The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-04 00:00:00

PRESERVATION OF LIFE FRODI

SIIITIVRECK.

A meeting of the Royal National Lifeboat Insti-
tution was held yesterday, at its house, John-
street, Adelphi, Thomas Chapman, Esq., F.R.S.,
in the chair. There was also present Admiral Sir
Thomas Herbert, K.C.B. ; Admiral Cator, Sir
Edward Perrott, Bart. ; Alexander Boetefeur, Esq.;
George Lyall, Esq., M.P.; Admiral Saumarez,
Montague Gore, Esq. ; Colonel Palmer, Captain de
St. Croix, 11.C.5., and Captain Ward, R.N.
Mr. LEWIS, the secretary, having read the
minutes of the previous meeting,
A reward of £ll was voted to the crew of the
institution's lifeboat, stationed at Teignmouth, for
putting off early on the morning of Monday week,
when it was very dark, and rescuing from the rig-
ging the crew of two men, who were found nearly
benumbed with cold, from the sloop Wonder, of
that port, which during heavy weather had sunk
in the course of the night. A few months ago this
same valuable lifeboat was instrumental in bringing
into port a disabled barge, and her exhausted crew.
A reward of £6 10s. was likewise granted to the
crew of the Lytham lifeboat, belonging to the
National Institution, for going off, during a heavy
gale of wind, and rescuing the crew of eight men
and a lad, from the brigantine Nancy, of Teign-
mouth, which, having struck on the dangerous
sand called the Horse Bank, immediately after-
wards sank. Her crew took to the rigging, from
which perilous position they were rescued by the
lifeboat The poor boy was found quite exhausted,
and unable to help himself, and two of the life-
boat's crew had therefore to jump on the wreck, to
bring him down from the masthead. The lifeboat
was reported to have behaved on this occasion, as
on former ones, remarkably well. Within the last
few months this same excellent lifeboat had been
the means of saving the crews, consisting of 13 men,
from two wrecked vessels.

The neighbouring lifeboat stationed at Fleet-
wood had also, under the command of Captain
Wasey, R.N., inspecting commander of the Coast
Guard, been instrumental, within the same brief
period, in rescuing three shipwrecked crews.
In acknowledgment of which gallant services the
Admiralty have extended his appointment in the
Coast Gard two years. Capt. Wasey received the
silver medal and second service clasp of the National
Lifeboat Institution for the same services.
A reward of £4los. was also voted to the Lossie-
mouth lifeboat, belonging to the institution, for
putting off with the view of rescuing the crew of a
pilot boat, which had been swamped during a sud-
den squall in that bay. In less than twenty minutes
after the accident was observed the lifeboat was on
the spot, but unfortunately out of the pilot boat's
crew two had sunk to rise no more.

A reward of 15 was also presented to the crew of
the lifeboat at Kessingland, Suffolk, for putting off
andiescuing the crew of seven men, of the brigan-
tine Little Joe, of North Shields, which, during a
gale of wind was wrecked near the place, on the
19th ult.

The Ramsgate lifeboat, belonging to the Royal
Harbour Commissioners, was roported to have ren-
dered, at the imminent peril of the crew's lives, im-
portant services, in conjunction with the commis-
sioners' steam tug, on the night of Friday last, to a
vessel cn the Goodwin Sands.

A reward was also voted to a boat's crew for pull-
ing off and saving three men from a small boat
which had been capsized by the unskilful conduct
of one of the persons on board in ascending her
mast, which caused her to be top-heavy. We again
take this opportunity to once more warn all those
who are comparatively inexperienced in the manage-
ment of boats, that no more certain expedient can
be adopted to upset one than for a person to climb
to its masthead. As the small weight of an ordi-
nary steelyard will, when carried to the end of the
beam, counterbalance so much greater a weight on
the other side of its axis, so the weight of one person
raised so high above the centre of gravity as a
boat's masthead, is sufficient to counterbalance the
whole weight of that part of the boat herself, and
of those within her below that centre, thus mak-
ing her " top-heavy," and ensuring her upset-
ting, unless her largeness of size, or quan-
tity of ballast, be sufficient to counteract the
weight at her masthead. One of those on board
the capsized boat, a lad, son of a coast guardsman,
was found apparently dead when picked up. Hav-
ing been placed on his face in the boat, the method
of the institution for the recovery of the apparently
drowned, founded on that of the late Dr. Marshall
Hall, was immediately resorted to, and, after 20
minutes of unceasing treatment, the boy was fortu-
nately restored to consciousness. These excellent
rules are everywhere distributed on the coasts of
the British isles, and they ought also to be sb on
the banks of all our inland rivers.

Several other rewards for saving life from diffe-
rent wrecks were afterwards voted.

During the past month the institution had for-
warded new lifeboats and transporting carriages to
Penzance and Porthcawl, and another was about to
be sent to Silloth, on the Cumberland coast. The
cost of the two last-named boats had been presented
to the institution by Miss Burdett Coutts and
another benevolent lady.
The institution decided on taking into connection
rith it the Margate lifeboat, which was also pre-
sented by Miss Coutts to that town last year.
The society also decided on presenting its thanks,
inscribed on vellum, to Miss Dix, an American
lady, in acknowledgment of her philanthropic la-
bours, in establishing, at her own expense, several
lifeboat stations on the coasts of the United States
and British possessions in America. It was also a
lady, the sister of a sailor, who originally presented
the cost of a lifeboat to the National Lifeboat Insti-
tution. Her humane example has since been fol-
lowed by many persons. It was reported that the
institution expected to have by the return of the
equinoctial gales 103 lifeboat stations on various
parts of the coasts of the British isles, in thorough
working order. It is to be hoped that the public,
by their contributions and endowments, will enable
the society to maintain this noble fleet in a perfectly
efficient state. _ _

It was said that the lifeboats of the institution
were, during the course of their construction, sur-
veyed by Mr. Prowse, of II M.'s dockyard, Wool-
wich ; its lifeboat transporting carriages, by Mr.
Morris, the master wheelwright, of the Royal Ar-
senal; and its lifeboat houses, built from designs
specially prepared by the society's honorary archi-
tect, Mr. C. 11. Cooke.
The charter of incorporation, granted by the

t, A

I tin_
' ,4X2,••_•?
Crown to the National Lifeboat Aof At
produced at the meeting. The societrVanfietTiii:4l4
become one of the established importaq i*.tl44-4rl
f the country, it is hoped that it will `bc—fa-a15.114,.-
by the permanent support of the public, tOtimrskA
succesFfullv its efforts in the cause of humility.
TNlessr3. Clayton, solicitors, of Lancaster-place,
Strand, had generously declined to accept re-
inuueration for their valuable services is assisting
the institution to obtain the charter.
Payments, amounting to £597, having been made
on various lifeboat establishments, the preceecli:;s
closed.

TLIE NAVY.

,~___.

The Duke of Somerset, as First Lord of the

Admiralty, laid a levee yesterday, at which the
following officers were present :—Rear-Admiral
Smart., Captain S. S. L. Crofton, M. S. Nolloth,
-William H. Holland, P. Liardet, S. Brock, C. 8.,
E. St. E. Cannon, E. G. Fli.,burrie, the lion. Thomas
Baillie, Hon. George D. Keane, M. J. Lake, and
M. E. B. Tumour; Commanders J. M. Jackson,
C. Sterling, Hon. W. F. Ward, G. A. I'hayre,
John Moresby, Robert D. Aldrich, and J. E. Bing-
ham ; Licuts. C. T. W. Ccrjat, John W. Pike, S.J.
Brickwell, C. M. Chapman, and John D. Ramsay.
A careful survey is now in progress at Chatham
dockyard of the various gun-vessels and mortar-
boats in dock and hauled up at that establishment,
in order to ascertain the condition of that class of
vessels, most of which were built for the Admiralty
by private firms, during the Russian war and at a
subsequent period. Although the survey has only
been just commenced, and is not by any means
completed, yet enough has been ascertained to con-
demn the past system of allowing an important
class of vessels for the British navy to be constructed
without inspection at private establishments. One
of the first of the gun-vessels surveyed was the
Wanderer, 4, of 200 horse-power, screw despatch
gunboat. This vessel was built about four years
since, at a private establishment, but the names of
the contractors are stated not to be known at
Chatham dockyard. She was immediately de-
spatched to the Mediterranean, where she was em-
ployed for a lengthened period in carrying de-
spatches, and was eventually paid off at Chatham
at the commencement of the present year. A con-
siderable portion of the planking and sides of this
gun-vessel has been opened, and a cursory exami-
nation shows that she is in a very rotten and de-
cayed state, many of time timbers giving symptoms
of the fatal " sap," proving that not only has faulty
unseasoned timber has been used, but, further,
that the workmanship is likewise bad, and such as
if turned out of either of our Royal dockyards
would bring lasting discredit on the establishment.
There are also several of the mortar vessels built
during the Russian war hauled upon the slips at
Chatham dockyard, and placed under cover to pro-
tect them from the effects of the weather. Two of

these have recently been taken into,the second dock,
they are numbered 30 and 32. Both these vessels
have undergone a careful survey, and give such un-
mistakeable proofs of rottenness and decay, that if
they are only a specimen of the other gun and
mortar vessels, a large number of which are at
Chatham and the other ports, their condition is,
to say the least, alarming. Although these, with
other vessels, were carefully scraped and cleaned
by the convicts, the timbers and frames are in a
seriously faulty state, the timbers being ex-
ceedingly rotten, showing bad materials used by the
contractors, while, at the same time, insects have
made great ravages in the timbers below the water.
Two mortar vessels hauled up on the slips have
likewise been inspected, one of which shows the
workmanship to have been rather better, but both
are rotting, the timber being of a quality which
ought never to have been used for such a class of
vessels. There is a complete squadron of these gun
and mortar boats lying at Chatham, and, from the
result of the examinations already made, grave
fears are entertained that all these vessels will be
found, more or less, in a state of decay.

The Bulwark, screw steamer, building at Chat-
ham, has a number of shipwrights employed in
planking her. She is being completed with the
utmost despatch, and is expected to be ready for
launching during the present year.
The Royal Oak, 91, and the Belvedere, 51, two
of the new screw steamers ordered to be built at
Chatham, are having their timbers prepared pre-
paratory to being laid down.
The Torch, screw gun•vessel, built by private
contract, is fitting at Chatham.
The Megzera, screw troopship, Commander Hen-
derson, was berthed alongside of the dockyard, at
Portsmouth, and will this morning embark the
troops enumerated in The Sun of the Ist inst. for
conveyance to Malta and Gibraltar, calling at
Queenstown.

The Victoria, 121, screw, in the steam basin at
Portsmouth, has tested her machinery at 401 b. pres-
sure. Everything turned out satisfactorily. She
is expected to make her contractor's trial outside
the harbour to-morrow, and to test her speed at the
measured mile in Stokes Bay about Tuesday next.
The Albion, paddle steam-vessel, in No. 4 dock
at Portsmouth, is being broken up, the defects in
her hull having been found of too extensive a nature
to admit of repair. She is 33 years old.
The Octavia, 51, sailing frigate, having been cut
asunder in No. 9 dock at Portsmouth, for the pur-
pose of lengthening and conversion to a screw, and'
her after-body bulk headed in and caulked, the
water was yesterday let into the dock until it
reached the 16-feet mark on the frigate's sternpost,
when she showed symptoms of being alive on her
blocks. Tackles attached to her stern hauled the
after-body to a distance of 58 feet 8 inches, the space
required for her midship lengthening, when the
water was again pumped out, and the Octavia was
finally placed in position to complete her conversion
from a sailing craft to a screw. Her outer stern-
post will be placed 13 feet 8 inches abaft her pre-
sent one, to adapt her stern for the propeller.

Yesterday being the anniversary of the birth of
his Majesty Carl XV., King of Sweden and Nor-
way, the Swedish corvette Najaden, together with
the port division of the Channel Fleet and her
Majesty's ship Victory, and ships in Portsmouth
harbour, dressed out in colours with the Swedish
ensign at the main, and at noon fired a Royal
salute in honour of the day. A Royal salute was
also fired at the same time from the garrison salut-
ing battery, on the King's Bastion. Capt. Ekman,
commanding the Najaden, accompanied by the
Swedish and Norwegian Consul, afterwards paid an
official visit to the military and naval authorities.
We are requested to state that Capt. Douglas
Curry now commands the Aboukir, having super-
seded Capt. Schomberg for more than three months.
The following appointments we remade yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Capt. Lord F. H. Kerr to the
Impregnable, vice Stewart; Capt. W. H. Stewart,
C. 8., to the Marlborough, vice Kerr ; Lieut. T. M.
Magnay, Lieut. H. M. Carre, and Lieut. E. F.
Weld, to the Excellent ; Lieut. C. G. Harvey to
the Mersey ; L. A. Bell, R. W. Davies, and C. M.
Tumor, midshipman, to the Bacchante ; C. W.
Beaumont, midshipman to the Hero ; William Jef-
fery, master, to the Saturn, for the Andromache ;
Henry G. Baynes, master, to the Edinburgh ; John
Penn, master, to the Monarch ; Richard W. Ward,
master, additional, to the Dauntless ; J. D. Will-
shire, acting second-master, additional, to the Blen-
heim ; Albert Carr, master's assistant, to the Mel-
pomene ; Daniel Alcock, acting assist.-surg., to the
Terrible ; William Pratt and Ashley It. Moxham,
acting third-class assistant engineers, to the Ma-
gcera, as supernumeraries.

Yesterday a draught of 25 non-commissioned
officers and men of various corps left St. Mary's
invalid establishment, 18 of 'whom received their
discharge from the service, and the remainder pro•
ceeded to join their respective depots.

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