The Opelousas courier., 1890-05-31

,els bv means of the apparatus, set up
md worked in almost utter darkness, INC
5anterns of the surfmen beng so SnicAiy
coated with sleet that they emitted only
ylimmers of light, so feeble that the
ines and implements could not be seen.
Gan the boats in the service, although
ife-boats, are known as surf DoaIS.
Thew are made of white cedar with
white-oak frames, and then dimensions
ire from 25 to 81 feet in length, o To-
feet beam, 2 feet 3 inches to . feet 0
inches depth amidships and l foot (
inches to 2 feet l inch sheer OF gunWale.
These have fiat bottoms, with little or
40 keel, and have a camper OF an lncn
md a half or two inches in eight feet IN,
zach side of the midship section. lhey
draw six or seven inches of water, light,
and weigh from 700 to 1000 pounds
They are propelled with six oars WIN
ont sails, and will carry besides their
crews from ten to twelve persons, al
though as many as fifteen have been
landed at a time in a bad sea. They
rost from 1910 to $276. During the
eighteen years these boats have been IN
service thew have been launched o13O
! times in actual service and have lanoed
6735 persons from wrecked vessels.
uDurine all this service they have cap
sized fourteen times, and only SIX
these instances we're attended with loss
of lite, the number of persons perisnlnS
being forty-one, of whom twenty-seven
belong to the service and fourteen were
I shipwrecked people. Within the pas'
fourteen years there have been put into
the United States service thirty-seven sell
righting and self-bailing lifeboats OF Inc
model Of a boat received from the Royal
National Lifeboat Institution. They are
twenty-nine feet three inches IN lengtn,
seven feet seven inches beam, three lee
one and one-haIf deep amidships' one
foot ten inches sheer of gunwales, straight
bottomed, pull eight oars and welgr
1000 mounds each. The great weight Il
made necessary by the device OF an iron
keel to aid in securing the self-rightlns
quality. Out of some All trips mace IL
service they saved 5S4 persons, and cap
sized four times; once with fatal results
five lives, all shipwrecked people, oelnE
lost. ,
"The Lyle gun is employed for effect
ino line communication with strande'
vessels. Recently the Hunt gum de
vised by Mr.. Edmund s. Hunt, OF Massa
chusetts. and the Cunningham rookie
have been furnished to a few station
where the outlying bars are so far OF
shore that vessels may possibly stranc
beyond the range of the Lyl
GUN. 1t is not for a momen
supposed that the beach apparatus ca
be worked at such a long distance
but the passage of a boat or life car, c
some improved method mightbe adopted
The Lyle gun is of bronze, with a smoot
24-inch bore, weighs, with its carriag'
, 1856 pounds, and carries a shot welghln
II pounds. This projectile is a soil
elongated cylinder 143 inches in length
!, into the base of which is screwed an ey
bolt for receiving the shot line, the be
i, projecting sufficiently beyond the muaz
4 of the gun to protect the line from belr
, burned off in firing. When the gun
fred the weight and inertia OF the Ill
cause the projectile to reverse. The lon
, est range with this gun under favoraE
circumstances is 695 yards. The gu
9 are preferable to rockets in casting lr
for several reasons. A Lyle gun OF
costs s87.s3, Of course including app
t~enances, excepting the projectiles, al
a rocket, with its appurtenances, is n
much less in price.
"The only expense attending the L
of the gun is the cost of the cartride
. say half a dime, except occasionally VIII
9 a shot is lost, which can be replaced t
= So. Several dollars are expended VIII
a rocket is fired. The gun is easi
g handled, readily prepared for firing, al
u can be worked almost as well in the da
,' as in the light. These rockets l ha
g seen and experimental with are not
10 simple ahea2asE to manipulate"
-&he oHa-