River Police - Rescue (1957)

River Thames, London. River Police (officially known as Thames Division Metropolitan Police) are seen performing a training exercise - they rescue a man who has fallen ill on a barge. Film begins with shots of a launch speeding down the river under Tower Bridge. A man stands on the edge of a barge waving his arms as a signal that he wants the River Police to stop. The launch pulls up alongside the barge and is tied up. The River Police board the boat and are shown a man lying in the bottom of a cargo hold as if unconscious. It is a reconstruction of a typical accident - a man has been overcome by fumes whilst fumigating a barge in the Pool of London. The River Police use ropes to rescue the man. The man who is lowered into the barge wears a wet handkerchief over his nose and mouth for protection. When he is lifted up onto the deck of the boat he looks as if he might be dead, he has made himself a dead weight. Over various shots of the River Police putting the man into the recovery position and p