The Carley float was a form of invertible liferaft designed by American inventor Horace Carley (1838-1918). Supplied mainly to warship

Warship

A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...

s, it saw widespread use in a number of navies during peacetime and both World Wars until superseded by more modern rigid or inflatable designs. Carley was awarded a patent in 1903 after establishing the Carley Life Float Company of Philadelphia.

Description

The Carley float was formed from a length of copper or steel tubing 12-20 inches (30-50 cm) in diameter bent into an oval ring. The ring was surrounded by a buoyant mass of kapok

Kapok

Ceiba pentandra is a tropical tree of the order Malvales and the family Malvaceae , native to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, northern South America, and to tropical west Africa...

 or cork

Cork (material)

Cork is an impermeable, buoyant material, a prime-subset of bark tissue that is harvested for commercial use primarily from Quercus suber , which is endemic to southwest Europe and northwest Africa...

, and then covered with a layer of canvas

Canvas

Canvas is an extremely heavy-duty plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, and other items for which sturdiness is required. It is also popularly used by artists as a painting surface, typically stretched across a wooden frame...

 rendered waterproof via painting or doping

Aircraft dope

thumb|right|[[United Kingdom military aircraft serials|2699]] a [[World War I]] [[Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2]] finished in a clear dopeAircraft dope is a plasticised lacquer that is applied to fabric-covered aircraft...

. The metal tube was divided into waterproof compartments with vertical baffle

Baffle

Baffle or baffles may refer to:* Baffle , a flow-directing vane or panel in some vessels such as shell and tube heat exchangers, chemical reactors, or static mixers...

s. The raft was thus rigid, and could remain buoyant, floating equally well with either side uppermost, even if the waterproof outer was punctured. The floor of the raft was made from a wood or webbing

Webbing

Webbing is a strong fabric woven as a flat strip or tube of varying width and fibres often used in place of rope. The name webbing comes from the meshed material frequently used in its construction, which resembles a web...

 grating. Boxes containing paddles, water, rations and survival equipment

Survival kit

A survival kit is a package of basic tools and supplies prepared in advance as an aid to survival in an emergency. Military aircraft, lifeboats, and spacecraft are equipped with survival kits....

 were lashed to the floor grating. Men could either sit around the rim of the raft, or, if in the water, cling to rope loops strung around its edge. The largest model could accommodate up to fifty men, half inside the raft, and the others in the water holding onto the ropes.

Some variants included a calcium

Calcium

Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft gray alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth-most-abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust...

 flare

Flare (pyrotechnic)

A flare, also sometimes called a fusee, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a brilliant light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for signalling, illumination, or defensive countermeasures in civilian and military applications...

 that would automatically ignite on immersion in water. The flare could however expose a raft to hostile fire, as then-Lt. Stuart Bonham Carter

Stuart Bonham Carter

Vice Admiral Sir Stuart Sumner Bonham Carter, KCB, CVO, DSO was an officer in the Royal Navy who had a distinguished record in both world wars.-Naval career:...

 found during the 1918 Zeebrugge Raid

Zeebrugge Raid

The Zeebrugge Raid, which took place on 23 April 1918, was an attempt by the British Royal Navy to neutralize the key Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge...

 as he escaped the scuttled blockship

Blockship

A blockship is a ship deliberately sunk to prevent a river, channel, or canal from being used.It may either be sunk by a navy defending the waterway to prevent the ingress of attacking enemy forces, as in the case of HMS Hood at Portland Harbour; or it may be brought by enemy raiders and used to...

 HMS Intrepid. Only the smoke of the burning vessel behind him prevented him from being targeted.

Operation

Simply by casting it over the side, the lightweight Carley float could be launched more rapidly than traditional rigid lifeboat designs, and without the need for specialised hoists. It could be mounted on any convenient surface and survive the battering against the ship's sides during heavy seas. Unlike the rubber inflatable rafts of the period, it was relatively immune to compromise of its buoyant chambers. Seafarers in it were however completely exposed to the elements, and would suffer accordingly. An inquiry of 1946 reported that many sailors who had succeeded in getting to the safety of Carley floats had nevertheless succumbed to exposure

Hypothermia

Hypothermia is a condition in which core temperature drops below the required temperature for normal metabolism and body functions which is defined as . Body temperature is usually maintained near a constant level of through biologic homeostasis or thermoregulation...

 before rescue could be made. The crew of the Canadian minesweeper

Minesweeper (ship)

A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...

 HMCS Esquimalt

HMCS Esquimalt (J272)

HMCS Esquimalt was a that served in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II.The Esquimalt served on the Atlantic coast of Canada conducting anti-submarine patrols in the approaches to Halifax Harbour...

, sunk offshore of Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

 in April 1945, lost at least 16 to hypothermia during the six hours in which they awaited rescue. Few of the survivors could still walk.

Despite these shortcomings many seamen did owe their lives to the Carley float. Chinese sailor Poon Lim

Poon Lim

Poon Lim or Lim Poon BEM was a Chinese sailor who survived 133 days alone in the South Atlantic.-Castaway:...

 survived for a record 133 days adrift in the South Atlantic aboard a Carley float after his freighter SS Ben Lomond was sunk on 23 November 1942. He fashioned fishing gear from components of the raft. He was close to death when discovered off the coast of Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 on 5 April 1943, but was able to walk ashore unaided.

Though its occupant did not survive, a shrapnel-ridden Carley float carried the body of an unknown man to land on Christmas Island

Christmas Island

The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is located northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and ENE of the Cocos Islands....

 in February 1942. The sun-bleached corpse had evidently spent a lengthy period at sea, though to this day it remains unknown from where the sailor had come. It has long been suspected that the body was that of a sailor from HMAS Sydney

HMAS Sydney (1934)

HMAS Sydney , named for the Australian city of Sydney, was one of three Modified Leander class light cruisers operated by the Royal Australian Navy...

, which was lost with all hands under mysterious circumstances off the coast of Australia on 19 November 1941. A second Carley float, more confidently believed to be from Sydney, was recovered drifting 300 km off the Australian coast one week after the ship sank. It had been badly damaged by shellfire, but was empty. The float is now displayed at the HMAS Sydney exhibit of the Australian War Memorial

Australian War Memorial

The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia...

, Canberra

Canberra

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

.

In fiction

The 1942 British war film In Which We Serve

In Which We Serve

In Which We Serve is a 1942 British patriotic war film directed by David Lean and Noël Coward. It was made during the Second World War with the assistance of the Ministry of Information ....

centres around a group of survivors clinging to a Carley float. As they suffer from the elements, the story of how they came to be there is told through a series of flashbacks.