Children and grandchildren of fishermen at The Lizard were able to see the lifesaving equipment used by their forefathers with a visit to Helston Museum.

Pupils from Grade Ruan Primary School spent the morning learning about Henry Trengrouse and his inventions that changed the way people were kept safe when going to sea.

Many of the children had relatives who fish for a living, or as a hobby, and as a result were fascinated to hear about how Trengrouse invented the first lifejacket in the early 1800s, as just one of his notable achievements.

The museum’s assistant curator Tracey Clowes said of the morning: “It went absolutely brilliantly – they were a lovely school to have with us.

“Everyone was fully engaged for the time they were here, all were very interactive and enthused about the objects we showed them.”

The morning began with the children shown a variety of safety equipment from today and yesteryear, with some getting the chance to try on different lifejackets from past to present.

They were then shown a painting depicting the shipwreck of the HMS Anson at Loe Bar, which was the trigger for Trengrouse to design a series of lifesaving equipment.

The youngsters were asked to think about what emotions they would feel in that situation and what they would shout to those onboard.

They were able to see original objects from that era, including equipment that would have been used to fire a line from the ship to the shore, in order to transfer people onboard to the safety of land.

From that came another of Trengrouse’s inventions, the breeches buoy. This saw a thin wire fired with a musket, again from the ship to the land, closely followed by thick rope, to which a harness system was attached to transport people across the water.

The children were also delighted by an automaton depicting the Anson, show her fall to the side as she wrecked, which can also be seen by all visitors to the museum.

The visit finished with a discussion about today's rescued carried out by search and rescue helicopters.