IF there be one subject more than another that might be expected to command the attention and enlist the sympathy of a maritime country like Great Britain, it surely must be the safety and welfare of those of her sons " whose business is in the great waters," and yet how imperfectly in- formed, how supinely indifferent, is the great bulk of our population as to the causes, the prevention, or the mitigation of the horrors of shipwreck! From official returns it appears, that in the course of the year 1850 there were 692 vessels, of 127,188 tons burthen, wrecked belonging to the United Kingdom, or nearly two a-day. Of these, only four were steamers. By a reference to the wreck chart, for the year 1850 alone, annexed to the Northumberland Life-boat Report, it will be seen that 681 British and Foreign Vessels were wrecked on the coasts and within the seas of the British Isles. Of these vessels, 277 were total wrecks, 84 were'sunk by leaks or collisions, 16 were abandoned, and 304 were stranded and damaged so as to require them to discharge cargo; making a total of 681 wrecks. As nearly as can be judged, 780 lives were lost.

However large it may appear, this is not any very unusual number, a nearly similar amount is annually lost, leaving a propor- tionate number of widows and orphans.

It is not an uncommon occurrence for a single gale of wind to strew the coast with wrecks. In three separate gales which occurred in the years 1821,1824, and 1829, there were lost on the east coast of England, between the Humber and the Tees, 169 vessels. In the single gale of the 31st August and 1st September, 1833, no less than 61 British vessels were lost on the sands in the North Sea and on the east coast of England. In the disastrous gale of the 13th January, 1843, 103 vessels were wrecked on the coasts of the United King- dom. In the gales of 1846 as many as 39 vessels got ashore in Hartlepool Bay alone.

In the month of March, 1850, not less than 134 vessels were wrecked on our own coasts, or an average of more than 4 a day. In the single gale of the 25th and 26th September last, not less than 112 vessels were .stranded, came into collision, or sunk within the seas and along the shores of the United Kingdom; and during the month of January of the present year, 120 wrecks more have been added to the number. These instances, many of which happen to have been made public by being laid before Parliament, are only a few out of the number that might be cited, and even these probably fall short of the real numbers. No complete record of shipwrecks is kept; Lloyds' List, however full, is confessedly imperfect. But the facts quoted are sufficient to prove an appalling amount of loss of life, and the absolute necessity that exists for establishing around our coasts the most perfect means in our power for the preservation of life from shipwreck