This subcategory includes life-saving appliances such as lifebuoys (also known as life preservers, or life-rings).
Since the early 20th Century, the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) specified lifebuoy design and construction. In the United Kingdom, the governing instrument was the Merchant Shipping (Life-Saving Appliances) Rules, 1958 (S.I. 1958 No. 602), which came into force on 1 May 1958. These consolidated and updated earlier Board of Trade rules implementing the 1948 SOLAS Convention. Requirements focused on material, buoyancy, size, fittings, accessibility, and marking with the ship’s name and port of registry.
