As we plan the rollout of the next generation of crew kit, we review a stylish and practical history of lifeboat looks – from 1824 to the present day

Through driving rain and gale-force winds, our lifeboat crews have been launching in the toughest conditions for more than 190 years.
To do this, they’ve relied on specialist clothing to protect them against the elements. From the first oilskins and cork lifejackets to today’s breathable new all-weather gear, we’ve continually pushed the limits of modern technology in the name of saving lives, and coming home safely. Here, we explore the long lifesaving legacy of the kit hanging inside our crews’ lockers.

Headgear
1. 1800s–1900s: Knitted caps and sou’wester hats Long before the invention of protective hard hats, RNLI crews focused on being warm and dry while launching oar-powered lifeboats. Bright red woollen caps were worn either on their own, or under black sou’wester hats. The sou’westers were waterproof, with a long back flap to protect the neck from spray.
2. 1930s: Knitted scarf-helmets Is it a helmet? Is it a scarf? It’s both! In 1936, a band
of volunteer knitters produced over 1,500 hybrid designs for lifeboat crews.
3. 1960s: Bump caps
The introduction of the 13-knot steel Waveney class lifeboat necessitated a move towards hard-wearing headgear to prevent crews banging their heads at high speeds.
4. 1970s: Lazer motorcycle helmets with visors
The early 1970s saw another new lifeboat – the B class Atlantic 21 – usher in another change. A visor was pressstudded into a motorcycle helmet from manufacturer Lazer. With it, volunteers could race to the rescue, knowing their eyes were protected from spray that would otherwise have felt like horizontal hail.
5. 1990s–present: Gecko helmets
Faster lifeboats and improved communication technology saw us move towards more purpose-built headgear in the 1990s, with the Mark 1 Gecko. Now in its 10th iteration, the modern Gecko helmet is a sleek, lightweight, robust visored headpiece with the facility to add torches, cameras, and comms equipment. Compulsory for all inshore lifeboat crews, the Gecko is the current standard in marine safety helmets.

Lifejackets
1. 1850s: Cork lifejackets
Early lifesavers typically wore lifebelts filled with ballast. But in 1854, RNLI Inspector Captain Ward invented our first lifejacket by sewing strips of cork onto a canvas vest. It caught on fully in 1861 after the Whitby lifeboat disaster, when the lifeboat capsized and Henry Freeman emerged as the sole survivor. He was the only crew member wearing Ward’s invention.
2. 1900s: Kapok lifejackets
A fibre of the silk-cotton tree, kapok is three times more buoyant than cork and doesn’t absorb water. Kapok lifejackets were initially bulky and uncomfortable, but we refined the design until crews were happy leaving the cork lifejacket behind. One of our most enduring innovations, RNLI crews used this lifejacket for almost 70 years

3. 1970s: Beaufort lifejackets
The foam-based Beaufort lifejacket upped the buoyancy level, allowing a crew member to also support the person being rescued. Its design ensured volunteers would float face-up in the
water, even if unconscious. And being bright orange, it was far more visible in the water.
4. 1990s: Crewsaver inshore and all-weather lifejackets The early 1990s saw the introduction
of separate lifejackets for different lifesaving disciplines. The bulkier gear of all-weather lifeboat crews
meant they needed a more compact lifejacket, which inflated automatically on hitting the water using a built-in gas canister. Inshore crews, who enter the water much more frequently, got a bigger lifejacket with built-in buoyancy.
5. 2014: Modern lifejackets
Our current lifejackets also come in all-weather and inshore flavours. Both have lights, flare pockets, spray hoods, whistles, and safety lines, while offering our volunteers easy movement onboard and in the water. Once inflated, they keep the wearer’s head clear of the water.

Outer layers
1. 1824: Blue woollen ganseys and dark trousers Our first lifeboat crews wore traditional fishermen’s
ganseys and woollen trousers. Later jumpers had ‘RNLI’ or the crew position (for example, ‘Coxswain’) knitted into the chest.
2. 1850s–1900s: Black, then yellow, oilskins
In 1854 our crews moved to waterproof oilskins, which would be a mainstay in many forms for over a century. Initially black, these changed in 1904 to our signature bright yellow for higher visibility. The long yellow coat also had ‘RNLI’ printed on the sleeve, allowing people to identify their rescuers at a glance.
3. 1970s: Orange foul-weather clothing and one-piece rubber drysuits While oilskins kept water out, they also kept condensation in, while giving the bodies inside little room to breathe. With overlapping trousers and jacket, our orange gear was roomier, allowing air to circulate as our volunteers went
about their business onboard the lifeboat. Meanwhile, 1977 saw the introduction of the first RNLI one-piece drysuit. Made from rubber, it was designed for inshore lifeboat crews to slip on swiftly, before setting off, and allowed them to move about much more freely.
4. 1980s: Back to yellow
The 1980s saw the lessons learned with our orange all-weather gear transfer over to a new, brighter, and easier-to-spot yellow kit tested at the RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine.
5. 1990s: Musto all-weather kit
1990 saw our most significant leap in lifeboat kit since the transition from woollies to waterproofs as we signed a deal with Musto. Lighter and with better ventilation courtesy of early breathable materials, the Musto jacket and salopettes made movement freer, and tricky actions like crossing to casualty vessels easier than ever for all-weather lifeboat crews.
6. 2000s: Typhoon breathable drysuits
Designed to be used with a thermal undersuit known as a woolly bear, these drysuits from marine specialist Typhoon formed part of our first fully breathable clothing system. They were issued to our new lifeboat crews on the Thames. A refined version is now used by coastal inshore lifeboat crews.
7. 2018: Helly Hansen rescue storm gear
Like Typhoon’s gear, the words ‘breathable layers’ underpin the design of our latest all-weather lifeboat gear from Helly Hansen. The outer layers of this new kit system are designed to be lighter, trimmer, and more versatile – keeping water out while allowing sweat to breathe through the material. Large smartphone-friendly pockets allow coxswains to take calls directly from the coastguard. Reinforced hems and replaceable straps ensure the salopettes are more robust and last longer. And the introduction of female-specific gear with a drop seat zip ensures the growing number of female crew can save lives in comfort – without the inconvenience of having to remove everything when nature calls on along shout.

Under layers
1. 1800s: Fishermen’s ganseys After 1854 RNLI volunteers continued to wear woolly fishermen’s jumpers underneath their long waterproof coats to stay as warm at possible as sea.
2. 1940s: Woollen comforts
During the war years, an army of knitters banded together to produce woollen gloves, hats, helmets, scarves, mittens, jerseys, socks and stockings for our volunteer crews, helping them carry on saving lives.
3. 2000s: Woolly bear thermal
undersuit Issued alongside the Typhoon drysuit, the woolly bear keeps inshore lifeboat crews at the optimum temperature by passing sweat through the fabric, while the drysuit worn outside it keeps
external moisture at bay. The woolly bear has a zip-up neck, and elasticated wrist and ankle bands for a snug fit.
4. 2018: Helly Hansen merino tops and pants
The magic of our new Helly Hansen breathable kit system really is in the under layers – including, for the first time ever at the RNLI, garments designed especially for female crew members.
The base and mid layers hug the skin, keeping the wearer warm and allowing moisture to breathe through the fabric – ensuring our volunteers will never again get clammy in changing conditions on longer shouts. Across locations that range from nearer the Arctic in Shetland, to nearer the Mediterranean in the Channel Islands, our crews can now pick the right layers to keep themselves
comfortable and focus on what matters: saving lives at sea, and then heading home to their loved ones.

Words: Mark Scott
Photos: Fox Photos Ltd, RNLI/(Nigel Millard, Nathan Williams)

OWN A PIECE OF LIFESAVING HISTORY

So what becomes of older kit when a new iteration is introduced?We recycle materials where we can –
and one exciting example is our Since 1824 accessories range, now available through RNLI Shop.
These overnight bags, wallets and washbags are made from decommissioned RNLI lifejackets. They’re hard-wearing and waterproof, each one a unique piece of lifesaving history, and every purchase saves lives at

Browse the range at shop.RNLI.org.