Meaning of life car | Babel Free

Definitions

A watertight boat or box, travelling on a line from a wrecked vessel to the shore, used to haul people through the waves in a rescue.

historical

Examples

“From this hawser the breeches-buoy or life-car is suspended and drawn between the ship and shore of the endless whip-line. The life-car can also be drawn like⟳ a boat between ship and shore without the use⟳ of a hawser. The breeches-buoy is a cork life-buoy to which is attached a pair of short canvas breeches, the whole suspended from a traveller block⟳ by suitable lanyards. It usually carries one person at a time, although two have⟳ frequently been brought ashore together. The life-car, first introduced in 1848, is a boat of corrugated iron⟳ with a convex iron⟳ cover⟳, having a hatch in the top for the admission of passengers, which can be fastened either from within or without, and a few perforations to admit⟳ air, with raised edges to exclude⟳ water.”

“This was no explanation to the girls until Tom Cameron came running back from the house and announced that the crew were going to try⟳ to reach⟳ the schooner with a line. "They'll try⟳ to save⟳ them with the breeches buoy," he said. "They've got a life-car here; but they never use⟳ that thing nowadays if they can help⟳. Too many castaways have⟳ been near smothered in it, they say⟳. If they can get⟳ a line over the wreck they'll haul the crew in, one at a time."”

CEFR level