THE discussion in the Press and elsewhere which followed the Rye disaster showed that the public was very far from understanding the relative merits of self-righting Life-boats and of those which do not self-right, or the reasons which decide the choice between the two.

As the Rye boat was of the Liverpool type, which does not self-right, it was perhaps not unnatural that, in face of the disaster, many people should have thought that she could not have been a modern type of Life-boat, because she could not self-right, and suggested that the Institution should replace all the non-self-righting Life-boats by selfrighting as soon as possible.

There was even some confusion with regard to the actual meaning of "; selfrighting," although the name seems to explain itself. Some people, and even some writers in the Press who ought to know better, imagined it to mean a boat which could not capsize! Such a boat, it is hardly necessary to say, does not exist.

The main difference between the selfrighting and the non-self-righting types* is as follows : The power to self-right is obtained by the two chambers, or high " end-boxes " as they are called, which are the distinguishing feature of the self-righting Life-boat, and by a heavy keel, weighing from one-third to one fifth of the boat's total weight. These high end-boxes, exposed as they are to the wind and the sea, make the selfrighting Life-boat less easy to handle in heavy weather ; and though she will come right way up as soon as she capsizes, she is, in fact, more liable to capsize than the Life-boats which cannot self-right. These, although once they go over they have no chance of self-righting, are much more stable.

Broadly speaking, the experience of the Institution shows that with large Life-boats, intended to go well out to sea, whether sailing or motor, it is better to set aside the self-righting principle and aim at greater buoyancy, stability and speed. At present rather more than half of the Institution's fleet are selfrighting boats, but as the Pulling and Sailing Life-boats are replaced by Motor Life-boats, the number with the selfrighting principle is steadily growing less. Of the Institution's 70 Motor Lifeboats, at the end of last year, 21 were self-righting boats. Of the 14 Motor Life-boats under construction only two were self-righting.

The choice of Life-boat for any * There are six different kinds of Life-boat which have not the self-righting quality, but, broadly, they may be treated as of the one type.

particular Station is governed by the conditions of the coast, but in no case are a Crew ever asked to go out in a Lifeboat which they have not already tried and approved. Before a new boat is laid down for a Station, a deputation from the Crew visits a Station where there is a similar boat, and goes out in her.

In the case of Rye, the men visited three different Stations on the East Coast, where conditions were similar to those at Rye, and tried a Liverpool boat, a Self-righting boat, and a Norfolk and Suffolk boat.

Any one of these, in the opinion of the Institution, would have been suitable for Rye. The choice between the three was left to the Rye Life-boatmen themselves, and they unanimously chose a Liverpool boat.

Previous Capsizes.

The general statement made with regard to the qualities of the two types, self-righting and non-self-righting, is borne out by the figures of losses through the capsizing of Life-boats during the past 78 years.

During that time 214 Life-boatmen have lost their lives in this way.* The following tables show how these losses are divided between the selfrighting and non-self-righting types :— SELF-RIGHTING LIFE-BOATS.

Capsizes Capsizes with without loss of life. lo'S of life 41 52 Total capsizes.

93 Total lives lost.

145 NON-SELF-RIGHTING LIFE-BOATS.

10 0 10 69 Thus it will be seen that the nonself- righting Life-boats never capsized without loss of life, and that the average of lives lost for each capsize was nearly seven, while in the case of the selfrighting Life-boats, it was under two.

On the other hand, there were nine times as many capsizes of self-righting Life-boats, and more than twice as many lives were lost from them.

To give an absolutely accurate comparison it would of course be necessary * In the same time 36 lives were lost afloat by other accidents than capsizing.

to take into account the number of launches of the two types of Life-boat, but these figures give a fair indication of the relative risks of capsizing with the two types.

Lives Lost—Lives Saved.

It is no less interesting to compare the number of lives lost with the number saved, and also the number of Lifeboatmen lost with the number who have risked their lives.

Since 1850 the Institution's Life-boats have rescued nearly 40,000 lives. In the same time 250 Lifeboatmen have lost their lives at sea. That is to say, 160 lives have been rescued for every life lost.

During the same period of 78 years something like 250,000 Life-boatmen have been afloat on service, so that one Life-boatman in 1.000 has lost his life.

Life-boat disasters were relatively common between 1850 and 1890, but they have been much less common in recent years. The last was eight years ago, when three lives were lost owing to the capsizing of the self-righting Lifeboat at Ehoscolyn, Anglesey, and we have to go back thirteen years, to 1916, for a disaster on the same terrible scale as the Rye disaster. In that year the Salcombe Life-boat capsized with the loss of thirteen out of her Crew of fifteen men.