The US Life-Saving Service (and later the US Coast Guard) employed three methods to rescue passengers from wrecked ships. The equipment used in these rescues was generally very simple and often common devices and were usually used in foul weather. Use of these devices was crucial to the efforts of the keeper and the surfmen. These three rescue types, lifeboat/surfboat rescue, lifecar rescue, and the breeches buoy rescue allowed the life-saving station keeper and his crew of surfmen to save numerous lives. This section describes this equipment and how it was used during rescues.
