The aft winch was used to handle the ships boats and could also be used to assist with mooring lines when docking the ship. The yellow drum contains gasoline for the ships boats and emergency generator. The ship originally carried two wooden boats. On the starboard side a 4 man oar powered pulling boat. On the port side was a 23 foot motor launch. An inflatable emergency life raft was secured in the cradle on the starboard side of the machinery casing. In the 1970’s the Coast Guard replaced the wooden boats with inflatable “Zodiac” type boats that you see here today. They were very seaworthy and much easier to launch and retrieve.