A RECENT accident to one of our English fleet of Life-boats has once more enlisted the sympathies of the British people, and called forth their admiration of the humanity, courage, and endurance displayed by our sea-coast boatmen in their en- deavours to save the lives of others. To- day it is an English Life-boat which has upset, and three of its brave crew have perished ; but a few months since an Irish Life-boat capsized, with the loss of one of its crew, and two years previously a similar accident occurred to one on the coast of Scotland. Thus each section of our country shares the danger of this noble work, each provides its quota of the widow's wail and the orphan's tears, and to each, belongs the glory and the honour won at duty's call by these martyrs to the storm.

The calamity to which we have now especially to refer has happened to the crew of one of the Life-boats stationed by the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION at Whitby, the well-known and picturesque watering-place on the Yorkshire coast.

We will briefly relate the details of the unfortunate incident.

At about one o'clock on the night of the 9th January, the schooner Agenoria was seen approaching the harbour of Whitby, but as a very heavy surf was breaking off its entrance at the time, whilst there was not sufficient wind to secure the steady management of the vessel, the harbour-master, knowing the great danger to -which, she -would be sub- jected, endeavoured by signals to warn those on board her from attempting to enter.

Her master, however, being a Whitby man, and acquainted with the port, per- severed in the attempt, and when close to its entrance the vessel was swept out of sight by the sea, and subsequently went ashore north of the harbour. In the meantime, as soon as it appeared probable that the schooner would miss the har- bou/s mouth, the life-boatmen, who were on the alert, manned the smaller of their two Life-boats, and launched through the heavy surf from the beach on the north side of the harbour. Having first rowed outside the broken water, they bore up to where they supposed the vessel would be, first taking the precaution to throw out their " drogue," a strong canvas conical-shaped bag, which, being towed astern, will generally hold back the stern of the boat to seaward, and thus prevent her broaching-to and turning broadside to the waves. Nevertheless, after several heavy seas breaking over the stern, one still heavier completely overwhelmed the boat, and driving the lee bow under water she rolled over, throwing out all her crew except one man, who had his legs en- tangled in some of the ropes. The boat speedily righted again, when six men re- gained and were enabled to get into her; one was carried to the shore, and three cork life-belts with their strings broken were washed to it by the sea, and those who wore them were not again seen ; nor •were any of their bodies recovered from the sea until that of one, JOHN THOMPSON, was washed ashore about 2i- miles north of the harbour on the morning of the 13th.

Whilst this tragedy was being enacted, the crew of the Agenoria were being rescued by the coastguard with their rocket appa- ratus, by which means all of their lives were saved. As the event proved, it would have been well if the work had been left to be done by that apparatus, which was the more suitable means for effecting it; but on such occasions the zeal and anxiety of the life-boatmen cannot always be ie- | strained—they know not what may hap- pen, into what position the endangered craft may be driven, or whether or not the apparatus may be available, whilst they may be only too ready to show their mettle, and -not unfrequently are urged on, even against their better judgment, by thoughtless and excited bystanders on the shore, unacquainted with the difficulty and danger of the service, and who, in the event of failure, are sometimes only too ready to blame and upbraid as cowards braver men than themselves. In truth, the moral courage to act in accordance with his own judgment, and resist the importunity, and perhaps upbraidings, of others, is sometimes even more requisite in the coxswain of a Life-boat than the physical courage to face the danger of the stormiest sea.

The names of the poor men who perished on this occasion were SAMUEL LACEY, coxswain, JOHN THOMPSON, and RICHARD GATENBY. All were married men, leaving widows and children to bewail their loss.

Happily in this country these poor crea- tures, thus deprived of their bread-winners, | are, in a pecuniary sense, invariably well ; provided for by public contributions headed ; by a liberal grant from the funds of the : NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION.

I Some important reflections are naturally suggested by the occasional occurrence of j these sad disasters. Foremost amongst ! them is the thought—Is it possible to provide boats or vessels of any description i which can be taken with impunity into • any sea—which, in fact, cannot be npset? j We unhesitatingly reply that it is not.

i Every description of Life-boat hitherto in use has been upset; and so great is the ; magnitude and force of some broken waves, that it is certain that no boats could be exposed to them without being thrown over, or completely overwhelmed, and their crews washed out of them. Even in a comparatively moderate surf it is no un- common thing for a single broken wave to carry four tons of water into a Life- boat, knocking down the men within her and sometimes washing them out of her, breaking their oars, or wrenching them from their grasp, and carrying away the strong rope laniards by which they are held, as if they were but threads. A second reflection necessarily follows: Are our life-boatmen—and especially those in the employ of the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, to which important Society more than nine-tenths of our coast Life- boats now belong—provided with those of the best and safest description that are known ? Are they supplied with the most efficient life-belts? and are their boats equipped with every article that can con- duce to their efficacy and safety ? To these questions we confidently reply in the affirmative.. The NATIONAL LIFE- BOAT INSTITUTION spares no trouble and no expense to meet all these desiderata so far as human means can avail; and we have no reason to doubt that the few other bodies which possess Life-boat esta- blishments—such as the Liverpool Har- bour Board, the Shields Life-boat Associa- tion, and the Harbour Board at Aberdeen —are equally anxious to maintain the efficiency of their several Life-boats, and provide for the safety of their crews.

It would not, however, be sufficient alone to provide the best and safest machinery for the performance of the hazardous work of life-saving on our coasts ; a constant supervision and frequent inspection are manifestly likewise indis- pensable to secure the permanent efficiency of the same, which is effectually secured by the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION through the medium of local managing committees, and an annual inspection by one of the three Naval Inspectors in its permanent employ, and by a quarterly exercise of the life-boatmen in their boats.

And yet, when every care and precau- tion have been taken that human fore- thought can suggest, the work of the life-boatman must still too often be one of extreme peril, more especially when, as in this instance, it is undertaken in the night; the effects of seas, winds, and tides being so varied and overpowering as to baffle and defeat the utmost skill, and all the power that limited human strength and endurance can bring to the unequal fight. But hence the credit, hence the honour due to those fearless men who, regardless of the risk, unhesitatingly encounter it, not that riches may be poured into their lap, not that their names may be emblazoned on the roll of fame, but with the sole and noble object of saving a fellow creature's life.

THE NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION has issued the following circular to each of its Life-boat Stations throughout the United Kingdom, consequent on the acci- dent to which the foregoing article refers:— EFFICIENCY OF THE LIFE-BELT.

On the occasion of a recent accident to one of the Life-boats of the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT IN- STITUTION three lives were lost, attributable, it is believed, to the breaking of the strings of their life-belts, which were washed ashore immediately after the accident referred to with their strings broken.

The Committee of the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION desire therefore to call the earnest attention of the Local Committees to the subject, and to request that they will severally impress on the coxswains of the Life-boats under their charge the great importance of their frequent examina- tion of the strings of the life-belts, more especially at the termination of each summer, in readiness for the coming winter's use.

Whenever a string has the slightest appearance of being much worn, or of having suffered injury from damp, it should at once be replaced by one of the spare new ones with which the Life-boat Stations are always supplied, being care- ful to sew on the new string in the strongest manner.

The Committee trust that every coxswain will bear in mind the great responsibility that he incurs in this respect, as the life of one of his crew, in the event of an accident happening to his Life-boat, might at any time be sacrificed through the neglect to remove damaged or weakly strings.

(By Order.).