In the early 19th century, people watching a wreck develop near the shore but helpless to help due to the stormy conditions caused them great distress. In particular, a storm on 18 February 1807 troubled George Manby so much with the grounding of HMS Snipe off the Great Yarmouth shore with many drowning, it led to his initial development of what came to be known as Rocket Apparatus and subsequently developed into the Breeches Buoy. Here, volunteer Roger Burns gives insight to what has become essential life-saving equipment for vessels in distress near to land.
George William Manby (1765 – 1854) rejected as too young at 17 and too small when volunteering to fight in the American War of independence, instead eventually became a captain in the Cambridgeshire Militia until 1793 and in 1803 had been appointed Barrack-Master at Great Yarmouth. Manby witnessed the 1807 tragedy and although HMS Snipe was later recovered, the inability to help those on board only some 50m from the shore inspired Manby to seek a solution. Reportedly, Manby when 18 experimentally fired a line from a mortar over Downham Church and remembering this after the Snipe incident led him to experimenting with mortars firing a line with a grappling hook to a ship foundering near shore, illustrated in Figure 1. The thin line when caught by the crew would be used to pull in a more substantial rope.
Figure 1: An 1842 Illustrative Drawing of the Manby Mortar
Source: Johann Jacob Weber (Hrsg.), 1803–1880, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Manby twice successfully demonstrated his invention, on 26 August and 10 September 1807 at Lowestoft, and on 13 February 1808 supervised an actual rescue of the crew of the brig Elizabeth driven ashore at Great Yarmouth during a storm using a carriage gun to fire the rope. Manby received a Gold Medal from The Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce for his invention. On 4 October 1808 before a Committee of Artillery Officers, an Admiral and Naval Officers, Manby demonstrated his device firing his rope about 100m to a ship on the Thames whose crew pulled the larger rope aboard, affixing it to the mast head, while, as the ship rolled, adjusting the tension as a cot with a small rope attached travelled to the ship, then brought someone to shore, all within 15 minutes, impressing the assembled company. Ongoing successful rescues using the apparatus at Great Yarmouth and Winterton led to its official adoption and apparatus was established at mortar stations around the coast. Jacques Joseph Ducarne de Blangy of France (1728-1808) devised a similar apparatus although there is no known connection with Manby, as had Lieutenant John Bell, RA (1747-1798) said to be identical to Manby’s later invention, and that was later formally recognised.
On 4 March 1824, Manby was at a meeting when what became the RNLI was founded, and received their Gold medal in 1825. Manby invented a fire extinguisher and other live saving equipment which led to a variety of foreign Awards, and, in March 1842 a Queen Victoria Gold Coronation Medal. His apparatus was exhibited at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London. He also gave presentations on preserving life, such as can be read here and a film was made about his invention.
In parallel, Henry Trengrouse (1772-18540) having witnessed the wrecking of HMS Anson at Mount’s Bay, Cornwall, with significant loss of life, resolved to devise a method of saving lives from wrecks. Initially he concentrated on devising a lifeboat but without tangible results so turned to “Rocket” life-saving equipment. He devised a life-jacket and invented a rocket powered system incorporating what he termed as a “Bosun’s Chair which later became to be called the Breeches Buoy. The British Government did not recognise his invention but others did, including the Czar of Russia with a diamond ring as his apparatus was successfully used in the Baltic, and the Society of Arts who awarded their Silver Medal. The British Government eventually ordered 20 sets of the system, and chose to give Trengrouse a mere £50, (c.£3.3k in 2025), manufacturing more sets themselves.
An improved rocket was invented in 1826 by John Dennett who lived on the Isle of Wight and his work is highlighted here and also here. Improvements included less weight, therefore more quickly and more easily manoeuvrable to where required, with greater range culminating in a trial held at Freshwater, Isle of Wight in May 1827 under the auspices of the IoW Coastguard who concluded that the Rocket was preferred to the Manby mortar. In 1826 the Royal National Institution for Saving Life from Shipwreck supplied Dennet’s rockets in four locations on the Isle of Wight, and the first real life rescue was at Bembridge in 1832 and by 1853, there were 120 such stations around the UK. A later model was devised by Edward Mounier Boxer in 1855, who also lived on the Isle of Wight, consisting of a two-stage rocket, Figure 2, thus increasing range.
Figure 2: Example of the Boxer Rocket
Source: Geni, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A key component in whatever propellant is used is that the attached line runs freely from where it is stored. Figure 1 shows it coiled but eventually rope was looped on faking pegs in a large flaking box, Figure 3. Just prior to launch, the faking pegs were withdrawn and the open face of the box tilted slightly towards the target, enabling the throwing line to run freely.
Figure 3: Lyle Mortar with Flaking Box and Throwing Line displayed in Portsmouth USA Life-Saving Station
Source: Jarek Tuszyński / CC-BY-SA-3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Lyle Mortar was used in the United States of America, replaced by Rocket Apparatus in 1952
(Faking or Flaking – see definitions at end)
The Board of Trade took over the management of rocket apparatus in 1857 and one vital provision was to ensure crews of vessels understood what to do with the line and instruction cards were issued to crews, owners and masters who were required to place them prominently in their ships. All mercantile marine officers were required to understand the working of the apparatus. Cards were also fixed in coastal public places along the coast.
Demonstrations were often in benign weather and a true understanding in storm conditions of effecting ship to shore rescue is seen here.
William Schermuly (1857-1929) was until 1880 an experienced sailor in sailing vessels and appreciated the dangers that these ships could encounter. He then embarked on devising ways of saving those in distress at sea and by 1897, after trying many solutions, he had a ship throwing line that was practical which the Government then tested against other devices resulting in a high recommendation. However, ship owners were at first reluctant to invest but Sir Ernest Shackleton saw the benefits and fitted one to his Endurance resulting in others placing orders. Working with his son, the Schermulys invented the Pistol Rocket Apparatus in 1920, which would propel a wire that could be attached to a cable with the objective of transferring people from a ship to the safety of the shore. A series of world-wide demonstrations around the world followed including Holland in 1922, British and French Navies in 1926, U.S.A. in 1927, organisations including shipping lines at home, and the Board of Trade in 1928. Production “took off” driven by introduction of an Act of Parliament making compulsory the carrying of line-throwing appliances in British registered ships of over 500 tons. Sadly, William Schermuly died very soon afterwards. The company expanded to larger premises and in the Second World War adapted their launcher for unarmed/lightly armed merchantmen to carry a parachute with a wire to which was attached small explosive devices, the intention being that reaching its apogee, the wire drifting downwards or the explosives would damage the aircraft, akin to a mini-barrage balloon. The factory production also included coloured smoke grenades, mini-flares, wind indicator cartridges, and signal cartridges. Pains-Wessex became a major competitor and merged with them when ownership of the Schermuly company passed to the Wilkinson Group in 1973.
The Schermuly Pistol Rocket Apparatus which had been patented underwent a series of iterations, and Figure 4 shows an early version which is on display at the Shipwreck Centre and Maritime Museum at Arreton. This example weighs 3.3kg.
Figure 4: Schermuly Pistol Rocket Gun
The Schermuly Pistol Rocket Apparatus was useful for other purposes, such as rebuilding power lines in countryside as depicted here which also includes an image of the box within which the required components were held.
Examples of Rocket Apparatus used in anger are mentioned in these shipwrecking incidents:
- SV Irex – https://maritimearchaeologytrust.org/sv-irex/
- SV Pindos – https://maritimearchaeologytrust.org/the-pindos/
Faking and Flaking – Both terms are used. Fake is to lay out a rope or wire in coils which then become flaked down. A rope can be flaked down but not in a coil, rather laid out shipshape fashion in long, non-kinking and overlapping figure of eight bights for easy and trouble-free running when pulled out, so flaking was a system by which a long line could be efficiently wound into a small space which when pulled ran freely.