3-034-831 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Rear-Admiral Ryder's floating hammocks for saving life at sea, 1871. 'A proposal has been submitted to the Admiralty for the use of hammock mattresses stuffed with granulated cork, instead of hair mattresses, on board the ships of the Royal Navy, with a view to saving life in case of shipwreck or of the vessel sinking from any cause. Rear-Admiral A. P. Ryder and Captain J. R. Ward, both members of the council of the Royal National Life-Boat Institution, have taken the lead in recommending this improvement...As a matter of economy, the cork is less than half the price of the horsehair...A mattress thus made will, when stuffed with 11 lb. of granulated cork, have a buoyancy of 60 lb. - that is to say, it will float an iron weight of that amount...One man, if alone, would be floated with his arms, shoulders, and chest above water...A single man will probably best support himself by the aid of his hammock if he secures the ends together and places himself in the middle. Although the buoyancy is, as has already been said, enough to support three men if necessary, yet this will only be the case if they preserve their presence of mind, and do not attempt to raise themselves out of the water sufficiently to immerse the hammock'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.