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

36 And I have only to remark, that it has been proved practically to possess all the properties required, or that I could wish for,, and was found to answer the intended design completely. I should further add, that its crew had the fullest confidence in it, they being perfectly satisfied, by experience, of what has hitherto been considered an impossibility, namely, that in the most tempestuous sea, and when full of water, this boat is manageable, goes well to windward, and answers the helm READILY. These latter properties are attained by displacing thé water at the ends, within the boat, by copper tanks, and giving the great balancing quality of its iron keel to the centre of the boat, by its curvature. The boat is furnished with a short gun, placed in the main tabernacle (as the mainmast is not required in a violent gale), for throwing a line on board the wreck, when it is stranded on a shoal, or a bar beyond the reach of a shot with a line to it from the shore ; for in such situations it would be surrounded by broken water, rendering it extremely diffi- cult, and often impossible, that a boat should approach it without great risk of being' destroyed by the masts or yards, from the violent rolling of the vessel. Cases of this kind have occurred, and crews have perished, from the want of such means of communication. Before the subject of this boat is dismissed, I must claim your in- dulgence for a slight digresssion, feeling it may be important to my name when I am in my grave. On the design for forming an association in my native county (Norfolk) for preserving lives from shipwreck, the noble Lord Suf- field did me the honour to send me a written request to attend at Norwich on that occasion. On such Institution being founded, the General Meeting determined that a Life-Boat should be fur- nished to Yarmouth. The opinions of the most experienced and practical beachmen were taken, ‘ for what service a Life-Boat at that place would be most important and useful their unanimous opinion was, ‘.going to vessels driven on the cross sand (five miles from the shore) in violent gales blowing dead on the land—consequently a ser- vice that could only be performed by a boat possessing superior sailing qualities, and preserving those qualities when full of water ; requisites also of the greatest importance in going to save crews on board of vessels, driven from their anchors on the Scroby, by tremendous gales