The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-04 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—Another lamentable accident, causing the loss of
six lives, having happened to one of the " prize life-
boats," and the occurrence of a third within so short a
period being well calculated to shake all confidence in
them, I beg to solicit the admission into your columns of
an explanation of its cause, together with a few remarks
which I believe may be useful towardspreventing similar
accidents in future, not only to other life boats at those
places where there management may 7 not already be un-
derstood, but also to ordinary ships boats when com-
pelled to desert their vessels and attempt to land in a
heavy surf.
In again offering my opinion on this subject through
the medium of The Times, I do so with the more confi-
dence from being in no manner interested in the success
of Mr. Beeching's over other life boats, or being in any
way connected with the society which has adopted them,
beyond the sympathy naturally existing between those
who are labouring in the same cause ; my object being,
by pointing out what I believe to have been the true
cause of this calamity, to prevent a prejudice, without
sufficient foundation, from being taken against the many
boats of this build, already stationed on the coast, and
to lead, by discussion of the question, to some more uni-
versally recognised and established rule for the manage-
ment of life boats in general.
As was the case with the boats at Lytham and Caer-
narvon, so also this one was under sail at the time she
was upset. She had been to a wreck at a distance of six
or eight miles from the land, and' was on her return in
the night time, running before the wind and sea, when,
on nearing the shore and getting within the broken
water, a heavy breaker threw her stern up and buried
her lea gunwale under water ; she then broached-to,
broadside on to the sea, and was turned over by the fol-
lowing wave. The wind had previously fallen light, so
that the accident was occasioned by the action of the sea
alone.
As this is the most frequent mode by which boats are
lost in a surf, whether with a sail set or not, and as the
safety of any boat depends on her proper management
under such circumstancees, it will be well in the first
'place to explain the nature of the danger, and especially
as it is understood by even few sailors, except the most
experienced fishermen and boatmen who pursue their
avocations on the open coast; and this for the simple
reason, that the crews of vessels, whether merchantmen
or men of war, never attempt to land in a heavy surf
but from necessity, and sb have no means of acquiring
the practical knowledge which might avail them in the
hour of danger.
It is a well known thing to the seamen on the most
exposed parts of our coast that the chief danger to a
boat does not occur when going off against a heavy sea,
but on returning before it, at which time the greatest
skill and carefulness are necessary, even under oars, to
prevent a boat from broaching-to and turning broadside
on to the sea. Their experience has taught them that,
when seeing a heavy breaker following their boat up
from astern, instead of yielding to the natural impulse
of giving her all possible speed away from it, and so, as
migt be expected, to lessen the violence of the shock,
their only safety lies in checking the boat's way through
the water, and keeping her end on to tne sea until it has
passed them, to effect which they back their oars, or
even face a portion of the crew round the reverse way,
who row backwards with all their force against the
heaviest of the seas as they approach. If this precau-
tion be neglected, it is almost a matter of certainty that
the boat will broach-to broadside to the sea and be cap-
sized. In truth, in this manner nearly all the crews of
distressed vessels who take to their boats and attempt
to land through a heavy surf are drowned.
The circulation of this information among merchant
seamen may, I believe, be instrumental in saving many.
lives. It is not, of course, pretended that it is an infal-
lible rule of safety ; a boat may be so short or small in
proportion to the magnitude of the waves, that they may
break over her bow or stern (whichever is to seaward)
at fill her at once, or throw her "end over end ;" but in
such a case it is their only chance.
With a boat under the command of oars this manage-
ment may be readily effected, but not so under sail,
since, even if the sails be lowered, the boat will probably
still retain too much speed, and if she broach-to with
the top weight of a mast and sail nothing can prevent
her capsizing if the sea be very heavy.
Without the top weight of a mast and sail, and with a
onsiderable amount of ballast, a life boat may, in the
like circumstances, go no further than her beam ends,
merely half filling with water, and then turning round
head to the sea ; and as I have witnessed such an effect
take place in one of Mr. Beeching's boats, of much
smaller dimensions than the one now in question (alluded
to in my former letter, which appeared in the Times of
the 15th October last), we may fairly conclude that had
this one had no mast and sail up she might not have been
upset.

It cannot, I conceive, be too urgently forced on the
attention of the crews of such life boats as have the
mffeatonsaodfibstoatnhtrwowreicnkg
under sail,
that, if they have been
o
salt,. their proper course on
nearing the land, and beforre g
even if it be daylight, will be toe tlgentg into broken water,
down their mast and
sail, and to take their boat carefully in under oars. In
the night time, as was the case in this instance, when
htleiaevybrheraekkeerns
water, under
seenf until the boat is among
to run. over the bar of river, or through any
them,'
be
saila -
I consider to be an act
ofletxmtraeymenot
himprudence.uninterestinge
eventhe
to the general reader
to point out what is evidentlysea,
e cause
whichof thisrequires u n e xa-
pected effect of the action of the
treatment the reverse of that which we should pursue on
an impending collision between two opposite forces upon
saferd enterto boldly dl
the y
theory charge the e
f theltlawnedn,
ladnbdewnhnieenhitambalkees
here to it
t
the
n ge r
waves thanae tofa
far it
ne es fitr o mis ultn.derst o , and the fact is ob-
wadhp acquiring now an
ipehroahcahvethpereseheodreed,
as enrdv emcllebeyt etvheer y
re
hone,oo
ntdh a
of
fast
htoheeeeya
upper stratum a
tu
na cntduear,lle yu r
rp
er on gt roe
rs sbi va ee
kmwoatti
eorn ,a thet t
hier
samen w time setting off
them their violence is increased,
onward, and falls over like a cataract,up inconrustsahnets
against them serves but to increase their fury and adds
from
theiayes, or, asrrolling
greatly to their dangerous effects.
concussionfrom
On a boat advancing against one of these w
they are now denominated, rollers,
ftauenei,blishne receives
the o r
breakers,
of
the their
blow, sur-
the
r
wave with her bow, by her own inertia retains parts
he
posi-
tion, and the immediate danger is past. To be sure,rshe be too short and small in proportion to the heigh if
the waves, she may be thrown almost into ape d.u-
-t of
lP
lar position and turned "end over end," as it is.teelee termed.
Or, again, if she be too cumbersome or her bow prese.
nt
too broad or bluff a surface to the water, she may
in a
very heavy sea losa her head way and be driven astern,
when, if she be straight sheered and have but little
height at her ends, she may be forced down' stern fore-
most, or be turned over quarter ways. If, however, she
have sufficient height of bow to prevent the sea from
breaking in a large body over it, and enough power to
retain her headway over the crest of the ware, she has
nothing to fear.
On returning to the shore, however, if she attempt a
run from a heavy breaker or roller, it soon catches her,
throws her stern up, and carries her away with it ; she
cannot get away from it ; she and it together are run-
ning along at a frightful pace over the ground, yet she
has not steerage-way through the water, and is quite
unmanageable ; it hugs her and crowds on her more and
more ; it runs her bow under water ; the under current,
acting on her fore foot, turns her round broadside to the
sea, which still presses. on her ; her whole lee side is
under water, and, if an ordinary open boat, she is in-
stantly upset. Even if she be a life-boat, unless she
has a large amount of well secured ballast, and although
she have no mast or sail up, she will probably be turned
quite over either by the same wave, or else by the fol-
lowing one, which will fall on her before she can recover
_
her position.
It may, therefore, be considered an axiom in the
management of all boats in a heavye
boat sea and
the shoal wate
atestr,
when going to windward to give he gre
possible speed against each sea as it approaches, and
When rowing to leeward to check her way and back her
against each wave until it has passed.
It may be useful here, if not intruding too much on
your space, to describe a contrivance adopted by the
fishermen on the Norfolk coast to prevent their boats
from broaching-to, which might with advantage be
imitated elsewhere. They have a long canvas bag called
a " drogue," made in the shape of a common
or candle exe,
-
tinguisher, the larger end, being two feet more
and the smaller having a hole through it. When a boat
is running before the sea in broken water, the drogue is
thrown over and towed astern by a stout
resistance
it opposed to the water, holds the boat's stern back, and
tends to keep her endways to the sea. When the dan-
ger has passed the large tow rope can be let go, and it
11 then towed, with the smaller end or apex of the cone
foremost, by a small line previously attached, when its
sides collapse, and it offers but little resistance to the
water. I believe h
tat an article of this description
would be a Ile addition to the gear of every life-
I. o at.
Sir I beg to state that, in my opinion,
In conclusion, ,
this casualty ought not to militate against Mr. 13Oech-
ing's boats, although a recurrence of it might possibly
be- less likely to occur had they iron keels instead of
water ballast ; that the same result might possibly have
in any other description of boat under the
taken place ; and that the most profitable use
same circumstances
which may now be made of it is as a beacon to warn
against similar injudicious management in future cases.
Hoping that the above remarks may not be without
if they only lead to a careful consideration of
some use ,
the subject, and to collecting the opinions of those who
have greater experience than I have
edi hat
d ser an opportunity
for acquiring.—l am, Sir, your obenvant,
J. R. WARD, Commander, R.N.,
Inspector of Life-boats to the Royal National
Shipwreck Institution.

The Council of Legal Education have awarded to Mr.
William Whittaker Barry, of Lincoln's-inn, as the most
distinguished student at the public examination held
during the present Hiliary Term, the studentship
a-year, to continue for a period of three years.