For example, the invention of the
breeches buoy facilitated marine rescues.
A
breeches buoy is a lifebuoy with a canvas sling, which is attached to a rope and pulley.
The
breeches buoy was the main hope of rescue but, after only three people had been brought ashore, the lines became tangled and the coastguards were not able to clear them.
He returned across the muddy field to find the lifesaving crew had rigged up a
breeches buoy using rope.
"The brigade was the first such organisation anywhere in the world to use to the
breeches buoy equipment to save life from shipwreck.
On Saturday April 2 there will be a major re-enactment of the first time the
breeches buoy was used to save life from shipwreck in 1866.
Among the collections are wooden tally boards that were fixed to the line of the
breeches buoy, which was fired across ships by rocket.
The
breeches buoy was used again in a howling gale on January 20, 1963, when the steamer Adelfotis II grounded on the Black Middens before being driven ashore on the Herd Sands at South Shields.
"Over the following 150 years, the brigade has developed from only being trained in ship-to-shore
breeches buoy rescue to a highly specialist coastal rescue team, dealing with an average of 120 incidents per year.
And this weekend the centuries-old '
breeches buoy' shipwreck rescue technique will be captured on camera as life brigade volunteers are filmed for the BBC.
The building is home to a collection of figureheads, name boards and other artefacts from shipwrecks as well as displays of rescue equipment, including the
breeches buoy, and a photographic archive.
They shot ropes on to the ship and used a
breeches buoy - a canvas sack attached to a lifebelt - to transfer the men to the shore.