Fisherman’s Life Vest
date: label: date made
content: ca 2007
name: label: maker
content: Stearns
notes: label: Description
content: The process of setting and hauling in the huge nets aboard factory trawlers can be dangerous, and safety measures are followed to minimize the risk of injury or loss of life. When working on the fish deck, the deckhands wear personal flotation devices, or PFDs, over their clothing.
label: Description
content: This vest is Type III, U.S. Coast Guard approved PFD, and is appropriate for calm waters, or where the chance for a quick rescue is high. It was worn in such conditions by a deckhand working aboard the catcher-processor <I>Alaska Ocean</I> in the North Pacific about 50 miles west of Seattle in June 2007.
label: Description
content: Made of bright orange nylon, the vest has the required reflective panels and a battery-operated light to aid would-be rescuers. While the life vest would provide its wearer flotation, it would not protect a person overboard in cold or rough waters for long. The vessel carries immersion suits for everyone aboard and conducts regular safety drills at which people from all areas of the ship practice putting on the suits quickly.
label: Description
content: The <I>Alaska Ocean</I> itself is a 376-foot-long vessel in the Seattle-based catcher-processor fleet. Workers catch, process, package, and freeze groundfish—mostly pollock and Pacific whiting—in the Bering Sea and in the waters off the coast of the Pacific Northwest.
topic: label: Subject
content: Fishing
label: Subject
content: Fishing
label: related event
content: Contemporary United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: Clothing & Accessories
label: See more items in
content: Work
label: See more items in
content: Industry & Manufacturing
label: See more items in
content: Natural Resources
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Alaska Ocean through Jeff Hendricks
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2007.0178.08
label: catalog number
content: 2007.0178.08
label: accession number
content: 2007.0178
objectType: label: Object Name
content: lifevest
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: nylon (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 21 in x 25 in x 2 1/2 in; 53.34 cm x 63.5 cm x 6.35 cm