Motor Life-Boats
IN accordance with our annual custom we give with this month's issue of the Journal a table showing the various motor Life-boats now on the coast, or under construction; and in this connexion we print, by the courtesy of The Times, an interesting article which appeared in its columns on 3rd December last which may have escaped the notice of some of our readers.
" At a time when the question of safety at sea is under consideration by a conference which includes representatives of all the great maritime nations, attention may be directed to recent developments in connexion with the saving of life when ships are wrecked or their safety imperilled near shore. The design of the boats in which the work of rescue may be carried out has passed through several stages, and in recent years has called for the services of the marine engineer as well as the boat builder; and no more striking comparison of the craft used for the work could be made than that between the coble 21 ft. long and 6 ft. broad used by Grace Darling in 1838 and now exhibited in the Dove Marine Laboratory at Cullercoats, and the 76-H.P.
motor-boat about 50 ft. in length which has just been put in commission by the South Holland Company.
" The older type of boat used for life-saving could be built and equipped for a total oosb of about £400: the motor Life-boat costs £3,000. Of this latter type the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION has now 19 in service, and four new ones have been ordered for service at Arklow, Fraserburgh, Teesmouth, and Sunderland. New motor boats have been approved for St. Mary's, Scilly, Baltimore (Ireland), Spurn, Blyth, and the Lizard stations, so that the number of motor Life-boats in service and on order for British stations is 28.
" It is in the United States, however, that the power-propelled Life-boat has reached its greatest development in point of numbers. The statistics published by the official organ of the British society show that the United States Life-saving Service now places chief reliance for rescue work on the motor boat, the total number in commission at the close of the last finanial year being 109, including 39 motor surf-boats.
Many of these are, however, comparatively small craft, and the largest of them are only 36 ft. in length, a size exceeded by practically all the British boats. The large American boats are equipped with a six-cylinder four-cycle Holmes auto-marine engine.
" The German society has five open motor-boats and an equal number of decked motor-boats in service; France had last year three Life-boats fitted with internal-combustion engines in service; the Netherlands three—-all of powerful type; and Spain one of the Roberts type of boat fitted with a 50-60 H.P.
engine.
" CONDITIONS TO BE MET.
" When the services of the engineer were first enlisted it was soon realized that the conditions to be met by an engine in Life-boat service were quite different from those imposed upon the designer of engines for other classes of boats. The first power-propelled Lifeboats were steam - driven, but the internal-combustion engine is likely to supersede the steam - engine for this service.* THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION has only four steam Life-boats on the coast. They vary from 50 ffc. to 56 ft. in length, are built of galvanized steel, and have a displacement of 30 to 35 tons. Like the other boats, they free themselves of water.
They are also as nearly as possible unsinkable, being divided by longitudinal and athwartship steel bulkheads into a large number of watertight compartments. A water-tube boiler is worked under forced draught on the closed stokehold plan, in a watertight compartment. The engines are also in a watertight compartment and develop 150 to 200 I.H.F., giving a speed of about nine knots. Both 'jet' and ' screw ' propellers have been tried, the screw in a tunnel proving most satisfactory, apart from questions of economy.
" The steam - boats were, however, found to be very expensive in upkeep, costing about £1,000 each annually, and, although they gave good service over a period of twenty years, it was obvious to those charged with the design of Life-boats that if the rigorous requirements laid down for life-saving craft could be met, the internal-combustion engine would be far better adapted for the work. In inviting designs for a petrol motor-boat it was stipulated that, by reason of the heavy weather in which the boats had to put to sea, the motor must be enclosed in a perfectly watertight case, and that, owing to the difficulty of giving skilled attention to it, the engine must be absolutely automatic in operation. Further conditions were that the design of the carburetter must make provision for a proper supply of mixture during periods of heavy list or when the boat was on its beam ends, and that in the event of a boat of the self-righting type capsizing the engine should stop automatically to prevent the boat from going away from the men in the water or their injury by the propeller. Further, the weight and disposition of the machinery was to be such as not to interfere with the balance of the vessel or with its rowing and sailing qualities. It should be mentioned that while in the earlier type of motor-boats the engine was installed as auxiliary power, in those recently built the engine furnishes the main power.
" Another important condition which has to be fulfilled by engines intended for Life-boats is that the weight per horse-power developed shall be reduced to a minimum ; and in the Tylor engine which has been fitted to those built recently, a motor developing 40 H.P. at 700 r.p.m. has been cut down to a weight of 1,450 Ibs. This requirement has removed the engine out of the ordinary class of commercial marine motor, and the list of manufacturers willing to supply such an engine in small numbers as required has been so restricted as to retard development.
" RESULTS ACHIEVED.
" It is gratifying to be able to record that the onerous conditions imposed upon motor-boat designers have been met. The experimental period extended over some years, the first tests having been carried out at Folkestone in 1903, when a two-cylinder 10-H.P. motor was fitted to a boat which was afterwards put in service at Newhaven. The newer boats, of which the Frederick Kitchen, in which the King made a trip recently, is an example, are 40 ft.
to 45 ft. long, by 12 ft. 6 ins. in beam.
The Frederick Kitchen, which is of the Watson type, is 43 ft. by 12 ft. 6 ins., and is equipped with a 60-H.P. Tylor engine giving a speed of about 7j knots, which is considered ample for the conditions of service. This boat is provided with a Gardner reverse gear. The ingine is of the four-cylinder vertical type ; the cylinders, 6f ins. in bore by ins. in stroke, are separately cast, and the valves are placed on opposite sides. Low tension ignition is employed.
The propeller, which is protected by aeing placed in a tunnel, is 24 ins. In diameter with a pitch of 26 ins. la Life-boat engines it is usual to admit air to the carburetter, for the reason indicated above, by indirect communication with the atmosphere, and a common practice is to draw the air from the hold of the boat through a large copper pipe fitted inside the engine compartment for that purpose. Forced lubrication is employed to all the main bearings, but splash lubrication is also fitted.
Two fuel tanks are generally carried, the engine being supplied on the pressure-feed system, and the capacity of the tanks is required to be sufficient to run the engine at full-speed for 21* hours. Petrol is at present the only suitable fuel for the motor Life-boat.
The boats are all built of wood, and the dead-wood aft, which in the ordinary way would be cut away in making the propeller tunnel, is retained for steering purposes in broken seas. The use of wood in preference to steel is partly to save weight, but also for reasons connected with the repairs to the hulls at stations remote from the necessary facilities in steel working. Attempts have been made to standardize the design of the modern Life-boat, but this has not been found possible in the present stage of development.
" LAUNCHING SLIPWAYS AND PONTOONS.
" Motor-boats are at present stationed only where they can lie at moorings or be launched from slipways. In the latter case the crew take their seats and the engine is started up before * This is incorrect. The petrol carried is sufficient for about 14 hours.
launching. It is not always easy, however, to obtain a suitable site for a slipway, and in that case recourse is sometimes had, as at Marseilles, to a pontoon boathouse. In that case use is made of two pontoons of rectangular section, each 44 ft. in length, 3 ft. wide, and 9 ft. 10 ins. high. There is a space of about 16 ft. between the two platforms, which are kept parallel to each other by iron ties and cross-bars. At the rear ends the pontoons are held together by a metallic partition, and at the forward end the bottom gussets are shaped to take the boat. The Life-boat is carried on a metal platform slung on four steel cables, fitted with rigging screws and coiled round the drums of four windlasses with worm gear. The windlasses are connected in pairs by longitudinal shafts, and can be simultaneously operated through bevelled pinions. It is stated in particulars issued by the Societe Centrale de Sauvetage des Naufrages that the boat can be lowered into the water in from seven to eight minutes. When the boat is hoisted into position again the platform is not slung on the drums, but secured by chains to the windlassframes.
The weight of the installation, including cement ballast, is about 40 tons.
" This method having been found to work successfully, the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION has under consideration the adoption of a similar method of launching, and specifications have, it is understood, been got out for such a boathouse with movable platform for the Sunderland station." STATION.
Sunderland (Reserve 2 A) / Teesmouth (Reserve No. 2) / Dunmore East (Reserve No. 2 B) / Walton-on-Naze .
Stronsay Stromness . . . .
Pishguard . . . .
Broughty Ferry . . .
Donaghadee . . . .
Wioklow . . .
Seaharu St. Abbs BOAT.
oj B fl904 fl906 11913 f!906 1908 1908 1908 1909 1909 1910 1910 1910 St. David's . . . . 1911 Tynemouth . . . . 1911 oj aH S.R.
S.R.
S.R.
N.&S.
W.
S.R.
S.R.
W.
W.
S.R.
W.
W.
S.R.
S.R.
* CO 38' x 8' 42'xll' 37'x9'3" 43' x 12' 6" 43' x 12' 6" 42'XH'6" 40' x 10' 6" 40'xll' 43' x 12' 6" 40' x 10' 6" 38'xlO' 38' x 10' 40' x 10' 6" 40' x 10' 6" ?6 14 15 9 14 19 12 12 12 10 10 10 10 12 12 MOTOR.
1 "* fFay & Bowen / Tylor . .
Gardner .
Blake .
Tylor . .
Tylor. .
Tylor. .
Tylor. .
Blake .
Tylor.
Wolseley Wolseley Tylor . .
Tylor. .
CM W a 11 35 20 32 40 30 24 40 40 40 34 34 40 40 S§ 04 EH 500 900 1000 600 700 800 650 700 600 700 700 700 700 700 iVcwt.
24 18i 12J 22J 25J 28J 25 30J 94f 27 9fif 27 26J Cylinder.
1 1 , 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 £o M ins.
5 4 51 8* 5 5 5i *& M 5 fi 5J 5J CD •§ CO ins.
5 4* 61 f 4 51 5i 6J 6A fi.
6i c 6J 6J .0 1 L.T.M.
L.T.M.
H.T.M.
H.T.M.
L.T.M.
L.T.M.
L.T.M.
L.T.M.
H.T.M.
L.T.M.
L.T.M.
L.T.M.
L.T.M.
L.T.M.
PROPELLEK.
,.• o1 B ins.
21 19 21 22 22 18 20 24 22 21 91 22 22 1 K ins.
15 12 25 21 21 23 22 24 99 21 91 22 22 Reverse Gear.
/Durham Churchill/ Buffalo . .
Gardner No. 0 Caledonia .
Caledonia .
Caledonia .
M.R.P. . .
V.R.P. . .
H. & S. . .
H. & S. . .
V.R.P. . .
V.R.P. . .
H. &S. . .
Gardner No. 4 SPEED.
21 || #•0 450 850 1000 600 700 816 680 700 580 fiRO 700 700 690 690 •o if Ww 5-9 6-75 7-4 7-42 6-65 6-79 7-22 6-9 7-00 6-97 7-15 7-29 7-52 PETROL.
•o .
0,1° £§£ EM S 0, 12 18-5 15 20-4 21 22 34-5 29-25 36 30 33-75 34-5 36-75 _ B A 13 o 16 38 30 78 RO 50 50 50 60 fiO 50 50 60 60 REMARKS.
Ill Eg •i'l ll NOTES. * Motor Installation complete. ( G.R.P. = Gaine's Reversible Propeller.
T mitinn / L.T.M. = Low Tension Magneto. t Date Motor was installed. p.™™. n«.r J V.R.P. = Villager's Reversible Propeller, ignition | H T M _ Hj . Tenaion Magneto. Keverse uear M K p _ Meissner's Reversible Propeller.
( H. & S. = Hesse and Savory's Reverse Gear.
STATION.
Campbeltown (No. 1) .
Beaumaris . . . .
Peterhead (No. 2) . .
Glacton-on-Sea .
Newhaven . . . .
Arklow Fraserburgh .
Teesmouth (new) Sunderland (new) .
S t . Mary's . . . .
Spurn | Baltimore . . . .
Blvtht WexfordJ . . . .
Wiek J . . .
The Lizard * J . . .
BOAT.
3 1912 1912 1912 1912 1912 1913 1913 1913 1913 1913 1913 1913 1913 1913 1914 1914 § H W.
w.
w.
w.
S.B.
S B.
S.B.
S.B.
S.B.
W.
W.
W.
W.
w.
[Not S.E.
« i 43' x 12' 6" 43' x 12' 6" 43' x 12' 6" 45' x 12' 6" 38'x9'9" 40' X 10' 6" 42'xll'6" 40' x 10' 6" 40' x 10' 6" 45' x 12' 6" 40' x 11' 45' x 12' 6" 45' x 12' 6" 45' x 12' 6" selected.] 35'x8'6'' 12 12 12 10 MOTOR.
Si U Tylor. .
Tylor. .
Tylor. .
Tylor. .
Tylor. .
Tylor.
Tylor. .
Tylor. .
Tylor. .
fu nn 60 60 60 40 35 40 40 40 40 § 1 "o M 600 600 600 700 750 700 700 700 700 * 1 •s cwt.
40 «J 41 32 24 Cylinder.
tH a 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 £ « 6| 6f 5* 5 51 «i 5J 54 'o CO 7| 71 6J 5i fil 6J 6J 6J d 3 '3 H? L.T.M.
L.T.M.
L.T.M.
L.T.M.
L.T.M.
L.T.M.
L.T.M.
L.T.M.
L.T.M.
PROPELLER.
«' § ins.
24 24 24 24 20 4 K ins.
26 26 26 20J 20 Reverse Gear.
Gardner No. 4 Gardner No. 4 Gardner No. 4 Gardner No. 4 Gardner No. 3 Gardner No. 4 Gardner No. 4 Gardner No. 4 Gardner No. 4 SPEED.
n P «T3 600 650 650 680 750 -a a. » & §1 W-S 7-6 7-5 7'75 7-63 7-00 PETROL.
'g t; a n t- ass, 38 48 44 40 31-5 : •g s 2 O 80 80 80 60 50 REMARKS.
' Converted (no tunnel).
NOTES * Motor Installation complete. G.R.P. = Game's Reversible Propeller.
T .,.. 1 L.T.M = Low Tension Magneto. t Date Motor was installed. -Rpvpran Opar V.R.P. = Villinger's Reversible Propeller.
Ignition J H TM = High Tension Magneto. J Details not yet settled. JWJVBIBB we u M.R.P.= Meissner's Reversible Propeller.
H. & S. = Hesse and Savory's Reverse Gear..