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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



the false bottom to keep it down, the two lift off the frame, bringing 

 away the pins with it. The false bottom is then lifted off the line, 

 which remains in the box, disposed in the layers of diagonal loops or 

 fakes made by the pins. The line is thus arranged to pay out freely, 

 and fly to a wreck without entanglement or friction. The end is now 

 tied into the eye of the shank of the shot in the gun ; the box, which 

 is always placed a few feet to the windward of the gun, is canted up 

 on one side at an angle of about forty-five degrees ; and the line is 

 ready for firing. The line is always brought ready faked to the scene 

 of action and fired from the box. In case a second shot is necessary, 

 the line is laid out in large loops upon a tarpaulin spread out upon 

 the beach, which is called French faking. This is done to save time, 



Fig. 8. Firing Shot-Line to Wreck. 



twenty-five or thirty minutes being requisite to fake a line properly in 

 the box ; but it is less desirable, as exposure to the flying sand or the 

 rain or spray lessens the range by impeding the flight of the line. 

 When the shot-line reaches the wreck, the shore end is connected with 

 the whip or hauling line. This is an endless rope or ellipse, an inch 

 and a half in circumference, and long enough to reach from the shore 

 to the vessel. It is reeved through a pulley-block, having attached to 

 it to several feet of rope called a tail. The shot-line is tied around both 

 parts of the whip, a few feet above the pulley-block, and the crew of 

 the vessel at a signal haul the whip on board by means of the shot-line. 

 With it goes a tablet called a tally-board, on which are printed, in 

 French upon one side and in English upon the other, directions for 

 properly setting up the whip-line on the vessel. When this is done, 

 a signal is made to the shore, and a hawser of sufficient length and 

 four inches in circumference, to which is attached another tally-board, 

 bearing printed directions in English and French for its disposition, is 

 tied to one part of the whip or hauling line, and is sent out to the ves- 

 sel by the life-saving crew pulling upon the other part. Obeying the 

 directions of this tally-board, the men on the ship fasten the hawser 

 to the mast about eighteen inches above the hauling-line. A crotch, 



