(1)
Float-free launching is that
method of launching a survival craft whereby the craft is automatically
released from a sinking vessel and is ready for use.
(2)
Free-fall launching is that method
of launching a survival craft whereby the craft with its complement
of persons and equipment on board is released and allowed to fall
into the sea without any restraining apparatus.
(3)
Inflatable appliance is an appliance
which depends upon non-rigid, gas-filled chambers for buoyancy and
which is normally kept uninflated until ready for use.
(4)
Inflated appliance is an appliance
which depends upon non-rigid, gas-filled chambers for buoyancy and
which is kept inflated and ready for use at all times.
(5)
Launching appliance or arrangement is
a means of transferring a survival craft or rescue boat from its stowed
position safely to the water.
(6)
Novel life-saving appliance or arrangement is
a life-saving appliance or arrangement which embodies new features
not fully covered by the provisions of this chapter but which provides
an equal or higher standard of safety.
(7)
Rescue boat is a boat designed
to rescue persons in distress and to marshall survival craft.
(8)
Retro-reflective material is
a material which reflects in the opposite direction a beam of light
directed on it.
(9)
Survival craft is a craft capable
of sustaining the lives of persons in distress from the time of abandoning
the vessel.