Yacht Safety Bureau - History

History

The Bureau was established in 1947/48 by Ed S. Terwilliger based on work begun by E. D. Wright, a marine surveyor, as an independent, privately owned organization. The funding came from a group of insurance companies (yacht underwriters) and from National Association of Engine & Boat Manufacturers, Inc. (NAEBM). The board of directors was evenly divided between marine insurance companies and boat manufacturers.

Early work included inspecting boat yards and writing reports on boat storage yards. Investigations into marine accidents lead to standards for testing of individual items of marine equipment. Reports developed as a result of these investigations became guides to underwriters and their surveyors and to boat builders.

With United States Coast Guard cooperation, the American Boat and Yacht Council was formed to develop recommended practices and standards for boats and their equipment with reference to safety.

In 1959, the Yacht Safety Bureau was reorganized as a non-profit public service membership corporation in the State of New York with no change of its name. It provided a testing laboratory and labeling service for boats and their equipment.

In 1969, it became the Marine Department of Underwriters' Laboratories.

Read more about this topic:  Yacht Safety Bureau

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    We know only a single science, the science of history. One can look at history from two sides and divide it into the history of nature and the history of men. However, the two sides are not to be divided off; as long as men exist the history of nature and the history of men are mutually conditioned.
    Karl Marx (1818–1883)

    In history the great moment is, when the savage is just ceasing to be a savage, with all his hairy Pelasgic strength directed on his opening sense of beauty;—and you have Pericles and Phidias,—and not yet passed over into the Corinthian civility. Everything good in nature and in the world is in that moment of transition, when the swarthy juices still flow plentifully from nature, but their astrigency or acridity is got out by ethics and humanity.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    The history of this country was made largely by people who wanted to be left alone. Those who could not thrive when left to themselves never felt at ease in America.
    Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)