"THROW OUT THE LIFE LINE!"

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 535, 22 January 1913, Page 2

"THROW OUT THE LIFE LINE!"

■ : r —+- , THE WORK OF THE ROCKET BRIGADE. 1 The Royal National Lifeboat Institution can claim the saying of 49,394 lives from shipwrecks since; the year 1824, an average of niaily 570 per annum, which speaks volumes for the work of the lifeboats round the English coasts. But wrecks often take place in parts where it is impossible for a lifeboat to render aid on account of rocks, or the coast may be composed of a continuous line of cliffs, from which no boat could be launched.

In such cases a rocket brigade is requisitioned, and their method of life-saving is most interesting. When the local coast-guards—who usually direct the,working of a rocket party—are apprise'd l of a wreck, they call the brigade together— generally by the firing 0 f a rockat—and they proceed to drag their apparatus overland oh a small waggon to the point nearest the stranded vessel. To aid them in their work at night a 'wrecklight' is provided; This is composed of a number of small boxes similar to condensed milk tins containing inflammable material, the boxes being lightly fastened to each other end to end. The whole is hung up and lighted from the bottom ; each box burns away brilliantly, then ignites the one above it, and falls to the ground, so that the light is maintained, and does not become blurred by any carbonised or wasts matter. A rocket is placed on the tripod firing stand, a nine bein> attached to the stick of the rocket. Each line is kept stowed carefully in a box '"flaked" round a of pins to prevent it liecumiri;; entangled in transit. When ready for tiring, however, the lid of the bo\* is taken off. and withdrawn, leaving the line in form for running out.

The rocket is now carefully pointed towards the wreck, allowance being made for wind, distance, etc. ; then a light is applied to the fuse, a 'shower of sparks springs from, ita tail, and-it flies c- on its arrand of mercy, carrying ilie lin~. If the rocket is well-placed it will carry one end of the line across the deck of the stranded vessel, and the other end being left en shore, a connection is established ; but the difficulties of firing in a gale may necessitate the discharge of several rockets before this, step is accomplished.

The people on the wreck haul the line in, and the rescuers will attach to t their end a hawser —that is a heavy ropei, on which the "breechesbuoy" will be suspended, and an endless whip, the latter being a long length of rope running' through a block, the ends of the rope being joined together so as to, form a large ring.. A small , tag attached to the hawser gives directions, in three languages, for the working of the apparatus. , . .x When the rocket-line is hauled aboard the wreck, the crew of,the latter, acting on the instructions on the tag, will fasten the hawser around the funnel, mast., or some superstructure on the vessel as high above the deck as possible, , and attach the small tail on the block of the sndless whip a little below the hawser.

The men on shore now make their end of the sawser fast, stretching it as tightly as possible, raising it above the level of the sea to prevent anyone being dragged through the surf. A large tripod is provided for beaches or low shores to raise the hawser about ten. from the ground.

What is known as the "breechesbuoy" is an ordinary lifebelt with a pair of large canvas breeches attached. This is suspended from the hawser on -a travelling wheel, .and can now be pulled to, and from the wreck by the endless whip. If the people on tlis stranded ship appear to be exhausted or unable to understand what they should dc, cne of the rescue party will go out in the buoy to assist them. The fescue work having now been completed, the brigade can reclaim their gear from the wreck by passing out on the whip an arrangement similar to a large pair of shears, tyhich can be actuated by a lins from the shore, and the hawser' thereby ;ut close up to the wreck. The only things, therefore, left on the wreck which belong to tho rocket brigade are the,, block for the eadless whip, and the' small- piece of the hawser which was fastened round the mast or other part of the vessel."