COMMUNICATION WITH STRANDED VESSELS.

SIR,—I have recently read with painful interest strictures upon the failures on the Norfolk coast to establish prompt communication with a wrecked vessel. Few persons, indeed, are aware of the difficulty of covering with a sure aim from the shore, by means of mortars or rockets, so small a space as that occupied .by a wrecked vessel in a storm of wind. Is it not melancholy, then, to perceive the continued neglect on the part of the owners and masters of vessels in not providing on board some resources for immediate communication with the shore ? Could a shot from the ship miss the shore ? and if a wooden cone in lieu of it was attached to the line and fell short, would it not be cast on shore by the wind and sea ? Would not a rocket, carrying its line before the storm, progress farther and in a more certain direction than when It has to drag the line against it? Or, if the vessels were too small for-these valuable appliances, would not the boat preserver (the models of which the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION did me the honour to accept), which can be easily and quickly attached to any boat, with a crew supported also in their attempt by Captain WARD'S life-belts, convey a line to the shore before, the wind and sea, and establish a communcation by which the life-boat or other means would be available for rescue? It really appears to toe, from the state of the vessels I receive in this harbour of refuge, that the more we see done for them, the less they are disposed to do for themselves. A few pounds in each case would give them resources of their own, which, combined with the life-boats of the above Institution, would not only give courage and confidence to all engaged, but be the means of saving many valuable lives. I do hope to see the day when a policy of insurance shall b§ vitiated if the lost or damaged ship is proved to be deficient in certain necessary auxiliaries for the preservation of life and property.

I am, &c. K. B. MARTIN.

Royal Harbour Office, Ramsgate, Oct. 30, 1867.