The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1869-08-28
a new Life Saving Apparatus.-Extraor-
binary Experiments.

That part of the Thames immediately in front
of Cremorne-gardens was the scene OF an exciting
spectacle recently. What is said to be q wonder
full triumph of American invention was exhibited
in the presence of several Thousand persons who
lined the river from Battersea-bridge up 70 Gre
morne-gardens and piled little craft OF every
conceivable shape while the experiment, which
was the cause of the gathering, was being made.
The apparatus, which was first brought under
the notice of the English public on tins occasion,
is intended for the rescue of shipwrecked persons.
The inventor, we are told, is Captain j. b.
Stonor, of New York, a gentleman OF indepen-
dent fortune, who served throughout the great
civil war, and his object, it is said, is not to
make money, but to perform a truly phllan-
thropic work. Two Americans-a gentleman
and his wife-have been commissioned to explain
the nature of the apparatus and the way in
which they are obliged to do so is certainly novel
and interesting. They first slip their arms
through cork jackets, and then insert their per-
sons in a loose india-rubber Overcoat, which
covers the whole of the body, except the hands
and face, around which it is tightly secured.
India-rubber weights are then attached to the
shoes, so as to enable the wearers to maintain a
and being thus equipped they jump into the
water. They carry with them - tin case, in
shape something like a buoy. This article is
divided into two compartments, and in the upper
one they manage to pack biscuits, a flask oi
brandy, a revolver, Bengal lights, Roman cam
atio sOinC Y . uotS ohhOhihS ohNt
newspaper-reading are not luxuries which a ship
wrecked individual would probably enjoy in a
SO life on the ocean wave ~ but American origin
atty provides for them, and adds cigars and a
newspaper to the tiny freight. The lower COM
partment of the case contains about six quarts OF
water, which is drunk through an india-rubber
tube, closed by n metal screw top. The provi-
sions which are thus carried are supposed to last
eight days, and if a shipwrecked person should
fail to be rescued before the end of that time, he
has the consolation, when dying, of knowing that
his body cannot sink, that his will, papers. and
jewellery are safe, and that his friends will know
how he quilted the world. The invention has
been patented by an American company with a
capital of 300, 900 dollars, and the price fixed for
each suit is II. The public will not have an OPP
portunity of investing In the apparatus for some
months, inasmuch as a series of experiments in
most European countries are contemplated with
the view of testing the success with which the
invention is likely to be attended. The Prussian
Government have, it is stated, expressed their
determination to adopt the apparatus, and it is
said that in consequence of the ncouragement
i'm France, America, and elsewhere, 3d.
COO suits are now in process of manufacture.
Mr.. and Mrs. Craddock-the two Americans to
whom we have rcferred-remaiued in the river
nearly half-an-hour, and showed very little exer-
ton beyond what was required in using little
india-rubber paddles which form part of the APP
paratus. The experiment was conducted under
difficulty, Mr.. and Mrs. Craddock
being prevented from moving in the water by the
of the boats, whose occupants were
deaf to earnest protestation. They both opened
the buoy-shaped case, helped themselves to some
of the contents, fired a revolver, and exhibited
and a red flag bearing the word IS Eureka
The time occupied in DOMINIC the dress is three
and a half. Captain Stonor hopes to !
provide all passenger ships with these extraor-
binary dresses, being ready to lend them for IL.
each Tor every voyage, and to provide each ship
with a man capable of explaining their utility.
-Morgans' Trade Journal.