The first ships to sail this coast on a regular basis were tagged
"Doghole Schooners", because it was said the ports they had to crawl in and out
of to load and unload weren't big enough for a dog to turn around in.
When a ship pulled into a landing, usually on a bluff high above a small bay, it moored at the closest possible point underneath. Location of both boat and landing were arranged to make the best use of gravity. Chutes were set up and designed to work as closely as possible with the nature of the land and sea. Most basic of chutes was the apron, which worked a lot like a slide.