William Schermuly 1857-1929 was one of the fathers of modern rocketry. He had served aboard vessels at sea and knew of how many lives were lost each year due to shipwrecks, so he set about to invent a line throwing device, some of which were used in WWI for such things as throwing telephone lines from trench to trench while under fire.

Eventually in 1929 he came up with one that Admiralty would use, the SPRA, just 19 days before he died! The Admiralty made it compulsory for all vessels over 500 tons to carry line throwers and it was so successful that in 1938, a new act made it a requirement for all ships over 80 tons or 50 feet in length to have one.

The pistol is based on the Webley & Scott brass flare pistol, with a steel barrel extension to take a rocket that would propel a wire over a long distance. The wire could be attached to a cable to help transfer people from ship to ship or shore to ship. The pistol barrel has an extra handle to steady the gun when firing and the wooden grips are made of walnut. It has a plethora of British proof stamps and matching serial numbers and it comes with its de-activation certificate.

£695

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