Objects Database

Mariner Stretcher

Accession Number

857.2010.1

Object Name

Mariner Stretcher

Created

05/11/2010

Creator

Hermione Cooper

Accession Date

05/11/2010

Brief Description

Mountain stretcher with single wheel(missing). Steel tubes. Two adjustable handles at either end. Curved blue aluminium sheet fitted between the tubes.Metal head plate. Leather straps.Detachable knee support and traction device with canvas straps.

Materials

steel, aluminium.leather, canvas

Dimensions

180(l) x 58(w) x 20(d) cms

Number Of Objects

Colour

blue,silver

Provenance

Wastl Mariner was an Austrian mountaineer of some repute, who in 1948, produced probably the first ever comprehensive mountain rescue handbook, initially in his native German and later (1963) in English.
His first book had diagrams/drawings of the Mariner Stretcher which indicates it was designed/created before 1948 though we've been unable to find any information about its evolution.
The bow shaped bed and leg supports(see diagram) were considered the best way to transport casualties for many years, and there is plenty of medical evidence to support the theory, though 99% of modern mountain rescue stretchers employ a flat bed.
This particular stretcher was at Glenmore Lodge(Scotlands National Outdoor Centre in Aviemore) for many years and was used extensively on their mountain rescue training courses in the 1950's and 60's as well as on real rescues in the Cairngorms. We seem to have lost the wheel somewhere along the way, otherwise it's in remarkably good condition for its age and probably one of the few left in the world.
The stretcher was part of an array of mountain rescue equipment put together by Wastl Mariner and the Austrian Alpine Club under the aegis of IKAR(International Kommittee on Alpine Rescue) in the 1940's and 50's. We are fortunate in having nearly all of those items in our collection( see related items) and even a 'grainy ' old film (now on DVD) showing how to use it.