1814 32 23/2 Premiums and rewards bestowed... To Mr. Thomas Boyce..for a life boat or safety buoy.
1858 P. L. Simmonds Safety-buoy, a swimming belt or buoy, intended as a protection from drowning.
2001 T. Ecott (2002) v. 113 An inflatable safety buoy, which can be used on the surface to signal our presence in choppy seas.