Atlas of Discoveries · 088

Coastal rescue stations · Łeba 1865 · Ustka 1867

Doors designed for boats

Rescue from the shore began with passing through a building. From the documents we know one number: the boat at Łeba was 9.5 m long.

What is to go out through the doors?

Doorselevation from the beach side

Model Illustrative diagram, not a plan or a photograph of the station. Grid = 1 × 1 m.

Elevation of the shed doors with the silhouette of the load (model) Model, not a plan of the station. Door opening 3.2 m, load width 2.2 m, clearance 50 cm on each side. C C A B
The letters A, B, C correspond to the fields alongside. The height of the doors (3.2 m) and the shape of the load are conventional and do not affect the result; only the width counts. The type of doors (hinged leaves, sliding) and their number: no data, so we do not draw them.

Rowing boat from Łeba (1865): 9.5 m long with 8 rescuers, as stated by SAR [1]. Width, height and the dimensions of the building: no data.

Without JavaScript the starting drawing (Łeba) is shown. The sliders and load switching require JavaScript; the facts about both stations are in the text, in the “Route to the shore” section.

The doors and interior in the drawing are a model that you can adjust. See also: limits of the model, sources.

  • Source a number or fact from the reference (to be checked)
  • Model an assumption of the drawing, not a measurement
  • No data the source is silent; this is not zero

Naveplan view: the shed interior and the way to the shore

Model Illustrative diagram, not a survey. Grid = 1 × 1 m; the plan is at a smaller scale than the elevation.

Plan of the shed with the silhouette of the load (model) Model, not a plan of the station. Interior 12.0 m, load 9.5 m, 2.5 m spare. Door opening 3.2 m. The orange arrow shows the conventional direction of exit towards the shore. E D B F A
The shore is on the right-hand side of the drawing (dots). The orientation of the doors towards the shore and the direction of the arrow are an assumption of the diagram. The width of the interior (6 m) is fixed and conventional. The load stands against the rear wall; the model assumes it fits entirely inside. The hatched area marks a load projecting beyond the front wall.

Route to the shorewhat was carried out of the shed according to the sources; two stations side by side, without moving equipment from one to the other

Source No data Hatched fields are places where the sources are silent.

Łeba 1865

  1. 1 · In the shed

    Source

    A rowing boat 9.5 m long and a crew of 8 rescuers. Łeba is named as the first rescue station on Polish lands. [1]

  2. 2 · Along the shore

    No data

    The supplied material does not describe how the boat reached the water, or by what route. We do not guess.

  3. 3 · On the water

    Source

    A boat intended for operations in strong wind and heavy swell; propulsion was provided by the crew's work at the oars. [1]

Ustka 1867

  1. 1 · In the shed

    Source

    A horse-drawn cart with wheels for travelling on sand, a rowing boat and a launcher of rockets carrying a line to the shipwrecked. The wooden base was in time replaced by a shed of red brick, known as the Red Shed (Czerwona Szopa). [2]

  2. 2 · Along the shore

    Source Route: no data

    The wheels of the cart are described as adapted to sand. The route, the distance and the number of people are not given. [2]

  3. 3 · With the shipwrecked

    Source Use: no data

    The launcher carried a line from the shore to the shipwrecked; the boat was alongside. Which device was used in a particular operation, the source does not say. [2]

Limitswhat this drawing does not say and what is missing for it to be a document

What the drawing does not say

  • The only number from the sources is the length of the boat from Łeba: 9.5 m. The width of the boat, the dimensions of the cart, the door opening and the length of the shed are assumptions of the model.
  • The result “passes” means only that in the model the width of the doors exceeds the width of the load. It does not assess safety or the working conditions of the rescuers.
  • The equipment from Łeba and from Ustka is not interchangeable: each load has its own starting values, and none of them is a measurement.
  • The type of doors, the orientation of the building relative to the water and the route to the shore are not documented in the supplied material.

What needs to be confirmed

  • A plan or survey of the buildings in Łeba and Ustka, and a photograph of the doors with the right to publish it.
  • The width and height of the boat and the dimensions of the cart, together with the period of the equipment.
  • Whether the former buildings have survived, what they are used for today and whether they are accessible.
  • Current SAR operational data require separate permission and updating; this page should not be used for them.

When visiting

  • Former buildings, e.g. the Red Shed (Czerwona Szopa) in Ustka, are viewed from public space. Check whether the interiors are accessible before your visit, because this page does not confirm it.
  • Active SAR stations are operational facilities. Do not enter the manoeuvring area and do not block the exit gates.

Sourcesreferences carried over from the previous version; their content was not re-checked here and requires editorial verification

  1. [1] Rys historyczny ratownictwa morskiego w Polsce [Historical outline of maritime rescue in Poland]Maritime Search and Rescue Service: station at Łeba (1865), boat 9.5 m and a crew of 8, PRO network up to 12 posts (1951–1953), establishment of the SAR Service in 2002.
    sar.gov.pl · historical outline
  2. [2] Zabytki Ustki: Czerwona Szopa [Heritage sites of Ustka: the Red Shed]Ustka's municipal tourist portal: base from 1867, horse-drawn cart with sand wheels, boat and a rocket apparatus carrying a line to the shipwrecked.
    visit.ustka.pl · heritage sites
  3. [3] Sposoby działania Służby SAR [How the SAR Service operates]Official description of tasks: picking up survivors from the water and from life-saving craft, medical aid, transport to land, towing, firefighting.
    sar.gov.pl · how it operates
  4. [4] Fotografia współczesnej stacji SAR (tylko odsyłacz) [Photograph of a present-day SAR station (link only)]Gdańsk Górki Zachodnie, author: Gdaniec, Wikimedia Commons, licence CC BY 3.0 according to the description from the previous version. The photograph is not embedded: it does not show the station at Łeba or Ustka and gives no information about duty rosters.
    commons.wikimedia.org · file

The drawings on this page are our own model diagrams, with no third-party material. The page contains no duty rosters, operational plans or maritime service data.

What changed compared with version V2
  • Plan and elevation visible at the same time instead of a switch; both respond to the same sliders.
  • Removed the width ratio in per cent and the “narrow clearance” threshold (25 cm, 1 m): they were arbitrary. What remains are the side clearance ((doors − load) / 2) and the spare length (interior − load), with an explicit case for zero and for a negative value.
  • Removed saving the dimensions in the browser's storage: it is not needed; instead there is a button to restore the starting values.
  • Removed the third “SAR Service” profile with sliders and the 5-phase switch for the rescue route. They were replaced by a simultaneous Łeba / Ustka matrix with marked gaps and a separate note on SAR.
  • Removed the photograph embedded from an external server and the external shared files; the page works offline, and the photograph is only a link.
  • Removed the drawn door leaves: the type of doors is not documented.
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