IT will doubtless be in the memory of some of our readers that in April, 1886, the General Committee of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION ap- pointed a sub-committee to inquire into the practicability of applying steam to Life-boats. After visiting the Liverpool International Exhibition to examine the models of steam Life-boats exhibited there, and hearing the evidence of the coxswains of Life-boats who have had the greatest experience in the assistance to be obtained from steam in carrying out the Life-boat service, the sub-committee, after reporting their proceedings, finished with the conclusion that they were un- able to recommend the adoption of any pattern of steam Life-boat at present.

During last year the Committee again moved in the matter by offering gold and silver medals for the best models or draw- ings of a mechanically propelled Life- boat, adapted to meet the conditions under which Life-boats are called upon to perform their work; also similar medals for a propelling power suitable for the existing self-righting boats of the Insti- tution. It was hoped this competition would produce some idea, at any rate, containing the germs of future success.

Intending competitors were given five months in which to produce their ideas, and every precaution was taken to ensure their names being unknown till the com- petition was decided, by the drawings and models being sent in under a cypher, accompanied by a sealed envelope con- taining the full name and address, but not to be opened until after the award was made. Three most competent experts for the post, and in no way connected with the Life-boat Institution, accepted the invitation of the Committee to under- take the task of judges, viz., Sir FREDERICK BRAMWELL, F.B.S., Sir DIGBY MURRAY, Bart., and Mr. JOHN I. THORNYCROFT.

These gentlemen, after careful examina- tion of the proposals, reported that they had carefully considered all the models and drawings submitted to them, and that they were of opinion that none of them were suited to the requirements of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTI- TUTION, and that they were therefore un- able to award medals.

The above short account of what the Institution has done in this matter, and the result of its efforts, may, we think, be fairly taken as a criterion of the diffi- culties that surround the production of a practically useful steam or other mechanically propelled Life-boat, as well as showing that the Institution is quite alive to the necessity for continued advance and improvement in the construc- tion of its Boats and their appliances. It has doubtless struck many, and will yet strike more, as very strange that in these days of advanced science and great progress in methods of propulsion, when masts and sails are rapidly disappearing from both men-of-war and merchant vessels as well as oars from boats, to be superseded by different forms of the irrepressible steam-engine with its young rival as a motive power—the electric spark—that the vessels of all others which should have the most powerful and efficient means of propulsion against ad- verse circumstances of wind and sea, viz., Life-boats, should still be dependent on the old-fashioned oars and sails, with the assistance, in some cases, of a tug steamer. This is certainly the case, and at first sight, that it should remain so would appear as anything but creditable to the engineering skill of this great manufacturing country; but there is a great deal to be said on the other side.

The difficulties and dangers to be mel with and overcome by a Life-boat in carrying out its work are so very much greater, and of such a very different nature from those to be encountered by any ordinary boat or vessel at sea, that it is hardly exaggeration to say that the prin- ciples on which a Life-boat is unavoidably built and worked are diametrically opposec to the considerations which guide the naval architect and marine engineer in design- ing and constructing any vessel, either large or small, for ordinary sea-going purposes. For instance, the primary object for securing the safety of all other vessels is to prevent heavy seas breaking on board and filling the vessel; the im possibility of doing this in a Life-boat is so apparent that it is not attempted, bu provision is made to guard against the evi effects of this mass of water by putting air-tight cases wherever other exigencies admit of so doing, to support the boa under its additional weight, until the water all runs out again, or in othe: words to provide sufficient extra weight to lift thejboat up through any mass of wate: instead of allowing it to press her down.

2nd. It is necessary that a Life-boat should have great stability and weatherly qualities or hold in the water to prevent ler being blown about on the top of the waves like an inflated bladder; at the same time it is an absolute necessity that these qualities should not be obtained in the usual way of a deep draught of water, because she must be able to float in com- paratively shallow water.

3rd. All other vessels are built with a view to their being kept afloat, and not running aground; in fact, to pro- vide against injury on doing so is no matter for consideration of the naval architect or builder, but the Life-boat, particularly the large ones that go to out- lying sands such as the Goodwin, must be prepared to take the ground in the ordinary course of work, and that not in fine weather and smooth water.

4th. One very desirable if not abso- lutely necessary quality, more particu- larly in a small vessel, is that her stern and quarters shall be of such a form as to enable her to rise readily to a following sea, and not allow it to break on board, or in nautical phraseology not to be " pooped." This is a matter of quite secondary con- sideration for a Life-boat, compared with the necessity for preventing the following sea lifting up the stern, burying the bow, and then causing the boat to "broach to;" one important agent in securing this is having the stern comparatively low in the water, and heavy, which is a direct invitation to the sea to break on board.

The above remarks refer to Life-boats generally; but when we come to the self- righting boat, which includes 269 out of the 291 boats belonging to the Institu- tion, another difficulty is added. This self-righting quality is a strong illustra- tion of the point we have been dwelling on. In building an ordinary boat or vessel it is the duty of the architect to give her all practicable stability, but the consideration of what is to happen if she is capsized does not enter into his cal- culation , because there can generally be but one end, namely, destruction of the vessel; but Life-boats, more particularly the smaller ones, have to encounter, and successfully, seas which would overwhelm any other boat, and in doing which the possibility of being capsized must be faced, and provided against. This is done by so constructing the boats that they will right again even with their whole crew in them; but of course this entails peculiarity of construction and consideration as to the amount and posi- tion of weights put on board.

The difficulties in the way of producing a really serviceable steam Life-boat have little more than begun to be met when the requirements and difficulties given above have been thoroughly considered and mastered. We then come to the form of the propeller, the engines to move that propeller, and the agent that will give those engines the power to move the pro- peller, and keep it moving for a consider- able number of hours, all to be put into as little weight as practicable. The more these various points are considered the more the difficulties to be overcome show themselves; but some one said, "diffi- culties are only made to be overcome," and we can only look forward to such a satisfactory end overtaking them in this case.