Breeches buoy

The correspondent of the Scotsman, wrote :—"A very violent gale from the came on yesterday, with thunder and lightning, and the night was extremely stormy.

number of heavily-laden collier brigs had sailed on the preceding day for the Baltic, and people became very anxious about their safety, and are so yet.

About four o'clock the brigantine Tenterden, Mr M'Kay, master, bound from Dundee to Sunderland, was running for the Tyne for shelter, when she missed the harbour mouth, and ran behind the south pier.

Having connected the ship with the shore by means of a hawser, a cradle was sent off, and the crew (five in number), with the master's wife and child, were safely brought ashore.

This is the first time that a volunteer corps has had the opportunity of rescuing shipwrecked crew, and South Shields therefore carries off the laurel.

Before the event the crew sets up their equipment, which includes a thin shot line attached to the tower simulating the crow's nest of a sinking ship, a high line made of a hawser, a block and tackle, a deadman with a cleat, an endless whip with a block, a chair, and shear legs.

At the go signal, time begins and does not stop until the participant who is being rescued from the tower is on the ground and the coxswain calls the crew to attention again.

Once the high line reaches the tower, it is attached to the mast with a round turn and two half hitches and a signal is passed to the coxswain.