The Express.
London, England, 1854-01-06 00:00:00

PRESSAVATION OF LIFE FROM SMIPWRROK.

Yesterday a meeting of the Royal National Ineti.
mien fee tie Preservation of Life from Shipwreck was
held at the °Mee, John-street, Adelphi. Mr. Alterman
THOMPSON, M.P., Chairman of the Society. presided.
Mr. Laws, the secretary, having read the minutes Of
the previews meeting, the following rewards were ordered
to be

The yid medal ion to the gallant Captain Ludlow, of the
=flesisfiememeth,wbose,lieroic and devoted services to the em-
end the crew of the emigrant ship
Megliftit,=sesim time sines occasion to notice at
emi rendering ft unnecessary therefore now to re-
but we mey be permitted to express our gratifi-
,
Ilea M well-meshed sempliment paid to hie gallantry.
The Meer medal of the institution was also voted to
Ilesiemis Herrington and William Walters, first and
sem& etnewains co the Southwold life-boat, who bad been
respectively off ten and nine times in the life-boats of that
=, and who had severally emitted at the saving of the
of 40 and 88 persons. Nine of these were res.ued on
the 29th November from the brig Sheraton Graeae, of
Sunderland, which, during a strong gale of wind front
8.8. W., struck and sank near Aldborough Napes, on the
asset of Suffolk. The brig being observed to have
a flag of distress flying, the two gallant cox-
swains of the life-boats without lose of time assembled
a new of volunteers and launched the boatthrough a heavy
serf. It was by this time quite dark, but after about an
hour's struggle against the sea and wind they reached
the brig, and hailed her, and found no one on board, her
mew having taken to the long-boat, and the sea washing
completely over the vessel. The life-boat dropping astern,
took the crew from their long-boat, and were thus instru-
mental in saving nine lives from a watery grave, as no
ship's boat could have lived in that stormy sea to bring her
crew on shore. The crew of the life-boat received 16L
for their gallant exertions. The present life-boat was
placed on her station a short time ago, Sir E. S. Gooch,
Bart., M.P., and Miss Sherri& contributing handsomely
1001. each toward her met, which, aided by various other
contributioav, collected by the zealous honorary secretory,
Lieut. P. N. Ellis, R.N. aeon paid for the boat. This
geastheity aad activity reflects much credit on so small •
plase as Southwold, and which other places of • much
larger size, and where wrecks are of frequent occurrence,
would do well to emulate.
The thanks of the committee on vellum were voted to
Mr. Williams, jun., of Llanfarynghomwy, Anginas, for
having very early in the morning gone off is the Ernlyet
life-boat to tta e rescue of the schooner Compeer, of Sal-
comb., which was °bunted to haven flag of distress flying,
and wbidh was subsequently towed in safety into Holyhead.
Mr. Williams is the son of the active and zealous honorary
secretary of the Anglasea Branch of the National Ship-
wreck Institution, who during a period of nearly thirty
years, and much to the advantage of the came of humanity,
has occupied that office; for it appears that the Anglesey
lifeboats (which are mostly on the plan of the late George
Palmer, Esq., of Nuing-park) have been instrumental sa
saving some hundreds of lives of shipwrecked persons—the
worthy secretary having personelle emitted at the rescue
of some of these individuals, and foe which service he had
been honoured with the gold medallion of the institution.
A reward of 21. was also voted to two men, who, seeing •
fishing-boat capsized during a violent storm in the Solway
Frith, put off in • boat to the remise of two out of three of
her crew, who were then clinging to the sides of the boat,
the sea washing over them tremendously, and threatening
every moment to send them to a watery grave. After a
severs and manful struggle, however, they succeeded in
reaching the poor fellows and in landing all in safety.
A reward of 41. lat. was also granted to the crew of the
Boulmer life boat, in consideration of their services in rescu-
ing the crew, consisting of seven persons, of the brig Robert
Niels°, of Perth. The vessel struck on the south part of
the Boulmer rocks in thick hazy weather; the sea being
then not high. On the following morning, the sea rem
high, the wind blowing hard; a light was (Replayed from
the vessel for assistance, when the 'lifeboat was launched
and succeeded in landing all the crew. This boat wan
Ibenevolently placed on this station by the Duke of Nor-
thumberland, R. 0., who, as president of the society, pre-
sented it to the institution.
The thanks of the committee were voted to Captain O. N.
Hederstadt, of the Peninsular and Oriental Stearn Naviga-
tion Company's service for rescuing in a boat six seamen
from drowning in the Red Sea on the 11th October last.
The silver medal of the institution was also presented to
Henry Hamilton, Esq., of Balbriggan, through whose in-
strumentality, under Divine Providence, the three survivors
of the brig Agnes, of Whitehaven, were taken out of her
foretop and saved, after having been exposed for upwards of
60 hours in that position, and when it was supposed that
they had all perished, as all sounds from the wreck had
long ceased to be heard. A email lifeboat, however, having-
been brought by railway from Dublin, she wee manned by
Mr. Hamilton and them others, who, after three attempts,
succeeded is reaching the wreck and in rescuing the master
and two men, four of the crew having unfortamately perished
during the exposure.
Colonel Tnlloh, R.A., director of the carriage department
at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, was elected a member of
the committee of management, in the room of the late Col.
Colquhoun, ILA., who occupied the same situation at the
maned, and who took an active pert in the promotion debit
objects of the institution.
It was reported that it was in contemplation to bold in
the early part of spring a public dinner, in the City, in aid
of the funds of the institution, and for e purpose of bring-
ing the society and its objects prominently before the
1 country. His Once the Duke of Northumberland, ILO,
'President of the Institution, was expected to be in the
chair.
These objects may be thus briefly stated :
1. Tempter honorary rewards, in the form of medals and
votes of thaalu, and also to grant pecuniary remuneration
to ail persona who, at the risk of their own lives, save, or
attempt to save, those of others on board of vessels wrecked
or in distress upon any part of the coast of the United King-
dom ; the honorary rewards being extended in striking
names to similar services in other parts of the world.
2. To build, station, and maintain in repair, lite boats of
the most perfect description ;to furnish them with all the
necessary appurtenances including houses to preserve them
in, and carriages for their conveyance to the spots where
their services are called for ; and, further, to provide,
through the instrumentality of local committees, for their
proper management, and the occasional exercise of their
crews.
3. To furnish and station at suitable places rocket app*.
rotas for effecting communication with stranded vessel..
As an index of the necessity for the provision of such •
machinery as the above, we may state that the avenge lose
of lives from shipwreck on the shores of the United King-
dom is between 600 and 700 per annum, and that in the
year 1852 it amounted to 920, as was rheum in the Daily
News of the god inst. in the article extracted from the
"Life beat" of the society.
It is scarcely necessary to state what an almost unlimited
field of usefulness lies thus stretched out before the instt-
cation, in a great commercial sea•girt country like our own,
whose coast* are yearly strewn with so large a number of
worths, and the cultivation of which can only be effected
by voluntary charitable associations, since scarcely any pro-
vision is made for doing so by the government of this
country.
Four new life boats having been reported to be nearly
ready to be sent to their stations, the proceedings closed.