A CAREFUL or interested reader of the article in THE LIFE-BOAT JOURNAL for last November, on the " Wreck Register and Chart for the year ended June 30th, 1884," cannot but be struck by the me- lancholy fact shown by the statistics, viz., that apparently there were half as many lives lost on, or near, the coasts of this country, by casualties to ship- ping, as were saved by the unremitting efforts of the Life-boats and the Rocket Apparatus. Even a casual considera- tion of this cannot but suggest the idea that this should not be, and is there- fore not unlikely to raise a doubt as to whether all is done that can be, by the two great Branches of the Life-Saving Service, and to prompt the question as to whether they are organised and worked on the principles likely to bring put the best results, and to reduce the loss of life to a, minimum. We have the fullest confidence that this question must be answered in the affirmative on behalf of both. We should not be understood by this to mean that we think ourselves perfect, or that improvements, both in organisation and machinery, will not be made from time to time; but we feel con- fident that the Institution, being fully alive to the important trust placed in its hands, will always march with the times, and take advantage of any well-considered useful inventions for furthering its work that may appear; at the same time of course rejecting firmly all the crude, un- practical, incomplete ideas that may be and are so constantly pressed upon it for adoption, often as certain specifics against all loss of life by shipwreck.

The first step in attempting to consider the question of how further to reduce the lamentable loss of life at sea round our coasts; is to ascertain to what causes it is attributable. An examination of the Board of Trade returns shows that in the year included between the 1st of July, 1883, and the 30th of June, 1884, 661 lives were lost on or . near the coasts of the United Kingdom. The casualties are attributed to the following causes:—Strandings, 228 lives; founderings, 62; collisions, 75; other causes, 54; missing vessels, 242.

Dealing with these subdivisions in the same order, we find that " strandings " include every vessel, from the lighter in the Firth of Clyde, the one-ton fishing- boat and the Irish hooker, up to the largest ship, which this year was one of about two thousand tons. The number of these casualties was 287, of which 283 were attended by total loss of the vessel.

Out of these 287 casualties, there was loss of life in 43 cases only. In 24 cases the lives lost were but a small proportion of those involved in the danger, viz., 47 out of 236, or one in five; of course the proportions between lost and saved differ in each case, but in only one of these do they balance by being half each. In 19 j other cases 202 lives were involved, of | which 182 were lost. In 12 of these j cases all hands were lost, and in the ; remaining 7 a very large majority; the , numbers of lives respectively being 116 and 66. It is impossible now to trace j so closely each case as to say positively whether or no it was possible to have | saved any of these lives, but the majority ; of the casualties certainly occurred on such ] iron-bound parts of the coast, with per- pendicular cliffs, that it was impossible by i any practical means to render assistance, j even if time allowed; for an ill-fated ! ship in such a position generally does not : hold together many minutes, and certainly : not long enough for help to be assembled j and brought to what is, as a rule, an ! out-of-the-way, thinly-inhabited spot. ; There are many cases on record of vessels j being seen to break up immediately on I striking the ground, and that not always on such a shore as is described above, j but sometimes on sand also. It is there- fore more than probable that in most of the cases referred to above it was impossible to render help from the shore, and the only way in which rescue could have been given to them would have been before they struck the shore, a part of the subject we shall refer to later on.

We next come to the " foundericgs " ; all or very nearly all of these occurred at such distances from the land as to put them into a category quite beyond the reach of either Life-boats or Eocket Ap- paratus. The large majority also is com- posed of fishing-smacks and unregistered fishing-boats, so that even if in sight of land, the casualty would in all probability be so sudden as to preclude the possibility of help being afforded by either means.

Collisions 75 lives, and missing vessels 242, are also manifestly beyond the scope of the Institution's power to aid, and more so that of the Rocket Apparatus.

Other causes, 54 lives, are about equally divided between small fishing- and plea- sure-boats, frequently undecked, being capsized, and cases of single men, or at most two, being washed overboard from small vessels at sea in bad weather; these are also beyond the power of the Insti- tution to relieve.

We think the above analysis shows that of the 661 lives returned as " lost at sea on or near the coasts of this country," only 228 can possibly be said to have been lost on our shores, by which we mean near enough to land to have been aided either by Life-boat or Rocket Ap- paratus, if the surrounding circumstances of the catastrophe rendered so doing practicable. This we maintain was not, if not in "all instances, at least in a very large majority, the case, and that from the time of the doomed vessels striking, there was no possibility of rescuing the lives of the crews. The very common, and we suppose not unnatural proceeding of hurriedly leaving the stranded vessel ia the ship's boat, instead of waiting for help from either Life-boat or Apparatus, is a fruitful source of loss of life, and in many instances accounts for those lost where part is saved. In these days, when every part of the coast, or at any rate all the frequented parts of our coasts, are guarded by the means of rescue best suited to the position, we cannot too strongly urge upon seamen to " stick to their ship to the last," and wait for the help from the shore which is always ready, and so seldom fails to be in time.

We know well cases occur in which vessels break up on the first blow, not only on rocks but on sand, without giving time for the appliances for rescue being used; even then there would be but small chance for the men in their own boat, because this catastrophe must occur either from the extreme violence of the sea, which would equally overwhelm the boat, or from the weakness of the vessel's frame from decay, in which case the boat would probably be no stronger or " better found." We hope we have shown that of the grand total of 661 lives reported as lost " on or near the coasts of this country," 228 only were lost on the shores, and the large majority, if not all of these, were under conditions that rendered help impossible. Even allowing, for the sake of argument, that it was possible to have saved a third of these lives, although we unhesitatingly assert there is not the least evidence to prove it, can any more complete answer be produced to the question pro- pounded at the beginning of this article than, that out of a total of 1,560 lives endangered, 1,322 were saved, of which 989 fall to the Life-boats, 333 to the Socket Apparatus, and 177 to shore-boats or other means, for which rewards were granted by the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE- BOAT INSTITUTION, making a total of 1,166 saved through the instrumentality of the Institution; this fact, coupled with the consideration that the remaining 228, or at least two-thirds, if not the whole of the remainder, were lost under circum- stances that rendered help impossible.

This brings us to the consideration of what can be done for the remaining 433 cases. The first Item is that of " founder- ings," 62 lives. An examination of the Returns, which are very full, shows that it is only by a very liberal reading that the majority can be said to have occurred "on or near the coasts," because more than two-thirds of the vessels are reported to have foundered out of sight of land.

The same refers to those 75 lives lost in collisions, some of which occurred from 20 to 30 miles from land. The " other causes" we think an item that, if pos- sible, requires closer consideration- than either of the others, because the number, as before stated, is about equally divided between small fishing- and pleasure-boats j (frequently undecked) being capsized, and cases of single men, or at most two at a time, being washed overboard at sea from small vessels in bad weather, and frequently at night. For these poor fellows there is the most remote 'chance of rescue, hurled overboard, generally dressed in oilskins and heavy sea-boots and not unfrequently half-stunned by the blow.

This brings us to the last, the largest and saddest item of all, " Missing Ships." There is something particularly sad in that frequent heading in the shipping intelligence column of our papers, and which includes 242 lives.

It must be obvious that aid for these casualties cannot be expected or given from the shore. It must either come from within, i.e., the vessels themselves, or from other vessels happening to be on the spot.

We are not so Utopian as to suppose that the sailor's life can ever be made less liable to casualty than that of many occupations on shore, but we do believe this sad list of valuable lives sacrificed every year can be considerably reduced.

For the sake of convenience, we will class founderings and missing ships together, because we think it more than probable that the fate of the former overtook most of the latter. This can only occur from water getting into the ship, and that can only get in through the hull, or through the openings in the decks, i.e. hatchways, skylights, &c. We believe the latter have to answer for many a casualty, frequently from defects in original construction, but quite as often from neglect of the com- monest precautions of " battening down," or seeing that the arrangements for keep- ing the water from going below are in ready working order. This is part of what we mean that help must come " from within," but it also comprises better form of vessel, and more judicious loading, even where the hull is sound and strong, because a vessel of bad form will strain and tear herself to pieces, where a vessel of good form and equal capacity would come through a storm scathless.

Collisions, again, are decidedly casual- ties to be provided against from within.

Better look-out and greater vigilance generally, with a thorough acquaintance with and attention to " the rules of tho road," would go far to reduce these casual- ties, to which must be added what we can- not but think a crying evil in these days of steam, and that is the utter unreadiness of the majority of merchant steamers' boats for use in case of sudden emergency.

As we have before said," other causes" comprise fatalities by far the most difficult to guard against. Inexperienced and rash people will go out in open boats, and of course must as inevitably come to grief, as one ignorant of steam would do who tried to drive an engine, or, although he knew his subject, would not attend to details. The great safeguard we see against men being knocked overboard is either higher bulwarks or stanchions and ridge-ropes round them. No doubt there are inconveniences attending the use of these latter in all vessels, particularly fishing vessels, but they are not to be balanced against the greater security they would give.

"We have seen it urged more than once that the right way to guard against these casualties, and to rescue those involved in them, is by means of life-saving ships.

Indeed, if we mistake not, it was once proposed to substitute these for the pre- sent system of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE- BOAT INSTITUTION. We are convinced, however, that any such scheme is most unpractical and unworkable, and could only end in failure and the consequent waste of any money contributed by those in this maritime country whose sympathy was touched by any plausible scheme for mitigating the troubles of our sailors.

These life-saving ships must be estab- lished on one of two principles, either as cruisers, whose only duty it would be to keep the sea in bad weather, ready to aid any vessel in distress they might sight, or by vessels projected to combine the double duty of earning their own expenses and giving help to others in distress.

We do not deny that if " money was no object," as the seas round our coasts were covered by a crowd of cruising frigates during the wars at the beginning of this century, they might now be covered with a number of powerful vessels, competent to keep the sea in all weathers, and carrying at their davits two or more fully- equipped Life-boats, with their crews on board the ship, ready to man them at any moment, and to proceed to the succour of any unfortunate vessel in want of help that they might fall in with. How many vessels would this require to watch only the 250 miles comprised between the Fern Islands and the North Foreland? At least fifteen; and even they could not an- ticipate being present on every occasion of their help being required. Within this radius, during the year under review, four vessels foundered, nine were lost in collision, involving the loss of 19 lives, and 15 vessels were " missing," involving 94 lives, the latter returns being only approximations. We do not think such a force as described could reasonably be expected to rescue more than one-third of these, at the outside. Even supposing the very large sum necessary for equipping and supporting such a fleet—doubtless more than one year's expenditure on the Life- boat service of the whole United King- dom—could be raised, it must be drawn from the charitable contributions of the nation, where it was already used in reliev- ing suffering to much greater advantage.

The second scheme we hold" to be utterly unworkable, the two duties of earning the expenses of a vessel, whether by fishing, trading or otherwise, and at the same time devoting her to life-saving, being utterly irreconcileable. Any vessel large enough to carry such a Life-boat as would be of any value in an emergency would be useless for fishing, and any attempt to combine the two in one must equally fail, the equipment and proportions necessary for efficiently carrying out the two services of deep-sea fishing and life- saving in the open sea being quite incom- patible with each other, whatever may be said to the contrary.

We may well leave the decision as to the best form and rig for deep-sea fishing- vessels to the experience and skill of our ship-builders and fishermen, recommending at the same time the necessity for urging upon the latter the most careful attention to all reasonable precautions against casual- ties emanating from the incidents of their calling. The courage, skill, hardihood, familiarity with, and contempt for danger, so characteristic of the British sailor, are, we believe, important factors in swelling tie lamentable list of valuable lives lost every year round our coasts, leading, as these qualities—which we all encourage and admire—do, to neglect of precautions and improvements in important matters of detail. Any means by which care, can be successfully impressed upon the men, must be a good, though a difficult, work, and to ensure success one requiring tact, sympathy with, and knowledge of, the seaman's character. To instance one danger. The contemplation of the utterly unprotected position of a man on the decks of most of the large northern fishing-boats, ,is anything but a pleasant theme, at the same time a highly illustrative one; and many more examples may be quoted.

Going to the rescue of lives in danger in the open sea is a service requiring not only skill and courage, but the right appli- ances. I would ask, is any decked vessel of the dimensions necessary to fit her for either deep-sea fishing, trading, or salvage service, adapted for this purpose ? Undeni- ably no! Several confirmations of this reply can be given. First, what is the ordinary means by which men are taken off water-logged or sinking vessels at sea ? Ships' boats. Secondly, in a gale of wind, with the ordinary accompaniments of heavy sea, storm canvas, etc., it would be con- stantly found impossible to so manoeuvre a vessel of the contemplated dimensions, as to lay her alongside the one in distress, and if brought alongside it would only be at the imminent danger of being speedily reduced to a helpless condition by col- lision. It is true the life-saving vessel might be built in compartments, or other- wise made practically unsinkable, but the chances are greatly in favour of her un- fortunate crew finding themselves in a position little better than those they were trying to rescue, certainly being rendered powerless to help others. As we have before said, we believe a well-built, well- found steam-vessel, calculated, to keep the sea at all times, and large enough to carry two good Life-boats in davits, would, if on the spot at tie right moment, present hopes of saving endangered lives, but without an enormous number of these vessels, and consequent unreasonable out- lay, what chance would there be of one being at hand ? We have not included, because it -would be preposterous, the saving of life from stranded vessels in the duties of these life-ships. They could not carry boats having the power and capacity necessary for going into breakers on outlying sands, such as the Goodwin, &c., for which only a first-class Life-boat, nearly as large as an ordinary fishing-boat, is calculated.

An attempt to approach a ship on shore from seaward is attended with far greater danger and uncertainty than doing so from the shore, where advantage can generally be taken of the vessel as a break- water.

The improbability as shown of the life- ship being on the spot when a wreck occurs applies, if possible, more strongly to the idea of its rendering assistance to ships stranded oil the shore than to those " wrecked " at sea. In addition to the in- creased risk of approaching a wreck in the breakers from seaward over that of doing so from the land, the uncertainty of her exact position as regards surround- ing dangers, must be considered. This could not be ascertained with the same certainty at sea as on shore, and will be readily recognized as a most important factor in rendering 'help. The action taken by the Institution in supplying deep-sea fishing-vessels and small coasters with reliable aneroids at one-third the ordinary price, of which advantage has been so largely taken, cannot but be a great step in -the right direction. We know of many instances in which the in- strument's warnings having been attended to, have led to vessels lifting their nets and gaining safe anchorage in time, as well as to their not having left port in delusively fine weather with storms im- pending.