Self-righting.—I come now to the explanation of a property which, by comparison, is a novel one, although more than two-thirds of the life-boats in the United Kingdom are now provided with it,— a property the value of which has been disputed by many, and for the adoption of -which in its life-boats the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION has been accused by some of pursuing a phantom.

I allude to the property of self-righting, by which the self-return of a boat to its normal position, after being upset, is effected.

Previous to the year 1852 no self-righting boat existed, although the power to make a boat selfright was ascertained by experiment, and recommended for use by the Rev. JAMES BREMNER, in the year 1792.

That which led to its first practical application was the offer, by his Grace the DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, of a prize of 1001. for the best model of a life-boat, in the year 1850, consequent on the upsetting of one of the Shields life-Scats, and the drowning of twenty out of twenty-four men, who formed her crew, to which I have already alluded.

In a statement addressed on that occasion to the boat-builders of the United Kingdom, by a committee nominated by his Grace, the different qualities to which a certain value would be attached were named, and amongst them was included that of self-righting, which property was possessed by the boat to which the prize was subsequently awarded.

I shall, under another heading, have more particularly to refer to the circumstances attending, and the results following, the DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND'S philanthropic offer, so will not now break the thread of a progressive definition of the properties of existing life-boats. A most mistaken notion has not uncommonly prevailed amongst those who have not studied the subject, that the property of self-righting was merely a strong tendency to revolve in the water, just as a floating cask, if set in motion on its axis, will complete several entire revolutions round the same before it will stop, and that therefore in the same ratio that a boat is made to possess the property of self-righting must she also have a tendency to upset. This hypothesis is no " Frankenstein " of my own, but one which I have had several times to disprove with a serious countenance.

I think I shall be able to make it clear that the real difference between an ordinary and a selfrighting boat is, that whilst the former, on being thrown by a sea or other force on one side beyond a certain angle, offers no further resistance, and cannot return; the latter, on the contrary, continues to oppose such a force in every position in which it can be placed unless nicely balanced with its keel exactly above the centres of gravity and motion, or, in nautical parlance, " keel up," a position in which it could not even momentarily remain in a rough sea.

* Delivered by Capt. J. E. WARD, R.N., at the Royal United Service Institution, Jan. mh, 1862.—Continued from page 135 of the July Number of this Journal. The only familiar object that occurs to me which will serve as an illustration of the principle, is one of those children's toys called "tumblers," which, into whatever position you may force or throw it, will most obstinately self-right, and certainly show no disposition to revolve on its centre, or even to maize a second "somersault*' without a second application of physical force. This quality of the child's toy is precisely the same as that in operation in the self-righting life-boat.

To obtain this peculiar property in a boat, all that is required is to attach to her a heavy iron keel, or otherwise ballast her heavily; to give her a fair sheer of gunwale; and to enclose a portion of her bow and stern as water-tight air-chambers. The amount of ballast and the size of the air-chambers are of course matters for careful calculation.

The manner in which the desired effect is produced will be at once perceived on examination, of the drawing or model of one of these boats.

The bow and stern air-chambers having sufficient buoyancy to support the whole weight of the boat when keel up, she is then floating unsteadily on two points, with the heavy iron keel or other ballast carried in an elevated position above the centre of buoyancy; thus forming, in mechanical language, an unstable equilibrium, in which dilemma the boat cannot remain — the raised weight falls to the one side or the other of the centre of gravity, and drags the boat round to her ordinary position, when the water shipped during the evolution quickly escapes through the relieving tubes, and, those of her crew who have been thrown out of her regaining her, she is again ready for any service that may be required of her.

The NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION was, at an early period, warned by opponents to the system, that the self-righting of a boat would prove useless, inasmuch as that it would rarely happen that those upset from her could regain her or again get into her. Facts have since proved the invalidity of these prognostications, as these boats have upset and their crews ham regained them and again got into them, whilst the crews of other life-boats which have upset have perished.

Notwithstanding this manifest advantage, it might still be questionable if any other important principle should be sacrificed to effect it. But, if it can be shown that it can be introduced without any such sacrifice, it would surely be reprehensible in those who employ others on so dangerous a service as the rescue of shipwrecked persons, not to provide them with this additional means of safety.

Without blinking the question, I will at once point out how far any sacrifice has been made to secure the self-righting property: — Its requirements are—

1. Ballast.

2. Enclosed air-chambers at bow and stern placed sufficiently above the centre of gravity.

3. Limited breadth of beam.

4. Limited side buoyancy.

. Ballast.—Now the first of these requirements, ballast, is a positive source of safety. It necessarily increases lateral stability, and by adding to the weight of a boat, gives a greater momentum when rowing against a high broken sea; which is often a source of safety, as she may thereby pass safely through or over a sea, instead of being driven astern by it. From the same cause, also, she can be more readily held back, and be prevented from " running " on a sea when returning to the shore, which is one of the greatest dangers that a boat can encounter.

2. Raised Air-Chambers.—The second requirement, raised air-buoyancy at bow and stern, is a great source of safety, by preventing all water or other weights from settling at either extreme end of a boat, and also by preventing much water from breaking over the bow or stern.

It will be readily conceived how advantageous it must be, on a heavy sea breaking over the bow of a boat, to have a buoyant power equivalent to more than a ton weight instantly resisting submersion.

I have myself been too many times in the bows of the boats of the NATIONAL LITE-BOAT INSTITUTION, in heavy surfs, not to have learned to appreciate the advantage. I believe, also, from my personal observation of them, that, placed under the same circumstances, one of the North Country life-boats would take half a ton of water into the bow from a single surf, where a good self-righting boat would scarcely ship a bucketfull.

3. Limited Beam.—I admit that great breadth of beam is a source of safety, as giving increased stability, and that some sacrifice of beam is required for self-righting. But great breadth of beam involves loss of propulsion against a heavy sea, which is often loss of safety, and requires the use of longer oars with more men to work them, all which are disadvantages. A self-righting boat with limited beam (say one-fourth of length) has, therefore, the advantage over the wider boat in these respects, whilst the loss of stability from diminished beam is made up for by an equivalent stability derived from ballast.

4. Limited Side-buoyancy.—I grant that some sacrifice of stability is made by a reduction of side-buoyancy, but it is the only real sacrifice, and is, I think, more than made up for by the gain of the self-righting power.

A further comparison of the relative advantages of righting and non-righting boats will come more regularly under a special heading devoted to a review of the existing life-boats in the United Kingdom.

Internal Capacity.—Another quality in a lifeboat on which some stress has been laid is, what is termed "internal capacity," i.e. the amount of unoccupied space within a boat which might be filled with water on the breaking into her of a sea. The amount of " internal capacity" is determined by that of another property already I considered. Given a certain amount of " extra buoyancy," and the remaining space still unenclosed constitutes what is usually implied by internal capacity. Practically, however, internal capacity is only that amount of space in which water will remain in a boat when lying on one side, with one gunwale only awash ; for, if a boat should be absolutely filled to the level of the gunwales by a surf (a thing which I have never seen myself, and which 1 suspect is of very rare occurrence, unless in one of the deep, water-laden Norfolk life-boats), the first motion of the sea would throw the greatest portion of it over one side; the small quantity that would then remain in her, and of which her discharging tubes would not relieve her, as shown in figs. 1, 2, and 3 (Plate II., page 133), is then in reality an index of her internal capacity.

Speed and Weight.-—After the properties already explained, and which may be more especially termed the safety properties of a life-boat, the next in importance is speed; for there would manifestly be no utility in providing the safest contrivance for taking off the crew of a wrecked vessel if it could not be conveyed to her in time to be of service. Frequently indeed, as stated in a former paragraph, speed constitutes safety, as a slow boat may be carried back by a heavy sea, and up-ended, or turned athwart, when the faster boat would have quickly passed through and over the danger. To obtain speed, or frequently any progressive motion, against a heavy sea—I speak of rowing-boats—fine lines and especially sharpness of bow are necessary, as in an ordinary boat, and that not at the waterline only, but carried up quite to the stem-head, which is immersed by every heavy surf which it meets. So also lightness, which is an advantage in smooth water, is an obstacle against a head-surf, when the momentum of greater weight without increased bulk is required to carry the boat through the moments of sudden resistance from the successive blows of heavy seas; just as the momentum of the familiar " flywheel" is required in many common machines to continue and equalize motion, as in turning a wheel by a crank. The greater the length of a boat in proportion to area of midship section, weight being the same, the greater will be her momentum, and the faster will she be propelled against a head sea. The proportion of four feet of length to one foot of width of midship section is that which is now adopted by the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION in its double-banked rowing- boats. In its single-banked boats, which are stationed at places where larger and heavier boats could not be managed, still less proportional width is given.

The preceding are all the important properties that have to be considered in a life-boat, although there are certain other conditions that follow as a matter of course; such, for instance, as sufficient roominess for stowage of a considerable number of wrecked persons, and for the rowers to use their oars with advantage; and great strength of build, to be qualified to stand the violent shocks which such boats must sometimes sustain from collision with wrecked vessels or contact with the shore.

In connection with this last-named condition, I may here state that most of the old classes of lifeboats are clinker or clench built, of oak wood.

The self-righting boats of the Institution are built of fir, on the diagonal principle, which mode of build affords great strength and elasticity. The tubular boat of Mr. RICHARDSON is made of tinned iron.

Having explained the especial properties required to be possessed by life-boats, I will briefly state the peculiarities of the principal existing boats, and the history of each, and offer an opinion on their relative merits so far as I have had opportunity for judging of the same. I may first, however, observe, that one of the great obstacles to improvement in life-boats has been, that opportunities have not existed for comparing, one with another, their several qualities. Each boat has been known in its own locality by its own crew, who have been unacquainted with any other. However indifferent as compared with others might be her qualities, if she has been fortunate and met with no accident, she will in general have won the entire confidence of the local boatmen, who will think there is no other boat equal to her.

So also the builders and designers of life-boats have had no opportunity to test their own by comparison with others: such experiments are too costly to be attempted by individuals, for, independently of the great cost of a good life-boat (rarely less than 2CXM.), the expense of its removal from place to place to be brought into contact with other boats, and of its care whilst waiting favourable opportunities of trial, would be considerable ; whilst the great cost of .making such trials (which the local boatmen would never undertake for any private persons in a sufficiently rough sea to be of value, without very large remuneration) would alone be sufficient to deter most persons from incurring the same, especially as the whole might be thrown away if the boat should after all turn out worthless.

Again, supposing such a boat were to upset and drown several of her crew when out for trial, who would undertake the support of their widows and orphans ? I have alluded to these difficulties to show how few persons can be qualified to give a practical opinion on the relative merits of life-boats, although it is not uncommon to hear inventors or partisans of particular descriptions of boats pronounce dogmatically as to their superiority to all others.

Having now held the office of Inspector of Lifeboats to the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION ten years, and on my periodical rounds on the coasts of the United Kingdom having not only had opportunities for examining and learning the " local character " of every life-boat in the kingdom, but also for going afloat several hundred times in lifeboats, and often in the heaviest surfs, I have necessarily some experience of them. I could, nevertheless, wish that it were greater, especially as regards the older classes of boats, which, being less numerous than the newer self-righting boats, and mostly not belonging to the Institution, I have had fewer opportunities for testing in heavy surfs —I give my opinion, however, for as much as it is worth.

III.—Review of existing Life-boats.

1. North Country Life-boat. Plate I., fig. 1, page 132.—This life-boat is commonly called the ' Greathead" boat, as a Mr. HENRY GREATHEAD, boat-builder, of South Shields, who built the first scat of the class in the year 1789, was the reputed inventor of it. Since, however, a Mr. WILLIAM WOOLDHAVE always asserted that he was really the original designer of it, although he had not ;he means of building a boat from his design, I lave preferred calling it the North Country Boat —a considerable number of boats, all more or less derived from it, having been placed on the east coast of Scotland, and of England north of the [lumber. There are now eighteen of this class of boats on the coasts of the United Kingdom. They mostly belong to harbour and dock corporations, and to local life-boat associations at trading ports on our north-eastern coast. Shields, Sunderland.

and Hartlepool being the chief. The oldest lifeboat now existing is of this class. She was built in 1802. She is stationed at Redcar, in Yorkshire, and is now the property of the NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION. As no accident has ever happened to her, the Redcar boatmen have unbounded confidence in her, and would not exchange her for any other boat that could be given to them.

These boats have undoubted advantages: their great breadth and the exclusion of all water from their sides give them much stability, and their great curvature of floor and keel enables them to be turned more quickly to meet a sea, and to run more safely before a surf than a straight-keeled sharp-bowed boat can do. These peculiarities of form are, however, unfavourable to speed, and cause them to steer wildly.

This is the earliest description of life-boat of which we have knowledge. The largest of the class is rowed by 12, the smallest by 8 oars, double banked. They are neither provided with sails nor rudders, being exclusively rowing boats, their great curvature of keel (vide models) unfitting them for sailing, and the boatmen preferring to steer them with two long oars at the stem, by the use of which they can turn a boat much more quickly to meet a sea than with a rudder, especially when she has but little way on her, which must always be the case when rowing against a heavy sea and gale. Notwithstanding their great stability, several of these boats have upset from time to time, occasioning the loss of many lives.

They cannot be made to self-right after upsetting, and they ship much more sea than do the selfrighting boats. On the whole, I much prefer the latter to them.

2. The Norfolk and Suffolk Sailing Life-boats.

Fig. 2, Page 132.—Of the life-boats now in use, those next in antiquity are the Norfolk and Suffolk sailing life-boats. The oldest of which we have any knowledge was one recently condemned at Great Yarmouth, which was built in 1833.

These are splendid boats for the especial use for which they are required—viz., as sailing boats to proceed to wrecks ashore on outlying banks, and not being required for closer service, which would need to be performed under oars. As exclusively sailing boats, I believe them to be unequalled.

Yet, from various causes, there is perhaps scarcely any other part of the coast for which they would be useful, unless on Deal Beach, fpr service on the Goodwin Sands.

I have never myself had an opportunity for going out in one of these boats in a very high sea; but the services performed by the crews of some of them have been noble, especially by those at Lowestoft and Pakefield in Suffolk, and at Caistor in Norfolk. As rowing life-boats I have, under another heading, stated that I think them unsuitable.

5. The Self-righting. Life-boats of the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION. — Previous to the year 1852 all the life-boats in the United Kingdom were modifications of one or the other of the two classes of boats just described, excepting four or five on a plan now obsolete, invented by Mr.

Plenty, a coach-builder in Berkshire, and the Liverpool life-boats. These latter were simply fine powerful boats, having a large portion of their interior occupied with empty casks as extra buoyancy, but not provided with any means for self-discharge of water.

Under the head of "self-righting" I have already stated that in the year 1850, His Grace the DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND offered a prize of 1001.

for the best model of a life-boat. In response to that offer, no less than 280 models and plans of lite-boats were submitted. They are deposited at Somerset House, where they went through a long series of examinations and tests by a committee, ably presided over by CAPTAIN WASHINGTON, R.N., and of which JAMES PEAKE, Esq., the present" master shipwright of Devonport Dockyard, was a member. The task that this committee had to perform was a most onerous and difficult one. Here were before them a very large number of plans, the selection from which was a matter, it might be, involving the life or death of many hundreds, perhaps even, looking to the future results of their decision, of thousands of individuals. Yet I believe that no member of the committee had ever been afloat in a life-boat in a high surf, and CAPTAIN WASHINGTON was the only one who had had an opportunity for examining any large number of the life-boats on the coasts. I think that that committee were entitled to the greatest credit for undertaking such a responsible and laborious duty, and for the judicious manner in which they carried it out.

Having decided on the various qualities which a life-boat ought to possess, they appropriated to each quality certain numbers, proportionate to its importance, the total of all the numbers amounting to 100. To each design was then appropriated, after careful deliberation, the proportion of numbers on each quality to which it appeared entitled.

To the design possessing the largest total of numbers it was decided to award the prize of 100;., to which was added, by His Grace, another 1001. towards the cost of a full-sized boat on the selected plan. The prize was awarded by the committee to MT. JAMES BEECHING, boat-builder at Great Yarmouth.

A large boat, 36 feet long, and rowing 12 oars, was built from this design, which boat was afterwards purchased by the Ramsgate Harbour Commissioners, and a model of which is now on the table. An improvement in the mode of ballasting her was subsequently made, and since that time she has been one of the most frequently used and useful life-boats in the United Kingdom. Some of the most gallant exploits performed by her crew will be familiar to many present through the medium of recent numbers of " Macmillan's Magazine." This was the first self-righting lifeboat.

The committee did not, however, propose the adoption of this boat but deputed their member, Mr. PEAKE, to furnish a design for a life-boat which should, to the best of his judgment, combine all the good qualities of the best of the designs that had been sent in. This was done, and a report of the whole proceedings of the committee prepared, with drawings of the " prize-boat," and of several others to which high numbers had been awarded, as also the design furnished by Mr.

PEAKE. The whole, together with other useful information on the subject, forming a handsome volume, was published at the expense of the DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, and gratuitously presented by him to the competitors for the prize, and many others.

A boat from Mr. PEAKE'S design was then built at Her Majesty's Dockyard at Woolwich, by direction of the Lords of the Admiralty, as a compliment, I believe, to the DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND

After a long series of trials, and after undergoing many alterations, this boat was completed and presented to His Grace, who had three others built similar to it at his own expense, and one on BEECHING'S design, with boat-houses and transporting carriages complete, for the use of the fishing stations on the coast of Northumberland.

After these boats had been tested on the coast, by myself, in high surfs, the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION proceeded to build others on the same plan, although cautiously at first; which plan, with but slight modification and some improvement in form, it has continued to adopt up to the present time. It now possesses no less than 100 self-righting boats on this plan.

This boat has been called " Peake's Life-boat;" it would, however, with more propriety be called " Beeching's Life-boat, improved by Mr. Peake," or " The Northumberland Prize Life-boat, improved by Mr. Peake," it being a nearer resemblance to BEECHING'S prize-boat than to Mr. PEAKE'S design, as published in the " Northumberland Report" before alluded to.

Unfortunately, soon after the award of the prize to Mr. BEECHING, accidents happened to three of his boats, which well nigh smothered them altogether, and brought the very principle of selfrighting, for a time, into disrepute. One of the requirements selected by the prize committee to which numbers were to be appropriated was lightness for land-transport; to meet which Mr. BEECHING and several others, knowing that weight was required when afloat, adopted water-ballast, to be let in at the moment of launching. This ballast Mr. BEECHING, unfortunately, did not secure properly, and three of the first boats built by him for another society upset through the leaking out of their water-ballast, when on their experimental trials with large sails set. From want of their ballast they did not self-right, and unhappily on two of those occasions lives were lost.

The self-righting principle was now at a discount, and many who from the first looked on it as the whimsical offspring of a theorist's brain, fit only to contend with storms on Utopian shores, now fully believed that the young visionary had already closed its earthly career. But its nurses thought otherwise, and, satisfied of its practical reality and vigorous growth, were nowise disheariened; so, setting it again on its legs, they sent it forth to make its own way and prove its own worth. It has now a ten years' existence, and is certainly, as yet, showing no signs of premature decay.

Since as I have thought it just to show that the sole authorship of the self-righting life-boat now in use belongs neither to Mr. PEAKE nor Mr.

BEECHING, I have here designated it the " Selfrighting Life-boat of the National Life-boat Institution." Now it is not pretended that this boat is infallible —that it cannot be upset— or that it cannot be improved on. I fully believe that no boat can be built which will not be liable to upset under some circumstances. But, after going afloat in these boats numberless times in heavy surfs, and being exactly acquainted with their character, I do not hesitate to give the opinion that, taking them altogether, they are. as rowing boats, more suited for the service for which they are required, and safer to those who man them, than any other description of boat in use. In continuing to adopt this class of boat in preference to any other, the Institution has not been influenced by my reports of them alone, but by the encomiums of the crews who work them; by the noble services they have rendered to shipwrecked persons ; by their numberless successes and few failures; and by the results of the few accidents which have happened to them.

Since their first adoption, six of these boats have been upset and one put hors de combat: four of that number being a small class of single-banked boat, rowing but six oars, which are placed at stations where there are no local means for managing the larger double-banked boats.

These accidents were as follows :— 1st. Lyme Regis.—On the 7th January, 1854, the Lyme Regis life-boat was upset by the falling over of a French schooner upon her, the schooner's deck-cargo of casks of wine being dashed with violence into the boat. Although this boat was seriously damaged, and was for a time held down by the vessel's sails, so that she could not selfright, she was righted after the sails and gear which held her down were cut away, and the crew of the French vessel and the boat's crew were safely carried to shore by her, with the exception of one of the latter, who had unfortunate!}' untied his life-belt, and was last seen struggling amongst the debris of the wreck. Had the boat not been a self-righting one, all hands would undoubtedly have perished, the accident happening at a considerable distance from the land.

2nd. Dungeness.—On the 19th October, 1858, in the middle of the night, the small six-oared Dungeness life-boat upset, by broaching-to when running through a heavy surf on her return from a deserted wreck. Her crew, eight in number, were thrown into the water, but she instantly righted again, when they all got into her, and returned in her safely to shore, reporting themselves to the officer of coastguard at the station as ready to go out in her again at any moment their services might be required.

3rd. Aldborough.—On the 3rd January, 1860, the Aldborough life-boat was hauling off the beach by an anchor and warp to proceed to a stranded vessel, when a tremendous surf struck her, tore the warp out of the hands of the crew who were hauling her off, and upset her. Fifteen men were in her, of whom 14 were thrown into the sea, and 1 remained in the boat clinging to a thwart.

The masts, which were up, broke off on coming in contact with the ground, and the boat directly righted again. Some of the crew were thrown 30 yards or more from the boat by the sea which upset her. Four of them made for the shore, the other 10 returned to the boat. Unfortunately the weather was so intensely cold, the snow being a foot deep at the time, that although the crew, supported by their life-belts, were able to regain the boat, their blood was so chilled, and their limbs so paralysed, that they could not unaided get into her again. The one man who had gone round with her, and who was not even entirely wet through, aided 9 men into the boat; but the tenth man was by that time so benumbed with cold that, finding himself unable to retain his grasp of the life-lines round the boat with his hands, he seized one of them between his teeth. Sad to say, however, before the man within the boat was able to assist him, a heavy lurch of the boat tore his teeth from the jaw, and he was carried away. Two of the 4 men who had made for the shore were with difficulty rescued from the breakers on the beach j but the 2 others and the poor man with the broken jaw perished from cold. Supported by their lifebelts, the bodies were swept by the tide to the north, within a short distance of the shore, and followed by a large crowd of persons; but when at last they were got to the beach, a mile northward of the site of the accident, life was extinct.

4th. Arklow, Ireland.—On the 6th of November, 1860, the Ardmore small 6-oared life-boat, when out for exercise, was returning to the shore through a very high surf, when, too much way having been given to her, she ran on a sea, broached-to, and upset. Her crew of 8 men, with 3 amateurs, one of them the local honorary secretary, were thrown into the sea; but she selfrighted, and they all regained her, and returned safely to the shore.

5th. Tramore, Ireland.—On the 17th February, 1&61, the Tramore 6-oared life-boat, when attempting to save the crew of a wrecked vessel, was upset, and her crew, 8 in number, were thrown out of her; she directly self-righted, and a portion of them got into her again; the remainder swam to the shore, supported by their belts. She afterwards saved some of the wrecked men, and a few days after saved the crew of another wrecked vessel.

6th. Calais.—On the 28th February, 1859, the email 6-oared life-boat which had been presented to the town of Calais by the English Government, got stove in alongside a stranded steamer off Calais. Becoming partially filled with water, her stability was thereby injured, and those who got into her from the steamer, all getting to her further side, from fear of injury by her striking against the vessel, her off-gunwale was put under water, and a sea breaking over it at the time, she upset. She righted again; but 3 out of 7 persons who had got into her, and had on no life-belts, unhappily perished. A mixed crew of English and French, and great mismanagement throughout, occasioned this accident.

7th. Scarborough.—On the 3rd November, 1861, the Scarborough, 32 feet, 10-oared self-righting, life-boat, which had been only a few weeks on her station, was proceeding to a wrecked vessel, stranded very close to the shore, when she got into a very high and irregular surf, caused by the rebound of the waves from a sea-wall. Her motion became so violent that the steersman was thrown overboard, and the crew, in attempting to save him, got into a still worse position, and some of their oars getting broken and knocked out of their hands, she became unmanageable, and was dashed several times with terrific violence against the sea-wall, her crew being all thrown out of her in succession. This accident is of so recent a date that the circumstances of it will be fresh in the memory of every one; the newspapers having recorded all its details. It will suffice therefore to state, that, to the astonishment of all present, the boat did not upset, and was not broken to pieces; that one of her crew was crushed between the boat and the wall, which caused his death ; and that one was drowned, he being the only one who had unfortunately neglected to put on his life-belt.

The above are the only serious accidents that have occurred to this class of boats; for those to the first experimental and immatured life-boats of Mr. BEECHING cannot be fairly included in the category.

The result of the seven accidents above enumerated are, that out of 82 persons who were in the boats when the accidents occurred to them, only 9 perished ; 3 from cold, 2 from injury, and 4 from drowning, through not having on life-belts. Now had not these boats been self-righting, and had not their crews been supplied with good life belts, how much larger a number would indubitably have perished! As a contrast, we have, during the last eleven years only, the upsetting of the Shields life-boat in 1849, with the loss of 20 out of 24 of her crew.

On the 4th January, 1857, the upsetting of the Point of Ayr life-boat, on the Liverpool plan, when her whole crew of 13 men perished. And lastly, the upsetting, on the 9th February, 1861, of the Whitby lite-boat, when 12 out of 13 of her crew perished. Giving a total of 45 lives lost out of 50 by these three accidents alone.

With such an extraordinary contrast in the results of accidents to self-righting and non-righting life-boats, who will venture to say, that the principle of self-righting is a chimera, or that it is any other than a great practical and valuable truth? No less than 135 of these self-righting life-boats have been built during the last ten years by the Messrs. FORRESTT, of Limehouse, builders to the Institution, of which number 30 have been for foreign governments or for our colonial and foreign possessions. They have, during the same period, saved several hundred lives on our own coasts, and have rendered other valuable services to wrecked vessels on different parts of the world.

( To be continued.).