IN No. 10 of this Journal we described and eulogized this, as we believe, invaluable boat, invented by the Rev. E. L. BERTHON, of Fareham, and in our 23rd Number we stated that we should not cease to draw the attention of our readers to its peculiar merits and advantages, f. e., as a ship's life-boat for vessels carrying troops or passengers.

We are again reminded of that intention by the occurrence of the war with China, involving the transport of troops to that distant part of the world, and by accidents having recently occurred to two Government steam troop-ships, the Urgent and the Transit, neither of which, it is said, had boat accommodation for half of the persons on board them. Now had either of these vessels foundered at sea, and more than half its inmates perished from the want of boats to take them on board, what an indelible disgrace would have been inflicted on our country for thus suffering the lives of its brave defenders to be uselessly imperilled ! For, is it not enough that men should fear- lessly expose their lives to the sword of the foe, without their also incurring unnecessary risk by the mere act of their conveyance to the scenes of their duties ? That our soldiers, as well as our sailors, should be ready at all times to encounter the ordinary dangers of the sea, we at once admit; but what we contend for is, that they should be provided with every available means of security. The neglect of such provision we shall always consider a national sin.

Now it cannot be said that troops or any other persons on shipboard are provided with " every available means of security," unless a sufficient number of safe boats are attached to their ship to receive them all on board in case of fire or foundering at sea.

The difficulty of the stowage of such a num- ber of boats has been got over by the in- vention of the collapsible life-boat; if, there- fore, its safety and efficiency are established, it follows that no troop-ship or passenger- vessel should be without a sufficient supply of such boats.

Having already expressed our opinion at large on this subject, we do not now pro- pose to go over the same ground again.

" We have nailed our colours to the mast," with the device inscribed on them, " Life- loot accommodation for every person em- barked under the British flag;" short of which nothing will satisfy us. We have also pronounced our opinion decisively on the capability of the collapsible life-boat to meet the required want. We now purpose, in further elucidation of Mr. BEBTHON'S plan, to add diagrams of his boat, the woodcuts of which he has kindly furnished to us, together with some particulars respecting those which have been already in use, that will serve to illustrate our properties, especially that of strength. It is the more necessary that we should do so, as, in consequence of the sink- ing of an experimental mortar-boat, built on Mr. BERTHON'S plan about two years since (which was published in the newspapers at the time), unfavourable and mistaken im- pressions may have been entertained regard- ing them, whereas an examination into the cause of that accident afforded a striking illustration of the immense strength of this description of boat.

The mortar-boat in question was con- structed to carry a 13-inch mortar, the shell of which weighed 208 Ibs., which was fired with a charge of 20 Ibs. of powder, and the total weight of which was 8| tons, exclusive of ammunition. Now it so happened that when the mortar was being lowered into this boat (the mortar itself weighing 5J tons) the block by which it was suspended broke, and that enormous weight of metal fell through a height of about 4 feet into the boat Now we feel quite sure that if the same accident had happened to a mer- chant vessel of average strength of build, the mortar would have gone through her bottom.

We do not mean to say it would have gone through the floor of a ship having a solid bot- tom, as so long advocated by our friend Mr.

BALLISGAL, of Melbourne, Australia, and with which every merchant vessel should be built, but that it would have broken its way through the floor of an ordinary merchant ship. In consequence, however, of the great strength of this peculiar build, no serious injury apparently resulted from the accident, and the mortar was accordingly placed in the boat and the trials of it were proceeded with. After several days' firing, it was observed that the boat heeled on one side, and the same being supposed to arise from a leak, permission was obtained by Mr. BER- THON to have the mortar taken out and the boat carefully examined. It was then found that one of the longitudinal timbers, at the spot where the mortar had fallen, was broken through, which, under the effect of the con- stant subsequent discharges of the mortar, had gradually collapsed to some exten.t, and thus altered the shape of the boat on that side, causing her to heel over as above de- scribed. The mortar having been taken out, the boat was repaired, a new timber being inserted in lieu of the broken one: it, however, unfortunately happened that one of the workmen, in Mr. BERTHON'S ab- sence,' in nailing the india-rubber cloth to the edge of the new timber, materially weakened the former through a small portion of its length, by driving in the nails close to each other, instead of at a distance of 1J- inch apart; thus establishing a weak point in the fabric, which afterwards gave way at that point from the concussion of the mortar's subsequent discharge, and (at the fifteenth round) occasioned the accident abov« referred to.

Mr. BERTHON has since devised an in- genious method of attaching the flexible cloth to the timbers of his boats without any perforations being made in it.

A consideration of all the circumstances above described confirms us in our previous opinion of the great strength of Mr. BEK- THOS'S boats. In illustration of their strength and immunity from injury when in a col- lapsed state, we may relate that one of them now on board Her Majesty's steam troop- ship, Perseverance, on trial, was, on her recently going to sea, secured out-board, abaft her fore channels, where, when on the weather side, it was exposed to the full effects of the sea. That the ship being suddenly hurried out of port, there was no time to affix a tarpauline cover which Mr. BERTHON had considered an indispensable security, and which, from its presenting on all parts a smooth surface to the sea, would have offered no unequal resistance to it.

That immediately after sailing, and before any opportunity had offered to attach the cover, the ship encountered a heavy gale which materially damaged her upper bul- warks, on the same side on which the boat was stowed, although they were in a less exposed positipn, washing away also one of her quarter boats; yet that Mr. BERTHON'S boat, unprotected and imperfectly secured as it was, passed unscathed through the same ordeal.

To what other conclusion, then, can we come than that, whether collapsed or ex- panded,' these boats are possessed of more than ordinaiy strength ? It is not, however, as mortar-boats or gun-boats that we would primarily advance the importance of this invention, although we must confess we think some 50 or 60 of them so armed would, at this moment, be found invaluable auxiliaries to our fleet on the coast of China, drawing, as they would do, but a few inches water, and carried col- lapsed to the scene of action, as they might be, to the number of twenty in one old ship of the line.

The one point on which we would base our whole argument for the adoption of these boats, is the immense advantage ob- tained by their collapsibility, enabling them to be stowed away in a reduced space, and in various positions on shipboard in which no ordinary boat can be stowed. By this property, no matter how crowded a ship may be with human beings, there may be boat • accommodation, nay, life-boat accommoda- tion, for every one of them ; there need be no confusion, no rushing headlong into and upsetting in succession boat after boat as thej are lowered into the sea; no fearful anxiety as to who should be the unfortunate crea- tures left on board to perish. There need never again be witnessed the fearfully mag- nificent spectacle of the noble old colonel* calmly directing his men, rank and file, each in his turn, to descend the side of the burn- ing ship, whilst he and the residue of his band, for whom no boat accommodation had been provided, awaited, with heroic resigna- tion, their terrible and inevitable fate. But there may be boats for all—boats which, as we have in a former paper remarked, by having each painted on them, in conspicuous characters, the number of persons they were severally fitted to carry, would, beforehand, impart confidence to the emigrants or other passengers for whose security they were in- tended ; boats, which not only would convey their inmates safely through.a heavy mid- ocean sea, but, if required to do so, would land them in safety through the much more dangerous surf on the shore. For if filled * Vide Life-Beat Journal, No. 13, page 140.

by a surf or roller on the beach, such a boat would not sink; and in the case of the land- ing of troops—an operation which it might often be important to perform without wait- ing for a surf to go down—an army might land in such boats without wetting either their arms or their ammunition.

We do, therefore, trust that an invention, which we believe to be of national interest and importance, may not be suffered to perish in embryo for want of that support and en- couragement which the government of the country can alone afford. Mr. BEBTHON has, we are informed, already expended several thousand pounds in his endeavours to bring it to perfection, and does not feel called on or able to do more; nor can it be expected that he should do so, however much he may feel convinced of its national utility.

We have ourselves, from the same con- viction, done what we could to bring it into public notice; we shall now conclude by placing before our readers some diagrams explanatory of the collapsible life-boat, with a short account of its nature and mode of action, and refer them, for a more detailed description of it, to the previous Numbers of this Journal above alluded to.

A life-boat, 12 feet wide, is stowed within the space bounded by the black line a a, and protected below by a kind of chainwale b, the davits d being topped up.

When the gripes are cast off, the davits drop into the position of the dotted lines, with the boat, which imme- diately opens, e c is a midship's section, the shaded parts representing the air-cells.

Showing a Section of a Collapsible Life-Boat in a collapsed state, as stowed, and in an expanded state, as in the act of lowering. It may in this manner be stowed in many positions outside a ship, in which no ordinary boat could be stowed.

The chief peculiarity of these boats con- sists in their power of instantaneously ex- panding, when required, by their own weight; this is accomplished in the follow- ing manner:—All the timbers are longitu- dinal (usually eight besides the keel), and jointed together at the tops of the stem and stern-post. The planking is formed of two skins attached respectively to the inner and outer edges of the timbers, and being 'com- posed of plies of canvas and cured India- rubber they are very flexible and strong.

When open the timbers stand apart in radiating planes extending the skins, the a Ordinary cutter, or quarter-boat, 8 feet wide.

b A. space in which a collapsing life-boat, 10 feet wide, is stowed, to be lowered by the same davits as the cutter, as soon as the latter is down.

Showing a Section of a Collapsible Life-Boat (i) as stowed between an ordinary outside boat and a ship's side.

thwarts, bottom-boards, &c., performing the office of extenders, as shown in Fig. 3, where the shaded parts represent the spaces or compartments into which the body of the boat is divided, and which fill themselves with air in expanding.

When shut the timbers fall down side by side like the leaves of a book on its edge, the thwarts and bottom-boards being jointed also; and thus the breadth of the boat is reduced to about one-fifth of what it is when expanded.