IT has for a long period been the opinion of many naval officers, that every man-of war should be provided with an efficient life-boat; and we have from time to time advocated the same in this Journal. We are glad to know that there is now a prospect of that acknowledged want being supplied ; the Lords of the Admiralty having recently informed the NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION of their intention to furnish men-of-war with life-boats, and having asked the opinion of the Committee of the Institution as to the most suitable description of life-boat for raen-of-war.

The occasions when a life-boat might be useful in vessels of war are so obvious, that it will be sufficient to briefly recapitulate them. To proceed to the rescue of men who have fallen overboard during gales of wind, when an ordinary boat could not live; ! to cross the bar of a river, or land through a hi h surf in order to communicate with the local authorities, to obtain information, or to land despatches in time of war, and to land Or embark armed bodies of men when they could not otherwise do so with safety; to enable the captains or other officers of a squadron to proceed on board the ship of !the admiral or other senior officer or other ships through a high sea, on important occasions; and, lastly, to proceed to the assistance of vessels ashore, on fire, or otherwise in distress, in cases when ordinary ships boats could not with safety be em- ployed. Such are the principal services which the life-boats in men.of war will be called on to perform.

The chief difficulty which, has hitherto mainly stood in the way of providing vessels- of-war with life-boats, has been that such ships can only hoist up or stow away a certain number of boats, which number is not in excess of what are required for the ordinary use of a ship-of-war, and that no ships' life-boats had been designed which serve the double purpose of an ordinary boat and a life-boat.

The recent melancholy loss of H.M.S. Orpheus, with so many of her officers and crew, has, however, drawn the more particular attention of the Admirality to the subject, which we trust vil lead to the adoption of a superior description of ships' life-boats and to their genera! use, both in the Royal Navy and in merchant-ships. In reply to their communication, and as a first step in this important direction, the Lords of the Admiralty were invited by the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION to inspect two life-boats that had been specially prepared under its auspices, by its own builders, for the use of ships. This invitation was responded to by their Lordships, several of whom, with the DUKE OF SOMERSET at their head, together with other naval authorities, and the Committee of the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, assembled at the Regent's Dock, Limehouse, on the 26th of November last, and witnessed a series of experimental tests, to which these boats were submitted, in conjunction with some of the coast life-boats belonging to the Institution, and with which their Lordships were pleased to express their satisfaction.

These two boats were constructed on the same principles as the two classes of boats adopted by the Institution for coast service, but with such necessary modifications as were essential to make them capable of performing the ordinary duties of a ship's boat.

Although such boats cannot be made to possess, in the same degree, all the valuable properties of the coast life-boats, chiefly in consequence of the much greater weight which would be thereby entailed; yet this experimental trial sufficed to show that they could be made to approximate to them, and that without excessive weight they might possess considerable stability, either entire or partial self-relief of any water that might be shipped, a large amount of extra buoyancy, and lastly, partial self-righting power, so that they could, if upset, be readily righted again by their crews in the water.

The Admiralty intend, we believe, to immediately proceed with the construction of experimental ships' life-boats, in accordance with the principles contained in the above-mentioned boats; and we trust ere long to see every vessel of war, and all exposed Coast-guard stations., provided with such boats, together with good cork lifebelts for their crews, and that their adoption generally, in Her Majesty's Service, may lead to their being also generally' provided in at least all the larger classes of merchantships.