If you come for a visit to Overfalls this summer, check out the new life rings we have onboard! They are located on the upper or “weather” deck. The previous life rings were over ten years old. Time had taken its toll and replacement was needed. You might want to make special note of the lettering we chose to use on the new life rings: USLHS – LS118.

The sinking of the Titanic in 1912 inspired the first International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), where representatives of over 100 countries collaborated to propose a treaty specifying minimum standards for ship construction, equipment and operation. The first version of these specifications was adopted in 1914, and it has been periodically updated through the years. Today’s SOLAS lettering specifications for lifesaving equipment states that it must be lettered with the ship’s name and port of registry; in 1938, when the Overfalls was launched, those lettering requirements did not exist.

The earliest documentation that we have for our ship is the 1936 specifications book that the United States Lighthouse Service (USLHS) provided to Rice Brothers Shipyard in Maine, where she was built. The various labeling specifications outlined in that book – including those for the lettering of life rings – stipulate that “USLHS – LS118” be used. Although Overfalls is, by and large, displayed as she came off station over 50 years ago, it is nice to give a nod to her origins.