IF we could always have OUR own way in this world, we would doubtless make all work easy, all work pleasant, all work safe; we would fain do good to others, not only without risk of injury to our- selves, "but even without serious exertion or patient endeavour and endurance on our own part, and our whole lives would be assimilated to a pleasant and only too fleeting dream.

But wisely, and no doubt mercifully, we have not been empowered to devise our own careers, to choose for ourselves what we shall do or what we shall suffer, and it has been ordained for us that great deeds, and, in the main, useful lives, should only result from patient, syste- matic, courageous, and self-denying work, overcoming disappointment, discourage- ment, neglect, ingratitude, and even con- tumely ; doing good work, and seeking no other award than that of an approving conscience and the purest of pleasures, that of pleasing and befriending others; in a word, of doing good for its own sake.

And thus it happens that, in common with other good work, that of saving lives from shipwrecks cannot be effected without self-denial, physical endurance of hardship, severe labour, and risk of life.

For human skill has'not yet devised, and in all probability never will devise, any description of Life-boat which is abso- lutely safe from disaster, or any other means for saving lives from wrecked or stranded vessels without danger, under many circumstances, to those engaged in its performance.

All the more honour, therefore, to those brave men who, without any other award than the payment of a few shillings and the approval of their own con- sciences, in every winter's gale man the noble, though comparatively puny, craft of our life-saving fleet, and, with their lives in their hands, as it were, go forth to rescue their fellow-creatures, or perish in the attempt.

Noble, though painful, illustrations of duty thus bravely done, have recently oc- curred by the upsetting of three Life* boats, one at Wells, on the Norfolk coast, on which occasion no less than eleven, out of thirteen of its crew, perished; one at Great Yarmouth, when six were drowned, and one at Harwich, where one died from cold and exhaustion after being rescued.

The Wells disaster was by far tie most fatal accident that had ever befallen a Life-boat belonging to the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, the largest num- ber of lives ever before lost, on any one occasion, having been six.

From time to time these sad accidents are recorded, yet, just as in battle, when the front ranks of our soldiers are thinned by the enemy's fire, other brave men instantly spring forward to fill the gaps the shot and shell have made, so, un- deterred, other brave boatmen spring to the front in the battle with the deadly storm and mighty sea, to incur the same risk in saving life that their fellows had done before them.

All the more, therefore, is the respon- sibility which rests on those who invite them to incur such risks, that they should provide them with the safest boats, and every other available means, to lessen the risk to which they are exposed.

Since there is more than one recognised class of Life-boat, as regards the relative safety and efficiency of which there is a difference of opinion, and as some adverse reflections have been made by writers in the local press and others, on the class of boats termed self-righting, to which the Wells and Harwich Life-boats pertained, we think it may be of service to dis- passionately consider the question as to their relative merits, basing our argument, however, on the fact that no kind of Life- boat has ever yet been built which has not upset, and retaining the opinion that none ever will be invented which will not be liable to do so.

The recognised classes of Life-boats to which we have above referred are five in number, viz.:— 1. The old north-country Life-boat, called the "Greathead" Life-boat, after "Henry Greathead," who built the first boat of that class in about the year 1790.

They are now nearly obsolete, but three or four boats of that kind are still in use on the Northumberland and Yorkshire coasts, and are preferred by the local boatmen to any others.

2. The Norfolk Life-boat, so termed from their use being confined to a portion of the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts, where they are also much appreciated. They have been in use in the neighbourhoods of Yarmouth and Lowestoft for, we be- lieve, more than half a century, but we can find no record of their original de- signer.

3. The self-righting, or Northumber- land Life-boat, so called from its being the only class of Life-boat which is con- structed to right itself if completely upset. As is pretty generally known, the first of ibis class of boat was de- signed by Mr. James Beeching, ship and boatbuilder, of Great Yarmouth, in re- sponse to the offer of a prize of 100?., in the year 1850, by Algernon, the then Duke of Northumberland, for the best model of a Life-boat.

4. The tubular Life-boat, formed of two long cylinders placed several feet apart, with an open or light deck between them, which boats were designed by the late Henry Bichardson, Esq., of Bala Hirnant, North Wales.

5. Lamb and White's Life-boat, chiefly in use on shipboard, and in the Coast- guard service on the coast.

The characteristics' of these several boats are as follow:—' 1. The Greathead.—These boats have great width in proportion to length, a shallow, short, and very curved keel, raking and curved stem and stern-posts, a water-tight deck, self-relief of all water shipped by seas breaking on board, great width of beam, and a carved longitudinal form corresponding to the curved surface of the water between following waves.

They have neither rudders, nor masts and sails, and are therefore only suited for surf-boats, to rescue the crews of vessels stranded near the shore. These boats have often done noble service, but several have been upset from time to time, on which occasion, as they then lie keel up, many lives have been almost invariably lost.

2. The Norfolk Life-boat.—These boats are essentially different from the preced- ing. They number nineteen in all, of which eleven are large powerful sailing boats, from 42 to 46 feet long, and 11 to 13 feet wide. They sit very deep in the water, carrying from 5i to 7 tons of loose water as ballast, in addition to heavy iron keels. They can only be propelled by sails, being too large and heavy to row.

They are very stiff, and sail well, owing to their comparatively deep immersion.

They have a very large buoyant belt round their sides from stem to stern, projecting not less than from 16 to 20 inches, and nearly as deep through the greater part of its length. These belts were formerly made of solid cork, but are now made of wood, hollow and covered with cork, and an outer skin of painted canvas, to make them water-tight; their interior being divided into numerous compartments. They undoubtedly add greatly to the stiffness or stability of these boats, by supporting their lee, or lower side, on the least inclination of the boat, their lower sides being close to the water's surface when the boat has her water ballast and crew in. They likewise add to their safety by enabling them to sail before a heavy sea without running their bows under water. Nevertheless, four of the larger and one of the smaller class have upset, with a loss of 48 lives, which loss was, however, no doubt much in- creased in consequence of some of their crews being unprovided with life-belts.

The eight boats of smaller size are worked by oars; they are not, however, brought so frequently into use as the larger boats.

3. The Self-righting Life-boat.—These are the well-known Life-boats chiefly used by the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, which possesses 249 of them, and they have likewise been adopted in France and some other countries. They are very buoyant, relieve themselves of all water shipped, and have the special quality of self-righting if upset, unless prevented from doing so by some such special circum- stances as those which delayed the right- ing of the Wells Life-boat, which was occasioned by her anchor falling out, with the cable attached to it, and by the fore- mast coming in contact with the ground.

Forty-three of these boats have been upset from time to time during the last twenty- eight years, and in the majority of cases their crews have regained them, without much difficulty and without any loss of life. In all, however, 54 persons have perished through their upsetting. Of these 249 boats, the majority are of comparatively small size, requiring to be manageable under oars as well as sails, and it should be known and remembered that not one of them, of the two largest sizes, has ever upset, the largest which has been so being only 35 feet long by 9 feet wide.

In comparing these boats with those of the Norfolk plan, which has been done to the disparagement of the former since the Wells boat was upset, three circum- stances should be borne in mind: 1st.

That there are 249 of the one in use, and only nineteen of the other; 2nd. That the great majority of the former are small boats; 3rd. That whilst four of the largest-sized of the Norfolk class of boats have upset, or, strictly speaking, that three of them have, and one of them a second time, none of the self-righting ones, of even the second size, have done so. Indeed, we feel convinced that if the 249 self-righting boats had all been of the Norfolk or any other class, a very much greater number of lives would have been lost from them, and very many less lives saved by them, since the knowledge that their boats possessed the self-righting property has undoubtedly, in numberless cases, led their crews to incur greater risks in them than they would have done had they not possessed it.

4. Tubular Life-boats.—Of these there are only three in use, two of which belong to the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, the other to the Liverpool Dock Trustees.

They are very safe boats, having very great stability, and being especially adapted for towing, since they can be towed at high speed with greater safety than any other kind of boat; hence they are especially suited for such a port as Liverpool, whence Life-boats have always to be towed out of the river to the aid of vessels stranded on the outlying banks which surround its entrance. Neverthe- less one of these boats, that belonging to the Dock Trustees, has been upset, with loss of life.

5. Lamb and White's Life-boot.—These are good sea-boats, and row and sail well; but as they do not self-eject any water shipped, and have but little stowage room for rescued persons, they have not come into use as coast Life-boats, but are found useful in the Coastguard service, when the sea is too rough for their ordinary open boats to be safely used, and they are extensively adopted by yachts and some of the ocean lines of steamers.

We have endeavoured in the foregoing remarks to give a fair description of all the recognised kinds of Life-boats actually in use. Each has its special good pro- perties, but we regard the property of self-righting so important a one, especially in cases of accident at long distances from the land, as to fully justify the Institu- tion in selecting boats of that class for general use in preference to any other.

We desire, in conclusion, to impress on our readers the following points to be borne in mind:— 1. That no perfectly safe Life-boat, under every circumstance of sea and wind, exists, or is likely to be invented.

2. That the work of the Life-boat men must, consequently, always be one of more or less danger.

3. That they are therefore entitled to all the honour and credit due to courageous men doing a brave and trying work.

4. That the Life-boat adopted by the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION is, on the whole, in our opinion, the best for genera] use that could have been selected.

5. That in all probability much greater loss of life would have ensued had any other been adopted.

6. That it does not follow that the safest Life-boats will always be most exempt from disaster, since the safer the boat, and the greater the confidence the crew have in her, the' greater risk will they, as brave and daring men, be ready to incur.

Finally, we ask the Public not to take alarm because three sad accidents to our Life-boats have quickly followed each other. That the brave men who work them have not done so is nobly testified by the fact that within three days of the Harwich Life-boat upsetting, her brave crew again proceeded to the Sunk Sand, fifteen miles away, and rescued seven poor Dutchmen from the rigging of their ship, where they had been for three whole nights and days.