An attentive consideration of the wreck chart appended to the Northumberland Report, and a careful examination of the returns of wrecks by the Coast-Guard officers, forcibly impresses on the mind the painful conviction that the greater part of the casualties that occur are not occasioned by stress of weather, but that they are mainly attributable to causes within control, and to which a remedy might be applied. It would be an easy task to enumerate these several causes, but from the absence of exact in- formation, it would be difficult to assign the particular cause to each wreck. It might have been reasonably expected that the de-positions before the Receivers of Admiralty Droits would have thrown some light on the subject; but those documents are seldom of any use for ascertaining the real cause of wreck. The master of the stranded vessel is naturally anxious to make out the best case for himself, and usually tells as little as he can help; and the Receiver, who nine times out of ten is a landsman, is often un- equal to bring out the facts of the case.

Some competent local tribunal then is neces- sary before whom the causes might be in- vestigated on the spot, and there would seem no difficulty in forming such a tribunal; it might be as easily managed as a coroner's inquest, and the machinery for the purpose is ready organized. The Inspecting-Com- mander of Coast-Guard of the district, the Collector or chief officer of Customs, and Lloyds' agents, are to be found nearly every- where around the coasts, and they could form a tribunal well acquainted with nautical affairs, and in which all merchants and ship- owners would have confidence; and! were such a body, with the assistance of the nearest magistrate, authorized to inquire into and report to the Admiralty or Board of Trade on every case of wreck, there is little doubt but that in a very few years the list of wrecks on our own coasts would be greatly diminished. It is well and right to place life-boats, but a better means of preserving life would be to prevent or diminish ship- wrecks.

It is not only loss of life to a fearful extent that occurs in these wrecks, but, although a minor consideration, the loss of property is enormous. In the Parliamentary Report on Shipwrecks of the year 1836, the loss of property in British shipping wrecked or foundered at sea, is estimated on an average of six years, at three millions sterling per annum; we may fairly therefore assume that half that amount is annually lost on our own coasts. The whole of this property, though covered by insurance to certain parties, is not the less absolutely lost to the nation, and its cost paid for by the British public, on whom its loss must ultimately fall. The same Parliamentary Report estimates the annual loss of life by the wreck or foundering of British vessels at sea at 1,000 persons in each year, and this loss is also attended with increased pecuniary burthen to the British public, on whom the support of many of the widows and orphans left destitute by such losses eventually devolves. Thus taking only the financial view of the case, the prevention or diminution of shipwreck would be a great national gain.

A review of the facts furnished by the Returns is suggestive of two important considerations. It affords both a warning as to the past, and an encouragement as to the future, A warning to those who have allowed the boats at certain stations to fall into decay; and it teaches us that humane intentions, in order to be serviceable to our fellow-creatures, must be fully and efficiently carried into action. On the other hand, it offers a cheering encouragement as to the future, inasmuch as the number of lives saved from shipwreck through the instrumentality of life-boats, mortars, and rockets (even in their present imperfect and, on many parts of the coast, ill-organized state), affords undoubted proof of the value of such means for preserving life. Wherever the boats have been looked after, and the crews well trained, as at Liverpool, Shields, and on the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk, the most signal success has rewarded their exertions. This feet is most encouraging, and cannot be too strongly insisted upon. It is the most gratifying reward to the several local committees and individuals who have perseveringly done their duty, and gives firm ground of encouragement for the future.