COMMUNICATION WITH STRANDED SHIPS.

Auckland Examiner, Volume III, Issue 141, 12 March 1859, Page 2

COMMUNICATION WITH STRANDED SHIPS.

[From the Times, November 17.] It frequently happens that not only delay takes place in Ihe re.-cue of shipwrecked persons with the life-pre-tsrixiii- apparatus, but occasionally most fatal results oc-nr in carequonee of the people on board the wreck not understanding what steps to take after communication has oeen effected, perhaps with much difficulty, with tleir shir. Many lame, table instances of the want of Knowledge on this must inipi itant subject has from time to time been brought under the notice of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, which has at different times called attention to the necessity of issuing some bimplu instructions concerning the management of the inu tar and rocket apparatus on board merchant vessels. The masters of all vessels, both large and small, should lie compelled to undergo an examination as to their knowledge of the of the apparatus on board their ships ; tor on that knowledge will often depend the safety

or destruction of themselves and crews when overtaken l>\ shipwreck. With the view of facilitating a know us to the steps to be taken on board ships on such occasions, we append the excellent instructions issued by the B ard of'irude on this important subject I’l'-cetions to Masters p.ml Crews of Ships.—ln the e>ei.b ut your vessel stranding on the coast of tbe United Kingdom, and the lives of die crew being placed m danger, assistance will, if possible, be rendered from the

allure n. (be following manner, namplj — 1 A rocket vr shut, wiih a tl.in line attached, will be fired m-ross yonr vessel. Get hold of this line as soon a» you can, and when you hnve secured it, let one of tin crew be separated from the rest, and, if in the day time, wave his hat or his hand, or a flag or handkerchief; or. if nt night, let a rocket, a blue light, or a gm be fired, vr let 11,light be displayed over the side of the ship, and be again concealed, as « signal to those on shore.

9. When you see one of the men on shore, separated from the rest, wave a red flag, or (if at night) show a red light and then conceal if, you are to haul upon the rocket line until von get a tailed block with an endless fall rove through it 3. Make the tail of the block fast to the mast, about fifteen feet above the deck, or, if your masts are gone, to the highest seenre part of the vessel ; and when the tailblock is made fast, let one of the crew, separated from the rest, make the signal required by arti-le 1 above.

4. As soon as the signal is s en on shore a hawser will he bent on the whip-line, and will be hauled off to the ship by those on shore. 5. When the hawser is got on board, the crew should at once make it. fast to the same part of the ship as the tailed block is made fast to, only about eighteen inches higher, taking care that there are no turns of the whipline round the hawser. C. When the hawser has been made fast on board, the signal directed by article 1, above, is to be repeated. 7. The men on shore will then pull the hawser taut, and by means of the whip-line will haul off to the ship a sling-cot, or life-buoy, into which the person to be hauled ashore is to get and be made fast. When he is in and secure, one of the crew must be separated from the rest, and again signal to the shore, as directed in article 1 above. The people on shore will then haul the person in the sling to tbe shore, mid when be has landed, wjll haul back the empty sling to the ship, for others. This operation will be repeated until all persons are hqnled ashore from the shipwrecked vessel. 8. It may sometimes happen that the state of the weather- and the condition of the ship will not admit of 11 hawser being set up, in which case a sling or life-buoy will be hauled off instead, and the persons to be rescued will be hauled through the surf instead of along the hawser. Masters and crews of shipwrecked vessels should bear in mind that the success in landing them, may, in a great measure depend upon their coolness and attention to the riileu here laid down , and that by attending to them many lives are annually saved by the mortar and rocket apparatus on the coasts of the United Kingdom. The system of signalling must be strictly adbeied to, and al- women, children, passengers, and helpless persona, should be landed befurk the crew of the ship. The illustrations will help to explain the manner in winch the mortar and rocket are used.” What tbe National Life-boat Institution has for some years past advocated on this subject has at. length been effectual!v carried out by the Board of Trade—an improved and more complete apparatus in use on the coast, and a uniform rule in its arrangement, both on shore and on ship-board. It is a great st.pp in advance towards the fulfilment of our national duty to afford relief to shipwrecked persons on our coasts, and we prognosticate the happiest results as a consequence.

The Sappho.—Captain G. Goldsmith, CB., the superintendent at this dockyard, has received directions from the Lords of the Admiralty to investigate the particulars which have been made public relative to the alleged wreck of the sloop Sappho. 12, Commander Fairfax Moresby, on an island in the Pacific Ocean, a letter having been stated to have been renewed to that effect. Cuptuin Goldsmith has written to the Lords of the Admiralty, to tbe effect that no faith is to be placed in su<-h a statement, as the alleged receiver of the letter at Stonehouse cannot be found, and no confirmatory evidence has been adduced as to the truth of tbe statement. The Sappho sailed from the Cape of Good Hope for Australia in January last, since which nothing whatever has been heard of her, and it is conjectured by some that she has foundered.—[Mitchell's Maritime Register, Dec. 4.]