life car

noun

a watertight container used in marine rescue operations, suspended from a hawser and hauled back and forth between a stranded or wrecked vessel and the shore.

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55

There were three more brought ashore by the buoy, and then the keeper ordered the life–car forward.

Among the arrivals by the life-car was the skipper of the “White Shield,” and there was also a man wrapped in a cloak.

That life-car, sir, was invented by Captain Douglass Ottinger, and this is the first one ever used.

We will put on the life–car soon as we get some of the crew ashore.

During the interim of waiting, the life–car was also brought from the station.

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