[NT the Times newspaper of the 20th of February last, we read the following narration of a deplorable occurrence by which industrious men were deprived of life, and their families, all in indigent circumstances, left in sorrow to struggle with poverty and want:— " At an early hour this day (the 18th of February)1 it was made known that the bark Cherokee was ashore on the East Hoyle Bank, when preparations were immediately made for rendering, all the assistance possible, r this purpose the steam-tug President, with the Liverpool life-boat in tow,, sailed to the aid of the unfortunate bark. The sea was very high in the Rock Channel at the time, and the boats were towed with difficulty.

When near the bank,, the Tug Com- any's life-boat, which was in tow of the steamer Victoria, suddenly capsized, and out f eleven persons that formed her crew only me was saved. The men who were drowned were experienced river-boatmen, all in poor circumstances, and several of them have left large families totally unprovided for." From another source we learn that the life-boat in question " was hired from the Steam-tug Company by the owners of the Cherokee to proceed to her assistance, and that eleven men were engaged to man her, including Mr. WILLIAM ROBERTS, the master of the steamer Albert, who offered to take charge of the boat, he having been out in her on several previous occasions. They proceeded, in tow of the Victoria steamer, down the Rock Channel, and got near to the Cherokee, but found there was too much sea to render any assistance, and in returning, still in tow of the Victoria, the boat was struck by a very heavy sea and capsized.

The tow-rope was instantly cut to enable the steamer to turn round in as short a space as possible, and every attempt was made to save the unfortunate crew, but without avail, except in the case of one man who was saved, the remainder perished." Now when the short time is considered which must have elapsed after the upsetting of the boat until the steamer had turned round and was again on the same spot, we think that a stronger instance could not be cited of the great advantage of every one on such occasions being provided with an efficient life-preserver, and of the imperative duty attaching to all those who hire or otherwise induce men to risk their lives on similar service, to furnish them with such, and every other means that may contribute to their safety.

For if these men could have been supported on the surface for but a few minutes, their lives might have been saved.

We are aware that from different causes the crews are themselves occasionally averse to wearing any of these appendages. Sometimes a feeling of shame, lest their courage should be impeached, or that they should appear apprehensive of danger, or exhibit a mistrust in themselves or their boat, which would have a discouraging effect, is, we believe, the motive that influences them.

At some places a species of fatalism exists, and we have heard a life-boat man say, " Ah, they aint much use, if a poor fellow's time is come, it isn't a life-belt as will save him." We were also once told by the coxswain of a life-boat, " that they only served to prolong a poor devil's misery, and that if he were upset in a heavy sea he should think the sooner it was all over with him the better." Another cause, however, which has had its weight in preventing a more general desire on the part of sailors on the coast to be furnished with life-belts, has been the inefficiency from one cause or another of those with which they have been supplied; either they have been too cumbrous, or have fitted the person so inconveniently as to confine the limbs and prevent the free action of the lungs when undergoing bodily exertion, as in the act of rowing, or their buoyancy has been quite insufficient to support, with his mouth well above the water, a person having his usual clothes on him, which latter qualification has been lost sight of, or not sufficiently considered by the inventors and manufacturers of life-belts.

Such prejudices are, however, we believe, gradually disappearing, and a very general desire exists 011 the part of those who man the life-boats around the coasts to be provided with good life-belts. But whether they exist or not, the onus remains on those who employ or incite men to risk of life, that they at all events provide them with such safeguards, and induce them, if possible, to put them on upon every occasion of their going afloat in bad weather.

As on the one hand the unfortunate occurrence above related is, we conceive, calculated strongly to awaken a sense of responsibility in such parties, so as an additional incentive to act on that conviction, we would refer them to the account of the service of the Lyme Regis life-boat, narrated in No. ] 3, p. 124, of this Journal, where it will be seen that the lives of a life-boat's and of a vessel's crew were preserved through their being provided with a good boat, built to self-right, and well equipped with life-lines, &c., and each of the crew having on a buoyant and otherwise efficient life-belt.

In conclusion, we may state that the Committee of the National Shipwreck Institution, feeling the importance of the object above advocated, will readily afford every information on the subject to whoever may wish' to have it; and, if requested to do so, will forward samples of the life-belts recommended by them, and now used in their own life-boats.