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Irish
Coast Guard Historic |
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Setting the Scene |
THE HAWSER (JACKSTAY) CUTTER. When the rescue was completed and
the crew were safely ashore, retrieving and preparing the equipment
for further use was the next priority, the jackstay and block were
still attached to the mast and had to be retrieved as this was valuable
equipment. The method used was simple, the breeches buoy was removed;
a Hawser cutter was fitted over the jackstay and pulled out to the
ship by the whip. On reaching the mast a sharp tug on the hawser cutter
severed the jackstay releasing it from the mast; the jackstay could
then be retrieved. The whip line was used to retrieve the hawser cutter,
the whip line undone and pulled through the whip block; all that remained
on the ship was about one fathom (6 feet) of jackstay and one pulley
block. The hawser cutter was an elliptical block which opened on a
hinge lengthways; inside were two razor sharp cutters on a hinge attached
to two tails. The cutters were laid back, the block placed over the
jackstay closed and locked; one end of the whip was attached to the
front of the block to be pulled out to the ship, the other end tied
to the two tails which were attached to the cutters. The block could
only travel one way ensuring that the cutters would activate without
the block sliding back along the jackstay. |