THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, fully recognising the responsi- bility which rests upon it to provide the Life-boat crews with the best possible means for conducting their life-saving work, decided in the year 1891 to carry out a series of competitive trials and exhaustive tests, embracing all the various types of Life-boats it employs, with a view to determining definitely which type of boat is individually best adapted for the different parts of our coast, the circumstances and conditions of which vary materially. It was fully realised that the trouble and cost entailed by the trials would be very great, but the Committee believed that the public, seeing the importance of the undertaking, would, by contributing liberally, help the Institution to bring it to a successful issue.

In the first instance, the Committee arranged to carry out at Lowestoft, in the autumn, a series of competitive trials and tests with sailing Life-boats, and cordially invited inventors and others to enter boats for the competitions under certain prescribed conditions and regulations.

Later on they found it necessary to postpone the trials until after Christmas, as it was ascertained that it would not be possible to obtain men at Lowestoft until after the close of the herring fishery season. The trials of rowing Life-boats of various types have been deferred for the present. It is hoped that the public will come forward with special contributions to meet the heavy expenses which must necessarily be incurred in carrying them out.

The competitive trials of the sailing Life-boats were carried out under the following conditions and regulations which were prescribed by the Committee for the purpose:— 1. All competitors mast undertake to bear every expense, including the providing of crews, tugs and launchers, connected with the trials of their own boats, and they must give notice to the Secretary of the Life-Boat Institution in writing of their intention to compete on or before the 30th June, 1891, and sign the required undertaking.

2. The competitions shall be carried out at Lowestoft, under the superintendence of a Committee consisting of five persons to be named by the Royal National Life-Boat Institution for the purpose, and all competitors must comply with the rules and regulations laid down for the competitions, as well as with any instructions they may receive from the supervising Committee ; and all outside competitors must undertake that their coxswains and crews shall strictly comply with these instructions. Any boat not at Lowestoft on or before the 31st October, 1891, and ready for the trials, -will be disqualified.

3. The competing boats to be those, the principal motive power of which is their sails, their oars being only auxiliary. To ensure the boats being as far as possible equal, and to pro- vide for their competing on as similar terms as possible, they must come within the following dimensions:— Length—43 to 46 feet.

Beam—11 to 13 feet, not including outside wales or fenders.

Depth, from inside of skin to level of gunwale amidships—4 to 5 feet.

Extreme draft of water, with drop keels or centre boards up, not to exceed 3 feet 6 inches; and load displacement to be from 9 to 19 tons inclusive.

4. The qualities necessary to constitute an efficient Life-boat are:— a. Power to reach a wreck or vessel in distress in bad weather and heavy seas, both regular and broken.

6. Capability for getting alongside a wreck in heavy breakers and lying there, or near euough, to take off the people on board; general handiness for working the boat, ut laying her alongside a wreck or in the required position.

c. General stability under canvas and the power of resistance to the capsizing force of a sea, in any position, whether afloat or aground. This includes the capability of a boat to run ashore on an outlying sand, in broken water, in safety.

d. Suitability for launching from and returning to an open beach in a surf.

e. Protection to the boat's crew against being washed out of the boat by seas breaking on board when on service.

5. The boats will be put to the following tests to enable the Judges to determine the degree in which they possess the qualities already enumerated:— a. Launching from an open beach through a surf and beating off to an outlying shoal or prescribed mark.

Z . Running in a heavy sea, abeam, quarterly and right aft; landing on an open beach; hauling up and preparing for service again.

c. Passing through heavy breakers on an outlying shoal and anchoring in them as if to veer down to a wreck.

d. Towing by a powerful tug against wind and sea in bad weather.

e. Capacity for carrying rescued people.

6. All the boats to be tried at the same time and place, so as to ensure as far as possible their all being exposed to the same force of sea and weather for the comparison of their qualities.

7. The Umpires or Judges of the trials to be taken from the coxswains of the Institution's Life-boats, so selected as to include, as far as possible, those having experience in the different types of boats. Their number to be governed by the number of boats under trial, so as to give one for each boat. Each test to be repeated as many times as there are boats under trial; the Judges to change boats each time so as to give all of them the opportunity of seeing each boat at work.

8. The Judge shall not interfere with the Coxswain and crew in the management of the boat, but shall concentrate his attention on her behaviour.

9. No one excepting the Coxswains, Crews and Judges to go in the boats when engaged in the trials.

10. At the end of every trial each Judge to record his opinions on the result on a form to be supplied to him for so doing. This he will put into a closed cover and deposit, in the presence of one of the Supervising Committee, in the box provided for that purpose.

11. These reports to be strictly confidential and the Judges are not to make known their contents. As soon as the trials are all concluded, the box containing the reports to be trans- mitted to the Head Office in London to be opened under the directions of the Committee.

12. If a Judge consider a trial to have given no results, or from any cause not to have been sufficiently conclusive to enable him to report on it, he shall at once report this to the Super- vising Committee, who will decide whether the trial should be repeated, first, if they deem it necessary, consulting the other Judges.

13. If the Supervising Committee are of opinion that for any reason it is desirable a trial should be repeated, they shall call for the opinions of the Coxswain Judges, and, having considered them, act as they may deem expedient.

Only one outside competitor came forward, who, however, withdrew before the trials began.

The boats which the Institution selected to take part in the trials were four in number, viz.:— 1. THE NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK TYPE.—This type of sailing Life- boat has been in general use on the East Coast for many years past. The Life-boat buoyancy of this type of boat is obtained by means of large wooden air boxes placed along each side of the boat and across the bow and stern, coming as high as the thwarts, leaving a proportionate open space in the centre for water ballast, which is uncovered on top. This class of boat is not self-righting, but is provided with a very large cork or hollow wale to furnish additional buoyancy.

2. THE SELF-RIGHTING TYPE.—This is the Life-boat that is now in such general use round the coasts of the United Kingdom. She is a decked boat with water ballast confined in tanks, two drop keels, and large air cases at each end.

THE SOUTHPORT TYPE.—The boat which is described as the South- port type is a large sailing Life-boat, specially designed for the trials by Mr. G. L. Watson, the Institution's Consulting Naval Architect. She is a modification of a large Life-boat designed by him in 1887 for the Southport Station and is fitted with water ballast confined in tanks, being also provided with a deck and side air cases similar to those of the Self-righting boat, and has a large drop keel and a raised deck forward to throw off the seas which may break on board, and is not self-righting.

4. THE TUBULAR TYPE.—This Life-boat was originally designed and brought out about thirty-five years ago by two Welsh gentlemen, father and eon, Messrs. H. and H. T. Richardson. She is altogether different in principle from any other boat, and consists of two long tubes running parallel to each other a few feet apart. They are closed at the ends, and connected by a deck, thus leaving underneath an arched hollow space from three to four feet wide. This boat is also not self-righting.

The boats arrived at Lowestoft in readiness for the Trials on the 12th February, 1892, and before the tests began there were preliminary launches for purposes of exercise, to give the crews a knowledge of their boats; also to test the launching and hauling-up arrangements, including the organisation and discipline of the launchers.

The Trials took place whenever suitable weather prevailed, and were finally concluded on the 19th April, when the Supervising Committee left Lowestoft.

The Committee consisted of the following officers:— Capt. The Hon. H. W. CHETWTND, B.N., Chief Inspector of Life-boats to the Institution.

CHARLES B. P. CTOWINGHAME GRAHAM, Esq., late Lieut. B.N., Inspector of the Eastern District.

Capt. A. W. STIFFE, I.M.

Capt. C. A. WHITE, P. & O. Company.

Capt. H. WYATT, P. & O. Company.

The following is a list of the Coxswain Judges, viz.:— Mr. J. CABLE .. .. .. .. 1st Coxswain, Aldeburgh.

„ C. E. FISH .. .. (late) „ ., Ramsgate.

„ B. LBGERTON .. .. (late) „ ,, Clacton.

„ B. WEIGHT .. .. .. „ „ Fleetwood.

In addition there were two Supernumerary Coxswain Judges, viz.:— Mr. J. CBAIGIE .. .. .. 1st Coxswain, Southwold.

„ J. OWSTON.. .. ,. .. „ „ Scarborough.

The sizes of the four Life-boats competing in the Trials were as follows:— Length. Breadth, ft. in. ft. in.

Norfolk and Suffolk Type .. .. .. 46 0 12 6 Self-righting do. .. .. .. 44 0 11 0 Southport do. .- .. .. 43 0 11 9 Tubular do. .- .. .. 43 0 12 0.