Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-02-03 00:00:00

SHIPS' BOATS

WE have frequently taken occasion to remark,
in these columns, on the vital importance of Ships'
Boats, in our passenger ships more especially,
'being not only of sufficient number and capacity
"td be capable of containing all on board the vessel,
in case of necessity, but so contrived- aft to be
bratight instantly into use, whenever an emergency
may arise. We believe that hundreds, not to say
thousands, of lives have been lost annually through
the neglect of such a provision, or through the
difficulty there has been experienced, at a momeut
of hurry and alarm, in safely launching the boats.
The Legislature has not been unmindful of the
matter. The Act. 18 and 19 VICTORIA provides
not only that every passenger ship shall carry
throughout the voyage a certain number of boats,
in proportion to the tonnage, but also that " one of
such boats shall in all cases be a long boat, and
one shall be a properly fitted life-boat, which shall
be carried in such a manner as to be, in the
opinion of the emigration officer, most available for

immediate service." But the latter provision,
under the ordinary arrangements, is very seldom
fulfilled. The boats, when ' they are suddenly
called for, and when the lives of thoSe on board
may be depending upon their being " available for
immediate service," are too commonly unavailable
on the instant, or are rendered so by the awkward-
ness of getting them afloat.

A pamphlet* on this subject has come into our
hands, which well deserves the consideration of
those who have to do with the carrying out of
such a purpose in our ocean steamers, and other
passenger ships. It is a brief dissertation on the
question, with special reference to the dangers of
the present system, and their remedy ; and the
object in view is to call attention to a new method
of lowering ships' boats, so as to avoid the fatal
risk of misadventure which is now so generally
incurred. People do not, it is insisted,- sufficiently
think of and appreciate the perils of ocean naviga-
tion, or greater heed would be given to so indispen-
sable a precaution as that of having ships' boats
so placed and arranged as to- be ready for
• use on the instant, however sudden or startling the
emergency may be. "To obtain perfect immunity
from these," it is remarked, "is beyond the reach
of human power; but it is not the less incumbent
on us to mitigate them by every available means,
and when a remedy can be found to apply it for
the prevention of obvious evils. We fully
recognise the principle in the extreme value we
attach to ships' boats, in case of emergency, and
have adopted a most essential expedient in
compelling by law all vessels to carry a plentiful
supply of them ; but we take no means to make
them sufficiently available, and that which was
intended for the preservation of human life, too
often becomes its destruction." There are certain
mechanical difficulties to be overcome in launching
boats from a ship ; and until this is done, the

provision of boats for the purpose of escape when
the wreck of the ship is threatened, from whatever
cause, is deprived of much of its value. "It seems
strange, that the mechanical genius of this
country, which has invented machinery the most
complicated, has hitherto been unable of find the
means of effecting and controlling the descent of a
few tons weight in a given manner, and under
particular circumstances ; and that while this
object is unfulfilled, hundreds of human beings are
annually perishing." The requisites of any plan
that is to be effectual, are thus stated,—" Sim-
plicity, quick and ready action under perfect
control, by means natural to sailors, and easily
understood and managed by them; and freedom
from liability to accident in working. The various
processes of unlashing, lowering, and disengaging,
ought to be the certain results of one act, and
necessarily follow each other. The gear to be of
such a nature that exposure to the weather and
the chemical action of the sea-water will not alter
it, or impair its efficiency in a moderate length of
time ; and if damaged or injured by accident, to be
capable of ready repair ; while its manner of work-
ing and position should be such as would protect
it from any chance of failing in its own operation,
or from external contact with any thing else."
The plan which it is the object of the pamphlet
before us to call attention to, and to explain, is
said to possess all these requisites. A single man
in the boat can unlash, lower, and disengage it,
without any assistance, his single weight being
capable of holding in equilibrium its descending
momentum, which he has the power of checking
or controlling at will. " The means of reducing
the weight of the boat to that of the man lowering
is made the means of preventing the boat canting
in its descent ; and the passage of the ropes by
which the boat descends, through a block of an

entirely novel character and action, accomplishes
this end." The pamphlet contains full and very
intelligible descriptions of the invention, and of
the whole process of applying it, with illustrations
of the same, from which its admirable adaptability
to the object it is designed to secure is very
apparent.

The Admiralty, the Emigration Commissioners,
the Transport and Convict Services, the
East India. Company, the Royal Mail Steam
Company, the European and American Steam-ship
Company, and other public bodies, have adopted
the lowering apparatus with complete success.

* How to Lower Ships' Boats : A Treatise on the
Dangers of the Present System and Their Remedy, with
a full Description of the New Method. By C. Clifford.
London : C. Wilson.