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E-book
Author Buker, George E., 1923-

Title The metal life car : the inventor, the impostor, and the business of lifesaving / George E. Buker
Published Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, ©2008

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Description 1 online resource (182 pages) : illustrations
Contents The origin of Francis' metallic lifeboats -- The metallic life car and the U.S. Life-saving Service -- Metallic boats for the U.S. Army -- The Third Seminole War: strategy and tactics -- Metal army pontoon wagon bodies -- Francis' European associates -- Back home -- The Impostor -- Retirement and challenges -- The perfidious Captain Douglass Ottinger, USRMS -- Reactions to Ottinger's charges -- The Forty-ninth Congress and beyond -- Epilogue
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
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 173-176) and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Francis, Joseph, 1801-1893.
SUBJECT Francis, Joseph, 1801-1893 fast
Subject United States. Life-Saving Service.
SUBJECT United States. Life-Saving Service fast
Subject Lifesaving -- Equipment and supplies.
Lifeboats -- History
Marine engineering -- United States -- History -- 19th century
Inventors -- United States -- Biography
TRANSPORTATION -- Ships & Shipbuilding -- Pictorial.
TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING -- Marine & Naval.
Inventors
Lifeboats
Lifesaving -- Equipment and supplies
Marine engineering
United States
Genre/Form Computer network resources
Biographies
History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780817380373
081738037X
0817316086
9780817316082