The metal life car : the inventor, the impostor, and the business of lifesaving / George E. Buker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Buker, George E., 1923-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lifesaving--Equipment and supplies.

Lifesaving.

Lifeboats--History.

Lifeboats.

Marine engineering--United States--History--19th century.

Marine engineering.

Inventors--United States--Biography.

Inventors.

United States. Life-Saving Service.

United States.

Francis, Joseph, 1801-1893.

Francis, Joseph.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (193 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

For centuries sailing vessels crept along the coastline, ready to flee ashore in case of danger or trouble; this worked well until weather or poor sailing drove these ships against an unforgiving coast. Saviors and salvors (often the same people) struggled to rescue both humans and cargo, often with results as tragic for them as for the sailors and passengers. Joseph Francis (b. Boston, Massachusetts, 1801) was an inventor who also had the ability to organize a business to produce his inventions and the salesmanship to sell his products. His metal lifeboats, first

Contents:

Contents; List of Illustrations; Acknowledgments; Part I: The Inventor; 1. The Origin of Francis's Metallic Lifeboats; 2. The Metallic Life Car and the U.S. Life- Saving Service; 3. Metallic Boats for the U.S. Army; 4. The Third Seminole War: Strategy and Tactics; 5. Metal Army Pontoon Wagon Bodies; 6. Francis's European Associates; 7. Back Home; Part II: The Impostor; 8. Retirement and Challenges; 9. The Perfidious Captain Douglass Ottinger, USRMS; 10. Reactions to Ottinger's Charges; 11. The Forty-ninth Congress and Beyond; 12. Epilogue; Notes; Bibliography; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [173]-176) and index.

ISBN:

0-8173-8037-X

OCLC:

567999105