WE have been so accustomed to look on our Ships of War as " the safest things afloat" that our whole attention has been hitherto turned to measures for increasing the safety of our merchant vessels, and to providing the most effectual means of rescuing their crews when disaster should overtake them. Yet, from time to time we are reminded that ships of war are not infallible; that, even in time of peace, despite the advantages they possess over average merchant craft, of having a numerous crew and a staff of skilful and educated officers, they are subject to sudden catastrophes attended with serious loss of life. Thus, within the last few years, we have had, first, in 1863, the case of the Orpheus, a fine corvette of 1700 tons, of the latest construction and well commanded, wrecked on the coast of New Zealand, with the loss of 181 of her officers and crew; again, in 1864, the destruc- tion of the Bombay, of 74 guns, by fire, off Monte Video, when 91 of her crew perished; then, in 1870, the foundering of the ironclad frigate, the Captain, in the Bay of Biscay, when more than 500 of her officers and ship's company went down with her; next, in 1875, the sinking of the Vanguard, one of our finest ironclad ships, from collision with the Iron Duke, when, fortunately, all hands were saved ; again, on the 24th of March last, the sudden capsizing of the Eurydice frigate, in a violent squall off the south coast of the Isle of Wight, when only 2 persons were saved out of 368 who were on board ; and now, lastly, one of the finest ironclad ships in the German Imperial Navy is sunk, much in the same manner as our own Vanguard, by collision with one of her companion ships, and although all the boats of the two ships which were in company with her were promptly lowered, and other help from English smacks was at hand, about 300 of her officers and crew are said to have been drowned.

Now, if in a time of profound peace so many lives have been sacrificed by sudden accidents to ships of war, what would be the case in the event of war, when the formidable "ram" will be used as a weapon of offence, and the deadly tor- pedo will consign many a noble ship to sudden and fearful destruction ? It is no problematical or speculative theory which we are propounding, but a certain and ugly fact which must be en- countered. Shall we then stoically accept it as a disease without a remedy, and leave the brave defenders of our hearths and homes to miserably, we had almost said ignominiously, perish without an effort to save them ? God forbid!

We have heard it said that there are naval officers, and even some high in authority, who maintain that the provi- sion of means of safety in such emer- gencies is not desirable—that, in' the first place, it is better that the crew of a man- of-war should lose sight of danger by shutting their eyes to it, like the ostrich, which hides its head in the sand when danger approaches and then imagines itself safe, and that the precaution of preparing to counteract danger would tend to make them timid and fearful of it; secondly, that, if means were provided for escape in cases of sudden accident, the seamen would be likely to avail themselves of it prematurely and to desert their ship before the last extremity.

We feel unable to accept either of the above conclusions.

As regards the first, the same reasoning would equally apply to all cases of prepara- tion to meet danger, and a man might as well neglect to lock up and bolt his door at night lest it should remind him that house-breakers might be abroad, or to in- sure his life lest it should recall to his memory the certainty of death.

As to the second conclusion, we feel almost ashamed to have to repudiate it, for surely it has never been the character- istic of the British seaman or soldier to desert his post. On the contrary, no nobler instances of courage, self-control, and discipline to the last extremity have ever occurred in the public services of any country than have been exhibited, times out of number, by the seamen in the British Navy, and surely we have no reason to imagine that the sailors who now man our fleets are one whit inferior to those who have preceded them, whose magnificent daring and devotedness have so largely contributed to their country's greatness, power, and wealth.

But, it may be said, the very profession of a man-of-war's man, as of a soldier, is to destroy life, heedless of danger to him- self, and it may be thought by some that to occupy his mind with precautions and means of safety might lessen that reckless fiery spirit which, under Nelson and our other naval heroes of the past, won such imperishable renown. We reply, that half the science of war consists of defence, and that any means which may be devised to diminish the loss of life on the sudden foundering of ships of war fall within the same category as the armour of the knights of old, the walls and casemates of land fortifications, and the armour-plated sides of our modern ships.

Assuming then that it is desirable, if not indispensable, to prevent the whole- sale destruction of human beings, which modern naval warfare seems likely to occa- sion, the important question arises, How can that object be best attained ? In the first place, as regards the con- struction of the ships themselves, can anything more be done than has already been done to make them safer, or at least to prolong their flotation, after meeting with a fatal accident, before their actually foundering? We fear not, unless it be by the multiplication of divisional water- tight bulkheads, and even these, in the case of ramming, might be of little avail, since the attacking vessel, after partially disabling her adversary, would, doubtless, if her own ram and stem remained un- injured, make charge after charge on her until she sent her to the bottom, unless her colours were instantly hauled down.

Secondly. When it is evident that a ship must be deserted, the only ordinary means for doing so are the boats with which she is provided, but, unfortunately, no ship of war is supplied with a sufficient number of boats to carry all those on board her, and all the larger boats being of necessity stowed inboard, they cannot be hoisted out in time to meet any case of sudden foundering, and even the cutters and other smaller boats hoisted up to exterior davits often cannot be lowered in time to be of any service, or are so overloaded that they get capsised and those in them are drowned.

Whither then shall we look for such instantaneous temporary provision as may save a whole ship's company from drown-ing until other help, when near at hand, can be obtained ? Up to the present time we must look in vain, since no such pro- vision exists. To be sure, a few life-belts are supplied to every ship; but what would they be amongst so many ? And even if a sufficient number were to be supplied to provide one for every person on board, they could not be kept on the upper deck, or in any part of the ship where they would be immediately available for use. There re- mains apparently but one other resource, which consists in making the hammocks and bedding of the ship's crew buoyant; which can be readily done. The especial advantages of the hammocks for this pur- pose are as follows:— First. Every seaman being of necessity provided with one, they must be considered an indispensable part of the ship's furni- ture, hence no extra space would be re- quired for their stowage, and being in daily use and open to daily inspection, they would require no special examination or preparation to secure their permanent efficiency.

Secondly. Their number being so large, there would be one available for nearly every person on board.

Thirdly. Being stowed on the upper deck, in the hammock nettings along the gunwales, they would be always in the best position for instantaneous use on any sudden emergency; and even if a ship foundered so rapidly as to leave no time for each man already on deck to seize a hammock from the netting and jump overboard with it around him, as shown in Fig. 2, the hammocks, unless covered over, would float of themselves, and the water's surface would be thickly strewed with them when the ship had been en- gulphed, all of them being effective life- buoys placed within easy reach of the struggling men around.

Assuming then that, in future, naval war-ships will be especially liable to sudden foundering, that it is a duty we owe to the men and officers on board them to prevent their wholesale destruc- tion on such occasions, and that the only available means for doing so is by making the seamen's hammocks buoyant, the im- portant question then remains, What is the best mode of imparting to them the requisite amount of buoyancy ? Two modes have been proposed: the first being by filling the mattresses with granulated cork; the- other, suggested by Admiral A. P. RYDER, by having within every hammock a water-proofed sheet, which, by being rolled tightly round the mattress and bedding before the hammock was lashed up, would, for some time after first immersion, prevent the water from saturating the mattress and blankets and thus preserve their buoyancy.

In the 81st number of this Journal, published on 1st August 1871, we first drew attention to this important subject; and again in our 83rd number we gave the results of experiments showing the efficacy of hammocks made buoyant by cork mattresses as life-buoys. As then stated by us, the idea was not even at that time a new one, buoyant mattresses, stuffed with cork shavings or granulated cork, having been patented as far back as 1855 by a Mr. RITCHIE, and afterwards made by Messrs. PELLEW and Co. They did not, however, succeed in bringing them into general use in this country either in the Navy or Mercantile Marine. They, however, made a considerable number for the Russian government; and on the sinking, within a few minutes, of a Russian frigate in the Baltic, in 1870, by accidental ram- ming, many of her crew were saved by the hammocks, although covered over at the time; and some weeks after, on removing the masts from the ship, the covers which had confined the hammocks got torn, when some of the latter at once floated to the surface, although they had been so long submerged at a depth where they would have been subjected to a pressure of more than 5000 Ibs. on every square foot of surface.

There can be no question, therefore, that a cork mattress will retain its buoyancy to a great extent even after long immersion, and consequently that there can be no 

Experimental trial has proved that the safest and most effectual mode of using a buoyant hammock as a life-buoy is to bend it until the two ends are within about 18 inches of meeting and then securely fastening the clues together, as shown in , Fig. 1, thus forming a horseshoe-shaped i buoy.

: FIG. 1.

more efficacious mode of affording ample buoyancy to the hammocks in. a ship of war. Since, however, the Admiralty have hitherto declined to adopt them, chiefly on the ground that they are not so com- fortable to sleep on as mattresses of horse- hair, why not adopt the other alternative, viz. the waterproof sheet, in which the mattress and blankets would be closely enveloped before the hammock was lashed up, and which experiment has proved would delay their complete saturation for several hours after immersion, and would for some time provide sufficient buoyancy to support a man with his head and shoulders above the water, thus affording the temporary safety which is the object sought to be obtained? i Hammock folded ready for use as a life-preserver.

On a catastrophe occurring, each man would then take a hammock from the netting where they were stowed, and bend- ing it backwards so as to tighten the lashing, would secure the ends by the clues and laniards, and jumping overboard with it under his arms, he would be able to swim with it clear of the ship, and to support himself on it until help should arrive.

The sketch, Fig. 2, shows the manner in which a man would support and propel himself with the aid of the hammock- buoy.

Should the hammocks be covered, and the time too short to allow of unlacing the covers, the men could quickly rip them up with their knives and extract the hammocks.

Another mode in which the hammocks might be used advantageously, and which has also been proved by experiment, is by lashing two hammocks together at the ends, about 20 inches apart, so that two or even three persons, placing themselves between them, with one arm over each hammock, and facing the same end, could strike out with their legs as in swimming, and thus propel themselves through the If the objection to or prejudice against cork-stuffed mattresses should remain in- superable, we trust that the waterproof, sheets will at all events be adopted; in- j deed, even with the cork-stuffed mattresses,i they would form a valuable adjunct, not! only as affording additional buoyancy, but for use when, as so often now happens, our seamen form naval brigades for land [ service. Each mau would then have a i waterproof sheet to lie on when encamped | on damp or wet ground, and by going in pairs, two men could lie on the sheet of j one of them, whilst that of the other j would cover both. Only those who have i had to lie out in the open in wet weather can fully appreciate how invaluable such sheets would be on a campaign. ] Having, we hope, satisfactorily shown ; that it is a duty we owe to our seamen to attempt to save their lives on the sudden foundering of their ships, and, secondly, that buoyant hammocks would be the most suitable, because most readily avail- able, media by which to effect the same, there remains to be shown the manner in which the hammocks would be most ad- vantageously used; since the mere clinging to a floating article affords a very uncer- tain and inadequate help. This we will endeavour to show with the aid of the same sketches which illustrated the article in our 83rd number, above referred to.

water, as shown in the sketch, Fig. 3.

This mode of using the hammocks might, under some circumstances, be of great advantage, as two men might in this FIG. 2.

Man swimming with hammoctc. manner proceed several miles through the the nearest port or to a distant vessel, water in a few hours, and might even where assistance might be obtained, convey intelligence of a catastrophe to , We feel that no excuse is needed for Two men swimming between two hammocks.

our once more returning to this subject, | by the sudden destruction, within so short the vital importance of which has been a period, of the Eurydice and the German brought home to many thoughtful persons ; ironclad Grosser Kurfiirst.