Swedish Sea Rescue Society
Encyclopedia
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
: ) is a Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
voluntary organisation that works with maritime search and rescue
Search and rescue
Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...
on Swedish lakes and seas. The society runs 65 lifeboat stations, with over 140 boats and over 1500 volunteer crew members. Of these, around 300 are on call at any time, and can respond to a call within 15 minutes.
The society was founded in 1907 at the Hotel Rydberg in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. It is completely non-profit, and is funded by donations, membership fees and reimbursements for work carried out.
Under an agreement with the Swedish Maritime Administration
Swedish Maritime Administration
The Swedish Maritime Administration is the Swedish government agency which provides services to the transport sector by keeping the sea lanes open and safe...
the purpose of the society is:
- to maintain an interest in maritime search and rescue
- to suggest measures to improve service in this area
- to manage individual search and rescue operations within Swedish waters
The society also provides technical advice in areas where there may not be an immediate danger.
Between 1982 and 1991 the society produced its own coins, with a face value of 25 Swedish kronor. Since 2001 money has been received from the Swedish Postcode Lottery, which in 2009 totalled 21.5 million kronor.