In the dining room of Port Macdonnell's Victoria Hotel, a photographic reminder of the small coastal town's seafaring heritage hung on the wall for many years.

The photograph, taken in 1900, was of the south-east town's own rocket brigade, which would be called into action whenever a ship foundered in stormy seas.

Today, the theory behind shooting a rocket over an ailing ship and removing the crew via a rope attached from the ship to shore, seems both quaint and downright dangerous.

But the method saved thousands of lives worldwide while it was in vogue during the late 19th century and into the 20th century.

Housed in a shed near the town jetty, Port Macdonnell's rocket apparatus, as it was known, was a vast piece of equipment which required a horse-drawn wagon to transport it to the beach.

Headed up by the town's local policeman, the crew consisted of a group of around 10 local men who could be called out at all hours of the day or night to assist a vessel in distress.

Often hit or miss

In the waters surrounding the Limestone Coast in the mid-late 1800s, the combination of notorious reefs and bad weather caught out many a tired and unwary captain.

On board a sinking vessel, passengers and crew were often in a precarious position, awaiting help from nearby ships, lifeboats and also rocket crews, who would race to the nearest beach to try to assist.

But there was a catch to their work — the line could only fire about 500 yards, so if a ship lay further out to sea, the rocket crew would be unable to help.

In the middle of the night and with wild storms often whipping around the crew's heads, landing the line on board a ship even close to shore was often hit or miss.

But if all went to plan, the line would be secured to the ship, a heavier rope would follow with a pulley attached to a life-ring called a 'breeches buoy' which had a large canvas bag with holes in the bottom for legs.

Passengers and crew would then be transported to the beach in the wildest kind of 'flying fox' ride there was.

The sinking of the Admella

The extreme unpredictability of the rocket operation was demonstrated in two shipwrecks in the same stretch of coast nearly 25 years apart, one that would pass into history as South Australia's most tragic shipwreck.

It was the early hours of Saturday morning on August 6, 1859, when rocket crews would be called to assist a passenger steamship called the Admella, which had struck a reef near Cape Banks.

Part of the Port Macdonnell rocket apparatus on display at the South Australia Maritime Museum. ( Supplied: SA Maritime Museum )

Carrying 113 passengers, the thick iron hull of the ship had broken into three pieces in vast seas and people were clinging for life to parts of the broken vessel and the reef.

It was the beginning of a week-long nightmare for both the shipwreck survivors and those trying to rescue them.

As the days passed and the storms refused to subside, numerous rescue attempts were made by lifeboat while rocket crews onboard tried and failed to get lines to attach to the ailing ship.

In an interview with the ABC in 2003, a maritime researcher described the testimony of rescuers as having witnessed the "heart-rending sight of unfortunate beings perched like seals on a half-tiered rock".

"Two rockets were fired over the heads of the survivors, their lips black for want of water and the limbs bleached white and swollen through exposure to the relentless surf," the transcript read.

"The rocket hissed and whirled away. Alas they could not hold it."

Horribly, survivors of the initial wreck began to die of cold and exhaustion.

It was seven days later that a lifeboat being towed by the Ladybird, from neighbouring Portland, reached the wreck and pulled 19 people aboard.

In the end, 89 people died, of which 14 were children.

A successful rescue

While shipwrecks and great tragedy captured the public's attention, it seemed successful rescues warranted little fanfare.

Compare the tragic tale of the Admella to that of the Orwell, a freight ship which ran aground at Cape Banks in April 1873, near the wreck of the ill-fated Admella.

Carrying 1,800 bags of wheat bound for Adelaide, the ship had turned over on its starboard side in wild seas with seven crew aboard.

The South Australian Register documented the rescue in its shipping news, reporting "the rocket apparatus was sent down to the wreck and a beautiful shot was fired by Captain Melville right between the two masts".

The line was pulled aboard, secured and in no time at all, all the crew were safely transported to shore and despite seven lives being saved by the rocket crew, news coverage of the incident was small.

Although some rocket brigades were still called into service until the 1970s, the brigade at Port Macdonnell was disbanded in 1930 and the equipment sold at auction.

The rocket apparatus that helped saved many lives at Port Macdonnell is now on display at the South Australian Maritime Museum.