“Make the hawser fast about two feet above the tail-block; see all clear, and that the rope in the block runs free; show signal to the shore.”
FIGURE 2.
These instructions being obeyed, the result will be shown as in [Figure 2].
FIGURE 3.
Particular care must be taken that there are no turns of the whip, the endless line, around the hawser; to prevent this the end of the hawser is taken up between the parts of the whip, the endless line, before making it fast. When the hawser is made fast to the wrecked vessel, the whip, the endless line, is cast off from the hawser, and the life savers, having been signaled to this effect, make the shore end of the hawser fast to the strap of the sand anchor. The crotch is then placed under the hawser and raised, and the latter drawn as taut as possible, thus making a slender bridge of rope between the vessel and shore. The traveler block, from which is suspended the breeches-buoy, is then put on the hawser, the whip, the endless line, made fast to breeches-buoy, and thus hauled to and from the vessel, as shown in [Figure 3], which represent the apparatus rigged with the breeches-buoy hauled out to the vessel.
SHOT USED WITH LYLE GUN.
The life savers always carry a good supply of shot and lines with them, and if the first shot fails to carry the line to the vessel, which seldom occurs, owing to the skill of those who have charge of this important branch of the work, a second one is promptly fired. The work of hauling the breeches-buoy to and from a wrecked vessel is an arduous task. The whip, the endless line, after passing through the seas, becomes coated with ice and sand, which cuts the mittens and lacerates the hands of the surfmen in a fearful manner at times.