With the number of people watching intently, and the design of the small boat, this was a much larger incident, it seems to be a lifeboat on the rocks, too small to be the pinnace. They are watching for any other survivors and boats. That would take any photographer of the time to the edge of the waters; and yes it requires considerable effort and fortitude on the part of the photographer carrying the plate camera and the brass and boxwood tripod, knowing he/she could lose their precious equipment or even their own lives (or at least their precious health).
