An address to the President ... and members, of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce : occasioned by the conduct of a committee of the Society. Together with a vindication of the author from an imputation ... that he had pirated his system of rescue from shipwreck on a lee-shore, from a previous plan of Lieut. Bell / [George William Manby].

  • Manby, George William, 1765-1854
Date:
1816
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An address to the President ... and members, of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce : occasioned by the conduct of a committee of the Society. Together with a vindication of the author from an imputation ... that he had pirated his system of rescue from shipwreck on a lee-shore, from a previous plan of Lieut. Bell / [George William Manby]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    In laying out this apparatus the exact depth at high water of the place where it is to be fixed, should be ascertained; and the slack of the rope between the anchors so proportioned, that the buoy may appear above water at that point of the tide, and yet be unable from want of more rope to rise any higher; otherwise, on dropping with the falling tide, it will let the rope too much on the bottom. For rendering this apparatus conducive to getting off a boat from a flat shore in a storm, when attempts by the mere power of the oars would be fruitless, bring the mortar to the beach, with the rope with the barbed shot (described above) attached to it laid ready in the bas¬ ket, or oblong wooden frame. The barbed shot is to be projected over the rope joining the anchors from the mortar, laid at as low an elevation as is consistent with a sufficient range ; for the lower the elevation, the less will be the parabola or curve, described by the flight of the shot, and, consequently, the less slack rope carried out. The moment the shot has fallen, begin to haul in the slack of the rope with great quickness, to prevent the effect produced on it by a rapid tide. The slack gathered in, let the rope be drawn gently towards the shore, that the barbed shot may catch and fasten itself on the rope between the anchors. When it has effected this, it will bear the force necessary to haul off a boat through the surf into water deep enough to admit of an effective use of the oars. As cast-iron anchors will serve equally well for this purpose, and are much cheaper than those of hammered iron, 1 recommend that such should be adopted. I submit a representation of one weighing \ \ cwi, which the Honourable Navy Board permitted me to get cast at the expense of the government for making the experiments. When, from the loss of masts, or the fury of the w’ind under which no sail can be carried, or from having parted from her anchors during the gale, a ship is observed driving on shore, the point at which she grounds may make the difference of life or death to the crew. It