A Lecture, Or Essay On the most efficacious means of Preserving The Lives Of Shipwrecked Sailors And The Shipwreck

34 fishers, termed bowls) placed vertically, so that, should the boat’s bottom be stoved, the buoyancy is still preserved ; on the other hand, should the sea break over, and even fill her, the water, being confined to the centre, may be immediately discharged, by taking out the plugs of the tubes that go from the deck through the bottom. A platform raised at each end for shipwrecked men and the boat steerer, who are prevented being washed ont, by a rope distended by stanchions that go from the stem to the stern, and a rope running fore and aft on each side of the thwarts or seats secures the rowers : likewise a stout rope sur- rounding the outside, just below the gunwale, prevents the upper part of the boat from being stoved, when driven with force against a vessel, pier, &c. The yawl is a boat alike sharp at each end ; therefore is capable of being moved either way advanced. In such the beachmen of this coast have the fullest confidence ; they handle them with pleasure, they have used them from their infancy, they know their adaptation to what is required ; nay, so far does this feeling exist, that I have been told by active and intelligent beachmen, that they would prefer "their own boats for any service, however hazardous, to life-boats, could their own but be got in safety from this flat beach over the surf, and be protected against the danger attending broken water, in which their being immersed would be necessarily attended with the loss of their lives. The first of these objects I have happily had the means of effecting, and have just exhibited to you my plans for forcing; boats with faci- lity and certainty over a surf : the next desiderata are efficiently given by means of air-tight casks, as shown by the above. Even ships’ boats might also with great advantage be provided with them ; and if, when at sea, the boats hanging from the quarters or sterns of vessels were fitted up in this manner, many a life would certainly be saved. To resist upsetting, and to prevent sinking, casks may be lashed