In the days of sail, shipwrecks were a common occurrence. Without engines to get them out of trouble, a strong onshore wind, a small navigation error or a wrecker's lantern could easily send a ship to a watery grave on Britain's rocky coast.

Such a disaster occurred on a stormy night in December 1807. The English frigate HMS Anson ran aground on a sandbar less than 100 yards from Lizard Point on the Cornish coast. News spread and local cabinetmaker Henry Trengrous stood and watched with many others unable to help. Over 100 crewmen died and Trengrouse became determined to find a way to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. His solution: the rocket apparatus.

Rockets were already in use by the army as a form of artillery. But Trengrouse realised that a large rocket could carry a thin rope from a wrecked ship onto the shore. This thin rope could then be used to haul a larger rope to the vessel. Once it was made fast on ship and shore, a Bosun's chair - a short plank of wood on a pulley - could be hung from the rope and used to winch a sailor back to land. The Bosun's chair gradually evolved into the Breeches Buoy - a life ring or harness that would hold a sailor more securely.

At first, Trengrouse's system was ignored by the British government, and he died before he could see his rocket apparatus adopted. However, it was eventually employed by both the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and the British Coastguard, and remained in use up until the late 1980s.