AFTER the valuable work done by Lukin in 1807, in initiating the Norfolk and Suffolk type of Life-boat, there appears to have been a considerable period before any new type found a place on the coast. No doubt small variations from the original North Country Life-boat were introduced, but nothing in the way of a radical change can be traced, so that in 1824, when the LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION was founded, the Life-boats on the coast were, with one or two exceptions, either of this or the Norfolk and Suffolk type.

In 1825, the year following the foun- dation of the LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, two names came into prominence in connec- tion with Life-boat designing, namely, George Palmer, of Nazing Park, Essex, formerly a commander in the Hon. East India Company, and subsequently for many years M.P. for South Essex, and Pellew Plenty, of Newbury, Berkshire; and in this year and 1826 a considerable number of boats, built on the principles advocated by these two gentlemen, were placed on the coast. To deal with Mr.

Palmer's boat first. The Northumberland report, published in 1851, shows that there existed at that time (1851), at least two Life-boats on Mr. Palmers plan, which were built prior to 1826, but it was not until 1826 that he became con- nected with the LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, to whose interests he gave up a large proportion of his time, serving as Deputy Chairman of the Committee of Manage- ment until his death, which took place in 1853. His plan of fitting Life-boats was adopted by the Institution in June, 1828, and continued until 1852.

In a letter to the Committee of the Institution, dated 17th November, 1828, he sets forth his views and describes his methods, not only for fitting coast Life- boats, but also strongly advocates their adoption for boats carried by vessels at sea. The following is a description of Mr. Palmer's Life-boat: she was of the form of a whale boat, sharp at both ends, but foiler at the bow and with more beam in proportion to her length to admit of sufficient space for the crew between the air-cases in the wings with which she was fitted fore and aft. There were three cases on each side occupying a space of 43 cubic feet—equivalent to a buoyancy in water of 23 cwt. 3 qrs., equally divided on each side, " thereby preventing the boat from upsetting." One air-case in the bow and two in the stern, containing 35 cubic feet—equivalent to a buoyancy of 20 cwt.—and four tin gun-wale cases, containing 3J cubic feet, or 200 Ibs.

buoyancy. These cases being situated so high "not only prevent her being depressed in case of a sea rolling over her but tend materially to right her again in the event of her being thrown on her side by a sudden press of canvas or the stroke of a sea." The total buoyancy of the cases being equal to 45 cwt. 1 qr. 22 Ibs. was sufficient to bear up thirty persons sitting above the water.

The boat was " fitted with four scuppers, two on each side just above the air-cases, to let off any water which she might ship from a sea breaking over her." Her length was 26 feet 8 inches, width 6 feet 2 inches, pulling six oars and rigged with two lug sails; she was steered either by rudder or oar. The boat was also fitted with high loose wash boards " for the sake of preventing the sea from breaking into her when launching," and she had life-lines from her gunwale. Her weight (without loose fittings) was 9 owt. 17 Ibs.

From experiments made with her it was ascertained " that without any ballast in her bottom and eight half - hundred weights of iron lashed above the thwarts and both her masts in (stepped) when hove down to another boat so that her mastheads came down to the hands of those bearing her down with her lower side completely under water, upon being let go she will right of herself, and if 4 cwt. of iron only be put into her, as ballast, in bars secured to the rings in her keelson, she will right of herself although the mastheads be drawn down so low as the water's edge." In the same year the above was written, one of these Life-boats was put through some severe tests at Barmouth in a S.W.

gale and gave very great satisfaction, the seamen of the port "to a man pro- fessed their readiness to serve in her when occasion should require." Two similar boats were sent to Anglesey and the Isle of Man, and from both places equally favourable reports were received.

There is no doubt Mr. Palmer's Life- boats filled a great want; they had good stability, pulled well, were light for trans- port, could readily be manned, had a light draught of water, and small internal capacity for holding water, and had de- tachable air-cases, a decided improvement in this respect on the existing North Country type, but with the exception of the four scuppers mentioned above there was no means of self-baling or freeing herself at water. The following are some of the places at which this type of Life-boat was used: Berwick-on-Tweed, Aberdovey, Barmouth, Cemlyn, Ramsey, Isle of Man, Rosslare Point, Eilmore, Youghal, Courtmacsherry, West Cove, Derrynane. After the re-organisation of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION in 1850, these boats fell into disuse. The illustration on the opposite page shows a midship section of Mr. Palmer's Life-boat.

In the first annual report of the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, dated 10th March, 1825, on page 18, will be found the fol- lowing ..." The Committee therefore directed their early attention to the ascertainment of the best principle for the construction of Life-boats. In the course of their inquiry, they received from dis- tinguished Naval officers, and others who tried boats of various descriptions, the most favourable report of a plan invented by Mr. Plenty of Newbury. The Committee have caused twelve boats to be built on this principle, of sizes adapted to the Stations at which they are to be placed..." This makes it plain that in addition to favouring the type of Life-boat designed by Mr. Palmer, that of his contemporary, Mr. Pellew Plenty, of Newbury, was also adopted by the LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION.

In 1826 Sir William Hillary (whose name is so familiar in connection with the early stages of the Life-boat movement) established a District Life-boat Association in the Isle of Man, and the first Life-boat was built by Mr. Plenty and established at Douglas. The following places were among the first to have Life-boats of Mr. Plenty's design:— Dimensions. Place. Depth. Weight. Year built. Length. Breadth. Feet. Feet. Feet. Cwt. Skegness Sizewell Gap 24 24 8 8 3 3 40(?) 1825 1826 Woodbridge Haven 24 8 3 __ 1826 Studland . 20 7 3 — 1826 Portland 20 6f 3 — 1825 St. Mary's, Scilly 26 81 2J 20 1828 Appledore . 17 a* 20 1826 The boat which was placed at Skegness was the means of saying fifty-one lives, and that at Appledore was credited with T*UOSH P 23 ft.; breadth 8 ft., depth 2| ft., sheer of gunwale 14 in., rake of sternpost 1 in.

in a foot, straight keel and bilge pieces, five thwarts 28 in. apart, 16 in. above floor and 12 in. below the rowlock strake, pulls eight oars double banked, thole pins, and the gunwale strake tumbles home to avoid the risk of being carried away.

Extra buoyancy is obtained by air- chambers along both sides fore and aft, formed by a complete casing or inner boat of a triangular shape extending down to the floor and coming to a feather edge at the main gunwale; they are divided into twelve water-tight com- partments each lined with gutta-percha; effective extra buoyance 82 cubic ft., equal to 2|- tons. No ballast. Internal capacity for holding water up to level of thwarts 48 cubic ft., equal to 1 tons.

or LIFEBOAT /fa** having rescued no less than sixty-seven.

Truly a remarkable performance for a boat whose dimensions, given above, show her to have been little more than an overgrown dinghy.

Mr. Plenty and his brother sent in a model of a Life-boat to compete for the Northumberland prize, and the following description of the boat is taken from the Northumberland report; there is no reason to believe that she varies in any important detail from the type of boat originally placed on the coast in 1825.

" This boat approaches to the form of a wherry, having great fulness in the mid- ship section near the seat of water extended some distance forward and aft with a long hollow floor, upright stem and sternpost.

. . . Length, extreme, 24 ft.; of keel, The means for freeing the boat of water are six scuppers 2 in. diameter each . . .

and in addition the upper plank on each side is left out fore and aft, and the inner boat, being of a triangular shape and shallow, much of the water would roll.

out when the boat was in motion in a sea way. No provision for self-righting.

Layers of cork averaging 4J in. in thickness . . . are cemented and firmly secured along the bottom from stem to stern. Rig, one lug sail. Draught of water with thirty men on board, 16 in. Weight of boat, 19 cwt. Gear, 5 cwt. Total, 24 cwt." This boat, judging from her form, would pull moderately well. Her great beam would make her stiff under canvas, and she ought to have been weatherly, and her weight was well adapted for transport. The small internal capacity of the boat was certainly a point in her favour; but the system of freeing herself of water left much to be desired.

The air-cases being built into the sides and bilge of the boat rendered them difficult to examine and repair, and the fact that they were lined with gutta- percha seems to indicate that this was done to render them less liable to injury from a blow. Mr. Plenty, like some of his contemporaries, adhered to the use of large quantities of cork in the bottom of the boat for protection when landing upon a stony beach.

The services previously quoted of the two boats at Skegness and Appledore bear strong testimony to the merits of these nine Life-boats in question were placed as follows: Liverpool two, Magazines two, Hoylake two, Point of Ayr two, Formby one; and the following record of their usefulness during the ten years from 1840 to 1850, taken from a report made by the Marine Surveyor, and dated January, 1851, speaks for itself:— Vessels Lives Assisted. Saved. Liverpool . 96 243 Mazagines .

Hoylake 106 59 290 201 Point of Ayr 60 332 Formby. 70 62 Total . . . 391 1,128 Life-boats, which in their form show such a wide departure from the North Country or Shields type. The illustration shows a midship section of Mr. Plenty's Life-boat.

About the year 1840 nine Life-boats were built for the Life-boat establishment of the Liverpool Dock Trustees; these boats, which were built by Mr. Costain of Liverpool, are deserving of special notice, not so much on account of any special new feature introduced into them, but chiefly because of the large amount of life-saving which has been done by them, and also because they are the fore- runners of the Liverpool type of Life- boats adopted by the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, plans of which may be seen on page 777. In 1840, the The description of the Life-boats that did this work was as follows: The body of the boat very similar to that of a ship's pinnace, but with ends alike; a small rise in the floor, but a long floor in a fore and aft direction; sides straight at the water- line, both vertically and horizontally, stem curved slightly raking stern-post; diagon- ally built of double planks of f in. larch.

Length, extreme, 30 ft.; of keel, 27 ft.; breadth, 9£ ft.; depth, 4 ft.; sheer of gtmwale, 18 in.; straight keel, 4 in. deep.

Bake of stem 5 in., and of stern-post 2 in.

in a foot; 6 thwarts, 33 in. apart, 8 in.

below gunwale, and 21 above the floor; polled 12 oars, double-banked.

A cork fender covered with leather, 4 in. wide and 7 in. deep, was placed allround at 6 in. below the gunwale, and a "flat" or deck ran fore and aft 12 in. above the keelson.

Extra buoyancy was obtained by twelve air-tight casks, secured along the sides fore and aft by wooden oases between the " flat" and the nndersides of the thwarts.

Cubical contents of the casks, 35 cnbic ft., equal to 1 ton. No ballast. Internal capacity up to the level of the thwarts, 280 cubic ft., equivalent to 6J tons. There would stand np well to their canvas, and pull well. The diagonal mode of building gave them great strength. There was plenty of room between the thwarts, and the air-casks being detached from the sides rendered them less likely to be stove when alongside a wreck than if the air- cases were built into the boat. The boats, if they only weighed 30 cwt., were sufficiently light for easy transport along a beach. A great deal of their work, LIVERPOOL TYPE.

BODY PLAN A.—The deck. ; E.—Wale or fender.

B.—Believing valves for automatic dis- F.—Iron keel.

MIDSHIP SECTION.

charge of water off the deck.

C.—Side air-cases above deck.

D.—End air-compartments.

was no means of freeing these Life-boats of water except by baling, and they would not right if upset. The boats were rigged with two sprit sails and a jib. Weight of boat, 30 cwt.; of gear, 7 cwt.; total, 37 cwt.

It will readily be seen from the above description that Mr. Gostain's Life-boats G.—Water-ballast tanks.

H.—Drop-keels.

especially the Liverpool and Magazine boats, was done in. conjunction with a tug, the outlying sands being a consider- able distance off, and frequently a strong tide to contend with in getting to them.

The great weakness of these Life-boats was their large internal capacity, exceeding 6 tons tinder the thwarts, and no adequate provision for freeing themselves of water; in fact on one occasion when one of these Life-boats was being towed out by a tug she shipped so much water that the crew were obliged to cut the -tow rope and return to port. However, such an instance was rare, and to set against this the carrying capacity of these Life-boats was well exemplified by the fact that as many as fifty persons, in addition to the crew of eleven, were on one occasion rescued in one of them.

Subsequent to 1850, considerable altera- tions were introduced into the Liverpool Life-boats, a deck a few inches above the water-line with six relieving tubes and valves being fitted into them, and side air-cases from the deck to underneath the thwarts were likewise substituted for the casks, but below the deck there were no air-cases or compartments, consequently if the boat were stove the whole space under the deck filled with water. Such was the condition of the Liverpool Life- boats (of which Mr. Costain's was the prototype) when the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION took them over in 1894. Since then all, "with the exception of that at Hoylake,* which was built in 1892 and was fitted with two drop keels, have been replaced by new boats of the design shown on page 777, and known in the service of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION as the Liverpool type. __________________ * Ail-cases have been, fitted under the deck of this boat since the station has been under the management of E.N.L.B.I.

(To be continued.').