Denton raft
{{Short description|Buoyancy aid to enable life-saving}}
{{Orphan|date=July 2024}}
The Denton raft (the same as or similar to the Spanner Raft{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}) was a buoyancy aid to enable life-saving. It was a square of cork, approximately {{convert|0.9|by|0.9|m|ft|sp=us}}, with an aperture in the middle and rope attachments to which sailors could cling. It was widely used by Royal Navy ships during World War II. HMS Hood was, for example, equipped with numerous Denton rafts. It was three Denton rafts that allowed the three survivors to survive.https://www.hmshood.org.uk/history/denmarkstrait/whyloss.htm The rafts were sometimes nicknamed biscuit rafts.{{cite web|url=https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/d9/3e/42/f40bd55c4962e1/US2344652.pdf|title=E. F. Spanner – Lifesaving Apparatus – Filed Sept. 23, 1940|date=1944-03-21|publisher=United States Patent Office|access-date=2024-08-01}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0AXMDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Denton+raft%22&pg=PT173|title=Destroyer Down: An Account of HM Destroyer Losses, 1939–1945 - Arthur Evans - Google Books|date=19 August 2010 |publisher=Casemate Publishers |isbn=978-1-84468-788-6 |access-date=2025-01-18}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KHOiDwAAQBAJ&dq=Denton+raft+Hood&pg=PT82|title=HMS Hood: Pride of the Royal Navy - Daniel Knowles - Google Books|date=15 July 2019 |access-date=2025-01-18 |last1=Knowles |first1=Daniel }}