Rocket station

[river]

Admiralty charts have a symbol for "Rescue station, lifeboat station, rocket station". What is a rocket station?

Some web searching reveals it maybe a place which attempts to rescue people by firing a rocket propelled rope. (mentioned here: Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre | Filey Lifeboats history)
Is that right, and is it still a thing?

 

[Motor_Sailor]

Up until (X) years ago (I've forgotten), many coastguard stations around the coast had a 'breaches buoy' rescue team for bringing ashore ship crews from stranded vessels. The initial line between ship and shore was fired across on a rocket. Helicopters pretty much made the technique obsolete but they remained in service for some time as they were big boys toys / exciting / good PR / there was a useable supply of rockets.

 

[alan_d]

Up until (X) years ago (I've forgotten), many coastguard stations around the coast had a 'breaches buoy' rescue team for bringing ashore ship crews from stranded vessels. The initial line between ship and shore was fired across on a rocket. Helicopters pretty much made the technique obsolete but they remained in service for some time as they were big boys toys / exciting / good PR / there was a useable supply of rockets.

Not breaches but breeches (as in trousers) because the person being rescued was supported by what looked like cut-off canvas trousers slung under a circular life-buoy.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Up until (X) years ago (I've forgotten), many coastguard stations around the coast had a 'breaches buoy' rescue team for bringing ashore ship crews from stranded vessels. The initial line between ship and shore was fired across on a rocket. Helicopters pretty much made the technique obsolete but they remained in service for some time as they were big boys toys / exciting / good PR / there was a useable supply of rockets.

Yes, the coastguard stations generally had a separate hut dedicated to the storage of the breeches buoy equipment.
During my teenage years I used to spend a lot of time in Skerries, County Dublin and was aware of the " Lifesaving Hut" and the "Monkey Pole". Although initially unaware, I subsequently learned that the little park close to the Harbour had been the site of the Coastguard Station from 1821 to 1921, when it had been destroyed by fire during the War of Independence. HM Coastguard withdrew from Ireland with the inception of the Free State in 1922 and the hut was subsequently used by the Coast Lifesaving Service. I'm not sure of the when th Skerries hut went out of use, but the C.L.S. remained in existence untin 1992 when the Irish Coastguard was formed.An RNLI lifeboat station was re-established in the town in the early '80s, the earlier one having been closed in 1930 with the arrival of a motor lifeboat in Howth. The Lifesaving Hut was used by the lifeboat until a new station was built.
Close to the hut, on the foreshore, was a wooden pole, similar to a large telegraph pole, with wooden steps all the way to the top, where there was a stout metal band to which was attached a large ring. This pole was used for training of coastguard members in the rigging of the breeches buoy equipment. These poles can be found at various places around the coastline. The one at Skerries has recently been restored as a memorial.
A fully equipped example of the type of handcart used to transport the Lifesaving equipment can be seen in the Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire.
Breeches buoys were also used for the transfer of personnel, particularly Surgeons, between Naval vessels at sea in conditions when the use of boats was impractical and for the transfer of lighthouse crew from tenders to lighthouses, although rockets weren't generally used in these instances.

 

[vyv_cox]

I recall seeing a rocket rescue training exercise at Oxwich in, I guess, 1953 or thereabouts. The rocket was made of aluminium, about 3 ft long and 4 inches in diameter. It dragged a wire line quite a good distance, maybe 200 yards.

 

[LittleSister]

I was with some friends at Sea Palling, Norfolk, mid-1970s, messing about kicking a football around on a field just inshore of the high coast flood-defence embankment Suddenly there was a thud - a tube such as described by Vyv Cox had hit the ground just a few feet from us! It could have caused very serious injury had it actually hit anyone.

Unbeknown to us there was some sort of rescue going on around the beach on the other side of the embankment. Trailing from it was a wire or thin rope coming over the flood embankment from the seaward side. I can't remember now whether we actually established, or just surmised or were told, it had been fired from a lifeboat just off the beach.

 

[Laysula]

You have to wear your Breeches buoy correctly. Not like Lesley.

Starts at 3.00 min in.

 

[Juan Twothree]

I was with some friends at Sea Palling, Norfolk, mid-1970s, messing about kicking a football around on a field just inshore of the high coast flood-defence embankment Suddenly there was a thud - a tube such as described by Vyv Cox had hit the ground just a few feet from us! It could have caused very serious injury had it actually hit anyone.

Unbeknown to us there was some sort of rescue going on around the beach on the other side of the embankment. Trailing from it was a wire or thin rope coming over the flood embankment from the seaward side. I can't remember now whether we actually established, or just surmised or were told, it had been fired from a lifeboat just off the beach.

Just imagine the chaos that would ensue if a lifeboat fired a rocket line to the shore, but missed, the wind then got hold of the business end, which subsequently went right over the beach, onto a dual carriageway, and went between a lorry cab and its trailer that was travelling at around 50mph.

Just imagine how embarrassing that would be.

So it's a good job it never happened. Oh no. Definitely not.

 

[Just_sayin']

I have a vague memory that the Needles lighthouse keepers had their Christmas tree and goodies fired to them by rocket from a lifeboat.

I’m happy to be corrected??

 

[Motor_Sailor]

"Coastguards stand by as the pirate radio station , Radio Caroline is pounded by heavy seas off Frinton Beach . The pop vessel is reported to be in danger of breaking up . Normally anchored three and a half miles off Walton-on-the-Naze , Essex , she ran into trouble in a force 8 gale after closing down last night. Crew members and disc jockeys (including Tony Blackburn) were rescued by breeches buoy . 20th January 1966".

 

[Motor_Sailor]

The last Coastguard Competition for breeches buoy rescue teams would appear to have been about 1985. That seems about right.

 

[LittleSister]

Is there not some sort of modern replacement?

I would have thought that needing to get a line (further than it can be thrown manually) among rocks or shallower water than a lifeboat (even inshore ones), or across to a vessel in conditions such as illustrated by the Radio Caroline story above, would be a quite common occurrence for rescue craft. Helicopters are very useful, but can sometimes take quite a while to arrive, and can't operate everywhere or in all conditions.

 

[Cardinal]

Drones surely would take a light line?

 

[TwoFish]

Is there not some sort of modern replacement?

I would have thought that needing to get a line (further than it can be thrown manually) among rocks or shallower water than a lifeboat (even inshore ones), or across to a vessel in conditions such as illustrated by the Radio Caroline story above, would be a quite common occurrence for rescue craft. Helicopters are very useful, but can sometimes take quite a while to arrive, and can't operate everywhere or in all conditions.

 

[bikedaft]

Just imagine the chaos that would ensue if a lifeboat fired a rocket line to the shore, but missed, the wind then got hold of the business end, which subsequently went right over the beach, onto a dual carriageway, and went between a lorry cab and its trailer that was travelling at around 50mph.

Just imagine how embarrassing that would be.

So it's a good job it never happened. Oh no. Definitely not.

Please tell us more! You can't leave that hanging like that...

 

[penberth3]

Just imagine the chaos that would ensue if a lifeboat fired a rocket line to the shore, but missed, the wind then got hold of the business end, which subsequently went right over the beach, onto a dual carriageway, and went between a lorry cab and its trailer that was travelling at around 50mph.

Just imagine how embarrassing that would be.

So it's a good job it never happened. Oh no. Definitely not.

If that did ever happen, no need to re-pack the line! This is for Schermuly Pistol rather than Breeches Buoy.

Wound round a frame of needles which are then withdrawn, so not quite as hard as it looks!

 

[penfold]

Just imagine the chaos that would ensue if a lifeboat fired a rocket line to the shore, but missed, the wind then got hold of the business end, which subsequently went right over the beach, onto a dual carriageway, and went between a lorry cab and its trailer that was travelling at around 50mph.

Just imagine how embarrassing that would be.

So it's a good job it never happened. Oh no. Definitely not.

That's what sharp knives are for.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Yes, the coastguard stations generally had a separate hut dedicated to the storage of the breeches buoy equipment.
During my teenage years I used to spend a lot of time in Skerries, County Dublin and was aware of the " Lifesaving Hut" and the "Monkey Pole". Although initially unaware, I subsequently learned that the little park close to the Harbour had been the site of the Coastguard Station from 1821 to 1921, when it had been destroyed by fire during the War of Independence. HM Coastguard withdrew from Ireland with the inception of the Free State in 1922 and the hut was subsequently used by the Coast Lifesaving Service. I'm not sure of the when th Skerries hut went out of use, but the C.L.S. remained in existence untin 1992 when the Irish Coastguard was formed.An RNLI lifeboat station was re-established in the town in the early '80s, the earlier one having been closed in 1930 with the arrival of a motor lifeboat in Howth. The Lifesaving Hut was used by the lifeboat until a new station was built.
Close to the hut, on the foreshore, was a wooden pole, similar to a large telegraph pole, with wooden steps all the way to the top, where there was a stout metal band to which was attached a large ring. This pole was used for training of coastguard members in the rigging of the breeches buoy equipment. These poles can be found at various places around the coastline. The one at Skerries has recently been restored as a memorial.
A fully equipped example of the type of handcart used to transport the Lifesaving equipment can be seen in the Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire.
Breeches buoys were also used for the transfer of personnel, particularly Surgeons, between Naval vessels at sea in conditions when the use of boats was impractical and for the transfer of lighthouse crew from tenders to lighthouses, although rockets weren't generally used in these instances.

Too late to add as an edit, here is a potted history of the Coastguard/Coast Guard in Ireland, including Skeries in particular and some info about the rocket equipment:
History of Skerries Coast Guard
I was surprised to learn that the hut never went out of use, was indeed modernised in the 1960s and at the times when I was camping beside it, actually contained lifsaving rocket equipment

 

[TwoFish]

Close to the hut, on the foreshore, was a wooden pole, similar to a large telegraph pole, with wooden steps all the way to the top, where there was a stout metal band to which was attached a large ring. This pole was used for training of coastguard members in the rigging of the breeches buoy equipment.

Interesting, thank you. I'd forgotten about those poles. I remember, as a child, being curious about a similar pole at Langness (Isle of Man). Later, during Duke of Edinburgh's Award years, I got to train with the coastguard there during a rocket firing exercise and concluded that rockets were things I'd prefer to keep well away from. I also, by chance, witnessed the same coasties involved with the RNLI in a very brave rescue where a yacht was lost at Derbyhaven, IoM. The coasties had saved one man via breeches buoy by the time I arrived. The RNLI then saved two more in (to put it mildly) rather dramatic style. Sadly the fourth man on the yacht was lost. That rescue left a profound impression and is part of the reason why, forty years on, I now volunteer as RNLI crew, albeit on calmer waters.

The RNLI report of the rescue includes a picture of the rocket apparatus.

When the Yacht Melfort Went Aground

and this article also touches on the history of the Rocket Brigades on the IoM.

http://www.abc.org.im/BAR/BAR109 2020-10-06 Coastguard stations - guarding the coast.pdf

 

[CJU]

Interesting, thank you. I'd forgotten about those poles. I remember, as a child, being curious about a similar pole at Langness (Isle of Man). Later, during Duke of Edinburgh's Award years, I got to train with the coastguard there during a rocket firing exercise and concluded that rockets were things I'd prefer to keep well away from. I also, by chance, witnessed the same coasties involved with the RNLI in a very brave rescue where a yacht was lost at Derbyhaven, IoM. The coasties had saved one man via breeches buoy by the time I arrived. The RNLI then saved two more in (to put it mildly) rather dramatic style. Sadly the fourth man on the yacht was lost. That rescue left a profound impression and is part of the reason why, forty years on, I now volunteer as RNLI crew, albeit on calmer waters.

The RNLI report of the rescue includes a picture of the rocket apparatus.

When the Yacht Melfort Went Aground

and this article also touches on the history of the Rocket Brigades on the IoM.

http://www.abc.org.im/BAR/BAR109 2020-10-06 Coastguard stations - guarding the coast.pdf