The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-06 00:00:00

[PRicE 4D. STAMPED 5D-

LIFE-BOATS OF THE NATIONAL LIEE-BOJT

(From the Life-Boat Journal for October.

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petition In the year 1852 this institution adopted a new de.
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petition for a prize offered in the previous year by his
Grace the Duke of Northumberland for the best model
of a life-boat, led the committee to believe that a boat of
A safer and more efficient character might be produced
than that hitherto in the possession of the society.
es result whichof
The boat selected was the production of James Peaks,
Esq., Assistant-Master.Shipwright in her Majesty's
dockyard at Woolwich. Mr. Peaks had been a member
of the committee appointed by the Duke of Nortliuiu
,berland to decide on the relative merits of the models
:and drawings which competed for the prize above alluded
:to, and which were no less than 280 in number. After
.the prize had been awarded, Mr. Peaks was requested
by the other members of the committee to furnish a de-
sign for a life-boat which might combine as many as
.possible of the advantages, and have as few as possible
of tbs defects of the best of the models examined by
,them. A boat was accordingly designed bp Mr. Peake,
.and, by the authority of the Lords of the Admiralty,
was built at the expense of the Government, at Wool-
wich Dockyard. Some modifications were frond time to
time made in her, resulting from various experiments
and a trial of her in a gale of wind at Brighton ;
and she, together with others on the same de-
sign, built at the cos., of the Duke of Northumber-
land, the president of the institution, was placed on
the Northumberland coast in the autumn of 1852. In
the course of the following winter these boats were taken
afloat on trial by the Inspector of Life-boats to the, In-
, stitution, some of them in heavy seas and gales of wild ;
',and 'the result of the trials was considered highly
'-factory. The committee ther,upon decided to proceed
with the building of other boats on the same plan ; and
at the present time no less than 23 of these boats are in
the possession of the institution, and stationed on the
coasts of the United Kingdom, in addition to 8 which
have gone to other countries and to 10 which have been
built for harbour trusts and other bodies on our own
Coasts.
These boats have for the most part been of two sizes,
viz., 27feet and 30 feet in length, with 7i to 8 feet beam,
and rowing from 8 to 12 oars, double-banked, their
weight averaging 2 tons. As, however, boats of this
class and size have been found too heavy to be managed
in some localities where but few boatmen are to be ob-
tained to launch and man them, some of less beam and
weight, rowing 6 oars single-banked, but on the same
design in other respects, have been built under the de-
nomination of second-class life-boats, to meet the neces-
sities of such localities.
Of the former class of boats those most recently built
by the institution have so far undergone a further modi-
fication as to be reduced somewhat in beam, and to have
less height, and greater sharpness of bow and stern, in
order to enable them to be rowed with greater speed
against a head gale and heavy sea. They are also built
of fir, on the diagonal principle of double planking, with-
out timbers, whereas the earlier boats were of elm and
clenched or clinker-built.
We have not at an earlier period given a description of
these life-boats, as we were anxious that they should
first have the advantage and experience of three or four
winters' use, when we might, without presumption, be
able to speak more confidently respecting them than we
could have done before any sufficient practical trial had
been made of them. We now feel that we are in that
position. Several of them have already performed valu-
able services by saving the lives of shipwrecked per-
sons, and the highest reports have been received respect-
ing them generally from those who have been intrusted
with their management. Coupling those reports with
what we have ourselves seen of them and of other life-
boats, we do not hesitate to pronounce the opinion that,
as rowing boats, they are superior to all others. Of
their properties as sailing boats we arc not yet in a
position t ) speak so positively, as nearly the whole of
thetn are stationed on those parts of the coast where
sails are not required. At the same time, we have
every reason to believe that they would be equally effi-
cient as sailing boats.
The qualities necessary in a life-boat may he thus
summed up—we will remark on each in succession, and
point out how far the boats of the institution possess
those qualities :

L Extra buoyancy.
2. Self-relief of water.
S. Ballasting.
4. Self-righting.
6. Stability.
O. Speed.
7. Stowage-room.
8. Strength of build.
1. The chief peculiarity of a life-boat, which distin-
guishes it from all ordinary boats, is its being rendered
unsubmergib'e, by attaching to it, chiefly within board,
water-tight air-cases, or fixed water-tight compartments
tinder a deck, or empty casks. This property in
one or more of the above forms is common to all
life-boats, although some possess it in an inade-
quate degree, or badly distributed. So long as the
necessary space for rowing and working the boat and
for the stowage of shipwrecked persoes is not interfered
with, the amount of this "extra buoyancy" cannot be
too great. Especially it is essential that the spare space
along the sides of a life-boat, within board, should be en
tirely occupied by buoyant caste cr compartments ; as
when such is the ease, on her shipping a sea, the water,
until got rid of, is confined to the inidship parts of the.
beat, where it to a great extent serves s 3 ballast, irstead
of falling over to the lee side and destroying her equili-
brium, as is the case in an ordinary open boat. Barrels or
casks, which do not conform in shape to the sides ofa boat,
but have large interstices to be occupied by water, are not
suitable vehicles for providing extra buoyant power; yet,
at the present moment, the Liverpool life boats and
some others are provided only with empty casks as
buoyant power. The north country or Greathead class
of life-boats, of which those at Shields may be considered
the type, have their extra buoyancy provided by a water-
tight deck at the load-water line, the space between
which and the boat's floor it formed into water-tight air-
chambers ; water-tight compartments are also built along
tho sides of the boat, within board, sloped from the gun-
wale to the deck, thereby effectually excluding any water
shipped from settling on one side. 'The life-boats
of Messrs. White, of Cowes, have their buoyancy
effected by similar air compartments along the
sides, extending from the gunwale to the boat's
floor, but
.without any enclosed space under a deck.
The large sailing life-hoists on the Norfolk and Suffolk
coast have very wide detached air-boxes or tanks,
strongly made, to correspond in form with the boats'
sides, and extending from the thwarts to the floor, hav-
ing no deck. The life-boats of Mr. Peake's design have
a water-tight deck at the load waterline and detached
air-boxes along the sides, conforming closely to theshape
of the latter, from the thwarts to the deck. A great
amount of extra buoyancy is also in these boats derived
from large end, air-cases built across the haw and stern,
and occupying from 3 feet to 4i feet in length from the
stem and stern posts to gunwale height. These cases
are chiefly intended to provide self-righting power; but
in the event of the boat being stove io, and the space
below the deck being filled with water, they alone have
sufficient buoyancy to float her. The life-boats built by
Mr. Beeching, of Great Yarmouth, and which obtained
the Northumberland prize of 1001., are in this respect
similarly fitted to those of Mr. Peake. .
2. The second peculiar characteristic of a life boat,
land which is closely allied t i the preceding, although it
is not possessed by all life-boats, is the capability of
self-discharging in a few seconds any water which may
be s'sipped by the breaking over of a sea, or by a boat
being suddenly thrown on her beam-ends. This power is
accomplished by means of the water-tight deck at the
load-water-line and a sufficient number of large (-pen
tubes, having their upper orifices at the surface of the
deck and their lower ones at the boat's floor, passing
through the space between the deck and the floor, but
hermetically closed to it ; thus providing an open com-
munication between the interior of the boat and the sea,
yet without suffering any leakage into the air-chambers
under the deck. In some life-boats these tubes are" kept
always open ; in others, plug, moveable by baud, and
having laniards or handles to them, are fitted, which
can be withdrawn on water being shipped. In Mr.
Peake's boats the tubes are fitted with self acting
valves, which open downwards only, so that they
will allow any water shipped to pass downwards, whilst
none beyond a trifling leakage can pass upwards through
them. It will be at once readily understood that, as
the deck is placed at or above the load-water-line, any
water which is above it will be above the outside level
of the sea, with which it has, through the tubes, free
communication, and that in obedience to the common
law of fluids, which binds them to a uniform level, it
must instantly, by its own gravity, descend through the
tubes until none remains above the surface cf the deck ;
or, if the boat he very deeply loaded, until he level of
the water outside and of that within the boat shall be
the same.
This quality cf self-relief of water can, of course, only
be possessed in perfection in boats with a raised water
tight deck at or above the load water lino. The Nor
folk life-boats before alluded to have holes through their
floors, with plugs attached, through which they will re-
lieve themselves to the outside level of the sea, or through ,
wWch their crews can let water into them until the com-
mon level is obtained, which they accordingly do when
ever they go afloat in a gale of wind and heavy sea.
They have then laterally several tons of water on board,
but the wide side-eases confine the greater portion of it
to the amidships of the boat, where it then serves as a
loose ballast ; the boatmen considering that it is ,safest
to go off under sail with a boat deeply immsr aI.
These boats will therefore only partially relieve them-
selves of water : they are splendid boats, and their
crews have the utmost confidence in them ; but we think
that in this respect they might be improved on, Other
life-boats, as, for instance, those at Liverpool, have no
s
relieving holes at all, and, if filled by a sea, theircr
have no resource but the primitive, slow, and laborious
oars
process of baling with buckets ; to do which th
men must take in their boats, and, for a time, disable
their boat.
3. A third and important property in
oat
withhfe safety
tiys
ballasting. An ordinary open boat cannot
be taken into a heavy sea with metal, or stone, or
gouty than wikter,
other ballast having greater 'pacific.