Breeches buoy being used to transport workers to MORRO CASTLE wreck

photographic print

Search workers use a "breeches buoy" device to board the still smoldering MORRO CASTLE from the beach at ASBURY PARK, where the ruin of the ship had drifted aground. There were no survivors found aboard, but bodies were recovered using the breeches buoy mechanism. The back of the photo is stamped with copyright information for International News Photos, Inc. and has a typed note that says "Breeches buoy carries salvage worker to hot 'MORRO CASTLE'/ Asbury Park, NJ..... A breeches buoy shown reaching the hot side of the S.S. MORRO CASTLE as she lay on the beach here today, September 9th. Those men, seeking bodies of the two hundred victims of yesterday's fire, who already made the transit from beach-to-boat, are seen leaning over the port rail."