Thursday, 7th Dec., 1854. THOMAS CHAPMAN, Esq., F.R.S., in the Chair.

Confirmed the Minutes of the previous Meeting, and those of the Finance and Wreck and Reward Sub-Committees.

Read letters from the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Royal Benevolent Society of the 30th Nov. and 4th Dec., together with the extracts of Minutes and copies of Resolutions which accompanied them, stating, with other particulars, that at an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Society held on the 29th Nov. it had been unanimously resolved to transfer the Lifeboat Establishments and Life-boat Fund of the Society to the Royal National Life-boat Institution. The Committee had also decided to continue to collect the usual threepences from the seamen, subscribers of the Society, towards the Life-boat Fund; and that the money thus collected, after deducting the amount of such rewards as the Society may have given for saving life on the high seas, would be handed over to the National Life-boat Institution at convenient periods.

Resolved— 1. That the best thanks of this Com-mittee be conveyed to the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Society, in acknowledgment of their gift of nine life-boats and their appurtenances to the National Lifeboat Institution; and also for their generous offer to collect, as far as practicable, threepence a-year, as heretofore, from those members of the Society who are desirous to help the life-boat cause.

2. That the Members of the late Life-boat Committee of the Society be invited to join the Committee of Management of the National Life-boat Institution.

3. That the Inspector of Life-boats be instructed to accompany the officer of the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Society, on a tour of inspection of the several Life-boat Establishments transferred by them to the National Life-boat Institution.

Rear-Admiral BEECHEY intimated .to the Committee that the Board of Trade did not intend to interfere with the stationing of life-boats on the coast, which would be left, as hitherto, to the benevolence of the public; but that the Board of Trade did purpose to assist in paying the crews of life-boats, and in rewarding parties who exerted themselves in saving life from shipwreck on the coasts.

On these latter points, however, the Board of Trade would be glad to have the opinion of the National Life-boat Institution, with the view to their concurrently laying down some scale of remuneration for services rendered on such occasions.

Nominated several members of the Committee to form themselves into a Sub-Committee to draw up a report accordingly.

Announced the death, on the 18th Nov. last, of Captain MANBY, F.K.S., the wellknown inventor of the mortar apparatus for saving life from shipwreck, which is called after his name.

Resolved— That the Committee of the Royal National Life-boat Institution, having heard with regret the account of the death of Captain MANBY, desire to record their high sense of his unwearied exertions during the last half-century in saving life from shipwreck, having been mainly instrumental in introducing into general use the Mortar Lifepreserving Apparatus around our coasts, whereby probably one thousand lives have been saved from a premature death.

A brief memoir of the late gallant Captain will be found in the Life-boat Journal, No. 15, p. 11.

Resolved— That a 30-feet life-boat on Mr. PEAKE'S plan be stationed at Fishguard on the coast of Wales, and that instructions be given to build a house for the boat.

Read letter from Captain AUSTEN, R.N., Inspecting Commander of the Coastguard of the Newcastle district, County Down, stating that the Marquis of DOWNSHIRE had purchased a life-boat from the wreck of the American ship Charles Tfmmberstone, and that his lordship had placed the same under the charge of the Coastguard near Dundrum Bay.—To express to the noble Marquis the satisfaction of the Committee with his liberality.

Decided to move at Christmas next the offices of the Institution to more commodious premises, at No. 14, John-street, Adelphi, nearly opposite those now occupied by the Institution.

Decided also to fit a set of BOYDELL and GLASIEE'S patent carriage railway plates to the wheels of the Dungeness life-boat carriage.

Reported the sale of 300L from the funded capital of the Institution.

Read the monthly report of the Life-boat Inspector of the life-boats tried and sent to their stations during the past month; and also that of the boat-builders of the state and progress of those now building for the Institution by them.

Voted 90?. 7s. for rewards—one second service clasp, and the thanks of the Committee as follows:— 11 to chief boatman DAVID KIRK, and 10s. to each of his crew of six men, for their services in the Coastguard life-galley, to the crew of the barque Jupiter, of Dundee, which was wrecked near Tyrella, during a gale of wind from the south on the 28th Oct. last.

Also 21.10s. to 7 men for their assistance, with a hawser, to some passengers of the barque Sarah Anne, which had been deserted by her crew and had come on shore near Ardglass, County Down, on the 28th Oct. last.

Also 13?. to the crews of the Deal luggers Princess Royal, and England's Glory, for their services to the crew, consisting of 6 men, of the brigantine Ionia, of Youghal, which was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands during a S.S.W. gale of wind on the 13th Nov. last.—Also Captain MARTIN to be thanked for- his communication respecting the services offered by the Ramsgate lifeboat on the occasion.

Also the second service clasp to SAMUEL MOODY, coxswain of the Skegness life-boat, for his services in the boat, in rescuing 11 persons from the brig Atalanta, which was wrecked near that place during a dark and windy night on the 18th Oct. last. The life-boat's crew received 21. 2s. each from the Lincolnshire Shipwreck Association for the same service. MOODY had on a previous occasion been presented with the medal of the Institution. The life-boat at Sutton, on the same coast, also assisted in saving some of the crew of the freedom which came on shore near that place on the same day.

Also the thanks of the Committee to Mr. ROWE, master of the brig Britannia, for the assistance which he and his crew rendered to the crew of the French sloop L' Ulysses, which sank, after being in contact with a barque off Cork Sand, near Harwich, on the 31st Oct. last.

A reward of 41. was also granted to eight men for their services in .a boat called the Ocean Galley, by saving two men belonging to a fishing-boat, which had been capsized during a gale of wind from N.E., on entering Margate on the 17th Nov. last.

Also II. to two men for their assistance in their boat to 9 persons belonging to the hooker Kite, which had foundered near Westport on the 30th Sept. last.

Also a grant of 15s. to a man and boy for their services in their yawl to one of the crew of the sloop Three Sisters, which foundered in the Bristol Channel during squally weather on the 24th Nov. last. The man was taken from a small boat, into which he succeeded in jumping when the vessel was sinking; the master unfortunately went down with the sloop.

Also 9L 2s. to the crew of the Hartlepool seamen's life-boat, for rescuing on two trips 12 persons, belonging to the ship CaUuria,.

of Sunderland, which was stranded near Hartlepool harbour, during squally weather, on the 23rd Nov. last. This was the second time this life-boat had recently succeeded in saving shipwrecked crews.

Also 56L to the crews of the Whitburn life-boat, being 10s. per man, for having gone off eight times in the boat to the rescue of the crews, consisting of 59 men, of eight vessels which were stranded near Sunderland during a gale of wind, from E.S.E., on the 15th Nov. last.

Thursday, 4th Jan., 1855. THOMAS CHAPMAN, Esq., F.R.S., in the Chair.

Confirmed the Minutes of the previous Meeting, and those of the Finance and Wreck and Reward Sub-Committees.

Elected such Members of the late Life- Boat Committee of the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Society, as had accepted the invitation of the Royal National Life- Boat Institution to join its Committee of Management.

That Society requested some Members of the Committee of this Institution to join their Committee of Management—ADMIRAL CATOR, Captain S. ELLERBY, Elder Brother of the Trinity House, and Captain LAMBERT PERROTT, acceded to the request.

Read and confirmed the Report of the Sub-Committee, appointed to consider the propositions submitted by the Board of Trade to the Institution, and decided that the Report be referred to the Board.

Resolved— 1. That a grant of 10?. and a set of lifebelts be made in aid of the Sunderland seamen's life-boat.

2. That the life-boat, lately brought back from Boulmer, be repaired and placed at Thorpness, on the coast of Suffolk, in lieu of the one there at present, which was found inefficient.

Reported that the Skerries life-boat and carriage had been carried gratuitously to Liverpool by the London and North Western Railway Company, and that they had thence been taken on the same terms to Dublin, on board one of the steamers belonging to the Dublin Steam Packet Company. — The thanks of the Committee to be conveyed to both companies.

Reported the safe arrival of the Boulmer and Almiouth life-boats on their stations.

Read various quarterly reports of the exercise o, life-boats.

Decided that the Coastguard Department be requested to favour the Institution with a return of the state and condition of the mortar and rocket apparatus around the coast of the United Kingdom, particularly in respect to the length of the hawser supplied to each station.

Voted the silver medal of the Institution to Lieut. JOACHIM, R.N., chief officer of Coastguard at Lowestoft; and 13?. 6s. to the crew of the Pakefield life-boat, in testimony of their services to the crew, consisting of 8 men, of the Norwegian brig Dronningen, which was wrecked on the Holm Sand on the 7th Oct. last.

Also the thanks of the Committee on vellum to Mr. DAVID SINCLAIR, merchant of Thurso, for his services in a coble to the crew of the galliot Ariadne, which was wrecked near Thurso on April 27 last.

The crew of the coble were rewarded locally.

Also 2Z. to two men for rescuing the master and mate of the sloop Dolphin, of Cardiff, which sank in the Bristol Channel during a S.W. gale of wind on the 21st Dec. last.

Also 81. 8s. to the crew of the Barmouth life-boat; 2L to the crew of a steamer for towing the life-boat off; and 9?. 16s. to the crew of the Portmadoc life-boat, for their combined services to the crew, consisting of 37 men, of the ship Pride of the Sea, which was stranded in St. Patrick's Causeway on the 9th Dec. last.

Thursday, 1st Feb., 1855. THOMAS CHAPMAN, Esq., F.R.8., in the Chair.

Confirmed the Minutes of the previous Meeting, and those of the Finance and Wreck and Reward Sub-Committees.

Read letter from the Board of Trade, of the 18th Jan., expressing the Board's approval of the Resolutions passed by the Committee relative to the arrangements entered into between the Board and the Royal National Life-boat Institution, and stating that, " with regard to rewards for saving life, the Committee will observe that the 459th section of the Merchant Shipping Act 1854, gives to persons who save life a claim, in the nature of salvage, against the owner of property saved ; and further gives to that claim priority over all other claims for salvage. By that section it is also clearly intended, that any person justly entitled to reward for saving 'life shall first avail himself of the means provided by the Act for enforcing his claim against the owners; and it is therefore only in cases where no property is saved, or where no adequate reward can be obtained at law in the manner pointed out by the Act, that a reward will be given by this Board out of the Mercantile Marine Fund." Read and approved draft of a circular to be addressed to the local Life-boat Committees in connexion with the Institution, rendered necessary on account of the arrangements entered into between the Board of Trade and, the Institution.— Vide p. 64 of this number of the Life-Boat Journal.

Resolved— 1. That a 32-feet tubular life-boat, on the plan of the Messrs. RICHAKDSON, be supplied to Rhyl, in lieu of the life-boat there at present, which was found unsuitable to the locality.

2. That a grant of 10?. and a set of lifebelts be made, in aid of each of two life-boats proposed to be stationed at Seaham, under the directions respectively of the seamen of the place, and of Mr. ROBERT ANDERSON, agent to the Marchioness of LONDONDERRY.

Instructed the Inspector of Life-boats to examine the Dover life-boat, which the local Committee of that place offered to put under the management of this Institution.

Read and approved the Inspector's report of his visits, in company with the officer of the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Society, to the several life-boat stations lately transferred by that Society to this Institution.

Voted the silver medal to WILLIAM and to JOHN LEWIS, of Harwich, and 20?. to be divided between them and the crews of their two smacks; and 3?. to the crew of the steam-tug Amazon, for their services to four persons on board the Staunton, of North Shields, which struck on the Gunfleet Sand on the 16th Dec. last. Attempts were made by several smacks 'to get the vessel off, but without success. The smack Aurora's Increase then took off her crew, with the exception of an apprentice boy, and 3 men belonging to another smack; the next day the smacks TryaU and Aurora's Increase endeavoured to rescue these people, but in vain; and it was not till the 18th Dec. that they succeeded in doing so, which was accomplished by the assistance of the steamtug Amazon. In effecting this, one of the smack's boats was stove, and the paddlebox boat belonging to Her Majesty's steamer Driver, which the steam-tug had in tow, was lost.

Also 10?. in aid of local subscriptions, collecting locally to reward the crews of 4 boats for their services to the crews, consisting of 11 men, of the schooners Swift and Concord, which foundered in a gale of wind from the north, near St. Ives' pier, on the 20th Dec. last.

Also 21 to MICHAEL ROGERS, and 9Z.

to 9 other men, for their services with a hawser, to the crew, consisting of 18 men, of the ship Marchioness of Clydesdale, which was wrecked during a gale of wind from the west on Arranmore Island, County Donegal, on the 21st Dec. last.

Also 9Z. to the crew, consisting of 18 men, of the Scratby life-boat for their services in their boat to one of the crew of the brig Stranger, of Shields, which struck while blowing strong on the Barber Sand, off Caistor, on the 30th Jan. last.—Another man was saved by the Caistor life-boat, but unfortunately seven of the wreck's crew perished on the occasion.

Thursday, 1st March, 1855. THOMAS BARING, Esq., M.P., V.P., in the Chair.

Elected Captain JOHN TOWNSHEND, R.N., M.P. a Member of the Committee of Management of the Royal National Life-boat Institution.

Read letter from the Board of Trade respecting printed circulars (copies of which were enclosed) which the Board had addressed to Life-boat Committees throughout Great Britain.

Read and approved the report of Captain LAMBERT PERROTT and the Inspector of Life-boats, on a set of harness to be used by horses drawing life-boat carriages, which, with the pel-mission of the Board of Ordnance, had been fitted under the superintendence of Colonel TULLOH, R.A., at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich.—The thanks of the Committee to be expressed to Colonel TULLOH and to Captain PERROTT.

Read letters from various life-boat branches of the Institution, acceding to the terms laid down in the printed circular of the Institution (vide p. 64,), and promising their cooperation to carry the same into effect.

Read letter from the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Society, transmitting a copy of the Report of Lieut. SYMONS, R.N., who recently accompanied Captain WARD, R.N., Life-boat Inspector, on his tour of inspection of the life-boats formerly belonging to that Society.

Also from the same Society, transmitting various documents from their honorary agent at Ayr, respecting the necessity of a life-boat at that place, which the Society strongly recommended to the attention of this Institution.—Decided that the usual life-boat papers, preparatory to the placing of a life-boat, be forwarded to Ayr.

Decided that the officers of the Institution be instructed to make the necessary arrangement$ for transmitting models of life-boats, life-boat carriage, &c., to the Paris Universal Exhibition.

Voted 75Z. 5s. and four silver medals as rewards for saving life, as follows:— Voted 21. 15s. to 11 men for their services in their boats to 4 men who belonged to a fishing-boat which was swamped near Donegal during boisterous weather on the 13th Dec. last.

Also the silver medal to WILLIAM NEWSON, Master of the smack Alfred, of Woodbridge, and 11. 10s. to be divided between himself and his crew of 4 men, in testimony of their services to the crew, consisting of 11 men of the schooner Woodman, of Newcastle, which was wrecked on the Shipwash Sand, during cloudy weather and a heavy sea, on the 20th Feb. last.

Also the silver medal and 21. to CHARLES PEARCE, seaman, in consideration of his services to the crew of the schooner New Jane, of Exeter, which, during a gale of wind, was wrecked near New Quay, Cornwall, on the 20th Dec. last. The men were landed over the ship's bowsprit on the rocks, where PEAECE assisted them at the risk of his own life, and from which he was washed off with a boy in his arms, who unfortunately perished on the occasion.

PEARCE had at former wrecks creditably exerted himself in saving life.

Also 6/. to a boat's crew of 6 men for their assistance to the crew, consisting of 4 persons, of the schooner Forrester, of Montrose, which drove on shore on the uninhabited island of Switha, Pentland Frith, on the 25th Dec.

Also 51. 10s. to the crew of the Portmadoc life-boat for putting off in the boat to go to the assistance of a barque in distress, from which were heard reports of guns for assistance while in the St. Tudwell's Road.

Also the silver medal to CHARLES SALMON and GEORGE FLEMING, and 30?. to be divided between them and 13 other men, in testimony of their services in a Gorleston yawl to 9 persons of the brig Ann Moore, of South Shields, which drove on the Gorton Sands on the night of the 15th Feb. last.

The master of the vessel perished on the occasion, and a boy died after being brought on shore. The yawl made 6 trips before she succeeded in rescuing the crew.

Also 91. 10s. to be divided between the crew of 19 men of the Pakefield life-boat for rescuing the crew, consisting of 8 men, of the schooner Hermann, of Rostock, which came on shore near Kessingland during a heavy gale on the 8th Feb. last. And 81. 10s. to be divided amongst the crew of a fishing yawl for putting off to attempt, before the arrival of the life-boat, to save the crew of the said vessel..