BREECHES BUOY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 17858, 10 June 1922, Page 6

BREECHES BUOY.

TIMARU ROCKET BRIGADE. APPARATUS AND EXPERIENCES. The frequent references to rockets, lines, and breeches buoys in telegraphic news concerning the wreck of the Federal liner Wiltshire suggested that some information regardj ing the apparatus and the method of using it would be interesting to readers of the “Timaru Herald.” A reporter of this paper therefore interviewed Captain J. E. S. Jackson, who was for many years first lieutenant of the Timaru Rocket Brigade (the harbourmaster being captain), and obtained from him a description of their apparatus and the manner of using it. There had been one small wreck, and the port being obviously a dangerous one, in the early days, a lifesaving rocket apparatus was obtained from Home in 1867. For some years the apparatus was used by surf-boat men, who also manned the lifeboat. Later it was decided to divide these duties, and a volunteer Rocket Brigade was enlisted, which varied in numbers from time to time, but a “Rocket Party” of fifteen drilled men was always available Drills were held regularly, in order to ensure that when at work the right man would do the right thing at the right moment, so that everything should run smoothly. The apparatus consists of rockets, rocket trough, rocket line, whip, hawser, tripod for hawser, and breeches buoy. The whole, of considerable weight, packs in a big hamper, one or more, for transport, by i men if need be. In Timaru town carriers generally saved the members' of the Rocket Brigade from acting as beasts of burden, an attractive payment for the transport service being' made by the Harbour Board. A signal gun at the pilot station was added, for summoning the Brigade. , The rocket is cylindrical, about 3 inches in diameter and 2 feet in length, charged with a powerful composition made especially for the purpose. To the,cylinder is attached a stout stick, as usual. For firing the rocket an iron tripod stand is provided, one long leg being a shallow trough in which the rocket is placed for firing, the trpugh being tiltable to any angle. The rocket charge is a powerful one, and the rocket flies with a roar rather tnah a hiss, and leaves a big cometic tail of red fire behind it as it flies. The rocket line, attaclied to the stick, is specially made for the purpose, of tanned Russian hemp, lightly twisted so as to be very soft and flexible. An important point in rocket practice is to ensure that the line shall run out freely to the swift pull of the rocket. Ordinary coiling, even coiling into a receptacle, could not be trusted, so a special line box is provided. The box, oblong in shape, l 'has holes bored in its : bottom through which project pegs that are fixed in a false bottom attached and detachable outside. The line.is “faked,” or woven, about these

pegs—a row of them along.each side and end of the box. The ; lid being removed the box is lifted from the false bottom and its pegs, and the line is thus left in such a condition that entanglement is impossible by a pull on the line at right angles to the top of the box. In use the box is tilted to give the rocket; such a pull. If a rocket misses its mark the line is hauled ashore for a second trial, and to save time, instead of “faking” it into the again, provided the land surface is clear-—as in our shingle beaches —the line is coiled into, a loose spiral, which also ensures a clean run.

A rocket line having reached the ship, those on board haul upon it and receive first a tail block, and rove through it an endless rope, the whip. To the block is attached a few fathoms of soft rope, the “tail,” for affixing the block near and below, where the hawser will be fixed, and a lower mast is to be preferred. The tail block being made fast, the whip is used by the Brigade to haul the hawser to the ship, to be fixed at the chosen point. When the hawser has been made fast to the ship the shore end is .dealt with. If the ship be lying quietly, the hawser may be anchored in any convenient way. If the ship is knocking about the hawser must simply be held by men, as taut as possible, the men yielding to the movement of the ship. On a low coast a tripod is brought into use, and the hawser passed over its top to raise it as much as possible. On a high coast the tripod may be necessary to keep the hawser clear of the edge of a cliff and allow the rescued men to land well clear of the edge and beneath the hawser. Before anchoring the hawser a traveller block (singlesheaved in the early days, tandem-sheaved later and today) is placed on the hawser. This block is attached to the whip, and from it hangs the breeches buoy. This is a common life-buoy, to which is attached canvas “breeches,” like a very short loose trousers, making a secure seat for a man and leaving feet and legs free for use in landing. The lifebuoy is a part of it, because it might happen, and does often happen,, that the hawser cannot be fixed high enough to prevent the sag of it sousing a man in the water, and the buoy saves him from staying under water. When the shore end of the hawser is fixed high above the ship, as in the case of the Wiltshire, all hands may be got ashore “dry foot.” The breeches buoy having been hauled to the ship by means of Lhe whip, a man gets into it and is hauled to shore by the rescuers; the buoy is hauled back to the shiji, and the process repeated till all on board have been rescued.

LOCAL EXPERIENCES. Turning to experiences of the Timaru Rocket Brigade, Captain Jack- | son narrated a few of these. The I first trial of the rocket and line, as an experiment, on a fine day, was qul to successful, the line being thrown over amidships a small steamer lying about 200 yards from the beach. The Rocket Brigade was not very frequently called out for active service, but very often in bad sea-weather were summoned by gun- | fire to the station to “stand by” for the night. On one occasion the Brigade went out to a stranded Home vessel near the Oplhi mouth, and when they got there the vessel was high on the beach and everyone ashore. She was afterwards towed off. One of the Brigade’s experiences was getting out to aid a vessel that was nearly ashore on the Washdyke spit; the lagoon was high, the outlet creek impassable, and a dingy had to he fetched to get over the lagoon. After a troublesome trip, the Brigade reached the beach opposite the threatened vessel, and just then a laud breeze came along and took her safely away. One of the bad wrecks at Timaru was that of the Melrose on Waimataitai beach. The Brigade threw her a line, but those on board, fearing sbo would not hold together, did not attempt to make use of it. In fact she rapidly crumbled to matchwood under their feet, and there were some exciting scenes in pulling men out of the mixture of surf and wreckage.

The City of Cashmero gave the Brigade an opportunity for making a splendidly successful effort. The big iron sailer grounded off the Washdyke spit, late in the evening, stern to, and at least 200 yards from the shore. Three rockets missed — no wonder, as the Brigade had only the ship's breadth as a target and the night was very dark. The fourth rocket delivered the line, and working in the night, with artificial flares, all hands were safely landed without wetting their feet. Those landed included the harbourmaster and a shore party who had gone aboard to assist the crew when the ship was drifting. This was the last occasion on which the Timaru Rocket Brigade was called upon to actually use its appliances; but it had an important call to duty on the fatal Sunday, 14th of May, 1882, when the Benvenue was wrecked and the City of Perth stranded, and many lives lost through boat disasters. The Rocket Brigade, seeing the Benvenue drifting twoard3 the cliffs, went thither with their apparatus, but as all hands had left the ship by boat the Brigade had nothing to do. This experience was repeated later in the day when the City of Perth broke adrift. The Brigade kept watch all night, as a third vessel was out in the roadstead, and there was a risk of her coming ashore too, but fortunately her anchors held her securely. The Brigade rendered useful service to those endeavouring to save life in the boating disaster, late in the evening, by burning a wreck-illuminating light at the yard-arm of the pilot’s flagstaff, and its light was much appreciated by the rescuers.

THE WILTSHIRE LESSON. A correspondent of the Auckland “Herald” pointed out that no mention had been made, in any of the published accounts, of the Wiltshire being equipped with portable rocket apparatus, with which she would have been able to pass a line to the shor without having to wait for those on shore to bring down rocket apparatus and, in the face of an easterly gale, to pass a line from the shore to the ship. Had she been able to throw a line the men might have got off much sooner. The writer states that for many years a large number of the leading steamship owners of Britain have equipped their ships with such apparatus. It consists of a line-containing box surmounted by a brass rocket trough. It is so designed that it can be used either cm deck or aloft, and he once saw a young cadet on a training ship carry the b6x aloft with ea,se. The box contained three lengths of line, each 8,50 yards long, faked ready for firing, and a 6ft rocket would carry a line over 300 yards. As a ship going ashore usually has the wind behind her, a line would be carried to the shore more certainly than one from it, against the wind. It would be easy to miss a ship, firing from the shop; impossible to miss the shore from the ship. Once the rocket line was secured, it would not take long to rig up the breeches buoy. The rocket apparatus was supplied to many lines, but not to all, because the Board of Trade' had not made it compulsory. The cost was small—somewhere about £3O per set.