!

[@lefroy1]

Clear and concise as ever. Thank you. I bet MRE Steve would like to get those rations out onto a tray!

[@budgiefriend]

Mkay😀

[@lefroy1]

@@budgiefriend Nice!

[@nomadmarauder-dw9re]

Probably has already. TBH most of the rations abandon ship were probably on board actual boats. But I wouldn't know.

[@tomhenry897]

May already have

[@elkneto4334]

Nice!

[@patster4040]

What a wonderful channel! Loving the content and presentation. HMAS Sydney wreck was found in 2008, a short distance from the Kormoran wreck. I’m a Sydneysider and the fate, controversy, conspiracy theories and everything else swirling around the Sydney - it all was a constant ‘til she was found. A formal inquiry was then held which was able to conclude her Captain inexplicably made a number of errors.

[@mattwilliams3456]

Dang Gilles, you’re really cranking out the content lately. Thanks for not sacrificing quality to do so.

[@rkgaustin9043]

I'd love to see a video on the German rettungsboje rescue buoys

[@hairybear7705]

Excellent presentation.

[@j7ndominica051]

Amazing survival for 133 days with so little drinking water. Salting the fish seems counter-productive in scarcity of fresh water.

[@robertsolomielke5134]

Thumbs up ! I salute that guy who survived with brains, rather than braun. Carley floats can save you, but also doom you, if things are bad.

[@TheWirksworthGunroom]

Excellent work Sir! I am sure I am amongst many who thought these things were: A. Inflatable. B: A raft that you could get into rather than a ring that left you in the water. I have learned something! :)

[@1Stevencat]

All your content is great! Super interesting

[@PFCranssen]

Well done yet again. Informative and pleasant to watch; thank you!

[@coyoteranger]

"thats all I have for You today" but no lock is picked : ((((

[@michaeldelsoldato2905]

A great piece of history...well done.

[@RobertCraft-re5sf]

Modern life rafts are cool too saVree has a great explanation of them

[@blipco5]

Not an easy topic to make interesting but you pulled it off. Good job. 👍

[@billbest9483]

Fascinating. Thank you

[@billthomas8205]

Excellent video - many thanks!

[@Automedon2]

Seeing a fleet approaching and then not stopping mus have been just a little depressing.

[@AndrewGivens]

Even worse knowing that your pay stopped when your ship was sunk, so you were drifting on your own time with no compensation if you lived.

[@billyhouse1943]

Thank you…

[@billyhouse1943]

Thank you..

[@scumbaggo]

I miss the days when every survival kit had some rum in it. People weren't stupid back then- they knew that alcohol lowers your inhibitions and decision making skills.. They just knew that in a lot of cases, there was no rescue coming quickly enough. Might as well have a little comfort in your last moments.

[@antithedutchangeldragon6572]

You use the rum to mix with water to somewhat purify it

[@brianargo4595]

It's still seawater. Adding rum ain't gonna pull the salt out.​@@antithedutchangeldragon6572

[@caramelypoops]

I have always wondered why a place as land locked as Winnipeg has a naval museum, it's not even on the Great Lakes lol. Have always wanted to check it out and I will definitely do so when I am that way again.

[@georgemalkin6546]

From the days when they didn't understand exposure, and just thought it was enough to keep you afloat

[@tomhenry897]

It was a step up

[@John-lp5xh]

Of course they understood it 🤔😝🙄

[@randomcow505]

People have been dying at sea from the day we first hopped on a log and ventured out into it we have always known about exposure

[@abigaillilac1370]

They were designed at a time when ships could rescue survivors, then used an a time when ships couldn't rescue passengers.

[@davefellhoelter1343]

Thanks AGAIN! again!

[@jastrapper190]

Great video. Love survival equipment.

[@CanadianMacGyver]

Thank you! And by the way, my name is Gilles, not Jean ;)

[@CL-vz6ch]

​@CanadianMacGyver thanks Jean.

[@jimmywrangles]

Excellent upload on a forgotten topic.

[@petesheppard1709]

Many WWII convoys included rescue ships which had the mission of attempting rescue of crews of torpedoed ships. Nerve-wracking work, heaving to with U-boats around to pick up survivors.

[@tomhenry897]

Your rescue ship was a destroyer if not busy fighting u boots Left if considered too dangerous

[@petesheppard1709]

@@tomhenry897 They may not have been as common as I thought, but a google of 'convoy rescue ships' gives a number of hits describing rescue ship operations, including museum information.

[@augustinep6193]

Good. Thanks.

[@barriewright2857]

Brilliant more 👏🏿.

[@dondouglass6415]

Great video.... Huzzah!!!

[@airspeedmph]

So depressing the story with La Bourgogne. Also puzzling how the Sydney (which looks like a ship more than able to defend itself) was sunk by that German (cargo?) ship.

[@CanadianMacGyver]

The leading theory is that the Sydney got too close while trying to confirm that Kormoran was a merchant vessel, allowing the latter to get the drop on her. Kormoran was armed with concealed torpedo launchers, which were more than capable of sinking a cruiser. While it is now believed that the Sydney's captain made an error of judgement, at the time it was suspected that Kormoran violated the rules of engagement by not raising a battle flag until Sydney was too close.

[@Eric-kn4yn]

​​@@CanadianMacGyverserious Error of judgement from australia

[@shaun469]

​@@Eric-kn4yn what to go close to an unidentified ship to confirm its origin? Yeah should have just opened fire on what they thought was a unarmed merchant vessel.

[@michaelbevan3285]

Carley and other floats were also designed to float off the stricken ship, a technique that is still used to day. If a ship was hit and had to be abandoned, the crew had to cut the ropes or other restraints and throw or jettison the float. They were also encouraged to tie the floats together when they boarded them in the water.

[@Eric-kn4yn]

Its how inflatables are made today

[@robertguttman1487]

I was a cadet at the NY Maritime College when we acquired a new training ship which was the former USNS Barrett, a troop transport. One of the jobs we had to accomplish in order to convert the ship from a trooper to a training ship was to remove all of the old Carley floats. Those floats looked like oversized "life preservers" but they were actually made of wood and were extremely heavy. There was no way anyone could have picked them up and thrown them overboard. Furthermore, they were not an improvement over lifeboats because they contained only a fraction of the amount of food, water and other equipment provided in a lifeboat. They also left the occupants exposed to the elements which, in the North Atlantic, meant that they were susceptible to hypothermia. We were very happy to be rid of them.

[@kleinjahr]

Compared to modern life rafts and boats Carley floats don't stand up. However they are better than nothing.

[@quitecapable]

So clear and interesting, as usual. You might like to check whether you are maligning the kormoran though. They apparently were very cooperative, including the unnecessary admission that their battle flag scarcely made it to the top of the mast as she fired. Wrecks and German survivors confirm the account, and enabled the finding of the Sydney. After the war there were some friendships between relatives of the crews, and a general recognition of the skill of the kormoran, which they had to scuttle because of battle damage, and no friendly ports or support.

[@pieterveenders9793]

It doesn't surprise me. Sadly after the war everyone seemed very intent on smearing the reputation of the Germans, making them out as bloodthirsty honourless murderers. While in reality they were highly trained and honourable professionals. One common myth long repeated during and after WWII was that German submariners would just abandon or even try to murder the shipwrecked survivors of the allied ship they sunk by shooting them or purposefully sailing through them. Only in recent years did the truth come out more often, namely that many German submarine captains went above and beyond to try and rescue or at least help those shipwrecked men, tossing them life buoys and even taking them on board sometimes.

[@quitecapable]

Yeah. The laconia incident. Shooting the sailors on the ice in the altmark incident was rewarded with a VC. they ran a red cross rescue service in the English channel for all airmen, but were often shot down. The naive germans tried to bring up the German pows murdered in Crete by the Australians,at Nuremberg, only to be told only germans did war crimes. The germans did plenty of nasty stuff, given the scale of their war, but it seems deep down their childish notions of chivalry legends, and Goethe values which they had been immersed in at school, meant they generally had to be hungrier, more frightened or more enraged to pull off the same atrocities as the poor and the rich soldiers from elsewhere.

[@trooperdgb9722]

"Many" Others DID actually completely abandon them (which, in fairness was not unreasonable even though the Rules of War actually REQUIRED assistance (food/directions to land) to BE provided. That was NOT going "above and beyond". At least one was proved to have machine gunned survivors. As to "Germans" in general... I'm sorry, but a great many were PROVEN to be "honourless murderers" maybe NOT Kriegsmarine personnel generally... but you didn't say that, you said "Germans". Who do you think ran the extermination camps? @@pieterveenders9793

[@trooperdgb9722]

So how do you explain the cold blooded, planned atrocities of the "camps"?@@quitecapable

[@Tconcept]

Of course, you have to demoize your enemy, otherwise how can you justify your war? It's all a big game to the politicians.

[@alfastur6833]

It seems surprising the choice of colour for a survivors device. It seems to blend too well with the sea colour. In wartime it may help to avoid detection by an enemy, but I'd rather preferred to be more easily seen by the rescue teams.

[@AtlasReburdened]

More specifically, alcohol, when used in an extreme cold situation, raises tour skin temperature in expense of your core temperature. In very specific situations, such as when you know safety or rescue is near enough, and there's more threat of frostbite than there is of hypothermia, it can be used to save your extremities from said frostbite.

[@norman6595]

Intrigued how alcohol can save extremities from frostbite?

[@tomhenry897]

Wrong wrong wrong

[@tomhenry897]

It can’t It pushes your blood vessels to the surface and you freeze fast Just don’t feel it

[@norman6595]

@@tomhenry897 I agree - but was giving @AtlasReburdened a chance to defend his statement

[@randomcow505]

@@norman6595 im not sure how true it is, but it does make a small amount of sense idea being, one of the reasons for frost bite is your body reducing blood flow and thus warm blood flowing to fingers and toes and so they get cold fast and cells start to die so if you drink alcohol, it improves blood flow to the extremities again, thus keeping them warmer for longer but with the problem being that warmth is being sapped from your core quicker the difference might be a couple of minutes, maybe less but you also can't get frostbite in the sea, its always above 0 just regular old deadly hypothermia so im thinking the reason its here is either tradition, or because that extra blood flow helps you manipulate things and grip ropes or the life preserver easier

[@emiliodesalvo7024]

"The French liner Labor Gang..." One can only love YT automatic subtitles... 😀

[@jaimz33]

Fish eyes contain fresh water. Never eat a fish that has human like teeth.

[@stevecastro1325]

“Mayday” actually comes from the French “m'aide!” (Help me)

[@The8224sm]

Thanks for a great presentation. The problem with finding out the details of the sinking of the HMAS Sydney in its engagement with the Kormoran was that the survivors were taken to the coastal town of Carnarvon. Unfortunately, such a small town had limited facilities for holding large numbers of people. The normal practice with the capture of enemy combatants was to keep the officers and other ranks separate. This was not possible, so they were all confined together, this allowed all the crew members to collaborate together to establish a collective story of the battle, to deflect their culpability about the engagement.

[@darrylday30]

I had always assumed they were similar to modern inflatable rafts.

[@slypen7450]

Pun lin was left adrift by the first vessel that encountered him. They thought he was Japanese.

[@dakotashea3561]

Now im looking up dance macabre (how ever its spelled) Two seconds of it at the beginning and now i must hear it xD

[@metricstormtrooper]

Christmas island is in the Indian ocean, the cormoran/ Sydney took place in the waters around western Australia. But I found this video really interesting.

[@UppsalaSal]

There is another Christmas Island in the Pacific about 1000 miles south of Hawaii. Sighted by Captain Cook in 1777 on Christmas Day. It is now called Kiritimati which in the Gilbertese language is Christmas.

[@brucelee3388]

The Indian Ocean reaches all the way to Western Australia, like it reaches all the way to Africa and....India. The raft that washed up on Christmas Island was 'misplaced' during the war and has never been relocated, the one in the museum in Canberra was found earlier, empty.

[@tomhenry897]

Saved many Many died of exposure

[@stanleydenning]

If I knew that I was about to die, that's what I would want. A bottle of rum.

[@trooperdgb9722]

Just a small note. Christmas Island is in the INDIAN ocean... not the South Pacific.

[@bradlevantis913]

I hand no idea he was in his 60’s

[@slypen7450]

The Sidney was ambushed. That was the Comorrants mission to lure allied military ships close enough to destroy them for the German navy.

[@fernandomarques5166]

Sydney was ambushed, yes. But Kormorant's mission was never to engage with Allied warships, in-fact they had explicit orders to *avoid* allied warships by any means necessary, this is corroborated by both the fact that Kormorant's first action upon sighting Sydney was to reverse course and run away, although her being slower than Sydney meant that it was almost impossible to do so and the fact that the only chance they had at even damaging Sydney was to lure her in close as Sydney's 6in main battery would've made short work of Kormorant well beyond the range of any counter fire. A testament of such is the fact that Sydney's secondary battery and her main aft battery inflicted such severe damage on Kormorant that she had to be abandoned. Now as to why Sydney's Captain would close to such a short range on a unidentified, presumed friendly, freighter is something only known to himself, as he took it to his grave when the bridge was demolished by gunfire in the opening shots of the battle.

[@pesqair]

How does one go from Gilles to Jim?

[@ih302]

Wait... Manitoba has a naval museum?

[@keithagn]

Yes, and so do other prairie provinces. The R.C.N. thought that the prairies provided the best men to train as sailors because they had no preconceived ideas about ships, sailing, etc. At least, that's what my dad told me... (WW2 R.C.N) 😊

[@ih302]

@@keithagn I wasn't trying to be smart either.... it just seems a bit odd to me given that I am from NL (where 60 years ago, the family boat was just as common as the family car if not more so).

[@keithagn]

@@ih302 No worries!

[@verilyheld]

Yep, I've actually seen it, there's a large naval gun inside it. Canadian author Max Braithwaite, wrote a comedic novel titled The Commodore's Barge Is Alongside, about naval training on the Prairie Provinces. Buildings were designated as ships, recruits were trained in the parlance and daily operation of ships. Woe betide recruits who called decks floors, heads washrooms, etc.

[@Eric-kn4yn]

I want one please

[@gondwanatravels8834]

Thank you, very informative.

[@kidmohair8151]

I did *not* know that alcohol lowers the body's temperature. ps: in the opening montage there is a picture of women perched in front of a rather massive (I assume) electrical device. c'est quoi ça?

[@tedthesailor172]

I wonder if he invented the `Simon'...

[@wolfgangkranek376]

About letting shipwrecked people drown, look up "Laconia incident".

[@shaun469]

You sure it washed up on christmas island in the south pacific?

[@brucelee3388]

Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean some distance off the West Australian coast. It looks like the early explorers suffered from an extreme lack of imagination when naming things, there are heaps of places named after Christmas and Easter as well as other celebrations.

[@shaun469]

@@brucelee3388 kind of my point.

[@johnhutley9706]

The float with the corpse was recovered near the Christmas Island south of Java. I.e. Indian Ocean NOT Pacific Ocean

[@shaun469]

@@johnhutley9706 yes. Yes it did.

[@majcorbin]

DAVENPORT IOWA (VETERAN) DAD J0KE of the day [Q}did you hear about the criminal RAINBOW? [A] he was arrested tried & convicted, then sent to PRISM,but it was a LIGHT SENTENCE,only as long as it took him to reflect on his transgressions

[@andrewallen9993]

Ah, French seamen behaving in the finest traditions of the French merchant navy.

[@pieterveenders9793]

Kinda like the Brits then? You definitely wouldn't want to be a "dirty" third class passenger on one of their ships when they sank, they would be liable to lock you in below deck while the ship was sinking...

[@andrewallen9993]

@@pieterveenders9793 not Brits but definitely Greek or Italian. Look up the number of steerage passengers that survived the Titanic Vs crew members.

[@Perktube1]

Wait, did the Carly float come with that big box thing in the middle of the raft?

[@northdetroit7994]

TT

[@kuzadupa185]

Nytimes writes article with title telling us the seamen were murdering kids and women, to prevent them from taking their spots on the emergency rafts/boats.... meanwhile we are being told the seamen just "beat" the passengers... lol

[@Eric-kn4yn]

Sounds like that asian castaway could have gone on for years well done

[@majormanfredrex]

Buoy is pronounced the same as BOY, not BOOOEEE. Buoyancy is also not pronounced BOOOEEEYANCY.

[@WiIdbiII]

It may be pronounced that way , but growing up and living in southeast Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico , I knew many commercial fisherman. In my 50+ years I never heard any of them pronounce it the way you said. But they made a good living , even though they didn't pronounce it correctly.

[@loneranger5349]

LMAO no way am I submerging my legs in ice cold shark infested waters he said the magic word death trap

[@v.s.6056]

My Great Uncle was a Merchant Marine and was torpedoed in the Murmansk Run and spent 11 days in a life raft. My Dad told me the man never took his hat off and was an alcoholic...

[@user-xm4ep1rl1j]

What is the bloody frame inside the float ????

[@pesqair]

also it's pronounced like David. not davit

[@hansvonmannschaft9062]

Wait! Wait wait wait... holdonasec here... YES, yes I know, great vid, was gonna say that, but just a minute... sooo... a dude survives 100+ days and gets a medal from the king himself... however, in WWII, the Polish dude who invented nothing more and nothing less than the portable mine detector, that saved uncountable lives, and gave away the patent so the former could happen... gets... just a letter from the king? Who most likely, didn't even write it himself to begin with, nor even sign?... a royal disgrace.

[@brucelee3388]

Or the guy who invented the modern scuba rig who had his patent taken over by the US Government after he was captured by the Japanese during WW2, is then refused ANY payment afterwards by the US Government (or reinstatement of his patent) on the grounds the Government thought he was dead at the time they took it.

[@YourOwnange]

You want to survive? Thats a paddlin

[@slypen7450]

So... Actually he never thought about marine safety until a large prize was offered. The lifeboats would offer survival in the coldest waters. A Carley float wouldn't.

[@tomhenry897]

Not 100% Often wet before getting in the boat, waves over the sides Still die of exposurer

[@oduffy1939]

Now you have to do the Haclkett boat i.e. the inflatable rubber raft. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflatable_boat

[@kennethscottwagner5981]

Thanks, great article