WE recently had to record the death of our late valued Chairman, Mr. WILSON, and now his old friend and coadjutor in the cause of humanity, Mr, PALMER, late Deputy- Chairman of the Royal Shipwreck Institution, and Inventor of the Life-boats long adopted by that Institution, is BO more.

The grave has closed over the earthly re- mains of a firm friend of the shipwrecked; and some notice of his life may therefore be acceptable to our readers.

Mr, PALMER was descended from the Yorkshire family of that name, through the PALMERS of Wanlip, in Leicestershire; of whom ABCHDALE PALMER Esq. was M.P.

for Leicester in the year 1695; and one of his sons, THOMAS PALMER, was the grand- father of the subject of this memoir.

Mr. PALMER was born Feb. 11, 1772, to use his own words, of " most estimable parents," He was the eldest son of the late WILLIAM PALMER, Esq., of Nazing Park, Essex, by MARY, the daughter of the Rev. JOBS HOESLET, Rector of Thorley and Newington Butts, whose SOB, Bishop HORSLEY, earned for himself a distinguished place among the great men of his age. From this good stock Mr. GEORGE PALMER was descended; and his father was an active magistrate, and served in due course as high sheriff for the county of Essex.

Mr. PALMER received the rudiments of his education under the late Dr. BURFORD, at Chigwell; and the incendiary fires in London, seen from his school play-ground, during the riots of the year 1780, when, misled by Lord GEORGE GORDON, London was for three days at the mercy of a mob, may have sensibly impressed upon his youthful mind the horrors of insubordination and mob-law ; and thus laid the foundation of that love of order and respect for duly-constituted authorities for which he was afterwards distinguished.

From Chigwell he soon proceeded to the Charterhouse, where, under Dr. BEARD- MORE, his education was completed; and where the late Lord LIVERPOOL, (who was the first President of the Shipwreck Institution,) giving little promise as a boy of his future eminence as a statesman, but showing in the event, how much may be achieved by diligence with steady conduct, was then his intimate friend and schoolfellow. Mr. PALMER always looked back to the Charter- house and his classical studies with fond remembrance; and often referred to the example of Lord LIVERPOOL to encourage the young to persevere.

The desire of acquiring an early independence appears, with his fetter's consent, to have determined his choice of the sea as a profession; and, quitting the Charterhouse at an early age, he entered the maritime service of the Honourable the East India Company, making his first voyage as a midship-man in the Carnatio, commanded by the late Captain LESTOCK WILSON, which sailed from the Downs in April, 1786, and returned from China to England in July, 1787. He appears during this first voyage to have had several narrow escapes, which he has thank- fully recorded. Once he fell from the jury mizen-mast-head on to the top-sail sheet bit- head ; another time, he fell from the upper deck down the after hatchway and was taken up insensible, though with no bones broken; and again, losing his balance on the mizen top-gallant yard, he was saved from falling he knew not how, but with a strong impres- sion of great danger. During his next voyage made in the Boddam, BOW purchased by his father and commanded by Captain ELLIOTT, he met with other perils of the sea; the first of which, combined with another boat-accident he had experienced (when the officer in command of a boat which had shipped much water in a rough sea, made the crew sit down in the water at the bottom of the boat), first directed his attention to the equilibrium of boats and the means of pre- venting them from sinking, from which he was led to the invention which has rendered so much service to the cause of humanity.

The accident now referred to, occurred in the year 1788, in the Macao roads, when a boat, sent from the ship under his command, with twelve seamen and a coxswain, was upset by a sudden squall, and the crew only saved by clinging to the bottom of the boat.

Her buoyancy was not sufficient to keep all their heads above water; and, as the boat kept rolling over, there was great danger of their perishing. In this emergency Mr.

PALMER, to lighten the weight, bade the sailors throw away their clothes, promising them new clothes; and, while two of the best swimmers swam from the boat, reach- ing the shore with difficulty; the rest were still supported by the boat, until they were picked up by some Chinese. The other peril to which we have alluded occurred in 1789, on his return from China, when, owing to the ignorance of a pilot, the ship was nearly wrecked on the fatal coast of Boulogne, and only saved by the daylight breaking and a favourable shift of wind.

Mr. PALMER was nothing daunted by these perils of the deep, nor by others which he had yet to encounter. He was attached to the sea-service, and used to say it was an excellent school, to teach a man order and discipline, activity, temperance, and economy; independence of other men, doing all things (if necessary) for himself, but dependence on God's providence, while enlarging his views of the world. He sailed again, now as fourth mate of the Boddam, under the command of Capt. JOHN JONES (formerly of the Royal Navy), and had a narrow escape, at starting (25th February 1791), from being wrecked on the Casket Rocks; the ship just weathering the land. He returned from China to England on the 24th April 1792, and, after remaining long enough at home to participate in the general horror felt in this country at the violent issue of the revolution in France, made his fourth voyage to Madras and China, now as second officer of the Boddam, under Capt. JONES, in, the years 1794 and 1795. Shortly after his return he married ANNA MARIA, daughter and coheir of the late W. BUND, Esq., of Wick, in the county of Worcester, whom, with four children, the issue of their marriage, he has now left to mourn his to them irre- parable loss.

But he was soon again afloat, sailing in May 1796 on his fifth voyage, for the first time as commander, in the Boddam, in stir- ring times, and with new dangers to meet.

There was now war with France; ships of war could not be spared to conduct the merchantmen separately; and the Boddam therefore sailed (18th May 1796), after waiting upwards of a month at Spithead, in the great East India fleet, with 48 sail in company, under the convoy of Admiral HARVEY. Great firmness, with equal kind- ness and good humour, were features in Captain PALMER'S character; and assisted him, under God's providence, in preventing a serious mutiny, for it afterwards appeared that plots had been laid for seizing the ship, the boatswain being the chief mutineer.

Proceeding from Madras to China, with four other East India Company's ships, he encountered a new danger, and honourably escaped capture by an enemy of superior force, five large French frigates, which had been sent from France to intercept the China fleet, and had been cruising for six months on the look-out for them. Two English seventy-fours had previously fallen in with, and had been beaten off by these frigates; and, after refitting, had convoyed the China fleet during a part of their voyage, but had left them, as having escaped all danger; when one morning (28th January 1797), after driving before a squall through the Straits of Bally, they unexpectedly found themselves in sight of the five French frigates. Dis- covering what they were, the Commodore FAKQDHABSOM thought by stratagem to escape, proposing to ran down close upon them, and then tarn away. A signal was, therefore, made to bring-to on the larboard tack, and prepare for action; and the Soddam, being a fast sailor, was presently close upon a French frigate of about 32 guns.

The secret prayer was uttered; and then all were ready. The decks were cleared for action, boarders prepared, ports up, and guns shotted; and Captain PALMER was about to have given the enemy a broad- side, and board; when the commodore made a general signal to tack, which he obeyed. If at this time the enemy had pursued, the Boddam conld scarcely have escaped capture; but mistaking the signal to tack for a signal to engage, or having mistaken two of the East Indiamen for the men-of-war with which they had been en- gaged, the Frenchmen continued on their former tack, and bore away. For his con- duct on this occasion Captain PALMEE, on his return, received a letter from the Court of Directors, bearing date July 21, 1798, i " to signify the high sense they entertained of his conduct in his strict observance of the Commodore's signals, the orders of sail- ing, and the readiness he manifested to support him had he come into action." Scarcely was this danger past when an- other occurred; and (Feb. 1st, 1797) in a strong gale with violent squalls and rain, the SocMam narrowly escaped wreck on the Scheidam Rocks, But greater danger of shipwreck awaited him on the return voyage. On the 19th of June, 1797, while the BtxHam with several other ships in company was still in the China seas, she lost her rudder and every mast in a violent typhoon.

! It would occupy too much space to detail | the further proceedings of the Boddam, ! which, after encountering three hurricanes and other dangers, safely arrived in China on the 29th June 1797, and ultimately in the Downs on the 7th July 1798.

Pressing for the navy was now in fall operation, and no sooner had the Boddam anchored after her long and perilous voyage, than an officer from H. M, ship Alfred came on board and pressed eighteen of her com- pany ; sending his own people to remain oa board in their stead, so long as the Boddam remained in the Downs, but obliging Captain PALMER to hire eighteen other men to assist in carrying her up the river.

In the following year, 1799, Captain PALMER again sailed to Madras and China, as Commander of the Boddam; and meeting with another typhoon in the China Seas (October 22), he profited by the experience gained in his last voyage to bring a country ship, the Friendship, safe into port: making a steering machine for her when she had lost her judder, and standing by her in her dis- tress, though suffering from the gale him- self. For this assistance Captain PALMER sought no salvage or reward; bat received from the owner, Mr, ALEXANDER ABAMSQH, of Bombay, a handsome silver tureen and cover, inscribed—" In grateful testimony of the high sense entertained of the generous, spirited, and effectual assistance rendered to the ship friendship, Captain DAWSON, when disabled by a tempest in the China Seas." This was Captain PALMER'S last voyage.

He would have again sailed to China, in command of the Boddam, in the following year, but was taken ill; and the medical men certifying that his life would be en- - dangered by his proceeding, he was induced to abandon his intention.

Though Mr. PALMER had now given up the profession of a sailor, his heart and sympathies still remained with those who fol- lowed it, as was abundantly evidenced both by his public and private acts during the remainder of his long life, to the very close of which their welfare occupied a large portion of his thoughts.

In 1802 Mr. PALMER entered into partnership with his father arid brother (Mr. HORSLEY PALMER) and Captain WILSON, who were extensively engaged in the city of London as East India merchants and shipowners; and it is worthy of record, that while he continued a member of the firm, he would never allow any of the ships to go to sea without being well fitted «nd provided with every means necessary for the preservation of life in case of accident.

In 1818, Mr. PALMER served the office of High Sheriff for Hertfordshire; and at the coronation of George IV., as Master of the Mercers' Company, he attended the Lord Mayor in his office of Chief Butler, carrying the Maple Cup from the throne. In 1832, he was elected the Chairman of the General Shipowners' Society, and in the same year received two numerously-signed requisitions to become a candidate for the representation of South Shields and South Essex.

In the year 1826 Mr. PALMER first be- came connected with the Shipwreck Institution, to the interests of which he unceasingly devoted a large portion of his valuable time till within a few weeks of his lamented death; and in 1828 his plan of fitting life-boats was adopted by it. From that period till the year 1844, life-boats on his plan have been placed by the Institution at the following places: — Berwick - upon - Tweed; Tyne- mouth, Northumberland; Redcar, Dur- ham ; Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire; Cromer, Norfolk; Dymchurch, Kent; Rye, Sussex; Appledore, Devon; Bridgewater, Somerset; Swansea, Glamorgan; Laugh- arne, Carmarthenshire; Aberdovey and Bar- mouth, Merionethshire; Penrhyn-du, Car- narvonshire ; Mostyn, Flintshire; Moelfre, Llanddvvyn, and Cemlyn, on the Coast of Anglesea; Ramsay, Isle of Man; Rosslare Point and Kilmore, on the Coast of Wex- ford; Youghal, Coast of Cork; and Derry- nane, on the Coast of Kerry.

Some of these boats are now fit for use ; and the services they have rendered to ship- wrecked persons and vessels in distress have been invaluable; some hundreds of the former having been saved through their instrumentality from inevitable death, and many of the latter from destruction.

In consequence of disastrous wrecks at Boulogne in the year 1833, resulting in the calamitous loss of the Amphitrite and other vessels, and the rewards granted by the National Shipwreck Institution to the French fishermen who endeavoured to save their crews and passengers, the attention of the French Government was awakened to the object of saving life from shipwreck, and the Minister of Marine, by desire of His late Majesty Louis PHILIPPE, wrote to Mr. PALMER, requesting that he might be furnished with his plan for fitting life-boats.

This request having been immediately com- plied with, Mr. PALMER received thanks for the same, and instructions were given that a life-boat on his plan should be built in London to be stationed in Boulogne, which having been found to answer the purpose, orders were given to have a second boat built under Mr. PALMER'S superintendence at Limehouse. The French Government afterwards gave directions to have several of these boats built in France on the same model.

In the year 1836 Mr. PALMER entered Parliament as member for South Essex, which he continued to represent in three successive Parliaments, resigning his seat at the general election in 1847. As a Member of Parliament, he was distinguished by his upright and consistent conduct, and his unremitting attention to the discharge of all his duties. His exertions while in Parlia- ment in behalf of the shipwrecked seaman will long be remembered by every friend of humanity with feelings of gratitude. Only those who are acquainted with the frightful loss of life attended with distressing circum- stances, and the great destruction of property, that annually took place, on account of timber ships being allowed to carry deck loads, can fully appreciate his unceasing, and ultimately successful, endeavours in ob taining Legislative enactments in the years 1839, 1840, 1842, and 1845, prohibiting timber-laden ships from carrying deck loads.

We well remember Mr. PALMER relating an anecdote of the celebrated Daniel O'CosraELL in connection with this good work.

Mr. O'CONNELL stated to him in the House of Commons that he was in the habit of deriving a considerable income from the proceeds of wrecks of timber ships on the shores of his estates in Kerry; but, nevertheless, he should have much satisfaction in giving to Mr. PALMER'S Bill his" best support, knowing, as he did, its absolute necessity. This voluntary support on the part of Mr. O'COSNELL was the more honourable, as Mr. PALMER was always diametrically opposed to him on most political questions. A life-boat, on Mr. PALMER'S plan, was afterwards stationed by the Ship- wreck Institution at Derrynane.

In the year 1850 Mr. PALMER had the honour, in company with his late much- esteemed friend and coadjutor, Mr. WILSON, of an interview with the Duke of NORTHUMBERLAND, K.G., concerning the Ship- wreck Institution, which resulted in his Grace accepting the office of President to the Society in the following year. Mr. PALMER took much interest in the result of the premium offered by his Grace for the best form of a life-boat, and often expressed his wish that his Grace's liberality might be crowned with complete success, as he was sensible that neither his, nor any other person's plan of life-boat, was perfect.

Notwithstanding his advanced age and considerable infirmities, Mr. PALMER continued to devote much of his time to the affairs of the Shipwreck Institution; always, when able, attending and taking part in its periodical Committee meetings, and having occupied the Chair for the last time on the 6th January of the present year.

Having been the Deputy-Chairman of the Institution for a great number of years, the Committee were unanimous in their desire that he should succeed their late much- valued Chairman, Mr. WILSON, in that capacity. He nevertheless declined it, on account of his advanced age and the uncertainty of his being able to attend to its duties.

He was, however, much gratified to be given to understand that his respected friend, Mr. ALDERMAN THOMPSON, M.P. had been elected to that office.

In February last Mr. PALMER felt that the time had come when it would be fitting that he should resign his office of Deputy Chairman to the Institution, which he urged the Committee to do him the favour to accept.

His resignation was reluctantly accepted, and the Committee thereupon voted to him the gold medallion of the Society with their special thanks on vellum, in acknowledgment of the services he and the life-boats built on his plan, had rendered to the cause of humanity.

Mr. Palmer died on the 12th May last, in his 82nd year, after a short illness of very acute suffering, borne with much patience, and concluding a long life passed with honour to himself and benefit to the community.