252 NICHOLAS'S SEAMANSHIP AND NAUTICAL KNOWLEDGE
bearing in mind that the lines should be kept clear from chafing
the wicck, and that space is left above foi the hawser (see par.
5), When the tail block is made fast, and the rocket line un-
bent from the whip, let one of the crew, separated from the
rest, make the signal required by Article 1 above
4. As soon as the signal is seen on shore, a hawser will be bent to
the whip line, and will be hauled ofi 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 2 feet higher (Fig (ii)) taking care that there are
no turns of the whip line round the hawser, the whip should then
be unbent from the hawser.
6. When the hawser has been made fast on board, the signal directed
to be made in Article 1 above is to be repeated.
7. The men on shore will then set the hawser taut, and by means of
the whip line will haul off to the ship a sling lifebuoy, into which
the person to be hauled ashore is to get (Fig. (in.)). 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 I above.
The people on shore will then haul the person in the sling to
the shore, and when he has landed will haul back the empty
sling to the ship for others This operation will be repeated
until all persons are landed.
8. It may sometimes happen that the state of the weather and the
condition of the ship will not admit of a hawser being set up;
in such cases, a sling lifebuoy will be hauled off by the whip,
which will be used without the hawser.
9. This method is only adopted when shipwrecked persons have to
be landed on to a pier or high ground, and is never to be used
on flat shores.
Masters and crews of stranded vessels should bear in rnind that
success in landing them in a great measure depends upon their coolness,
and attention to the rules here laid down; and that by attending to
them many lives are annually saved by the rocket apparatus on the
coasts of the United Kingdom.
The System of Signalling must be strictly adhered to; and all women,
children, passengers, and helpless persons should be landed before the
crew of the ship.