SOME time since a system of securing the buoyancy of fishing-cobles by means of air cases, so fitted as not to impede the fishermen when following their calling, yet, at the same time, to render the cobles unsinkable, was introduced by the late Mr. HOWEY TAYLOR, a gentleman who resided in the North of England.

Steps were taken to fit six cobles at the cost of the Institution, with the view of demonstrating the advantages of the scheme and of minimising the loss of life which annually occurs from this class of boat, and other boats have since been furnished with the fittings by the Insti- tution. The practical utility of these fittings has recently been shown in a striking manner. On the 16th April last a coble named the Mary Ann, belonging to four brothers named Butter, of Sea Houses, Northumberland, while returning to her harbour in a moderate S. breeze, a rough sea and thick weather, was sud- denly filled by a sea when off Sunderland Point and was rendered totally un- manageable. Her crew were unable to right her or to bale the water out. The accident happened when the boat was in such a position as not to be seen from the village, and for three quarters of an hour the men remained in their perilous position. Fortunately a woman had occasion to go along the shore, and her attention was attracted by the shouts of the men. She at once gave an alarm, and another coble manned by nine fisher- men at once proceeded to the rescue, and brought into port the boat and her crew.

It was entirely due to the fact that the coble was fitted with the air cases that the lives of the four men were saved, as in the absence of those fittings there can be no doubt that the boat would have sunk, and that her occupants would have perished..