THE unfortunate accident which occurred to the Calais mail-packet Prince Frederick William, in February last, will be fresh in the memory of many of our readers, when the upsetting of one of the Calais life-boats, which had proceeded to the assistance of the wrecked passengers, was unhappily the cause of three persons losing their lives.

As we are in the habit of recording, for the information of the public, the successful services of the life-boats in connection with the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, and as the life-boat above referred to is of the same character as the smaller boats belonging to the Society, it behoves us also to record their failures, and to accompany the same with any information we possess which may serve to explain the true causes of any accident that may happen to them, and may lead to the avoidance of disaster in other localities.

The life-boat in question wag presented to the town of Calais a few months ago by Her Majesty's Board of Trade, in acknowledgement of a service rendered to the wrecked crew of an English vessel. She is a selfrighting, single-banked boat, rowing six oars, on the same design as that adopted by the Institution, and of the same dimensions as those placed by the Society at places where there are not a sufficient number of boatmen and other available means to work a boat of the larger size.

Although the general stability and safety of a boat in very heavy seas must be within certain limits proportionate to size and especially to breadth of beam, and that therefore a comparatively small and narrow singlebanked boat cannot be capable of resisting so heavy a broadside sea without upsetting as the wider double-banked boat is, and that for that reason the latter are always selected where the seas are very heavy and there is sufficient available force to manage them, yet, with commonly careful management, they are capable of contending with almost any sea, and they are more often preferred by the boatmen themselves to the larger boats, on account of their greater handiness.

They have also rendered important services, having saved many lives without ever losing a man, and the only one which has upset previous to the Calais boat instantly selfrighted, and although in the middle of the night and in a very heavy broken sea, her crew all regained her without injury, and were carried by her safely to the shore.

A brief description of the circumstances attending the accident to the Calais life-boat will suffice to make manifest the causes which led to it.

The Prince Frederick William mail-packet, on attempting to enter the harbour of Calais in a dark night, struck the pier on the east side, and after incurring considerable damage, was driven ashore. After some delay the new life-boat was manned by a mixed crew, consisting of 6 French and 3 English sailors, who volunteered for the service. She was then towed out of the harbour against a strong gale and rather heavy sea; and when clear of the broken water, was cast off and taken under oars to the stranded vessel, on approaching which she was run under the vessel's counter, where her bow struck two or three times. She was subsequently got alongside and there secured by three ropes from the bow, stern, and centre of the boat, the ropes being made fast, too short, so as not to allow sufficient freedom of motion in the boat with the rising and falling of the sea. As there was no immediate danger incurred by remaining on board the vessel, there was no anxiety displayed by the passengers to enter the life-boat, and she consequently remained sometime close alongside the steamer, during which time the former received further damage by striking against the vessel's side, in consequence of which damage she became partially water-logged, and would not self-eject all water shipped as she would have done if uninjured. Seven passengers in all had been taken into the boat, and they were all seated on the starboard, or off side of the boat, to prevent their getting injured against the steamer's side. The greater part of the boat's crew continuing to stand up in her, and probably also inclining to the off side to save themselves from injury. The boat thus heeled over to starboard by the unequally distributed weights within her; the water which had leaked in also settled on the same side, and thus still further impaired her lateral stability. A sea then striking the boat on the off side, still further immersed it; and driving her against the vessel's side, she was, by a combination of forces, upset. The boat's crew, having on life-belts, were all saved, being enabled to regain the boat which had self-righted, and from her the vessel: three of the passengers, however, unfortunately perished.

Now this accident undoubtedly proves that this class of boat is not invulnerable; but that in common with probably all others it is capable of becoming so damaged and so mismanaged by persons unacquainted with its properties as to upset; and that in the event of such an accident happening, with wrecked passengers on board, unprovided with life-belts, loss of life may occur, as was unhappily the case in this instance.

It, however, does not prove that this class of boat is not the safest and altogether the most suitable that can be adopted under the prevailing circumstances of many localities.

There is, however, another thing which it does prove, namely, the great advantage that accrues from the system adopted by the Institution of maintaining for every life-boat a fixed, paid, and responsible coxswain, who always commands the boat when she goes afloat, and of insisting on a periodical exercise or practice of the boat's crew in their boat, not less frequently than once during each quarter of the year, the preference being given to rough weather; by which practice the boatmen of each locality get to be so well acquainted with their boat as to know exactly what her capacities are, how far they may place their .confidence in her, and whether any peculiarity of management is required as distinguished from their own ordinary boats.

Indeed with the antecedents of the Institution's boats before us, we may confidently assert, that if this unfortunate boat had been under its management in even much more difficult and dangerous circumstances, she would have faithfully and nobly effected her mission, and have proved an Ark of Mercy instead of being a vehicle of destruction to those she was intended to save.

In conclusion, we may observe, that consequent on this accident experiments have been made, resulting in some additions and slight alterations in this class of boat, which will render them less liable to upset in the event of such damage being inflicted or such mismanagement occurring as in the instance above narrated.