- The Baltimore rocket car survives as a preserved maritime heritage item in west Cork.
- The apparatus was invented in 1807 and used gunpowder to fire a rope to stricken vessels.
- The rocket car was deployed in 1954 to transport ballot boxes from Dursey Island during the general election.
- Technological change made the rockets obsolete by the early 1980s, with helicopters taking over rescue operations.
- The rocket car reappears annually on St Patrick’s Day for a tour of Baltimore village.
The Baltimore rocket car has survived as a tangible piece of maritime heritage in west Cork, with local volunteers preserving the 19th-century rescue apparatus that once saved lives along the Irish coast.
The four-wheeled carriage was the cornerstone of the Coast Life Saving Service for more than 100 years, a forerunner of the Irish Coast Guard, and was known colloquially as the “rocket car” or “rocket rescue”.
The apparatus was invented by George William Manby, inspired by his witnessing a ship HMS Snipe run aground off Great Yarmouth in 1807. The solution was to deploy the rocket car which had a gunpowder charge to fire a rope to the stricken vessel, and imperilled sailors could be brought back safely on a pulley system known as a ‘breeches buoy’.
Ted O’Driscoll, a volunteer member of the rocket car crew in the 1970s just like his father before him, serves as a custodian of the village’s maritime history. The rocket cart was painted green and “Saorstát Éireann” is emblazoned on the front in gold letters, though the original colour was blue and red. The rocket car still has its 200-metre rope, a rope ladder, and the explosive rocket which would propel the line from shore to sea. There were 52 or 53 such rocket cars stationed around the coast of Ireland prior to 1880, according to O’Driscoll. The two-wheeled rocket in the National Maritime Museum in Dún Laoghaire was originally stationed in Greystones.
The rocket car saved the integrity of the general election in 1954 when it was deployed to Dursey Sound at the tip of the Beara Peninsula. Churning seas prevented ferries from getting ballot boxes to the 6km-long Dursey island, and the Baltimore rocket crew shot the rocket across and sent out the ballot box on the breeches buoy. Ted’s father was one of the nine or 10 volunteers called into action that day. The Cork West constituency was a three-seater, and only around 200 votes separated the third and fourth candidates after the first count. By the early 1980s, technological change meant that the rockets effectively became obsolete, with lifeboats becoming more sophisticated and helicopters taking over from the rocket. The State wanted to get rid of the Baltimore rocket, but the people of Baltimore did not want to let go of their heritage, storing it in private sheds for over a decade. On 17 March next, the cherished rocket car will reappear on the streets of Baltimore for its annual St Patrick’s Day tour.
Dún Laoghaire collection
The National Maritime Museum of Ireland in Dún Laoghaire preserves an authentic shore-based rescue cart and rocket apparatus once used by the Coast Life Saving Service to rescue shipwrecked crews using lines and breeches buoys.
- The Rocket Cart: A four-wheeled vehicle (historically called a “rocket car”) designed to transport heavy rescue gear, ropes, and life-saving rockets to the exact shoreline site of a wreck.
- The Greystones Cart: A notable mobile rescue wagon utilized by the Greystones unit is housed directly inside the museum.
- The Breeches Buoy: Displays demonstrate how a fired rocket carried a light line to a stranded ship to haul out a heavy rope, allowing crew members to slide ashore one by one inside a canvas buoy.
Preserved rocket rescue apparatus includes a two-wheeled rocket originally stationed in Greystones. Mariner turned museum volunteer Gary Moore operates a similar device during his working life, getting a line to a stricken ship which would be attached to the mast.
The firing mechanism involves aiming the line from a small cannon with the line attached, aiming slightly up to give maximum range. In windy conditions, the rocket is fired downwind so the wind catches the line and the rocket curves around to the target.
The rocket car’s ladder was deployed when volunteers needed to scale down a cliff, which happened if a helicopter could not operate effectively due to a down draft caused by the cliff face. This coastal rescue service was staffed by local volunteers, with exercises every quarter, spring, summer, autumn, and winter, with an inspector usually a retired sea captain or maritime surveyor. Protective headgear was used by rocket volunteers when scaling down a cliff face, with the equipment preserved as part of the museum’s collection.
The National Maritime Museum believes the last deployment of a rocket car was at Slí Cheann Sléibhe, Daingean Uí Chúis, in 1982 when the Spanish owned MV Ranga went aground on its maiden voyage. The museum’s collection provides a comprehensive record of Ireland’s maritime rescue heritage, with exhibits documenting the evolution of coastal rescue services from the 19th century to the present day.
Ted O’Driscoll, custodian of the Baltimore rocket car, shared: The rocket car is looking very well since we got the last lick of paint in 1922, and keeping it away from sunlight has kept it in good condition.
Gary Moore, museum volunteer at the National Maritime Museum, shared: The line was fired from like a small cannon with the line attached, and you just aim it at the ship and off it goes.
Kieran Cotter, retired Baltimore lifeboat coxswain, shared: In my time the rocket wasn’t really operating, as lifeboats became more sophisticated and helicopters took over.
