We lament to record the death, on the 4th January last, of this distinguished marine artist and Member of the Royal Academy.

By Mr. Cooke's death the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION . has lost one of its oldest friends. In 1865 lie presented to it a Life-boat, the cost of which was defrayed by himself and his friends, some of the most eminent artists of the day contributing to his Life-boat Fund. He wished the boat to be named, from his German descent, the Van Kook, and it was stationed by the Institution at Deal.

Since that period it has performed some numerous services in saving the crews of various shipwrecks on the fatal Goodwin Sands, as the following list shows:— SERVICES OP THE 'VAN KOOK' LIFE-BOAT.

Lives saved.

Ship Iron Crown, of Liverpool. Rendered assistance.

Schooner Peerless, of Aberystwith ... 5 Ship Intjrie, of Amsterdam ....... 9 Brigantine Germania, of Bremen .... 7 Brig Sori. Assisted to save vessel.

Brig St. Thomas's Pacfcet, ot B -th. AssvBte& to save vessel and crew 6 Barque Albert, of Bremen 21 Barque Amazon, of Gothenburg .... 5 Danish barque Louisa. Assisted to save vessel.

Brig Remembrance, of Middlesborough . . 8 Schooner Eliza Cornish, of Sunderland. Saved vessel and 5 Barque Monte Carmelo, of AfaJte. Assisted to save vessel and 13 Schooner Josie, of New York. Assisted to save vessel and 8 Schooner Ton Mawr, of Fowey. Saved vessel and 5 Swedish barque Bedvig Sophia 12 French brig D'Artagncm 5 Ship Crusader, of Liverpool 22 Barque Hannah Jtathkens, of Rostock ... 5 Barque Royal Arch, of Sunderland. Kendered assistance.

Barque Mia Madre £., of Genoa .... 6 Ship Leda, of Bremen 19 Total number of Jives saved bv the),,., ran Kook Life-boat The Life-boat has likewise assisted to rescue seven vessels from destruction, in addition to having been launched on forty-eight other occasions in reply to signals of distress, her services not ulti- mately being needed.

It is somewhat singular that only seven days before Mr. Cooke's lamented death, the Van Kook performed one of its grandest services in rescuing a ship- wrecked crew of nineteen men from the ship Leda, of Bremen.

It appears that during a gale of wind from the S.W., the weather being very thick with rain at the time, signal guns of distress were heard at Deal from the light-ships, in response to which the Van Kook Life-boat was launched, and proceeded towards the Goodwin Sands. On Hearing the East Goodwin Light-ship, the ship Leda, of Bremen, bound to that port from New Tork, with a cargo of petroleum, was seen aground, and soon afterwards her main and mizen masts were observed to fall. The Life-boat crossed the Sands through a very heavy sea, let go her anchor, and veered down to the wreck, and with great risk she was enabled to rescue the vessel's crew, numbering 19 men, by means of ropes. One man was nearly lost, and another was much hurt by being knocked down in the boat by the heavy seas which repeatedly filled her; in fact the sea was so strong that the men had to hold fast to prevent being washed out of the Life-boat.

In consideration of the gallant services thus performed by the crew of the Van Kook, the Institution at once granted them a double reward.

Mr. Cooke was in the sixty-ninth year of his age when he died at his house, Tunbridge Wells. He was one of the best known and most skilful landscape and marine painters of our time.

He was born in London in 1811, the son and pupil of Mr. George Cooke, renowned as a pupil of Basire, and brother of Mr. W. Bernard Cooke, an eminent line engraver, who, among other works, produced 'Kiver Scenery,' after Turner and Girtin. George Cooke was even better known as an engraver of Turner's pictures, especially those of ' The Southern Coast' (1814-1826), which he published in con- junction with his brother. Practising as an engraver and as the assistant of his father, Edward William Cooke until he was twenty years of age was employed in making illustrations in the 'Botanical Cabinet' and ' London's Encyclopaedia.' To this early exercise of his powers may be due his ardent study of botany and his practice of collecting ferns and other plants. Many coast views and topographical plates were executed by him.

He took part in preparing the work ' London and its Vicinity/ fifty plates of drawings made in previous years, and published in 1826, being contributed by him. In 1829 he published ' Fifty Plates of Shipping and Craft,' being his own drawings and etchings. He made and etched the drawings of old and new London Bridges, which his father pub- lished in 1833. The singular ability thus shown excited so much surprise that many denied that the lad of thirteen or four- teen years of age could have produced such works; sceptics very unreasonably attributed them to his father or his uncle.

After practising as an engraver and water-colour painter, Mr. E. W. Cooke turned his attention to oil-painting, and by 1832 had made considerable progress in this direction. The first public fruits of these studies appeared early at the Royal Academy Exhibitions. He was a most assiduous artist, and his sketches, which he showed to us, could only be counted by hundreds, and he was ever ready to say that he owed everything nearly to his untiring industry.

In addition to knowing thoroughly the coasts of bis native land—and all their geological and other characteristics—he also visited all parts of Europe to find work for his facile pencil, thus producing for many years in succession a consider- able number of harbour, bay, and cliff subjects, with niuneTOTis shipping and figures. 'Mending the Bait-net, Shank- lin,' and' Hastings Sands,' 1836, indicated the earlier fields of his studies. These were followed by ' French Sloop, &c., off Granville, Normandy/ and 'Collecting Sea-Weed, St. Aubin's Bay, Jersey.' A Dutch journey, fruitful of pictures, and the first of many voyages in the same direction, was illustrated by' Dutch. Boats on the Y/ 1837. After this time he bor- rowed subjects from Naples, the Zuyder Zee, the Gulf of Genoa, Venice, Marseilles, Calais, Cornwall, the Goodwin Sands, Weymouth, the Isle of Wight, Mount's Bay, Mont St. Michel, Scheveningen, Tar- TEE LIFE-BOAT.

[FEBBUABT 2,1880.

month, and the Nile. Some of his better- known works are 'Dutch Boats on the Dollart Zee/ ' A Calm Day in the Scheldt/ ' A Bit of English Coast/ ' Catalan Bay, Gibraltar'(E.A. 1863), 'The Goodwin Light-ship/ 'The Life-boat Rescue on the Goodwin Sands/ 'A Dutch Galliot Aground/ 'H.M.S. Terror Abandoned/ 1860.

Mr. Cooke was elected A.B.A. in 1851.

He became a Royal Academician in 1864, when he exhibited' Schevening Pinks run- ning to anchor off Yarmouth.' The nature of his art, honourable as it was to him— distinguished by care, studious drawing, and thorough painting—is too well known to need any detailed description. His scientific attainments were marked by his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society, a very rare honour for an artist, in. addition to bdng a. Metatoes o£ tke Geological, Linnasan, and other learned societies, testifying to his refined tastes and scientific pursuits..