THIS department of the Exhibition is, from the small number of exhibits dis- played in it, hardly calculated to advance the knowledge of the general observer, in the vast changes that have taken place in the form of both fighting and mer- cantile vessels during the last quarter of a century. To effect this, some little illustration is wanted of the state of ad- vancement to which this science had then reached, to be used, so to speak, as a starting-point for our meditations and comparisons. The most convenient we know of, although it dates back further than the twenty-five years to which the Exhibition is restricted, is the substance of the lectures given on this subject, amongst others, at the instigation of the late Prases CONSOBT, after the close of the Great Exhibition in 1851, to show the result of that great and novel under- taking. The lecture on the Marine De- partment was given by the late Admiral WASHINGTON, long an active and valued member of the Committee of this Institu- tion. He said, " Now steam-ships of 2000 tons burden and 500 horse-power are navigating the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and they weekly cross the Atlantic at an average rate of ten miles an honr." Turning to war-ships, and speaking of H.M.S. Queen, 110 guns, then one of the finest " three-deckers" in the navy, he said, " There sat the Queen of the ocean, simple, severe, yet beautiful in form, a type of the progress in art as applied to ship-building during the last eighteen centuries. The transition from the incon- venient and unsightly forms of antiquity to the graceful outline and imposing con- tour of a first-class ship-of-war, is no less remarkable as an indication of progress in this science, than instructive as prac- tical evidence of the consistency of beauty of form, with those qualities of speed, strength, storage, and stability •which are essential in such structures." Where is this noble work of science and practice combined now? Long ago con- signed to oblivion, and her model given a place, amongst other antiquities, in the museum of the Naval College at Green- wich, along -with Henry "VIII.'s Grace de Dieu and Charles's Sovereign of the Seas.

Not only has the form in which war- ships were then built and the guns with which they were armed become things of the past, but the very material of which they were constructed has shared the same fate. The refrain of the old song, " Heart of oak are our ships," is no longer applicable. Nothing but iron and steel is admissible for such purposes. The sym- metrical tapering masts and beautifully- shaped sails which formed the propelling power of ships, and gave them the appear- ance of a thing of life moving at sea, are now replaced by the huge funnel, frequently emitting a dense column of black smoke and dirt, the unavoidable accom- paniment of the marvellous machinery that has replaced the sails, and in some cases exerts the power of twelve thousand horses to force the ship ahead. There is certainly one model that demonstrates to some extent these marvellous changes, namely, that of H.M.S. Warrior, which although only about twenty-five years old, is, as a vessel of war, fully qualified for a place in the Greenwich Museum, by the side of the Queen. Admiral WASHING- TON'S encomiums on the Queen, " simple, severe, yet beautiful in form," showing " the graceful outline and imposing con- tour of a first-class ship-of-war," are equally applicable to her, for, although the actual form had even at that period been much changed, she retained far more of that beauty and symmetry of mould which delighted the hearts of sailors, than her latest successor, the Benbow, just launched. The power and utility of these ponderous modern en- gines of war has yet to be proved in actual conflict, as well as that of tor- pedoes, torpedo-boats, machine-guns, and all the other various inventions of the day for warlike purposes.

If we turn from these to mercantile ships, or rather to that class of them more particularly referred to by Admiral WASH- INGTON, as navigating the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans at an average rate of ten knots an hour, we find equally striking changes. They have risen from 2000 tons burden, and 400 horse-power, to 8000 and 6000 tons burden, and 1000 to 1200 horse-power, nominal, but which may mean from 10,000 to 12,000 indi- cated, and steaming from 16 to 20 knots an hour. Although there is an interesting set of small" half-models " exhibited showing the changes from time to time in the form of ship adopted, we can find no good full model of a passenger-steamer, to take the place in the illustration of changes that that of the Warrior does in those of vessels of war; but still there are, amongst others, two beautiful models of the passenger- ship of to-day, respectively representing the Cunard Company's ships Umbria, and Etruria, of 8000 tons burden, 12,000 horse-power, with 20 knots speed ; and the White Star Company's ship Britannia, 5000 tons, 5000 horse-power, both exhi- bited by their owners. Apart from the increased luxury and comfort of their internal arrangements for the accommoda- tion of passengers, with which we are not dealing, although it has quite kept pace with the other parts of the question, these ships are a study in themselves. They, like their contemporaries amongst the war- ships, could not have been constructed in wood; their proportional dimensions would have forbidden it, because the necessary strength could not have been obtained.

We have no experience of them at sea in bad weather, but we cannot help thinking there is room to suspect their qualities as " sea-boats" in really heavy weather, although by expressing a preference for a shorter and " handier " ship in which to encounter a severe gale, we run the risk of incurring the retort that such opinions are only fit to keep company with the models of the Queen and Warrior in the Museum of Antiquities. The changes in the powers of generating and .using steam in marine engines, as well as in the engines themselves, have quite—if not more than—kept pace with those in the ships themselves. Steam is now kept up to, and used at, a pressure never heard of or even dreamt of in marine boilers twenty-five years ago; one hundred pounds of pressure to the square inch is nothing uncommon, where one-third to one-fourth that amount was the common limit. The reduction in the consumption of fuel, in proportion to power obtained, has also increased tremendously—indeed to even more than one-half.

Amongst all these rapid and great changes and improvements in marine architecture we cannot pass over that part of the science naturally most interesting to the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITU- TION, viz., the construction and propulsion of Life-boats. After the failure of so sub- AUGUST 1,1885.] THE LIFE-BOAT JOUKNAL.

635 stantial a prize as that of 6002. offered by the International Fisheries Exhibition of 1883, to produce anything that could compete successfully with the self-righting Boat of the Institution, we suppose it was hardly to be expected that the present Exhibition would be more fruitful. The position of this Institution renders it in- cumbent on it to have the best Boat, and to be always ready, like the knights of old, to defend its pretensions to the posi- tion it assumes against all comers, by competing on all fitting occasions at exhibitions; and of course success at such competitions must be very gratify- ing to all concerned; but there is the attendant danger in being always first, of being lulled into a sense of security, and consequent loss of readiness to go on improving from time to time. We think the two models now exhibited will show that this misfortune has not yet fallen on this Institution whatever the f uture may have in store. Both the models have the same object in view, namely, to increase the stability and consequent sea-worthiness of the boats without lessening that quality vital to a Life-boat, viz., the ability to go into shoal water by being of light draught.

The -water-ballast tanks are a re-intro- duction of an old principle but with con- siderable modifications. The tanks vary in number according to the size of the Boat, and one or more can be filled as circumstances demand that the Boat should be more deeply immersed bodily, or trimmed more by the head or stern, &c.; they are so arranged, each having its independent pump and plug, that the water can be run in in one minute and pumped out again in the same time, and they in no way affect the self-righting power of the Boat.

The drop or sliding-keel is a complete novelty, and one that has added very materially to the stability, weatherliness, and the handiness in working of the Boat, and consequently to her power and useful- ness as a Life-boat; more particularly in working off a lee shore or to the relief of vessels on outlying sands where the assist- ance of a steam-tug is not procurable.

The drop-keel can be used wholly 01 partly down, or with one end triced up and the other down; when running before a heavy sea lowering the after end only will assist greatly in keeping the Boat straight, and consequently preventing her broaching- to. A judicious working of it by tricing up first one end and then lowering that and bracing up the other, considerably increases her power of tacking or wearing in a heavy sea. It is not intended that the keel should be kept down in shoal water or when approaching a wreck, but should this be done, and the keel be so bent by striking the ground, or a piece of wreck, that it could not be triced up, it could be slipped and abandoned altogether. The Boat would still have the average sta- bility and other sea-going qualities of a self-righting Boat of her class. Her self- righting power is very good, and in fact equal to that of any other boat either with or without the keel.