The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-27 00:00:00

LIFEBOATS FOR THE NAVY.

The importance of having all our men of war fitted
with at least one lifeboat, if not more, is a question
which has long occupied the attention of those
scientific officers who form the progressive party in
our navy. They have long been preparing the
way for the introduction of these most valuable
boats, and the services which they have rendered
on all parts of our coasts, when contacted at the
same time with the fearful loss of life which was
caused at the wreck of the Orpheus from the want
of lifeboats, have lately had much effect in remov-
ing any scruples which the Admiralty might have
entertained against their introduction into the navy.
To the mere looker-on it will appear an almost in-
explicable fact that any of our men of war ever went
to sea without lifeboats after they were once in-
vented, especially since they have been brought to
such complete perfection by the National Lifeboat
Institution. The duties which men-of-war crews
have suddenly to fulfil—to pick up men overboard
in stormy weather, to land important despatches
through any surf, and at almost any risk to render
hazardous service to our wrecked merchantmen in
the wildest and least civilized parts of the world—
any and all of these duties may come upon them in a
single day, and day after day, and have to be ren-
dered in boats which are not only not fit but are the
worst fitted for such purposes. The reason our
men.of-war have not been so fitted is that to this
day a good lifeboat for service on board ships—that
is, one easily stowed, light to raise and lower, simple
in its fitting, and strong enough to defy the rough
118 b ge of the most careless sailors—is yet to be de-
signed. The boats of the National Institution,
which now fortunately are to be found in most
parts of the world and all round our coasts, are far
too large for such a purpose ; buti the Admiralty,
now seriously anxious to provide all cruisers with
small lifeboats, have asked the officers of the Insti-
tution to give plans and superintend the building of
a lifeboat suitable for a man-of-war, but not to ex-
ceed one ton in weight. Yesterday a trial was wads
with two such boats in the Regent's Canal Docks,
in the presence of the Lords of the Admiralty and
a number of officers interested in the solution
of this most important nautical question. The
Lords of the Admiralty were brought down
in Mr. Penn's beautiful little steam yacht, the
Engineer. Among them were the Duke of Somerset,
Admiral Frederick, Admiral Grey, Captain Drum-
mond, Admiral Eden, Captain Sir F. Nicolson,
Commodore Ryder, Admiral Sir-George Sartorius,
Mr. Luke, Captain Ward, Mr. Thomas Chapman,
the deputy-chairman of the Institution, and Richard
Lewis, Esq., its secretary, &c. One of the two
boats tried was 32ft. long by Bft. 101iu. extreme
width, capable, of holding on au emergency as many
as 70 persons, and of accommodating with ease 45
or 50. This boat, however, weighed 37cwt., or very
nearly double what is considered should be the
maximum for a handy and useful boat for sudden
emergencies. The second boat was 30ft. long by
7ft. 4io. wide, and weighed only 22cwt. This
would stow with ease 25 persons, and could take oft
35 at a pinch. It seemed evident, however, that
the Admiralty, in fixing the maximum weight at
one ton, have adopted a standard wnich it will be

found very difficult to comply with so as to make a
really efficient craft for all weathers. The boats
yesterday were canted over to the water's edge in
every way, and the largest, when emptied, was
turned over by means of an hydraulic crane, and
though in the still water of the docks it did not
actually right itself, it remained on its side suffi-
ciently buoyant to enable the men to turn it on its
keel easily. In dense sea water, and especially in
sea water with any swell in it, there is very little
doubt that it would have righted of itself almost
immediately. When it did right, the relief tubes
in the bottom, which were opened, allowed the whole
load of water in it to run off in less than a minute.
The small boat, though not tested with this severity,
was sufficiently proved to show that even when
heavily laden with sailors, and with the relief tubes
opened, it was still buoyant, and as seaworthy
as ever. The result of the trials seemed to show
that if the Admiralty will only allow a slight
addition of weight to their present standard—say
from 20 to 25 cwt.—a perfectly efficient lifeboat,
fit for any duty in any weather, may easily be ob-
tained. After the trial with the Admiralty boats,
one of the Institution's lifeboats was shown. The
hydraulic crane turned the boat over, and no
sooner was it brought keel uppermost than it righted
again, and freed itself of water in the space of 20
seconds. The trials were most interesting, and the
Duke of Somerset, before having, expressed his
thanks to Mr. Chapman and the members of the
Lifeboat Institution for the care which they had
bestowed in perfecting the boats which were tried.