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Comment by chris_wot | Hacker News Reader

350 feet up… and they climbed it, then lowered the pilot with a really long rope… wowsers!

To make it even better, for one of them(from ground crew) it was their first time climbing 360ft on that mast.

Before that day, they never climbed beyond 73ft [1]. Because of this reason he (Rath) was awarded a gold medal while the other two received different (silver I presume) medals.

[1]. Link at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39512332#39513137

> Because of this reason he (Rath) was awarded a gold medal while the other two received different (silver I presume) medals.

Apparently the standard one was bronze. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Medal_for_Lifesaving

2nd class was bronze, apparently (source: https://www.naval-history.net/WW1MedalsBr-AM.htm)

Not only that, one climbed onto and then into the cockpit to secure the pilot.

> ...a seaman of the Naval Reserve named Rath climbed up the inside of the mast until he reached the machine, and then crawled out to the plane to hold the pilot until help came.

I assume all that experience climbing the rigging up to the crowsnest paid off even on land, working with a different service!

Part of me wants to say that British ships did not have "crows nests" rather "fighting tops", flat platforms for multiple people rather than the barrel-shaped crows nest.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_(sailing_ship)

I would imagine they'd lower him down a bit and then while someone held him, the others would descend. Managing 300 feet of rope up that high (and especially as the guy got lowered more) would be really difficult.

A modern rope for rock climbing is 50 to 60m, about 160 feet. Some climbers use thinner double/twin ropes that are twice that length. It can be a pain but isn't unmanageable if you take your time. I could see them doing it all at once using whatever reasonable rope they had at the time.

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