ONCE more we are in a position to present to our readers a review of the casualties in shipping, the loss of life incurred, and the lives saved by the Institution in the year ending June 30th, 1912, based upon the Abstracts of Shipping Casualties published by the Board of Trade. The facts and figures which we submit are illustrated by the Wreck Chart which has, again, been prepared by the Ordnance Survey Department, Southampton, from infor- mation furnished by the Institution.

As usual, our survey falls into two categories, viz., shipping casualties and loss of life.

SJiippiny Casualties.

For those not familiar with the subject, it is important to remember that the casualties under review, both as regards shipping and lives, are limited to those which occurred on or close to the shores of the United Kingdom.

The limitation is important not only from the point of view of Life-boat work—as it is obvious that the Life- boats cannot assist vessels far out at sea—but it has a special bearing with regard to a year which will be for ever memorable for the appalling disaster which befell the Titanic, involving the loss of some 1,500 lives.

It is very satisfactory to note that the total number of shipping casualties shows a reduction of 564, being 2,508 as compared with 3,072 in the pre- ceding year. Unfortunately there was, however, an increase of 28 in the number of lives lost in connexion with the casualties, the total being 310 as against 282 in the previous period.

The number of cases of total loss and serious casualty was 944, being 81 less than in the previous year, while the minor casualties, which amounted to 1,564, also showed the large decrease of 483. Further, only 78 casualties were attended by loss of life as com- pared with 95 in the previous corre- sponding period.

As might be expected, the vast majority of the total casualties were sustained by British and Colonial vessels, the number being 2,203, as compared with 305 casualties which befell foreign vessels.

The following figures, showing the Mercantile Marine tonnage owned by the four chief maritime Powers, makes it clear that such a result is only what might be expected— Tonnage.

19,874,360 5,258,487 4,628,983 2,052,518 Ships.

11,444 3,442 2,213 1,491 British Empire United States Germany .

France As regards the distribution of the casualties (excluding collisions) on the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Abstracts show the following results:— East Coast of England— 450, a decrease of 13 South Coast of England— 269, a decrease of 84 West Coast of England and Scotland, and East Coast of Ireland— 520, a decrease of 64 North Coast of Scotland— 111 (the same as the previous year) East Coast of Scotland— 119, an increase of 20 The remainder of the Irish Coast, etc.— 105, a decrease of 12 Total decrease 153 Loss of Life.

Turning to the matter which is of paramount interest to supporters of the Institution, the loss of life in connexion with the chief casualties was, as we have stated, 310 as compared with 282 in the previous year. These losses were distributed on the coasts as follows :— East Coast of England— 57, a decrease of 24 South Coast of England— 46, an increase of 20 West Coast of England and Scot- land, and East Coast of Ireland— 69, an increase of 10 North Coast of Scotland— 21, an increase of 12 East Coast of Scotland— 77, an increase of 62 The remainder of the Irish Coast, and at Sea— 40, a decrease of 52 28 Total increase .

Here again Great Britain paid the penalty of her world-wide commerce and vast shipping interests in bearing the great majority of the loss of life. The proportion of foreign persons who lost their lives in shipping casualties, on or close to our shores in the period under review, was 52, as compared with 258 British lives lost. While we deplore the loss of so many valuable lives, it is satisfactory to be able to record that, in the same period, the Life-boats of the Institution saved 578 lives, while 181 were saved by shore-boats, etc., the rescuers concerned in the latter instances being rewarded for their efforts by the Institution, which has ever made it an important part of its function to encourage the spirit of intrepidity and self-sacrifice which leads men to risk their own lives in the effort to save others from the perils of the sea.

It is, however, only by taking a wide survey of the casualties and loss of life over a long period of years that we can obtain any adequate idea of the beneficent activity of the Life-boat Service organized by the Institution.

A reference to statistics shows that, in the fifty-one years between 1861 and th« 30th June, 1912, 186,190 casualties occurred to British, Colonial and foreign shipping on and near the coasts of the United Kingdom, and that 7,248 of these casualties were accompanied by loss of life. The total number of those who perished in this way was 30,525—- a truly terrible death-roll. In this same period, however, the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION granted rewards for the saving of 38,631 lives. In other words, while, on an average, nearly 600 lives a year were lost, the Institution had the privilege of providing the means, human and material, by which nearly 760 lives a year were saved.

To-day the Institution can point to a total of over 51,200 lives, for the saving of which it has granted rewards. Is it necessary to say more in order to com- mend the great work of the Institution to the generosity of the public and to the benevolent thought of those who wish to benefit the cause of charity and to link their names with a great national movement when they are gone? In these days of a highly-organized indus- trial civilization, when the rush of money-making and pleasure-seeking is perhaps apt to lead to a weakening of the finer qualities which flourish in a simpler age, it is a matter of the utmost I importance to preserve every means by which the finest characteristics of our race—courage, endurance and humanity —may be fostered, exercised and main- tained. And it would be impossible to point to any form of national activity which is better calculated to inspire men with such qualities, and at the same time to link them to that element to which we owe so large a share of our national greatness, safety and prosperity, than the Life-boat service maintained by the Institution..