Editor's Notes
This Report is based on a rough draft found amongst the
effects of the late Don Coase, one of the 'leading lights' of the B.E.C. in its
earlier years and who was responsible for the construction of most of the club
tackle at that time. That he did not
live to complete this Report is yet another reason, amongst so many, for
regretting his untimely death. However,
Norman Petty - with assistance from Alan Sandall - undertook the not easy task
of completing another person's manuscript. Caving Report No. 10 is the result.
The date of the original draft is not known but it must have
been before the publication of Caving Report No.3, "The Manufacture of
Lightweight Caving Ladders", because this did not appear until four months
after Coase's death. It is possible that
he had seen the manuscript of Report No. 3 and this seems probable from some of
the points made. In this case the draft
must have been written during 1957, this in any case being the most probable
date.
As already stated, only a very rough draft was available and
this, in places, has had to be altered slightly. However, the aim throughout has been to keep
it in the style and intention that it is thought Don would have desired. The draft covered Sections 1, 2, 3, 7 &
9, and part of Section 5, and luckily a list of the intended contents. Norman Petty has written the remaining
Sections and some of the drawings were prepared by Alan Sandall.
The points where Caving Reports Nos. 3 and 10 overlap are
very few as they cover different methods of caving ladder construction. In fact it is felt that this Report and the
revised edition of No. 3 are complementary end between them give a good insight
to the construction of caving tackle.