Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger DGzRS (literally translated: German Society for Saving Shipwrecked, more common: German Maritime Rescue Service GMRS) is responsible for Search and Rescue in German waters including the Exclusive Economic Zone. This area comprises the German coastal waters in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.

The headquarter and the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre of the society is in Bremen. It was founded 29 May 1865 in Kiel. It has 61 lifeboats at 54 stations, 185 employed crew members and 800 volunteers. The society has about 2500 engagements every year. Up to 2005, it rescued approximately 72,000 persons. In 2004 it saved 368 lives, rescued 837 persons from critical situations and carried out 343 medical transports from the islands.

Like the comparable British and Dutch organizations, the DGzRS is entirely financed by membership fees, private donations and legacies.

Writer and honorary member Nikolai von Michalewsky has immortalized the DGzRS in his series of science fiction novels by taking it as the model for his "Independent Society for Saving Spacewrecked".