VOL—KINGSGATE.

The Thomas Chapman, 28 feet long, 6 feet beam, 6 oars.

THE next Life-boat Station westward from Mar- gate, of which we gave some account in the Life- boat Journal for the last quarter, is Kingsgate.

Kingsgate is a collection of a few houses in a dip of the chalk cliffs, which are the characteristic of this part of the coast, and is about 2J miles from Margate. Unlike the Margate Life-boat on one side of it, and the Broadstairs Life-boat a few miles farther to the southward and westward—- which are of considerable size, and which have to perform the greater part of their services to wrecks on outlying banks—the Kingsgate Life-boat is the smallest belonging to the Institution, and is intended solely lor service close in shore.

Abreast of Kingsgate there projects out from the general trend of the shore a rocky point, which, being covered at half-tide, gives the appearance to coasters (who with northerly winds hug the shore thereabouts) of having the same depth of water over it as is found off the adjacent line of coast. The result is that wrecks occasionally occur on the Point, and as the tide operates against the Life-boats at other stations making a rapid passage to Kingsgate, while the shallow and rocky nature of the bottom is not suited for the operations of a large boat, life might be lost before assistance could be obtained from other Life-boat Stations.

Hence the necessity for a small Life-boat of light draught of water, which could launch out uzider the lee of the wreck, and land the crew.

As at high water the sea comes well up to the foot of the cliffs, no standing room could be found there for the boat-house, which is therefore built on the top of the cliffs. Prom thence the boat is conveyed down on a two-wheeled carriage through a long tunnel, bored through the chalk hill, which is used by the fishermen and farmers for gaining access to the shore, and which has been widened to give room for the Life-boat.

Having passed through the tunnel, at high water the boat can be launched off a hard beach without much difficulty; at low water she would have to be carried on her carriage some distance over the rocks, across which a tolerable passage has been made, but she would have considerable danger to apprehend from the surrounding rocks, until she got fairly off into deep water, especially at night. It is not anticipated, however, judging from past experience, that vessels would be in the position to run on the Point in heavy weather, with the wind on shore, but that they would do so with the wind off shore, and when hugging the land so aa to escape the full strength of the gale, in which case the sea would not be danger- ously heavy where the boat launched, and it would only begin to be felt as the Life-boat drew out from the shelter of the land to where the wreck lay. Eight times this Life-boat has been launched to aid distressed vessels, and has rescued 7 lives.

She is manned entirely by Coastguard-men, who have a station here, which, together with a small hotel, a few gentlemen's houses, and a very few cottages, makes up the pretty little village. A pleasant walk along the top of the cliffs leads from Margate to it; by which road the Coastguard patrols would not be long in " passing the word " into Margate for that Life- boat, should a wreck strike too far off or in too heavy a sea for the little boat to attempt.

The Life-boat Station was formed here by the Institution in 1862, since which time it has been under the careful superintendence of Captain ISACKE, of North Foreland Lodge, who is the Honorary Secretary to this branch.

IX.—CARMARTHEN BAY.

City of Manchester, 30 feet long, 6 feet 11 inches beam, 10 oars.

THE next station westward from Pembrey, of which we gave an account in the last number of this Journal, i9 at Ferryside, near the entrance of the river on which the town of Carmarthen is built.

The same features which characterise the posi- tion of the Pembrey Life-boat Station exist at this station—the flat waste of sands extending in fact from Pembrey into the Carmarthen River, and across the greater part of Carmarthen Bay.

But the land rises to a considerable height on either side of the entrance of the river, and the scenery from thence up to the town is unusually interesting. The ruins of a fine old castle mark the western side of the entrance to the river, and from thence westward steep green hills and trees mark the line of coast which has been for so many miles a mere sand waste.

The entrance of the river is much obstructed by sandbanks, and, from the soft nature of the sands, ships grounding on them are quickly sucked down. Yessels striving to make the river before a storm, in a disadvantageous state of the tide, are the principal sufferers. Again, ships some- times take the ground to the eastward of the entrance a long way out from the shore, in such a position that it is almost impossible for the Life- boat to approach her, on account of the shallow- ness of the water. Unfortunate delays have also arisen from the inability of the Life-boat to pull out of the river against a flood tide, and when the water was so low that the steamer could not be made use of.

But good service could be rendered under a variety of other circumstances to ships which have grounded near the entrance of the river, across which, however, a very heavy sea breaks in bad weather, and the miles of flat strand become little better than one great quicksand. As many as 44 lives have been saved by this Life-boat on the twelve different occasions of her launching to the assistance of wrecked vessels.

The boat-house, as we have said, is built at Ferryside, a mile inside the bar, and on the banks of the river.

The boat is kept on a carriage, and has to be run over a few hundred yards of sand before launching into the river, and pulling down it to get outside.

A Station was first formed here by the Institu- tion in 1860. The present boat was presented to the Institution by its Manchester Branch. JOHN SLE?, Esq., of Brondeg, is the Honorary Secre- tary. _ . ™, X.—DUNBAR.

The Wallace, 33 feet long, 8 feet beam, 10 oars.

DUNBAR CASTER was built on a ridge of rocks run- ning seaward in a north-east direction. Guarded by the sea on three of its faces, on its landward side it was rendered by the successive efforts of engineers, continued century after century, of great strength, and it successfully resisted an immense number of sieges. To the south of the castle was in earlier days a small islet, reefs and rocks which formed a harbour of sufficient size and depth to afford shelter to shipping of ancient times, and near enough to the castle to be com- pletely commanded from its walls. Now the har- bour, though improved in the present century at an enormous cost, can only be considered as a fishing harbour, and a place of refuge for small coasters. The ruins of the castle serve to grace the rocky and wild scenery; and Dunbar, no longer the most important war-port in the North, is proud of its share in the important East-coast fisheries, and the inhabitants of a town which seems to have been as often burned as any in the kingdom (tnost of the assailants of the castle having amused themselves in that way) are pur- suing their peaceful career of industry, if without much of that glory which for so many centuries attached to their name, at least with a greater share of material prosperity, and without tear of pirates from the sea, or plundering and burning armies by land. Modern Dunbar has a small over-sea traffic, and several coasters hail from the port. In the fishing season several hundred fishing vessels make use of the port.

A Life-boat was first placed at Dunbar in Octo- ber 1808. She was purchased by public subscrip- tion, and cost 372Z. The morning after the boat was placed on her station the Cygnet, sloop-of- war, was in great danger off Lumsden Point, and the boat was taken by horses 12 miles to her as- sistance. A shift of wind, however, saved the Cygnet. But on the 18th December of the same • year His Majesty's frigates Nymph and Pallas were wrecked east of Dunbar. The Nymph ran so close to the cliffs that the crew clambered ashore by the masts, as they fell over the side.

The Pallas struck farther out, and when day- break disclosed the crew still clinging to the wreck, the Dunbar Life-boat pushed out, and suc- ceeded in saving over 40 men in two trips; but, from being overcrowded, on the third trip she capsized, and remained bottom up. Ten seamen of the Pallas, and one man belonging to the port perished. The Pallas was one of the prizes cap- tured by Lord Cochrane in Basque Roads.

On the 9th November, 1816, some of the crew of the John and Agnes, sloop of Newcastle, were saved by the Life-boat, and after that she fell into disrepair; and when in 1821 the Lady Anne Murray was lost, she was no,longer fit for launch- ing, and no assistance could be rendered. We mention this because it is one of the many in- stances in the early history of the Life-boat in which Life-boats, after having been found useful, were when the novelty was over suffered to fall into neglect, showing the need of » system of general supervision, which in later times has been found so beneficial. Air. WELLS tells a curious story of a Life-boat being sent from L-eith to the assistance of the frigate Signet, then dismasted on the lee shore off Doun-Law Point, manned by the pressgang (this was in October 1818); and he quotes a spectator, who says, " It was curious to behold the fishermen from all quarters ready to assist the crew, while at the same time they were in a tremor regarding the pressgang, who lay like tigers in ambuscade to snatch their prey." On this occasion the Dun- barites appear to have got the Life-boat in repair again, as she is mentioned as starting out along the road; but, unhappily, she was staved in launching over the rocks. Another curious Btory is the wreck of the sloop JBlackets, at Berwick, in the great storm of December 6th, 1847. A large number of vessels were wrecked near Dunbar on that occasion, and the Bluc'teti, having a crew of 2 men and a boy, was among the number. When the storm came on, the master told the boy to go to bed, as he could do no good; and to bed he went, and sound asleep. The vessel struck on a reef, washed over it bottom up, and in that posi- tion drifted ashore. In the morning, searchers with spades having dug under the vessel, which now lay on the sand high and dry, discovered the lad safe and sound, waiting quietly to be dug out.

The NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION decided upon placing a Life-boat at Dunbar in 1865, and a Station was formed accordingly in that year.

The boat was presented to the Institution by the late LADY CUSINGHAM FAIB.LIE. The boat-house is built on the harbour quay, and adjacent to it is a slipway, by which the boat can descend on Us car- riage to the old harbour, which has its entrance to the eastward. This harbour is nearly dry at low water, and the boat and carriage can then be drawn under a bridge across the dry bottom of the harbour, and be launched into the modern har- bour, whicii opens to the north, and from which the Life-boat can proceed to sea at all times of tide. The rocks around either entrance are jagged and dangerous, and a boat which, on getting out- side, found herself unable to stem the ga/e, wouid stand a poor chance, unless she could effect a re- treat into the narrow entrance which she had just quitted. Supposing her, however, to have a fair command or her own movements either by sail or oars, she sometimes has opportunities of doing good by assisting vessels which strike on that rocky coast at distances too great for the rocket apparatus to reach.

The Honorary Secretary of the Dunbar Branch is C. NOTMAW, Esq. This Life-boat has been in- strumental in saving 5 lives.

XI.—PORTRUSH.

Laura, Countess of Antrim, 30 feet long, 7 feet beam, 10 oars.

Portrush is a small town and harbour at the north-east extremity of the Bay, of which Inish- owen Head is the north-west extremity, and into which the waters of Lough Foyle flow. Near the cape at the north-west extremity is the Life-boat Station of Green castle, of which we gave a de- scription in the Life-boat Journal for February of the present year. The next Life-boat Station to it is Portrush.

The town is built on a small promontory in- clining to the northward. To the west side of it is the small harbour, partly natural, but rendered safe by a breakwater, and thus made available for a refuge harbour for coasters, and a point of de- parture for steamers for Scotch and other ports.

To the eastward of the town is a wide sandy bay with a fair anchorage, which is to a slight extent sheltered from the north by islands to sea- ward of it. To a slight extent only, however, and vessels anchoring there with the wind in other directions, which they may do in safety, and caught in that position with a northerly gale, often find themselves in great peril either of foundering at their anchors, or dragging or parting their' cables.

On such occasions the Portrush Life-boat has several times rendered most important services.

She has, however, to be conveyed by land a con- siderable distance on her carriage, attd the sand being in many places both soft and deep, both horses and men are severely taxed. The boat is then launched off the sandy beach as nearly as may be under the lee of the wreck.

The Life-boat has also her work on the western or harbour side. Vessels which, making for the harbour in stormy weather or by night, fall to leeward of it and among the rocks, or vessels which fail to weather the point of the promontory called Kamore Head, and other like instances, may at any time necessitate the Portrush boat- men doing their utmost to save life with this boat.

The boat-house is built on the harbour side of the town, within a hundred yards of a quay, from which the boat on its carriage descends by road and slipway to the water inside the breakwater.

Except at low water, the carriage can be run far enough into the harbour to enable the boat to be launched from it without any difficulty. Once fairly afloat in the harbour, it lies with the oars- men to get her out clear of the sheltering break- water to the assistance of the stranded vessel.

This part of the coast being quite open to the north, the north-westerly gales are felt severely, and a tremendous sea is raised. There can be no doubt that in some of these storms no boat that has yet been built can be propelled seaward by oars, and in such cases there would be no disgrace to the crew if, after making the attempt, they should be beaten back under the shelter of the breakwater again. But in a great number of or- dinary storms the boat is able to make her way fairly out to sea, and render good service when needed.

The nearest large town from Portrush is Cole- raine, and some few miles to the eastward is the famous Giant's Causeway. The coast scenery gene- rally is wild and grand, while in the before-men- tioned bay, to the east of Portrush, are some beautiful little bits of quieter scenery—sand, rock, and island.

Portrush is growing in importance as a port of call for steamers, and appears to be generally flourishing.

The present Life-boat was presented to the Institution by the late Lady COTTON SHEPPARD in the year 1860, since which time she has been instrumental in saving 36 lives, and has been nine times launched to the assistance of distressed vessels. This Life-boat is now about to be re- placed. The Rev. J. SIMPSON is the Honorary Secretary of the Portrush Branch of the Institu- tion.