as the safety of the crew and the success of the rescues depended upon it. Other items on the beach apparatus equipment list included: Shot line and faking box: The shot line is tied to the projectile and is the first line to reach the shipwreck. This is the thinnest line used in the drill and is stored in a special pattern the faking box. This special pattern allows it to pay out freely as the gun is fired. After the drill, the shot line is returned to the box by carefully laying it in the faking pattern, ensuring that it is ready for the next use. Heaving stick: The heaving stick was used in case the Lyle gun could not be deployed and substituted as a line throwing device. This was a most dangerous technique, as the surfmen would often have to wade deep into the surf in attempt to get a line aboard the ship. Tally board: The tally board is used to deliver instructions to the vessel in peril. It is simply a board with printed instructions (English on one side and French on the other) telling the mariners how to aid the surfmen in their rescue efforts. The tally board is tied to the shot line by the keeper at the same time as the whip line and hauled aboard. Whip line and block: The whip consists of two whip reels mounted on the beach cart, the whip line, and the whip block. Once the shot is fired across the wreck or wreck pole, the shore-side end of the shot line is tied to the tail block. At that point it is hoped that there is an able bodied seaman aboard the ship capable of hauling in the shot line and attaching the tail block high aboard the ship. Once it is determined that the line has been secured to the vessel, the whip will be used to haul items such as the hawser, breeches buoy and sometimes the life-cart back and forth between the beach and the wreck. This operates in the same manner as an old-fashioned clothes line with pulleys operates with the surfmen pulling on either the windward or leeward half of the whip from shore. Hawser and traveling block: The hawser is the work horse of all the lines. It is a thick, strong rope made from manila with a traveling block