The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-29 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 29, 1861.

TIIE LIFEBOAT AND HER WORK.

At this period of the year, when, drifting through
the trees, the wild gusts of October herald the ap-
proach of winter storms, far over the land the sere
and yellow leaf is being swept by impetuous winds,
indicating to us the near approach of times when
night is pleasant by the warm inglenook, and days
are bitter and dreary anywhere. With the voice of
the storm—be it ever so low or ever so distant in its
tones—comes the memory of those who go down to
the sea in white-winged ships. Conjectures as to the
fortunes of their hazardous existence arise unbidden
within our souls. The sailor-boy rocked on the top-
most height of the giddy mast—the hardy watcher
who keeps his vigil on the sea-washed deck—the
stout-armed helmsman who guides the staunch and
gallant bark across the billows of the yawning deep
—are all agents for our comfort, ministers to our
wealth, or promoters of our commerce. Without
the aid of their special services, much of the ad-
vantages of art and skill would be lost to our en-
joyment or our necessities, the spread of science
or religion or civilisation would be slow and ineffi-
cient, and the human race would remain deprived
of much jof its resources, and poor in oppor-
tunity for progress. Yet this class of workers
in the labour of the world have probably the least
share of the advantages that result from their toil.
The terms of their ordinary existence are far from
being attractive or fascinating, and the thinner to
which it is subject beyond all calculation. Human
life is hazardous—very hazardous, indeed, in the
best and strongest among us, a chance blow, or a
chance impulse, or a chance slip may cut it short
almost without warning; but for those whose home
is on the seas a plank is all that intervenes between
them and certain death. If that be frail—if a nail
start, or a worm gnaw through it, the rushing
water will do the rest—the brave vessel will settle
down with its living freight, " deeper than did
plummet ever sound.' Yet these are probable, but
not very frequent, dangers to the seaman's life. ,It
is on the iron rocks along our coast that the most
woeful sacrifices take place. Among these the
stoutest ship that ever outrode a storm in mid-ocean
may meet her perilous fate, and the hardiest and
most skilful seamen find their graves within sight
of land. To the struggling mariner in the grasp of
the wild waves, there is very frequently but one
chance for human succour, and that is afforded
oftenest by the gallant crew who man the lifeboat.
Many a time when the pitiful cry of human hearts
is wafted on the wings of the storm from the
shrouds or deck of the perishing vessel, in the gripe
of the whirlwind, there are listening ears and gal-
lant men ashore who echo it back with a cheery
and hopeful response, as, dashing with their boat to
the beach, they launch it amid the waving surf, and
venture to the rescue. How often have they re-
stored its dearest one to home, when the raging sea
would have devoured the hope and trust of a house-
hold ; how often has a family had cause to bless the
courageous souls who have ventured in the very
teeth of death to save the
,victim who was almost
taken for ever from their embrace ; and how often
has the passionate sob of some despairing derelict
wretch broken into a prayer of gratitude to Heaven
as, sweeping buoyantly over the seething waves,
he has beheld, careering amid the spray, the little
barque which brought him life renewed ?
According to the official register of shipwrecks
on the coast and in the seas of the United Kingdom,
a synopsis of which has just been published by the
National Lifeboat Institution—the average annual
loss of 800 lives takes place, and property to the
amount of one million and a half is devoted to
destruction in the seas and on the coasts of the
United Kingdom. Daring the year 1860 there
was by shipwrecks, a total loss of 1,379 vessels ; in
other words an increase in the gross number of
casualties of 146 beyond the average of the past
six years. Accidents from collisions have, how-
ever, decreased in a great degree, owing to the
improved measures taken for prevention of wreck
from such causes, 298 collisions only having taken
place in 1860, against 349 in 1859. The total loss
of life from all the casualties at sea, during last
year, was 536, being 264 less than the average of
the past nine years, a gratifying fact, which must
be mainly attributable to the lifeboat, for 2,152
persons were saved from death. The rocket and
mortar apparatus were found most serviceable,
and even shore-boats were made available in this
noble and philanthropic work. The vessel wrecked
would seem to have been much influenced by class,
as during two years, out of 2,795 ships lost on
our coast, more than half (1,504) were colliers and
of that class, and 1,291 were timber laden, passen-
ger ships; and vessels in ballast. In tonnage it is
found that ships between 50 and 300 tons are those
to which casualties most frequently occur. In rig,
schooners figure as by far the heaviest in the
melancholy category, 912 of them having gone to
pieces, and next to these the brigs have suffered
most, 644 of them having been lost. 'A very im-
portant fact, bearing on the efficiency of com-
manders of vessels, is, that out of the 1,379 ships
wrecked in 1860, 554 were commanded by masters
who were not required to have certificates of com-
petency. Twenty-one wrecks took place from not
taking soundings, 35 from general negligence,
39 from unseaworthiness, five from defective com-
passes, and two from intemperace. Perhaps, one
of the
most extraordinary of the details re-
vealed by these very interesting statistics,
is, that eight ships were wrecked during calm
weather. Such is a statement is one for which
the general public can hardly be prepared, and is
a curious instance of the uncertainty of a sailor's
life. During the last eleven years, the points
between Skerries, Lambay, and Carnsore-point, and
St. David's-head on one side, and Skerries, Lambay,
Fair-head, and the Mull of Cantyre on the other,
are those upon which the loss of life has been by far
the greatest, being 2,332 out of 6,883, or above a
third of the whole.

Those are very interesting statistics. They reveal
an appalling loss of life, but they are not without
valuable evidence of its gain also. During the past
five years the number of lives saved on the coast by
life-boats, lifesaving apparatus, and other means,
has been 11,495. These numbers are a noble testi-
mony to the value of the exertions which have been
made in a good and holy work. In the cause of
humanity, danger has been met with a calm heroic
courage, better, as it is higher, than warrior ever
knew in the intoxication of battle. The storm might
rise, the sea might swell with appalling power, and
the night be dark with horror, but despite of wind,
and waves, and darkness, the lifeboat has sped on
its mission of mercy with wonderful success. Read-
ing over the record, touching. and affecting, of its
fortunes on these brave occasions, we are anxious
that the National Lifeboat Institution, which has
given rise to so much good to our species, should
receive that encouragement and support of which
it is so deserving throughout the British Isles, where
we know hearty sympathies exist for the continued
services of its merciful operations in the cause of
suffering humanity. When we read of the Seaton
Carew lifeboat taking off the crew of the brig
Providence, wrecked off Hartlepool, and landing
them in safety, and then braving the storm again
to take off the crew of the Mayflower, and when
we find that the cost of that great and
philanthrophic deed, is only £25 for the sixteen
lives saved, we cannot but regard it as money laid
out at a valuable interest. At Portmadoc, seven-

teen men were saved at a cost of £l4. At Carn-
sore, nineteen persons were saved at an expense
blessing of a child rfBeoscag
the same means. Could there be a
greater return than this for the money ? Can '
oafg wealth
eX-2 2a
wlplusf.e; esbhayav
erdeaftroamn
imenpjoenydmieungtot3htahne.
ago; or can there
the reward that comes of seemerdeotrhom the poverty and sorrow of
such fruits ndofblheesrsinoglds
widowhood, a
ospared p
prayers
ahye e prop
rs a
purposes of the National Lifeboat
be any reward so estimable as
the wild time of storms, come of so trivial a sum. In
of these. In the
are at work to save an
Institution,
day or night, its agencies
During the last 21 monthsth the lifeboats of the
to succour.
of Shields,
shipwrecks on our
institution have
lives from the following different shipwrecks
of rescuing 410
Ann Mitchell, of Montroaeloll ;
coasts :—Barque Niagara, 1
schooner Jane Roper,
schooner Catherine, Shields, 11 ;schooner
9as, of Shields, 3 ; ship
of Ulverstone,
06f;
Gblraisggow,
of Newry, 4 ; a
smack John Bull, of
AbYarmouth,anrngel Mitchell,
ft e ' Ih 1 eesil gl; ' n m o u t h , 2 ; brig George and James,
Choofoner Eliza, of North
Whitby, G; coble
of London, 8 ; brig Zephyrs
Honour, of Cullercoats, 3 ;
sehSoeo anhearm, 6
Shields, 7 ; brig Lovely Nell
brigantine Nugget, of Bideford,Yg of
;
Pros-
pect, of Berwick, 6; sloop Thomas and Jane, of St.
Ives, 3 ; fishing boat, of Whitburn, 4; brig Arethusa,
of Blyth, 8 ; schooner Dewi Wyn, of Portmadoc, 8
flat Cymraes, of Beaumaris, 2 ; schooner William, of i
Morecambe, 5 ; smack Gipsy, of Newry, 4 ; schooner
Margaret Ann, of Preston, 4; brig New Draper, of
Whitehaven, 8 ; barque Oberon, of Liverpool, 15 ;
brigantine Nancy, of Teignmouth, 9 ; smack Won-
der, of Teignmouth, 2 ; brig Scotia, of Sunderland,
6 ; sloop Three Brothers, of Goole, 5 ; sloop Char-
lotte, of Woodbridge, 5; brig Ann, of Blyth, 8 ;
sloop Hope, of Dublin, 3 ; schooner Druid, of
Aberystwyth, 5 ; barque Vermont, of Halifax,
IJ,S., 16; fichugner William li.citb, of Caniaryoi

2 ; brig Flying Fish, of Whitby, 5; smack Eliza-
beth Ann, of Lyme Regis, 3 ; steam dredge at
Newhaven, 9 ; schooner William, of Liverpool, 5 ;
lugger Nimrod, of Castletown, 3; brig Providence,
of Shields, 8 ; brig Mayflower, of Newcastle, S ;
schooner Village Maid, of Fleetwood, 4 ; halloo
Guyana, of Glasgow, 19; brig Roman Empress, of
Shields, 10; brig Sun Spiridione, of Galaxide, 2;
schooner Voador du Vouga, of Vianna, 8 ; French
brig: La: 3cune :Marie Therese, 6 ; barque Perse-
verance, of Scarborough, 5 ; schooner Elizabeth, of
Bridgewater, 4; ship Danube, of B alfast, 17 ; schooner
Hortensia, of Hanover, 4; schooner Admiral Hood,
of Rochester, 6 ; schooner Susan and Isabella, of
Dundee, 5 ; schooner Rose, of Lynn, 3; brig Pro-
droma, of Stockton, 11; brig Eliza, of Middles-
borough, 7; brigantine Fries, of Koningsberg, 6;
brigantine Diana, of Fredericksham, 7; brig Glou-
cester, of South Shields, 7 ; brig Oregon, of Stone-
haven, 4 ; brig St. 'Michael, of Marans, 8 ; Spanish
barque Primera de Torreviega, saved vessel and one
of the crew, 1 ; schooner Hurrell, of Penzance,
saved vessel and crew, 4' • barque Frederick, of
London, 1; brig Anne, of Plymouth, saved vessel
and crew, 8 ; schooner Betsy, of Peterhead, saved
vessel and crew, 6 ; barque Peace, of London, 2 ;
making a total of 410 persons saved from death.
Such noble services performed by the lifeboats
within so short a period as the above list repre-
sents, reflects honour on the philanthropy of the
age we live in, in addition to the important services
thus rendered to our commerce and even to the pro-
tection of our shores, for 410 persons would man a
large line-of-battle ship.
Secure in our homes, calmly awaiting the approach
of winter, when night is pleasant by the warm
inglenook, we and ours may rest while brave ships
drive headlong on the rocks and strands by many a
lone headland; but let us not be forgetful of the
strong man who may struggle in despair with the
fierce elements, or of the trembling ship boy, whose
cry for help may reach no mother's ear. Let us,
on the contrary, borrow peace for ourselves, amid
the pauses of the storm which wakes us up in the
night, by the consoling thought that each of us has,
in his own humble way, and out of his own means,
given something to man a lifeboat of the National
Lifeboat Institution.

mencement to £325,936, the whole of which had
been paid into the Government Treasury with the
exception of £6,740, which remained to be paid.
The length of the company's lines open for traffic
is 3501! miles ; in course of construction from Nas,
sick to Juhhulpore, 770 miles ; and in abeyance
from Sholapore to Moodgul, 123 miles ; making the
total length of the company's undertaking 1,2431
miles.