The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-10-30
~LIFEBoATs IN ENGLAND.



There is a general notion that life
boats are absolutely safe and nencap-
stable vessels. an error which is SO far
mischievcus that it tends to underrate
the dangers of those IN man them.
to the rescue of others they do so more
or less at the hazard Of their lives. "A
perfectly safe boat under every circum-
stance of land and sea cannot be said
to exist This first instance of a serious
disaster In England occurred in the be-
ginning of the century. In 1916. on the
coast of Northumberland, a lifebeat had
rescued the crews of several fishing
coolies, when, on returning to shore In a
high sea but -unaccofnpanied by wind, a
wave broke over and split her in halves.
with the result that all on board, thirty
four persons. We're drowned.
Many similar catastrophes took place,
mosely through ths boats( which were
shorter than they now are) turning end
Shields, IN the act Of reseulazg a crew, ana
out of twenty-four persons only four
reached the shore alive Tt was this ae-
ci5ent which led 10 the -qTgaaizatdon of
the Royal National Lfeboat institution
OF England of the present day \ the in
PRODUCTION of segf-rightirg- boats. Frsm
1864 TO 1888, Though THESE N~oatSzhave been
launched 7,soS bisRss for service and 1850
for exercise, the total aecA1ehsts were bus
81. the loss of life being 143. OF wh8eh Is
were sfiipwuecked meI The n~on-self-
righpng eau not belonging to the insti-
tuition are much fewer. yet the loss of
life in them has been considerably great
er. The werstsm1sfortune the Institution
has suffered was to the Southport and ST
Afrne's boaes in 1886, the former losing
fourteen man out of sixteen, and the lat
ter the whole crew of thirteen
What GEMS at first sight curious, the
safest lifeboats are not the most exempt
from disaster, for the safer the boat the
greater confidence the crew W. in her
and the greater risks they are ready to
run. The character OF the men is even of
more consequence for salvage purposes
than that of the boat: for st Is not SO
much the build of the Deal and Var
mouth luggers that enables them to go
they are handled The s~eamanship and
good Judgment required in the cox
swain of a lifeboat when she approaches
a wreck in a storm are hardly to be
exaggerated; yet they are Of little ser
vice unless seconded by a skiiful
and courageous crew. In February this
year an interesting incident connected
with this service teek place at Holy
slgnalldd for assistance, but the crew of
the hfeboat were away; w~hereupca 1t
was manned by the vicar and volunteers,
Including the sexton and some fishermen
who rose from a bed Of sickness to do 1t;
sven women volunteered, though Their
services were of course declined; they
helped, hewever-2ncluding among them
th7 wears wIfe-to launch 1t, and the
rescue was effected.
The Connie de Bizemont and Captain
Pfeiffer, respectively the chief inspectors
Of the French ana German &ifeboat SER
vices. have vssated some CT the English
stations this year and expressed much
satisfaction at their arrangements. The
French service has one great advantage,
inaSmuch as the Board of Works always
builds the first fffeboat house at any place
where the system is established which
saves the institution a large outlay.-Ex-
change.