BREECHES BUOY

Photos: Gendisasters, U.S. Coast Guard, Wikipedia, Mendocino Coast Model Railroad & Historical Society

The U.S. Life-Saving Service, a forerunner of the Coast Guard, perfected use of the Breeches Buoy rope system to transfer people from ship to shore in an emergency, such as a ship stranded on the rocks.

Think of the Breeches Buoy as a souped-up life ring on a clothes line with pulleys, as depicted in the bottom illustration. The rescue line to the ship - called the "shot line" - was launched by a small canon on the beach called a Lyle Gun. The second illustration sketches the complete Coast Guard system.

In the third image, Winslow Homer's  1884 painting "Life Line" depicts a breeches buoy rescue. The top image, meantime, shows the March 3, 1947 rescue of the crew of the collier SS Oakey L. Alexander by Coast Guardsmen at High Head, Maine. 

The original rescue rope system was developed by British Captain William Manley in the early 1800s.

Breeches Buoy rescues were common along the treacherous Outer Banks of North Carolina, according to the National Park Service at Cape Hatteras. 

"It was every ship captain’s responsibility to have his vessel and crew prepared in the event of a disaster and instructions were distributed that explained what to do in a rescue attempt by the US Life-Saving Service," the park service said in an online article.

"The most important of thing those on the wreck had to know was to pull in the shot line when it reached their vessel. The lifesavers attached another line with a pulley on it to their end of the shot line but they could do nothing more until this was pulled out by those on the wreck and secured to a mast.

"There were times when the captain or the men on the wreck did not meet this critical responsibility due to fatigue or ignorance. Many shipwreck tragedies could have been averted if only this necessity had been realize."

There were countless just-in-time rescues over the decades.

The U.S. Navy submarine H-3 ran aground in heavy fog at Humboldt Bay, California, on Dec. 16, 1916. It was a very close call for the crew in rough seas. Gas had built up in the engine room. Thankfully,  the officers and enlisted men were brought to shore via a Breeches Buoy operated by U.S. Coast Guardsmen from the Humboldt Bay Lifesaving Station, according to Wikipedia and a dispatch from the International News Service.