III.—SWANSEA.

The Wolverhampton Life-boat.

THE next Life-boat Station on the south coast of Wales, in rotation after Penarth and Porthcawl, of which we gave an account in our last number (November 2nd, 1874), is Swansea.

The Swansea Life-boat house is built under Mumbles Head, which is the cape -which, run- ning out into the sea, forms the western side of Swansea Bay. It affords an admirable shelter from the S.W. gales to ships which anchor under its lee, and more or less breaks the force of wind and sea from every southerly point of the compass. The boat-house is built at the base of precipitous cliffs on ground quarried out for it, and from its weatherly position in the prevailing gales the boat is able to operate on the whole' expanse of Swansea Bay, unless the gale should be from the south-east, when there would be difficulty in working to the eastward -without a steam-tug.

There is a little rocky islet off the extremity of Mumbles Head, on which is a light-house and fort. Half a mile to the south of this in the Mixen Shoal, on which is only six feet of water, and on which a very dangerous sea breaks; it is, however, small in extent, and marked by buoys.

Seven miles to the south-east are the great Soar- weather Sands, which afford material shelter to Swansea Bay. Closer to the Mumbles Head and Life-boat house are two shoals, called the Green Grounds and the Outer Green Grounds. Tbese shoals are in a line north and south of each other, and are to eastward of the promontory of Mumbles, at a distance of a mile and a half.

Between them and the Mumbles is an anchorage, called Mumbles Roads, which is capable of afford- ing shelter to a considerable number of vessels.

Down in the heart of the bay is Heath, at a dis- tance of six miles from Mumbles Head; and between Neath and the Mumbles is tie great commercial port of Swansea, the bar of which is two and a half miles from the Life-boat house at Mumbles Head, and dead to leeward of it in S. or S.W. gales.

Vessels have at different times since the in- troduction of Life-boats been lost on the Swansea bar, Neath bar, and each of the aforementioned shoals in Swansea Bay. The Life-boat Wolver- hampton was placed at the Mumbles to afford help to vessels which had fallen among any of these perils, and she has on numerous occasion* been useful to ships at most of those points of danger. She is also ready for transporting- by road to Oxwich Bay and Pwll du B, which lie to the westward, and the former of which is an anchorage used by small craft. The greater part of the shipping trade of Swansea passes close to the Mumbles, and it is for this shipping that this Life-boat is mostly called into use; and hence it is known as the Swansea boat although, indeed, the fleet of vessels annual)/ passing in and out of Neaifa are equally guarded by its presence.

The Mumbles town is fs«.t a fishing village, United Kingdom is so produced in Swansea and its immediate neighbourhood. There are, besides, manufactories of iron and tin plate on a very ex- tensive scale, and important ship-building yards tot iron and wooden ships.

There is an outer and inner harbour to Swan- sea; a harbour light on the western pier marks the entrance. The opening between the piers, however, is only 80 yards, and there is only 2 feet on the Swansea Bar at low water. Thus vessels the home of about 400 of the finest lot of fisher- have to wait outside for tides, generally in the men in South Wales. These men's vessels are moored in the shallow part of Mumbles Roads, and the pick of them are available for the Life- boat's crew. The coxswain, J. JENKINS, is a man anchorage of the Mumbles before mentioned. In Swansea Harbour are docks of the largest class, and a good fitting basin.

rho thoroughly understands his work and who I main harbour, are a dry dock and patent slip and o never flinched from it. The Life-boat | long ranges of warehouses, and i At Port Tennant and New Cut, portions of the patent slip and has has been launched 18 times to the assistance of vessels in distress, and has saved 57 lives.

About half a mile from the boat-house, on the island at Mumbles Head, is a small fort, the guns of which command the anchorage of Mumbles Road and would render it safe from privateers in time of war.

The boat-house being close to the water-edge, the carriage, with the boat on it, and with the srewia their places in the boat, has only to be eased dawn the boat-slip infrontofthe boat-house, when the boat can be launched from it.

A Life-boat was first placed here in the year ___„ 0 , .. from that part of the harbour Swansea has direct canal com- munication with the interior of South Wales.

Overlooking the Mumbles anchorage is the ruinous castle of Oystermouth, built also by Henry Beaumont, Earl of Warwick, and which in those days must have well commanded the anchorage—an anchorage which then even more than now must have been a necessity for ships trading or carrying war supplies to Swan- sea; for ships of the period being lighter of draught, and the bay doubtless being deeper, they would naturally hug close into that corner of the bay to get more effectual protection from the 1835. It was, of course, of the old model (Palmer's) ' southerly gales.

and not self-righting. It at different times, how- ever, performed excellent service. This boat belonged to the Harbour Trustees, and was not under the charge of this Institution. In 1856 Swansea was furnished with an Institution's self- righting boat, still under charge of the Harbour Trustees, however. In 1866 the station was for- awjly transferred to the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE- BOAT INSTITUTION, and it placed at the Mumbles, for the assistance of the Swansea and Neath tnuta, the. present Life-boat Wolverhampton, which i» 33 feet long, and has 8 feet 1 inch beam. The feat-house is built on ground granted at a nominal not by the DUKE of BEAUFORT.

Glamorganshire was subjugated to the Roraaiv Way in A.D. 75, at which time Julius Frontinus tns Governor of Britain. But in A.O. 410 the Romans, preparatory to their final march Korne- Irsrds, transferred their government to the native girinces, and the tramp of the legions was heard ID more in South Wales. The fleet of the great Anglo-Saxon King Alfred defeated the Danish feet off Swansea in A.D. 877.

After the Norman Conquest Glamorganshire, flte j»any other outlying appanages of the Anglo- J«0rt crown, showed symptoms of restlessness Under the new regime, and the task of reducing it fe * proper state of submission was intrusted jp ¥itt,hamon, a relative of the Conqueror, and £i _ . , . Y . • _ i; _J? • _ l nGff r_ 1 Irt v.~ .».*... In fine weather the coast of Devonshire and Lundy Island can be seen from the Mumbles, and from the top of the magnificent pile of limestone cliff which forms the Mumbles Head is a truly grand view of the wide expanse of Swansea Bay, marked landward by the chimneys and towers of I rich and ever-growing commercial cities, which seem struggling up through the dim haze of the | smoke of countless factory fires, and seaward, by a perpetually thickening throng of ships and steamers; while, westward, can be seen a long extent of coast which terminates thirty miles beyond the range of the observer's vision in Worms Head, the extremity of the peninsula of Gower. This Gower, out of the track of the ordinary march of events, possesses still remark- able remains of the Ancient British and Roman period, and its scenery has ever been famous for its peculiarly romantic character; and even to these days it is also remarkable for its inhabitants, who for between seven hundred and eight hundred years have kept themselves separate from the surrounding Welsh population, never learning its language, and rarely mixing with it in marriage.

These are the descendants of the Flemings, settled in the Gower peninsula, in the reign of Henry I., for the purpose of establishing manufactories; and, as a remarkable instance of their complete . , , . isolation, consequent on the surrounding country Sven to him in fief in 1066. In 1107, however, j being peopled by, to them, aliens, their speech is fossed into the hands of ihe Duke of Gloucester j still ancient Anglo-Saxon, the language of their M similar terms, and in the reign of Henry VII.

lit erected into a separate county.

Swansea in Welsh is caHed Abertawe—mouth |t Tawe — the Jliver Tawe. Its castle was JWctert by Henry Beaumont, Earl of Warwick, MtlOO.

be town of Swansea is rapidly increasing in and importance, and, like other large towns the sea coast of South Wales, is in its modern ot, so to speak, the creation of the last half- ry. Prior to that time it was little known little importance. The immediate vicinity f5 coal-mines and direct access to the sea led to ! establishment of copper-ore smelting-works, I first of which was erected in 1762; now nine- first employers, and they have in common use words of which the meaning has to be sought in glossaries and ancient dictionaries.

The history of this part of Wales is full of interest, but we do not propose to enter on so en- ticing a subject here: our object is, as we hope, attained by having briefly indicated the genera! features of the neighbourhood an which the Life- boat Wolverhampton has been able to do such good service.

IV.—GREENCASTLE (LOUGH FOYLE).

The Life-boat Mary Annette.

THE Life-boat of the Institution's Station of Green- ( of the copper ore manufactured in the 1 castle is placed so as to launch into, and pull out 222 THE LIFE-BOAT.

1,187& from, a small sandy cove a mile to the northward, or seaward of the old fortress of Greencastle.

This Greencastle commands in a measure the entrance to Lough Foyle, being built on a rocky prominence which projects from the western side of the Lough; while from the eastern side pro- trudes a long spit of sand, armed on its outer or northern side with man; dangerous sand-banks, and compelling ships which seek the shelter of the Lough to pass uncomfortably close to the Castle; so close, that in these days of long-range guns it would probably be thought, by an enemy's squad- ron wishing to get at Londonderry, wisest to de- stroy this Castle first, and consider afterwards as to the best means of fighting its way up Lough Foyle to try conclusions with the " maiden city." The general course of Lough J?oyle is north- east and south-west; and the city of Derry, or Londonderry, is over twenty miles above the entrance of Lough Foyle, above alluded to.

The Life-boat Mary Annette, as may be sup- posed, therefore, was stationed near Greencastle with the expectation of her being useful to the mercantile marine of Derry and to those vessels of all nations which annually pass, through the beautiful waters of Lough Fbyte.

The Life-boat's services are most likely to be required for aiding ships driven among the sands on the eastern side of the entrance to the Lough, or, when they are hopelessly entangled thereon, rescuing irom them their crews. The seas on some of these banks, in certain states of the tide, wind, and weather, are tremendous; and even with the advantage of wind and tide in their favour, the crew of the Mary Annette will always find it sufficiently difficult to render assistance to any unfortunate vessel which has been forced among them. With a flood-tide, no aid could be rendered, unless a steam-tug should happen to be at the anchorage inside the Castle, and be ready to stake the chances of her own de- struction for the hope of aiding the wrecked ship outside. In such a case the Life-boat would be towed far enough to windward to be slipped from the most commanding position for her dash in among the breakers. Unaided, no boat could ever be rowed against a storm and a flood-tide oat of Lough Foy fe.

The wrecks of the Lough, however, are few and far between, the high and mountainous land which forms the western side not only giving perfect shelter from (he prevailing westerly gales, but offering unmistakable and gigantic landmarks which; almost forbid wrecks occurring through ignorance; though sometimes disabled ships, unable to gain the shelter of the Lough, and caught by a storm on the northern side of the promontory towards Malin Head, though per- fectly aware of their impending fate, have no power to prevent themselves being hurled at the feet of those giant cliffs. In most of such cases destruction is complete and instant. Happy the mariner whose vessel has been thus destroyed close to a Coastguard rocket-apparatus! It has happened that men have been saved even there T)y such means.

The Life-boat services, as we have said, are not likely to be frequent; Tout when needed they will require to be rendered by really brave men, as the dangers to be overcome are great. The Mary Annette, however, is of the large class of Life- boats, and is a magnificent specimen; a boat that, properly handled, would be safe under all circum- stances, and is capable of doing almost anything except pull against an opposing tide and gale.

Near Greencastle, in old times, must have been the first anchorages of the fleets of Danish assail- ants, and from thence they carried on at their leisure their depredations on either bank of this large expanse of sheltered water. The earlieri history of this part of Ireland is but a repetition of burnings and massacres; now on the part of th« Danes, who rushed from their war-ships on tha ill-prepared Irish," like wolves on the fold,"—now on the part of the Irish, who seized every oppor- tunity of revenge on their invaders.

The broad and sheltering arms of Lough Poyle» opening immediately on that ever tempest-tossed and inclement Northern Atlantic Ocean, mutt have seemed to those old corsairs a most desirabl* point of refuge; and the tranquil waters of tb* great Lough, with its verdant hills and rich pas- ture lands, as especially adapted for the peculiar mode of warfare of their devastating fleets.

The monastery at the h ead of the Lough, around, which, in succeeding ages gathered the city now called Londonderry, was founded about the year 546, and in 1198, when the town had become im- portant, it was captured by John de Courcy. It re- ceived its first permanent English garrison in 1566, and, after a, variety of vicissitudes, in which the; old town was twice burnt and once blown up with gunpowder, it finally settled into a city with » charter in 1613, and with a cathedral twenty year* later. But the great mark in history made by Derry is undoubtedly its successful resistance to the armies of King James II. in 1689. During.

that siege its unhappy people endured every con- ceivable horror, arising from pestilence, famine, and the sworu, with a steadfast fortitude, never surpassed; and in the course of the hundred days' siege, the bodies of over 11,000 persons, besieger* and besieged, were buried on either side of it* bloodstained walls—countryman opposed to coua- try man, and each man fighting in the name of God and religion.' Let us be thankful we have faltea on different times and our chiefest glory and best efforts are rather in saving than destroying life.

Nevertheless all sailors, and especially all Aorth- of-Ireland sailors, must remember with pride the names of the good frigate Dartmouth, which fought her way so well up the waters of Lough Foyle, and the good ships Mountjoy and fhcenix, of Derry and Coleraine, which carried their cargoes of food through so many perils to their starving countrymen within the beleagured city.

The Life-boat Station at the entrance of Lough Foyle was first formed in 1864, when a 6-oared boat was placed there, the cost of the boat being the gift of John ». Allcroft, Esq.. of London, but in 1870 it was replaced by the present boat, bear- ing tie same name, the Mary Annette. That Life- boat pulls 10 oars, is 33 feet long, and has 8 feet beam, and is kept on a transporting-carriage, ready for moving to other parts of the coast, should it lie thought desirable to do so before launching to the wreck. Hot far from the Boat-house are the two light-houses of fnishowen Head, whose light CM» be seen at Portrush to the west and nearly as fat as to luishtabul Island to the north-west,on whieti little rocky islet is another light-house.

The actual site of the Greencastle Boat-house i» a bleak and desolate-looking country-side, and it has sand-ridges, partially covered with green turf, between it and the sea, from which it is distant, however, only sixty yards. The Boat-house It facing a little sandy cove which dries at low water, and into this little cove the boat is con- veyed on her carriage for launching. A fair carriage road runs parallel to the sea, at a short distance from it, and the boat on its carriage gets to it easily across a hundred yard* of green turf.

This boat has been launched eleve* times to vessels in distress, and has at different, times saved 7 lives.