The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-31 00:00:00

Royal National Lifeboat Institution,

A meeting of this institution,was held yer4erdes,
at its houie, Johnstreet,'Adelphi—.--Mr. Thome&
Chapman, F.R.S., vice president, in the their.

There were also present......er,pta •
n
Lr oetwt
sl:
tahr te. ,13
eAc
rdemt
ai
rrya M'llhardlSir Edward Per-
-111.P., Captain de St. Croix,
lolY' lki r.
'George
LYall'
and Mr. Richard.
voted at this and the previous meetingrewards of the insti-
tution:—Ll2 to the crew of the Ipswich lifeboat
of the institution, stationed at Thorpe, Suffolk, for
putting off at midnight and rescuing, with great
difficulty, the crew of six men from the brig Flo-
rence Nightingale, of London, which, during a
heavy gale of wind, was totally wrecked on Size-
well Bank, on the Suffolk coast. While engaged in
the rescue of the shipwrecked men a heavy sea
struck the lifeboat and carried away one of her
brave crew; but he fortunately regained the boat
by means of his lifebelt and a line. William Alex-
ander, the gallant coxswain, had on several occa-
sions, in this and other lifeboats, been off to save
life under very perilous circumstances. The so-
ciety also voted to him its silver medal, in testi-
mony of his valuable services as coxswain of the
Thorpe lifeboat. The cost of this lifeboat was pre-
sented, about 12 months ago, to the National Life-
boat Institution by the residents of Ipswich. She
has since been the means of rescuing two ship-
wrecked crews from an inevitable death, besides
rendering important services on one or two occa-
sions to vessels in distress during stormy weather.
A reward of £4 10s. was also voted to the crew of
Tefo
the society's lifeboat at St. Ives, Cornwall, for going
' off and saving the crew of four men from the
schooner Azores, of Falmouth, which during a heavy
gale of wind had stranded, and afterwards sunk at
the entrance of the harbour of St. Ives. The cost of
, this and of three other lifeboats was presented to the

institution by a benevolent lady who has withheld her
name. A reward was likewise granted to the crew
of the lifeboat of the institution at Rhoscolyn, near
Holyhead, for going off in the night and rendering
important services to the barque Diadem, of St.
John's, Newßrunswick, which during foggy weather
was observed is a disabled condition off that place.
The life-boat landed four passengers from the vessel.
A reward was also given to the crew of the New
Brighton tubular life-boat belonging to the society,
for putting off and rescuing the crew of six men
from the schooner Vigilant, of Kirkaldy, which was
totally wrecked during a strong wind on Taylor's
Bank, near Liverpool. The life-boat was towed to
windward of the wreck by the steam tug Blazer,
Liverpool, and remained by the vessel some hours
to see if she would float off or not, before the crew
were taken off. Before the lice-boat had proceeded
far on her return, the vessel was seen to capsize and
become a total wreck. The thanks of the institu-
tion, inscribed on vellum, 'were voted to Mr. John
Long, agent for Lloyd's on the Isle of Wight; Mr.
Wm. Webb and Mr. James Webb, pilots, and £lO
to be divided between the two pilots and three other
men, in acknowledgment of the gallant and perse-
vering conduct in their pilot-boat in rescuing, at
considerable risk cf life, the crew of six men from
the brig Alabama, of Gloucester, which, during a
very heavy gale of wind, was totally wrecked on
the middle of the shingles while running through
the Needles, on her way to Southampton. Upon
nearing the distressed vessel, the sailors found it im-
possible to rescue the crew, owing to the fearful sea,
which ran so high as to break over the vessel'e.
maintop, completely obscuring the poor men in the
rigging who were shouting for help, and seemed
frantic with despair. The crew of the pilot-boat,
however, determined not to leave them, and stood
off and on all night until the weather had some-
what moderated, when they succeeded with great
difficulty in snatching the six men from an inevita-
ble death, The Carmathen Bay life-boat of the insti-
tution bad put off with the view of rendering assist-
ance to the French lugger, Jean P. Baptist, which,
during very foggy weather, had struck on a dan-
gerous sandbank in that bay on the night of the
22d inst. ; fortunately, however, the vessel suc-
ceeded in getting off from her dangerous position,
and afterwards proceeded on her voyage. The
expense of this service, amounting to £5 45., was
paid by the institution. Various other rewards were
also voted to the crews of some of the lifeboats of
the institution, and to those of shoreboats for either
rescuing shipwrecked crews or putting off with that
view. It was reported that the lifeboats of the in-
stitution had, during the seven months of the present
year, saved 123 shipwrecked persons, in addition to
y assisting several vessels into port. The crews of
shoreboats to whom the institution voted pecuniary
rewards had also saved 216 lives, making altogether
a total of 339 lives saved during the present year.
For these joint services £648 18s. 2d. had been.
granted by the institution. It
iba7s,oaslsso,9dBu. the
conTthineued
support committee
varioussame period,
lifeboatapppeaali paid of
aehbesl iusmh
publicm oefn
os
r.
efoarlenesatblYle them to maintain the large fleet of life-
boats of the institution, now numbering 125, in a
state of efficiency. It was also reported that. Mr.
R. W. Hollon and Mrs. Harlon, of Spellow Park,
had presented to the institu the cost of a new
lifeboat, to be stationed at Filey, on the Yorkshire
coast. The institution bad recently sent three new
lifeboats to the coast, one to be stationed at Tenby,
another at Lytham, Lancashire, and the third at
, Cornwall.
The
Haven,
nvepnresented to the cost of these lifeboats
BhauddebHee
railwaysoeietyby benevolent
persons, and the several
given the boats afreeeonveyance over companies
their lin
lines
satdo
their respective
that the Gov destinations. Messrs. Forrestt re-
portedordered them to buldernment of Mecklenburg had
trustees
lifeboateeshf
th
eon l
ottheemprlsa.nof the
institution. The Adams,
io s
widow of the late Mr. Adams, naval and military
oatfitter, Plymouth, had
amounting to
l
lkindly remitted contribu-
tionso2o, theBtsoo,g
ha
having
institution.
beend
eon
Pay-
ments, amounting to £
various lifeboat establishments, the proceedings ter-
minated.

TREASURE TROVE !—A lucky " find" is thus re-
corded in the recently published " Life of Caxton,"
written by William Blades :—ln the summer of 1858, I
embraced an opportunity of inspecting the old library in the
Grammar School attached to the Abbey of St. Alban's. 1
found a few valuable books, all contained (and I believe aro
at the present time) in an old deal cupboard, upon which
the leakage from the roof had dripped apparently for years.
It must have been long since any one had touched a book
there, and the amount of dust and decay was certainly
enough to deter even a bibliomaniac from so doing. After
ex mining a few interesting books, I pulled out one whiche
was lying flat upon the top of others. It was in a. most e
plorable state, covered thickly with a damp, sticky dust,_
and with a considerable portion of the back rotted away by
wet. The white decay fell in lumps on the floor as the
ev
un-
appreciated volume was opened. It proved to be
se
atffiern.e
Chaucer's English translation of "poems d. e. 1
Philosophise," printed by Caxton, in the origitu,a°llnboinudiexg.,
as issued from Caxton's workshop, and unectnan.ed, I
found
amining the amount of damage it badbos
‘ehscdovaerlsso.:vebrye
that the wet, which had injured theh
separating the layers of.
paper of
wfact that several frig-
composed, revealed the
,Interesti:g
eared, had been used in
menu, on which Caxton s type! ichouktii
were induce to allow the book,
delays the acting ti?stees.l
their manufacture. After vexati.oupspopdposition and repeated
, to be deposited in the care
hig The British
Mr. J. Winter Jones, of Museum, for the
which they now
of
rebinding. On dissecting the covers they were
prized
Purr)" of
cemposed entirely of waste sheets from Caxton's
found to be
press, two or three being printed on one only. Ihe two
covers yielded no less than fifty-six half-cheats of printed
paper, proving the existence of three m,orke from Caxton';
prom quo unk>l<o *OO4