The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-22 00:00:00

tioned in my letter to the Loid Mayor (amongst
which of course a statue of the Prince would be
prominent) with some other design.—l remain,
yours very faithfully, C. GBY" •
Sir C. Eastlake.

7:IIE ROYAL
NATIONAL LIFEBOAT
INSTZTUTION.

Tb".i following are extracts from the annual re-
r:ort, justpublished, by the National Lifeboat Insti-
tution :

As indications of general confidence, it may be
stated that during the twelve months three more of
the old local lifeboat establishments have, at the
request of their managing bodies, been transferred
to this society, namely, those at Dundee, Scar-
borough, and Dublin Bay.
Lifeboats.—During the past year the institution
has placed fifteen new lifeboats on the coast, viz., at
Whitby, Selsey, St. Ives, Landdwyn, Southport,
Irvine, Campbelltown, Winterton, Great Yarmouth
Dungeness, Scarborough, Aberystwyth, Plymouth,
Kingsgate, and Dundee. Others are in course of
construction for Blakeney, Norfolk, Kirkcudbright,
Kingstown, Poolbeg, and Howth, for which trans-
porting carriages and boat-houses had been con-
structed.

The institution now possesses 120 lifeboats on the
coasts of the United Kingdom, and one on the island
of Guernsey. Of the 15 boats added to its fleet
during the past year, no less than 10 have been the
special gifts of individuals, and the cost of another
was collected amongst some members of the Society
of Friends and presented by them to the institution.
The society's lifeboats have, during the year 1861,
saved 289 persons from different wrecks, nearly the
whole under circumstances of peril which could not
have been encountered by any ordinary boats. On
79 other occasions they have gone off to the aid of
vessels in apparent danger or in reply to signals of
distress, but where their services have not eventu-
ally been required. For these several lifeboat sera
vices upwards of £l,OOO were granted.
The lifeboats of the institution were manned last
year by nearly 6,000 persons, and it was only on one
occasion tne committee had to report accident at-
tended with loss of life, viz., to the Scarborough
lifeboat. On the 2d of November last, when pro-
ceeding to a wreck during a dreadful storm, the
boat got into a position where she was dashed re-
peatedly against the sea wall, and was nearly
knocked to pieces. Although she did not upset, yet
all her crew were thrown out of her ; unfortunately
two of them perished, one having been crushed be-
tween the boat and the wall, and the other drowned
through neglecting to put on his lifebelt.
On this occasion Lord Charles Beauclerk, William
Tindall, Esq., and Mr. John Iles, unhappily, but
nobly perished, having been swept away by a heavy
surf while intrepidly engaged in attempting to save
the boat's crew. In this case the destroyed boat had
been presented to the society but a few weeks before.
Immediately after the accident, the cost of another
was generously given to the institution by Mrs.
Cockroft, a lady resident at Scarborough.

Barometers.—The committee have the satisfac-
tion to state that they have placed 45 barometers
at the different lifeboat stations of the institution.
Attached to each barometer is a chart, on which the
daily indications of the instrument are registered.
By means of this diagram the boatmen and fisher-
men are enabled readily to observe the progressive
rise and fall of the mercury. It is gratifying to
know that the barometers. are highly appreciated on
the coast, and that, in several striking instances,
they have been the means of warning seafaring men
of the coming storm, which would otherwise pro-
bably have overtaken them in mid ocean, and proved
their destruction,

Shipwrecks and Loss of Life,—The committee
always feel that it is one of their most painful duties
to refer to the distressing loss of life that annually
takes place on the coasts of the United Kingdom.
Notwithstanding all the services of the lifeboats,
and the rocket and mortar apparatus, the casual
observer might prematurely conclude that they were
nearly abortive, inasmuch as the yearly total loss
of life from shipwrecks appears to belittle diminished.
When, however, it is remembered that the trade of
these islands has so increased, even since 1855, that
nearly 20,000 vessels have, in 1860, been entered
inwards and cleared nutwards beyond the number
of the former year, it will at once be seen how vast
the increase of risk of life has been, for those 20,000
vessels had probably on board at least 120,000 men
and boys.
Although the committee deeply regret to have to
report that 884 lives perished last year from ship-
wrecks on our coasts, yet every friend of humanity
must rejoice with them in the gratifying fact that
4,624 lives were rescued during the same period from
these disasters. Of these 743 owe their lives imme-
diately to the services of lifeboats. These are tangible
and unmistakeable results, which have elicited not
only the heartfelt gratitude of the wrecked men them-
selves and their families, but have also excited the
sympathy and liberality of a large proportion of the
British public, who look upon the National Lifeboat
Institution as me of the.most important establish-
ments of the country. Actuated alike by that pene-
trating influence, Divine sympathy, high and low,
rich and poor, may join hand in hand in united
efforts for a common good. Illustrative of such noble
emulation, there are amongst the recent offerings to
the institution the sums of XlO from a " Shipwrecked
Friend," ss. from the " Savings of a Child," and £5O
from a British Admiral, Sir J. Hope, K.C.8., who,
amidst the antiring exertions of an arduous cora-
-1 mud, found time to think of the claims on his be-
nevolence from his distant home, and forwarded the
above generous contribution from the China seas. 1
The number of lives saved during the year 1861,
as shown by the official returns of the Board of
Trade, is as follows :--By lifeboats, '743 ; by rocket
and mortar apparatus, 44'T ; by ships' own boats,
shore boats, steamers, &c., 3,406 ; by individual
exertion, 28; total, 4,624.

As observed before, the persons saved by lifeboats
were rescued under the most dangerous circum-
stances, and few of whom could have been saved by
any other means. One case will show the character
of such services :

On Feb. 10, in the fearful gale from the east which
caused such destruction to shipping and terrible
loss of life on the east coast, the brig Providence, of
Shields, coal laden, was driven on the Long Scarr
Rocks, between the mouth of the Tees and Hartle-
pool. The Seaton Carew lifeboat, belonging to the
National Lifeboat Institution, was quickly launched,
and proceeding to her assistance, through a high
surf, took off her crew, eight in number, and landed
them in safety. She had scarcely done so when she
was again called to the aid of the brig Mayflower,
of Newcastle, also coal laden, which had gone ashore
on the East Gare Sand, off the- lies mouth. The
lifeboat also took off her crew of eight men, and
safely landed them. " I wish you had been here on
that disastrous Saturday and Sunday (9th and 10th
February)," writes the honorary secretary, the
Rev. J. Lawson, of the Seaton Carew branch ;
" I am sure you would have been gratified to
see the gallant way in which our crew worked,
though composed, as you known, chiefly of lands-
men. They were going from 9 a.m. on Saturday
until 11 a.m. on Sunday, without rest, and not only
attending to our own lifeboat, but helping to man
the West Hartlepool boat when short of hands."'
The total number of persons saved from ship-
wreck from the establishment of the institution in
1824 to the year 1861, either by its lifeboats, or for
which it has granted rewards, is 12,272.
Rewards—lt is hardly necessary to state that
the rewards of the National Lifeboat Institution
are not limited to the crews of its lifeboats. As the
sea-coasts of the British isles extend upwards of
5,000 miles, of course it would be utterly imprac-
ticable tol station lifeboats ou many points where
Perhaps only a few fishermen are found to reside.
1: eere, ho wever, these men are nearly always ready
t,„Zzißk their lives and little property to succour
the
, ernpwrecked fellow creatures. Although im-
pelled
instinctivelyCOMMitteeb to render such services, yet the
I - have reason to believe that the rewards

iddle
The Seatoa
,tr
William M`Rerrell,Zhfe-boat was presented, in 1859, by
ellowing hipwr crews :
station she has saved ill i Since the
s boat has
ecked been on her
Brig Eliza, of M botou
castle, 8; brig !Providetite,tch't7; brige Mayflower, of New-
Watson, of Sunderland, 0; t°o.‘B4 hltla, 8; barque Robert