IN the year 1852 this Institution adopted a new description of life-boat: many of the boats which it at that time possessed were worn out, and the result of the-competition for a prize offered in the previous year by His Grace the Duke of NORTHUMBERLAND for the best model of a life-boat, led the Committee- to believe that a boat of a safer and more efficient character might be pro- duced than that hitherto in the possession | of the Society.

The boat selected was the production of JAMES PEAKE, Esq.,. Assistant-Master-Ship- wright in H.M. Dockyard at Woolwich.

Mr. PEAKE had been a member of the com- mittee appointed by the Duke of NORTHUM- BERLAND to decide on the relative merits of the models and drawings which competed for the prize above alluded to, and which were no less than 280 in number. After the prize had been awarded, Mr. PEAKE was requested by the other members of the committee to furnish a design for a life-boat which might combine as many as possible of the ad- vantages, and have as few as possible of the defects of the best of the models examined by them. A boat was accordingly designed by Mr. PEAKE, and, by the authority of the Lords of the Admiralty, was built at the expense of the Government, at Woolwich Dockyard. Some modifications were from time to time made in her, resulting from various experiments and a trial of her in a gale of wind at Brighton; and she, together with others on the same design, built at the cost of the Duke of NORTHUMBERLAND, the President of the Institution, was placed on the Northumberland coast in the autumn of 1852. In the course of the following winter these boats were taken afloat on trial by the Inspector of Life-boats to the Institution, some of them in heavy seas and gales of wind; and the result of the trials was con- sidered highly satisfactory. The Committee thereupon decided to proceed -with the building of other boats on the same plan; and at the present time no less than 23 of these boats are in the possession of the Institution, and stationed on the coasts of the United Kingdom, in addition to 3 which have gone to other countries and to 10 which have been built for harbour trusts and other bodies on our own coasts.

These boats have for the most part been of two sizes, viz., 27 feet and 30 feet in length, with 7J to 8 feet beam, and rowing from 8 to 12 oars, double-banked, their weight averaging 2 tons. As, however, boats of this class and size have been found too heavy to be managed in some localities where but few boatmen are to be obtained to launch and man them, some of less beam and weight, rowing 6 oars single- banked, but on the same design in other respects, have been built under the denomi- nation of second-class life-boats, to meet the necessities of such localities.

Of the former class of boats those most recently built by the Institution have so far undergone a further modification as to be re- duced somewhat in beam, and to have less height, and greater sharpness of bow and stern, in order to enable them to be rowed with greater speed against a head gale and heavy sea. They are also built of fir, on the diagonal principle of double plank- ing, without timbers; whereas the earlier boats were of elm and clenched or clinker- built.

We have not at ah earlier period given & description of these life-boats, as we were anxious that they should first have the advantage and experience of three or four winters' use, when we might, without presumption, be able to speak move confi- dently respecting them than we could have done before any sufficient practical trial had been made of them. We now feel that we are in that position. Several of them have already performed valuable services by saving the lives of shipwrecked, persons, and the highest reports have been received respecting them generally from those who have been intrusted with their management. Coupling those reports with what we have ourselves Been of them and of other lifeboats, we do not hesitate to pronounce the opinion that, as rowing boats, they are superior to all others. .Of their properties as sailing boats we are not yet in a position to speak so posi- tively, as nearly the whole x f them are stationed 6n those parts of die coast where sails are not required. At the same time, we have every reason to believe that they would be equally efficient as sailing boats.

The qualities necessary in a life-boat may be Aits summed up -we will remark oh each in succession, and point out how far the boats of the Institution possess those qualities:—» 1. Extra buoyancy, 2. Self-relief of water.

3. Ballasting.

4. Self-righting.

6, Stability.

6. Speed.

7. Stowage-room.

8. Strength of build.

1. The chief .peculiarity of a life-boat, which distinguishes it from all ordinary boats, m its being rendered insubmergible, by attaching to ft, chiefly within board, waters-tight ajr-oases, -or faed water-tight compartments under a deck, or empty casks.

This property in one or more of the above forms is common to all life-boats, although some possess it in an inadequate degree, or badly distributed. So long as the necessary space for rowing and working the boat and for the stowage of shipwrecked persons is not interfered with, the amount of this "extra buoyancy" cannot be too great.

Especially it is essential that the spare space along the sides of a life-boat, within board, should be entirely occupied by buoyant cases or compartments; as when such is the case, on her shipping a sea, the water, until got rid of, is confined to the Midship parts of the boat, where it to a great extent serves as ballast, instead of falling over to the lee side and destroying her equilibrium, as is the case in an ordinary open boat. Barrels or casks, which do not conform in shape to the sides of a boat, but leave large interstices to be occupied by Water, are not, therefore, suitable Vehicles for providing extra buoyant power; yet, at the present moment, the Liverpool lifeboats and some others are pro- vided only with empty casks as buoyant power. The north country or Greathead class of life-boats, of which those at Shields may be considered the type, have their extra buoyancy provided by a water-tight deck at the load°-Water line, die space between which and the boat's floor is formed into water-tight air-chambers; water-tight com- partments are also built along the sides of the boat, within board, sloped front the gunwale to tie deck, thereby eventually ex- cluding any water shipped from settling on one side. The life-boats of Messrs. WHITE, of Cowes, have their buoyancy effected by similar air-compartments along the sides, extending from the gunwale to the boat's floor, but without any enclosed space under a deck. The large sailing life-boats on the Norfolk find Suffolk coast have very wide detached air-boxes or tanks, strongly made, to correspond in form with life boats' sides, and extending from the thwarts to the floor, having no deck. The life-boats of Mr, PEAKE'S design have a water-tight deck at the load water-line and detached air-boxes along the sides, conforming closely to the shape of the latter, from the thwarts to the decfe A great amount of extra buoyancy is also in these boats derived from large end air-cases built across the bow and Stern, and occupying from 3 feet to 4J feet in length from tine stem and stern poets to gftnwate height. These cases are chiefly intended to provide self-righting power; but in the event of the boat being stove in, and the space below the deck being filled with water, they alone have sufficient buoyancy to float her. The life-boats built by Mr. BEECHING, of Great Yarmouth, and which obtained the Northumberland prize of 100?., are in this respect similarly fitted to those of Mr. PEAKE.

2. The second peculiar characteristic of a life-boat, and which is closely allied to the preceding, although it is not possessed by all life-boats, is the capability of self- discharging in a few seconds any water which may be shipped by the breaking over of a sea, or by a boat being suddenly thrown on her beam-ends. This power is accomplished by means of the water-tight deck at the load-water-line and a sufficient number of large open tubes, having their upper orifices at the surface of the deck and their lower ones at the boat's floor, passing through the space between the deck and the floor, but hermetically closed to it; thus providing an open communication between the interior of the boat and the sea, yet without suffering any leakage into the air- chambers under the deck. In some life- boats these tubes are kept always open; in others, plugs, moveable by * hand, and having laniards or handles, to them, are fitted,' which can be withdrawn on water being shipped. In Mr. PEAKE'S boats the tubes are fitted with self-acting valves, which open downwards only, so that they will allow any water shipped to pass down- wards, whilst none beyond a trifling leakage can pass upwards through them. It will be at once readily understood that, as the deck is placed at or above the load-water- line, any water which is above it will be above the outside level of the sea, with which it has, through the tubes, free com- munication, and that in obedience to the common law of fluids, which binds them to a uniform level, it must instantly, by its own gravity, descend through the tubes until none remains above the surface of the; deck; or, if the boat be very deeply loaded,; until the level of the water outside and of that within the boat shall be the same.

This quality of self-relief of water can, of course, only be possessed in perfection in boats with a raised water-tight deck at or above the load-water-line. The Norfolk life-boats before alluded to have holes through their floors, with plugs attached, through which they will relieve themselves to the outside level of the sea, or through which their crews can let water into them until the common level is obtained, which they accordingly do whenever they go afloat in a gale of wind and heavy sea. They have then, literally, several tons of water on board, but the wide side-cases confine the greater portion of it to the amidships of the boat, where it then serves as a loose ballast; the boatmen considering that it is safest to go off under sail with a boat deeply im- mersed. These boats will therefore only partially relieve themselves of water: they are splendid boats, and their crews have the utmost confidence in them; but we think that in this respect they might be improved on. Other life-boats, as, for instance, those at Liverpool, have no relieving-holes at all, and, if filled by a sea, their crews have no resource but the primitive, slow, and la- borious process of baling with buckets; to do which the oarsmen must take their oars, and, for a time, disable their boat.

3. A third and important property in a life-boat is ballasting. An ordinary open boat cannot with safety be taken into a heavy sea with metal, or stone, or other ballast having greater specific gravity than water, inasmuch as that if she were upset or filled with a sea she must then in&U&ly sink. As, however, a life-boat is provided -with a large amount of extra-buoyant power, she may with impunity have a considerable amount of ballast of any description within her. We may here observe that ballast of some kind is very contributive to -the effi- ciency of a life-boat. Not only must it add to her stability and thereby to her safety, but in proportion to the heaviness f -the sea does weight become necessary to insure speed, its momentum being requisite to with- stand the blow of each succeeding breaker, and to carry the boat through it as it stakes her; in the same manner that the fly-wheel of a steam-engine, or other machine, regu- lates and economizes the motive power, as I compensates for its irregular or intermittent action. The north country, or Greathead, life-boats have generally no ballast, their great breadth of beam being relied on for stability; but some of them have water let into a tank, constructed for the purpose in the midships of the boat beneath the deck.

BEECHING'S life-boats were also ballasted with water on the same principle; but through a difficulty in securing the filling of the tanks, and in preventing the escape of the water from them, serious accidents, accompanied with loss of life, occurred to three of those boats. Water-ballast in an enclosed tank, if properly secured, is, we think, better than loose water, such as we have described in the Norfolk boats; but we prefer solid bal- last to either, as it can be more advantage- ously placed, and is more manageable, and less liable to accident. Mr. PEAKE'S life- boats are ballasted with heavy iron keels, and with solid wood and cork ballast stowed under their decks; which latter, in the event of their being stove in and the space under the deck filling with water, would then form extra buoyancy as well, thus fulfilling both purposes.

4. A fourth property, that of self-righting if upset, is not a universal principle in life- boats, although we must consider it a most important one, it being only possessed by those of Mr. PEAKE'S and of Mr. BEECHING'S construction. It has been objected to by some boat-builders, from the impression that other more necessary qualities, and especially that of stability, must be sacrificed to obtain it: this, however, is a fallacy, as we have endeavoured to prove at length in a former number of this Journal (No. 19, page 125); the fact being that the very means which are employed to produce self-righting add to the stability of a boat, and improve her in other respects. That the property of self- righting may be useful is proved by the fact that on the only two occasions when self-righting boats belonging to the National Life-boat Institution have upset, the crews have been enabled to get into them again, and that their lives have thereby been saved.

The self-righting power is obtained by the following means:—1st. The boat is built with considerable sheer of gunwale, the bow and stern being from 1 ft. 6 in. to 2 ft. higher than the sides of the boat at her centre; and the space within the boat at either extremity, to the distance of from 3 to 4 ft. from the stem and stern posts, to gunwale height, is then enclosed by a sectional bulkhead and a ceiling, and so converted into a water-tight air-chamber, the cubical contents of which, from the thwarts upwards, are sufficient to bear the whole weight of the boat when she is placed in the water in an inverted position, or keel upwards. 2ndly. A heavy iron keel (from 4 to 8 cwt.) is attached, and a nearly equal weight of light wood or cork ballast is stowed betwixt the boat's floor and the deck.

No other measures are necessary to be taken in order to effect the self-righting power.

When the boat is forcibly placed in the water with her keel upwards, she is floated unsteadily on the two air-chambers at bow and stem, whilst the heavy iron keel and other ballast being then carried above the centre of gravity, an unstable equilibrium is at once effected, and the weight of the iron keel, falling over on one side, immedi- ately restores the boat to her proper position —in other words, she self-rights.

5. A fifth property is lateral stability, commonly called stiffness, being the tendency to preserve an upright position in the water, and proportionate resistance to upsetting.

This property is of course held in common by all boats, but is more especially essential to life-boats, they being more exposed to the risk of upsetting than any others. As ex- plained under the head of ballasting, it is obtained in life-boats by either breadth of beam or by ballast. In Mr. PEAKE'S boats very great stability is obtained by an iron keel and other solid ballast, and by flatness and length of floor, with moderate beam only.

6. A sixth and most essential property is speed. We say most essential, since without speed or capability of being propelled against a heavy sea and head wind, the safest boat in the world would be useless, as she could not be conveyed from the shore to a wreck, frequently against a series of breakers of the most formidable description. As in ordinary boats, propelled by oars, the greatest speed can be obtained by sharpness of bow and, within certain limits, narrowness of beam.

Here, however, the similarity ceases; for whereas great lightness is an advantage in perfectly smooth water and calm weather—as stated under the head of ballasting—weight is essential in a heavy sea, and especially a broken sea, in which the light boat will lose her way or be beaten back by each heavy sea as it strikes her, whilst the heavier boat will by her own inertia carry her way through or over the seas. In a life-boat, height of bow and stern is also necessary to prevent the seas from breaking over and filling the boat; for, if sharpness of form be preserved quite up to the gunwale, the height of end will not check a boat's way so much as will a sea breaking into and half- filling her. Speed is not, however, alone necessary to enable a life-boat to force her way through the lines of breaking seas which form an almost impassable barrier between a lee shore and a wreck; we believe that it also adds greatly to her safety; for if she lose her way on meeting a very heavy broken sea or roller, she may not only be beaten back by it, but be thrown end over end or broadside to it, and be upset; but if she retain her way, she can be kept bow to the sea until it has passed her, when she will again gather additional speed in readiness to meet with impunity the succeeding wave.

On account of the isolated position of life- boats, placed at distant intervals along the coast, there will rarely happen any oppor- tunity for testing two boats of different con- struction in company with each other in a heavy sea, so as to form a correct compara- tive estimate of their power or speed.

Judging, however, from the received reports of Mr. PEAKE'S boats, we have no doubt that they are equal in speed and power to any, and superior to most that exist.

7. A seventh quality is stowage-room for passengers. It is of course desirable that a life-boat should have as large an amount as possible of stowage-room, as she might have to proceed to the wreck of an emigrant ves- sel, or other passenger ship, when it would be important that she should take on board a large number of persons so as to rescue the whole in as few trips as possible. The principal object in view will therefore be to distribute the air-chambers, forming the extra buoyancy of the boat, in such a manner as to occupy no more than can be helped of any space which would be available for the stowage of passengers. Life-boats vary much in this respect. It is a requirement which has been especially studied in Mr. PEAKE'S boats.

8. The eighth and last quality which we have to consider is strength. As a life-boat is 'liable to be thrown heavily on a beach by the sea, or to be knocked with violence against a vessel's side, or to come in contact with spars or broken wreck floating in the water, she of necessity must be very strongly built: in this respect, Mr. PEAKE'S boats will bear competition with any others.

The following diagrams show the general form and the nature of the fittings and air- chambers of one of Mr. PEAKE'S life-boats, 30 ft. in length, and 7 ft. 6 in. in breadth.

In figs. 1 and 2, corresponding to the elevation and deck plans, the general ex- terior form of the boat is seen, showing the sheer of gunwale, length of keel, and rake or slope of stem and stern-posts. The dark dotted lines in fig. 1 also show the position and dimensions of the air-chambers within-board and of the relieving tubes.

A represents the deck.

B, the relieving-tubes (6 in. diameter).

c, the side air-cases.

D, the end air-chambers.

[For Figs. 1 and 2, see page 190.] In fig. 3, the exterior form of transverse sections at different distances from stem to stern is shown.

Fig. 4 represents a midship transverse section.

A, represents sections of the side air-cases already described.

B, the relieving tubes, bored through solid massive chocks of wood, of the same depth as the space between the deck and the boat's floor.

c, spaces beneath the deck, filled up over 6' ft. in length at the midship part of the boat with solid chocks of light wood, or boxes of cork, forming a portion of the ballast, as before described.

D, a section of a tier below the deck, having a moveable hatch or lid, in which the boat's cable is stowed, and into which all leakage beneath the deck is drained through small holes, with valves fixed in them. In some of the later boats, a small draining tier only is placed, having a pump in it, by which any leakage can be pumped out by one of the crew whilst afloat.

The proportions of one of these boats are as follows:— Length, 30 ft.

Beam, 7 ft. 6 in.

Depth amidships, 3 ft. 4 in., exclusive of keel.

Ditto, from boat's floor to deck, 1 ft. 3 in.

Ditto, from deck to thwarts, 1 ft. 3 in.

Ditto, from thwarts to gunwale, 10 in.

Length of end-cases (D), 4 ft.

Width of side-cases (c), extreme, 1 ft. 6 in.

Fig. 3.

Body Plan.

Midship Section.

The festooned lines in fig. 1 represent exterior life-lines attached round the entire length of the boat, to which persons in the water might cling until they could be got into the boat: the two central life-lines are festooned lower than the others to be used as stirrups, so that a person in the water could more readily, by stepping on them, get into the boat, which is a very difficult operation for even a strong man for effect with heavy, wet clothes about him.

In closing these explanations of the life- boats of the Institution on Mr.

design, it is a duty we owe to Mr. PEAKE to state that the design itself, and improve- ments in it from time to time, have been gratuitously furnished by him, and that he has devoted much valuable time to the con- sideration of the subject, and to personal superintendence of their building.

The whole of these boats belonging to the Institution, excepting one, have been built by Messrs. FORRESTT, the eminent boat- builders, at their establishment, in the Com- mercial Road, Limehouse.