The Opelousas courier., 1890-03-15
THE L%IFESAVERs AT
HOW WRECKED MARINERS ARE
BROUGHT TO SHORE.
Practising With the Brooches Buoy
and Launching the Lifeboat-
Daily Routine of a Crew.

Practising With the Brooches Buoy
and Launching the Lifeboat-
Daily Routine of a Crew.
Soon the busy season of the ife-saving
! corps along the coast will begin, and the
sturdy crews of the little stations are
hard at work practising with lifeline,
breeches buoy and surf-boat for the win.
ter gales and bowling seas. A New York
World reporter tramped across the sands
of Long Beach, L. l., the other day and
made a call on Captain Van Wicklin,
who is in command Of Station SO, with a
watchful eye to the wind for the slight,
est signs of an approaching storm.
Like his brother surfmen along the
coast, Captain Van Wicklin was ready
to repeat the story of how wrecked
mariners are brought safely to shore and
pointed out the value of this and that
Ingenious continuance with the enthu-
siasm of a boy at a circus. To give a
practical demonstration of the efficiency
of his little command the Captain called
his men into the drill-room and informed
them that he would show how lives are
saved by means of the breaches buoy.
Of course, as there was no wrecked ship
to fasten the line to, the demonstration
was made on land. The station flag
pole, which stands about one hundred
yards from the station on a sand hill,
was to be the ship in distress for the oc-
casion.
One of the crew was sent to the flag
pole, and from that point shot off a small
cannon as a signal of distress. A quick
order from Captain Van Wicklin, and
the next moment the crew were hauling
the carriage containing the appurten-
ances TO the breeches buoy over the sand
at a great rate. At the top of the knoll
they stopped, and in accordance with
orders piled the ropes and Lyle gun on
the sand in position ready for use. A
charge of giant powder was hastily
rammed into the gun, and on top of this
was placed a heavy bar of steel, at n
end of which was fastened a long piece
of neatly coiled rope.
While the Captain was preparing the
charge and aiming the gun for the flag
pole, as the imaginary ship, the Other
members of the crew were burying in the
sand two heavy cross beams to which the
pulleys and heavy ropes were attached.
stStand readyi" cried the Captain. The
crew Immediately took their positions at
the ropes, and a second later off went
the bar of steel through the air like a
rocket, taking with it the rapidly uncoil-
ing line. The Captains aim was a good
one, for a secondslate the "shipwrecked
sailor was hauling in the big rope, which
had now been attached to the first line.
When he took hold of the big rope, he
found a black board tied to it with the
following instructions painted in white
letters:
snake this hawser fast about two feet
above the tart block. See that all is
clear, and that the block runs free and
show signal to the shore"
The sailor fastened the rope as he was
It'd, and showed the signal. The crew
then 1oisted a huge prop like a tent-pole
under the rope about ten feetfrom where
it was fastened in the sand. In the
meantime the light line had been run out
again by a series of pulleys, and when it
had completed the circuit the breeches
buoy was attached and quickly sent to-
ward the sailor over the imaginary waV
The sailor, who had fastened the rope
about eight feet up the pole climbed into
buoy, and with a rush and a hurrah the
crew brought him safe to shore.
tsEvery man in the crew. said Captain
Van Wicklin, sshas a regular position and
especial duty to perform, and that alone
he is required to do, unless an emergency
requires his services elsewhere
The ife-car is another adjunct, and a
valuable one, to the saving of life. It is
an inclosed boat, built of thin sheet iron,
about ten feet long, and pointed at both
ends. At the top of the car is a small
trap door, which is just large enough to
admit the passage Of a medium-sized
man. At each end are two iron rings
through which the ropes are run and the
rigging from the shore to the ship is the
same as that used with the breeches
buoy. The car is only used when the
surf is too high for both the breeches
buoy and the hfe-boat, and when the
ahsp is liable to go to pieces at any mo-
rnent. The car will accommodate six or
eight persons, while the buoy only carries
one at a time. It has been used with
crest success in a high sea, as the men at
the oars are protected from the waves.
The single passenger in the buoy often
goes under q heavy wave and in one case
on the coast near Maine a man being res
cued in this way was drowned before he
could be hauled ashore.
After the ropes and the buoy were run
back to the station the order was given
for practice with the life-boat. The
men stood 1T the ropes and at the proper
order out Of the station they rIshed
with the boats on its carriage. A stiff
pull Of nearly 200 yards brought them
Il the waters edge, where the wheels
we're unlocked and taken apart, letting
The boat fall gently on the sand with her
nose pointing toward the sea.
Each man then buckled around his
waist q huge cork hfe-preserver, and lay.
inag bis oar along the gunwale, took his
stand near his seat. AT another order
The boat was pushed through the sand
until her nose just touched the retreating
wave.
Do you want to get wetan asked Cap
tain Van Wicklen, of the reporter, who
agreed to take q ducklng for the sake Of
: TRIP through the surf.
Aanh nf fha crew had on 4 snif 81