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Irish
Coast Guard Historic |
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Setting the Scene |
THE SCHERMULY PISTOL ROCKET APPARATUS (S.P.R.A). William Schermuly was an inventor,
developer, and improver of safety equipment used by seafarers, he
was one of the pioneers of safety and life saving equipment on which
most of which today’s equipment is based .It is not the purpose
of this webpage to present
the history of William Schermuly. A comprehensive history can be found
on the website of Steve Johnson. http://www.cyber-heritage.co.uk/schermuly a site worth visiting. Early on he saw
the advantage of a light, portable rocket propelled line thrower.
The Boxer rocket machine of the day was awkward and needed a stable
platform in order to be effective, this was not possible on a ship
rolling and pitching, or indeed anywhere that was not reasonably flat.
He invented the S.P.R.A. This was a cross between a revolver and shotgun.
The firing part was a revolver minus the barrel and the revolving
chambers, the front part was a large bore barrel hinged to the revolver
part. To open it a small lever was positioned on the side, when this
was depressed the barrel fell downwards and a shotgun type cartridge
was inserted into the breech, the gun was then closed. A bigger diameter
barrel with a support handle was built onto the end of the breech
down which the rocket was slid; the rocket had a bridle and wire trace
which was secured to the rocket line which was in a box to the front
of the firer. The gun was lowered to just below waist level, angled
at about 30° and pointing to the casualty, the hammer was cocked
and it was ready to fire. This was first demonstrated in 1927, to
illustrate its lightness and ease of operation his grandson aged 8
years fired the pistol. It carried a line 250 yards (225 metres) without
breaking it and with remarkable accuracy. In1928 it became compulsory
for all vessels of 500 tons and over to carry this S.P.R.A. As with
all inventions although built for a specific purpose it was used for
a large variety of different functions, from assisting berthing in
bad weather, passing a heavy line from one ship to another, for towing
purposes, to being used by British commandos to fire a grapnel up
cliffs on D-Day. The Pains Wessex Schermuly Speedline 250 is the latest
version of his work. All those who go to sea either as crew, passengers
or for pleasure, owe a debt of gratitude to William Schermuly. |