AT the Annual General Meeting of the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, held at the London Tavern on Thursday, the 26th day of April, 1855, REAR-ADMIRAL His GRACE THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, K.G., PRESIDENT, in the Chair, The following Report of the Committee was read:— IN drawing attention to their proceedings during the past year on this the Thirty-first Anniversary of the formation of this Society, the Committee have to bring to the notice of their supporters and of the public some matters of more than usual importance, in which the welfare of the Institution is much concerned.

The first that demands notice amongst them is, the change of title which the Institution has undergone.

The reasons which made that change advisable were given, at length, in the January number of the Life-Boat Journal; the Committee will therefore only briefly explain— 1st, That the somewhat similar titles of this Institution and the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Royal Benevolent Society had led to a confusion hi the public mind respecting their distinct objects and character, which confusion it was desirable to remove. 2ndly, That the Committee of the latter Society, sensible of that evil, had liberally offered to hand over to this Institution all its life-boats and their appurtenances, together with the residue of the fund which had been expressly collected for the support of its life-boat department, on the understanding that such a change should be made hi the title of the Institution as should distinctly define the separate objects of each. 3rdly, That the Lords of Privy Council for Trade, with a view to facilitate and simplify their operations under the authority of the Merchant Shipping Act 1854, had expressed a desire to afford their aid, in the preservation of life from shipwreck, as far as possible, through the instrumentality of one central agency; which made it the more desirable that the life-boat establishment of the other Metropolitan Society should be transferred to this Institution.

These several reasons appeared to the Committee sufficient to justify them in recommending a change in the title of the Institution; and at a General Meeting of the subscribers, on the 5th of October last, it was determined, that it should be in future denominated the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION—founded in 1824, for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck.

The next matter of importance to be noticed, and which has been alluded to in connexion with the change of title, is—the transfer, since made to the Institution, of nine life-boats, eight boat-houses, and five lifeboat carriages, from the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Royal Benevolent Society; and the relinquishment altogether by that Society of its life-boat establishment.

The establishments of this Institution on the coasts have thus been considerably increased, but a large outlay will be required to make alterations and improvements in some of the boats which the Committee consider advisable.

A third matter of much importance, and to which the Committee desire to call especial attention, is fee pecuniary aid which will in future be afforded to the Institution by the Board of Trade.

As some of the supporters of the Institution may conclude that in consequence of such aid there will be less necessity for public assistance, the Committee desire to correct any such misapprehension, and to assure them that the Institution will be in as great need as before of their pecuniary support and encouragement; since the Board of Trade make their aid conditional on every exertion being made to obtain voluntary contributions in the first instance. The manner in which this aid will be afforded will be by repayments to the Institution, to a limited amount, of— 1. Awards to the crews of its life-boats, or others, for saving, or endeavouring to save life.

2. Payments to its life-boats' crews, for a quarterly exercise and trial of their 3. The salaries of the coxswains of its life-boats.

4. The hire of horses, steam-tugs, or other means (when necessary), for transporting life-boats to the localities of wrecks.

5. The payment (where absolutely necessary) of persons for assisting to launch and haul up life-boats on occasions of service or exercise.

The Institution undertaking from its own resources, supplied by voluntary contributions, to provide and maintain at each of its stations a life-boat of the best description, and amply furnished with everything necessary to make it efficient.

The effect of this valuable aid will be, to enable the Institution to increase the number of its life-boat stations; and, by more adequately remunerating its life-boat crews for their services, to place the whole of their establishments on a more efficient and satisfactory footing than they have ever been enabled to do by the help of voluntary contributions alone; whilst at the same time it will admit of no relaxation in their efforts to procure all the aid they can from the public as heretofore.

The Committee would here particularly call attention to the average expense of a lifeboat establishment, which is as follows:— £.

The cost of a suitable life-boat . . 150 Gear of boat and life-belts for the crew . 30 Boat-house, which must be foailt . 70 Launching carriage . . . . . 120 total , £370 Towards these items the Board of Trade have decided not to contribute; and the Committee hope that the liberal proposal of the Board to pay the crews of life-boats, &e,, wi5! have the effect of increasing rather than diminishing the amount of the support from the benevolent, inasmuch as that every person, when giving his voluntary aid, will feel that he is not only insuring the additional assistance from the public funds, but that he is contributing to a more perfect, and therefore more useful, work than previously, when there was an insufficiency of means available to secure its proper performance.

life-Boats.—The following life-boat stations have been added daring the past year to those already in connection with the Institution: — Alnmouth, in Northumberland ; Lytham, in Lancashire: Rhyl, Portmadoc, Llanelly, and Tenby, in Wales; Teignmouth, in Devon; Newhaven, in Sussex; and Hornsea, in Yorkshire : the whole of which boats, with the exception of the Alnmouth life-boat, have faeea transferred from the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners Royal Benevolent Society.

Also, Whitburn, in Durham ; Berwick-upon- Tweed; Dover; 3?ishgHard, in South Wales; and Lowestoft, Pakefield, and Southwold, in Suffolk; at which places the local associations have voluntarily joined the Institution.

A new 30-feet life-boat, on Mr. Peake's design, has been built and stationed at Boulmer, in Northumberland, in lieu of the one previously placed there, which was found unsuitable for the locality. Another of similar dimensions and character has been built for Berwick-upon-Tweed, to -replace the one stationed at that place some years since on the late Mr. GEORGE PALMER'S plan, which had become unfit for service; and a third for Fishguard.

A similar boat has also been built to be stationed at Lytham, in lieu of the boat at present at that station.

The Committee cannot refrain from expressing the satisfaction with which they have seen the seamen during the past year, in no less than five localities, establish lifeboat stations, chiefly from contributions amongst themselves; viz., at Hartlepool, in Durham, and at Scratby, .in Norfolk; at both of which places lives have already been saved by their life-boats; and at Sunderland, Seaham, and Gorleston, where their life-boats are in course of construction. The Committee have had the satisfaction to subscribe in aid of these praiseworthy and spirited efforts at the above-named localities.

On a special application from the Rhyl Branch of the Institution, and with a view at the same time to test the qualities (as compared with those of other boats) of the tubular life-boat invented by the Messrs. RICHARDSON, of Bala, North Wales, the Committee have made an arrangement with those gentlemen for the construction of one of their boats to be stationed at Rhyl.

The life-boats in connection with the Institution have been the means of saving the lives of the crews of the following vessels during the past year:— Isabella, of Torquay . . . 6 Jeune Amindee, of Nantes . 6 Improvement, of Sunderland. 6 Pride oftfo %, of Baltimore 37 Auckland, of Sunderland . .10 Comet, of Whitby . . . . 4 Equivalent, of Sunderland. . 9 Drammgen, Drobak, Norway . 8 Belmont, of Sunderland . . 7 Albion, of Weymouth . . . 7 Conqueror, of Sunderland . . 8 Star, of Sunderland . . . 7 Southern Cross, of Liverpool . 17 Total 132 In addition to the above number of lives rescued from shipwreck, through the instrumentality of the life-boats of the Institution, the Committee have granted rewards for saving the lives of 223 other wrecked persons by various life-boats and other means.

Carriages.—The Committee had for some time delayed proceeding with the construction of these important adjuncts to their lifeboats, with a view to satisfying themselves that they had procured the best plan that could be devised. After examining models and plans of the life-boat carriages at present in existence, the Committee have, with the valuable assistance of Lieutenant-Colonel TDIJLOH, Royal Artillery, and of Messrs. RANSOME and SIMS, the celebrated agricultural implement manufacturers at Ipswich, succeeded in producing a carriage, which may be considered a modification of that of the late Colonel COLQUHOON, R.A., and which, they believe, will be found to possess many advantages. Three carriages of this description have been built by Messrs. RANSOME and SIMS for the Institution during the past year, and one of them, to be stationed at Dungeness, has had its wheels fitted with BOYDELL'S patent self-laying railway, to enable it to travel lightly over the immense beds of loose shingle which extend for many miles along the coast in that locality. This ingenious contrivance enables three horses, on such ground, to perform the work which ten would be required to do with ordinary wheels. One of these carriages has been supplied to the life-boat at Skerries, in the county of Dublin, Ireland; and another to that at Newcastle, Dundrum Bay. A new carriage has also been supplied to the lifeboat at Budehaven, in Cornwall, built after the model of that at Whitby, in Yorkshire, and of several others on the east coast. It is especially suitable for localities where the narrowness of the roads, or other impediments, require that the wheels should be of small diameter,' and be placed underneath the floor of the boat.

In connexion with the subject of carriages, the Committee will observe that, with permission of the Board of Ordnance, a sample set of double harness for four horses has been fitted at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, under the superintendence of Lieutenant-Colonel TULLOH, R.A.; it being considered desirable that, in some localities at least, harness for the horses to drag the life-boat should be provided by the Institution, instead of trusting to the indifferent trappings procurable in the neighbourhood.

Boathouses.—Boathouses have been built during the past year at Dungeness and Skerries; and others will be built during the current year at Penzance and Fishguard.

Mortars and Rockets.—The Mortar and Rocket apparatus being almost everywhere in charge of the Coast-guard, and managed by them, it has been arranged that in future it shall be left entirely in the hands of the Board of Customs, who, in conjunction with the Board of Trade, will take the necessary steps to make it everywhere as efficient as possible, and to supply it to all localities where it may be useful.

In their Report for 1853 the Committee had to express then- regret at having to record the deaths of Mr. J. DENNETT and Mr. A. G. CARTE, whose Rocket apparatus for affording succour to shipwrecked persons is so well known, and so generally in use on the coasts. They have this year to lament the demise of the veteran Captain MANBY, whose Mortar apparatus for effecting the same object has likewise proved so extensively useful; having, it is supposed, been instrumental in saving about 1,000 lives.

Local Committees.—The Committee desire to acknowledge the valuable assistance which the Institution has received from some of the Committees of its local branches.

They have had ample opportunity for observing that the good condition and efficient working of the life-boat establishments on the coast will chiefly depend on the exertions of the local Committees.

The Committees at the eight stations, recently transferred to the Institution from the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Benevolent Society, have all consented to act in the same capacity in connection with this Institution; and have promised to exert themselves to maintain the contributions, and to excite a local interest in their several establishments, as they have hitherto done. ' Shipwrecks.—Notwithstanding the extraordinary and successful exertions that have been made during the past year to save the lives of shipwrecked persons on our coasts, the Committee lament to have to state that the loss of life from shipwreck during that period has been, as far as they know, unprecedentedly large. The Admiralty Register of Shipwrecks for 1854, which has just been published by order of the House of Commons, records that 987 wrecks took place in that year on the shores and in the seas of the United Kingdom; and that the number of lives sacrificed from these disasters was, as far as could be ascertained, 1,549. Thus the Register for 1854 shows an increase of 155,wrecks above those recorded in 1853, and of 560 lives lost as compared with the same period. The terrific storms of January, 1854, were by far the most destructive both to life and property.

The continued gales that prevailed nearly throughout that month caused the loss of 487 lives, and the wreck or damage of 258 vessels. The weather was not, at any period of the subsequent months, so boisterous as to cause comparatively any remarkable increase of casualties, until the October and November gales caused the wreck or damage of 258 vessels, which exceeded the casualties of the corresponding months of 1853 by 91. Surely such a record of melancholy disasters cannot but show that the necessity more than ever exists for well-organized and well-directed efforts hi the humane cause in which the Institution is engaged. In order to give practical effect to these efforts, by the establishment of a good life-boat on every exposed and suitable point on our coasts, the Committee believe that their appeal for funds, to enable them to accomplish that most desirable object, will not be made in vain; but that a liberal response will be made to it—so that the ordinary sources of income of the Institution may be made somewhat in proportion to its character and national usefulness.

Rewards.—During the past year the Com- mittee have had brought under their notice many very laudable services in rescuing life from shipwreck, and not a few gallant acts of individual exertion. These cases are briefly detailed in the Appendix to this Report. In addition to eight silver medals and other honorary rewards, the Committee have voted upwards of 310Z. as pecuniary rewards to persons who have assisted in saving life from shipwreck. In the distribution of the medals of the Institution, the Committee have been particularly solicitous to award them exclusively for acts of distinguished service, in order that they may be the more valued, as being the highest and most honourable testimony of admiration which the Institution has in its power to bestow.

The Committee have, on former occasions, had to lament their inability to dispense their pecuniary awards with as liberal a hand as they could have wished. With the assistance of the Board of Trade, as has been above explained, they are now enabled to pay the crews of their life-boats on a more suitable scale than hitherto; and by means of the same aid, and of increased support from the community at large, they hope also more liberally to reward those who, in their ordinary open boats, risk their own lives in attempts to save those of others.

The Committee have learned with satisfaction that the Board of Trade intend to award a gratuity in aid of local subscriptions for the widows and orphans of those who may perish in attempting to save life on the coasts. Similar awards, varying from 51.

to 501., have been made by this Institution since its first foundation; and the Committee, feeling the importance of diminishing, as far as possible, the natural anxieties, on that account, of men employed in such hazardous and meritorious undertakings, take this opportunity to state their intention to continue to make similar grants from the funds of the Institution, in addition to those made by the Board of Trade, or collected by local efforts.

By improvement in the construction of life-boats, and by providing their crews in every case with the best description of lifebelts, the Committee trust that the loss of life in them will in future be of rare occurrence; but it must be expected that such calamities will more frequently happen when the perilous enterprise of affording help to shipwrecked persons is undertaken by seamen, with the imperfect means at their own command in ordinary open boats.

Feeling the responsibility of the duty imposed upon them, the Committee continue to devote much time to the investigation of the claims made upon them for rewards, and it is only after the strictest inquiries have been made in respect to the merits of the claimants that their awards are granted. In these investigations the Committee continue to receive the valuable aid of the Coastguard Department, to whose ready co-operation in this and all other matters relating to the objects of the Institution the Committee again desire to bear testimony.

The total number of persons saved from shipwreck since the first establishment of this Institution, and for rescuing whom the Committee have granted honorary and pecuniary rewards, is shown in the following list :— In the Year 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 No. of Lives Saved.

124 218 175 ' 163 301 463 372 287 310 449 214 364 225 272 456 279 In the Year 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 ' 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 No. of Lives Saved.

353 128 276 236 193 235 134 157 123 209 470 230 773 678 355 Total . . . 9222 The operations of the Committee may be thus briefly stated :—Since the, establishment of the Institution in 1824, 79 gold medallions and 546 silver medals for distinguished services have been voted for saving life, besides pecuniary rewards, amounting together to 9,292Z.

Publications.—The Committee continue to publish the Life-Boat Journal, as the organ of the Institution, at quarterly intervals ; the Annual Report forming one of the numbers. It 'has been their endeavour to make its contents interesting and instructive.

They have also occasionally annexed to the Journal engraved Wreck Charts of the British Isles. Many of the articles of the publication having been inserted in most of the newspapers of the kingdom, they have reason to believe that it has tended to excite interest on the subject of saving life from shipwreck, and to diffuse a general knowledge of the objects of the Institution.

Finances.—In adverting to the state of the funds of the Institution, as particularized at length in the annexed balance-sheet, the Committee feel it their duty to call the earnest attention of its friends and the public to its present very extensive liabilities (1,50(W.) for new life-boats, life-boat carriages, and life-boat houses. It is evident, therefore, that without renewed and increasing liberality on the part of the public, the Committee will again be compelled to encroach upon the small funded capital of the Institution, which has already been reduced below what it has been since its formation.

The Committee believe that no wellwisher of this old and valuable Society,—which has been perpetuated to the present day in a great measure by means of its funded property, to which recourse has been had in seasons of extreme severity like that of the past year—would desire that its capital should hereafter be diminished below its present small amount. When they remember that the wealth and power of the United Kingdom have mainly sprung from its maritime and commercial prosperity, the Committee confidently believe that they shall not have to appeal in vain to any who have directly or indirectly been benefited thereby, and they would not limit their appeal to any particular localities; but, as the Institution partakes of a national character, so the Committee would urge its claim on the benevolent and affluent throughout the land (although they may be happily removed from being eye-witnesses of the horrors of shipwreck) to aid them with their contributions to carry out vigorously the philanthropic objects of the Institution.

The Committee have the gratification to announce that the Emperor of the French, on the occasion of his recent visit to this country, has kindly contributed the sum of 500 francs in aid of the funds of the Institution.

It is with much pleasure the Committee also refer to the very liberal support which the Institution has received during the past year from the Corporation of the Trinity House, the Committee for managing the affairs of Lloyd's, and the Honourable East India Company, as coming from public bodies so peculiarly competent to judge of the merits of an Institution to which they have generously extended their valuable support at various periods for more than 31 years. . The Committee would also bear testimony to the liberality of Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping Society, the Grocers' Company, the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, the East and West India Dock Company, and other public companies and private individuals, for their very liberal donations. The Committee would likewise again refer to the very liberal annual contribution of 30?., which has regularly been made to the Institution during the last five years by some unknown benefactor, under the names of " A. B." and a " Friend." The Institution will also' be benefited by a munificent legacy of 1,OOOZ. bequeathed by the late Mr. Samuel J. Lowe, of St.

George's in the East, which will be made payable after the decease of the testator's sister.

Nothwithstanding these continued acts of liberality towards the Institution on the part of the most influential public bodies in our land, the Committee regret to have to state that its income is very considerably below the amount required to carry out effectually its important objects; they therefore earnestly solicit a still farther increase of support, and trust that they may be enabled to report many additional names to the list of annual subscribers.