| Fig. 8.—Plans, Profile and Section of Watson Type of Life-boat. Lettering as in fig. 5, but C, side air-cases above deck and thwarts. |
The rocket apparatus consists of five principal parts, viz. the rocket, the rocket-line, the whip, the hawser and the sling life-buoy. The mode of working it is as follows. A rocket, having a light line attached to it, is fired over the wreck. By means of this line the wrecked crew haul out the whip, which is a double or endless line, rove through a block with a tail attached to it. The tail-block, having been detached from the rocket-line, is fastened to a mast, or other portion of the wreck, high above the water. By means of the whip the rescuers haul off the hawser, to which is hung the travelling or sling life-buoy. When one end of the hawser has been made fast to the mast, about 18 in. above the whip, and its other end to tackle fixed to an anchor on shore, the life-buoy is run out by the rescuers, and the shipwrecked persons, getting into it one at a time, are hauled ashore. Sometimes, in cases of urgency, the life-buoy is worked by means of the whip alone, without the hawser. Captain G. W. Manby, F.R.S., in 1807 invented, or at least introduced, the mortar apparatus, on which the system of the rocket apparatus, which superseded it in England, is founded. Previously, however, in 1791, the idea of throwing a rope from a wreck to the shore by means of a shell from a mortar had occurred to Serjeant Bell of the Royal Artillery, and about the same time, to a Frenchman named La Fère, both of whom made successful experiments with their apparatus. In the same year (1807) a rocket was proposed by Mr Trengrouse of Helston in Cornwall, also a hand and lead line as means of communicating with vessels in distress. The heaving-cane was a fruit of the latter suggestion. In 1814 forty-five mortar stations were established, and Manby received £2000, in addition to previous grants, in acknowledgment of the good service rendered by his invention. Mr John Dennett of Newport, Isle of Wight, introduced the rocket, which was afterwards extensively used. In 1826 four places in the Isle of Wight were supplied with Dennett’s rockets, but it was not till after government had taken the apparatus under its own control, in 1855, that the rocket invented by Colonel Boxer was adopted. Its peculiar characteristic lies in the combination of two rockets in one case, one being a continuation of the other, so that, after the first compartment has carried the machine to its full elevation, the second gives it an additional impetus whereby a great increase of range is obtained.
(R. M. B.; C. Di.)
| Fig. 9.—Life-boat Transporting-Carriage with Tipping’s Wheel-Plates. |
United States.—In the extent of coast line covered, magnitude of operations and the extraordinary success which has crowned its efforts, the life-saving service of the United States is not surpassed by any other institution of its kind in the world. Notwithstanding the exposed and dangerous nature of the coasts flanking and stretching between the approaches to the principal seaports, and the immense amount of shipping concentrating upon them, the loss of life among a total of 121,459 persons imperilled by marine casualty within the scope of the operations of the service from its organization in 1871 to the 30th of June 1907, was less than 1%, and even this small proportion is made up largely of persons washed overboard immediately upon the striking of vessels and before any assistance could reach them, or lost in attempts to land in their own boats, and people thrown into the sea by the capsizing of small craft. In the scheme of the service, next in importance to the saving of life is the saving of property from marine disaster, for which no salvage or reward is allowed. During the period named vessels and cargoes to the value of nearly two hundred million dollars were saved, while only about a quarter as much was lost.
The first government life-saving stations were plain boat-houses erected on the coast of New Jersey in 1848, each equipped with a fisherman’s surf-boat and a mortar and life-car with accessories. Prior to this time, as early as 1789, a benevolent organization known as the Massachusetts Humane Society had erected rude huts along the coast of that state, followed by a station at Cohasset in 1807 equipped with a boat for use by volunteer crews. Others were subsequently added. Between 1849 and 1870 this society secured appropriations from Congress aggregating $40,000. It still maintains sixty-nine stations on the Massachusetts coast. The government service was extended in 1849 to the coast of Long Island, and in 1850 one station was placed on the Rhode Island coast. In 1854 the appointment of keepers for the New Jersey and Long Island stations, and a superintendent for each of these coasts, was authorized by law. Volunteer crews were depended upon until 1870, when Congress authorized crews at each alternate station for the three winter months.
The present system was inaugurated in 1871 by Sumner I. Kimball, who in that year was appointed chief of the Revenue Cutter Service, which had charge of the few existing stations. He recommended an appropriation of $200,000 and authority for the employment of crews for all stations for such periods as were deemed necessary, which were granted. The existing stations were thoroughly overhauled and put in condition for the housing of crews; necessary boats and equipment were furnished; incapable keepers, who had been appointed largely for political reasons, were supplanted by experienced men; additional stations were established; all were manned by capable surfmen; the merit system for appointments and promotions was inaugurated; a beach patrol system was introduced, together with a system of signals; and regulations for the government of the service were promulgated. The result of the transformation was immediate and striking. At the end of the year it was found that not a life had been lost within the domain of the service; and at the end of the second year the record was almost identical, but one life having been lost, although the service had been extended to embrace the dangerous coast of Cape Cod. Legislation was subsequently secured, totally eliminating politics in the choice of officers and men, and making other provisions necessary for the completion of the system. The service continued to grow in extent and importance until, in 1878, it was separated from the Revenue Cutter Service and organized into a separate bureau of the Treasury, its administration being placed in the hands of a general superintendent appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate, his term of office being limited only by the will of the president. Mr Kimball was appointed to the position, which he still held in 1909.
The service embraces thirteen districts, with 280 stations located at selected points upon the sea and lake coasts. Nine districts on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts contain 201 stations, including nine houses of refuge on the Florida coast, each in charge of a keeper only, without crews; three districts on the Great Lakes contain 61 stations, including one at the falls of the Ohio river, Louisville, Kentucky; and one district on the Pacific coast contains 18 stations, including one at Nome, Alaska.
The general administration of the service is conducted by a general superintendent; an inspector of life-saving stations and two superintendents of construction of life-saving stations detailed from the Revenue Cutter Service; a district superintendent for each district; and assistant inspectors of stations, also detailed from the Revenue Cutter Service “to perform such duties in connexion with the conduct of the service as the general superintendent may require.” There is also an advisory board on life-saving appliances consisting of experts, to consider devices and inventions submitted by the general superintendent.