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Description
A poster issued by the Ministry of Transport with the title:
'LIFE-SAVING ORGANISATION ON THE COAST OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE GUIDANCE OF MASTERS AND SEAMEN'
The left-hand side lists a series of signals: “In the event of your ship being in distress of, or stranded on, the coast of the United Kingdom, the following signals shall be used by life-saving stations when communicating with your ship, and by your ship when communicating with life-saving stations”
The chart shows day and night manual, light and other signals used as:
“A Replies from life-saving stations or maritime rescue units to distress signals made by a ship or person
B Landing signals for the guidance of small boats with crews or persons in distress.
C Signals to be employed in connection with the use of life-saving apparatus “
The centre and right sections give written instructions and illustrative diagrams for rocket life-saving apparatus. (The first paragraph is damaged.) A rocket with a line attached may be fired across the vessel from the shore, or a line fired from the ship to the shore. The guidance then lists the sequence of actions, and the signals that accompany each stage.
The owner was with H.M. Coastguard from 1968-96 as a voluntary auxiliary coastguard. Penarth station covered Bendricks Rocks in Barry up to Newport and included the mouths (up to tidal limits) of the Ely, Rumney, Usk and Ebbw rivers, Sully Island and Cardiff Docks. The Coastguards’ role was to be the eyes and ears of shipping. They never went to sea (which was the responsibility of lifeboats) but could go in the surf, the beach and on cliffs. Their aim was search and rescue; their purpose was to save the people, not the vessels. They manned the Coastguard station as lookouts when the wind reached Force 6 or above on the Beaufort scale or when a gale (Force 8) was forecast. Most of this equipment was scrapped or withdrawn in the 1980s when it was replaced by helicopters etc.
Cardiff Story Museum, CARCM: 2010.57
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