The age-herald., 1900-07-08
ONE NEW DEVICES FOR SAVING LIFE AT SEA-

were unable to reach them for want of suitable craft. As the result the residents of South Shields offered a prize for the best model of life boat, and that which was finlly accepted was the invention of MT. Greathead.
 FIRST LIFE BOAT. This first life boat was thirty feet long and ten feet vile. She was propelled by from twenty to twentyfour oars. The bow and stern were pointed and the keel curved. In fact, the model was excel- lent one, and the craft so soon proved it's capability to accomplish much that it's in- ventor had claimed for it that several other ports were soon fitted out with simi- lar boats
 From that time to today inventors have been busy in devsing new schemes for the saving of human life at sea, but nothing that has inspired these efforts has been so thoroughly tempting to the man with the inventive turn than the prize of $200O0 that has been offered by the heirs of Anthony Pollok, for since the an- nouncement of this contest the patent of- flee has been deuged with samples of every variety of life preserver that the mind of man could possibly conceive.
 Some of these are novel and some are but new adaptations of old inventions; some appear to promise usefulness while others appear ridiculous at the first glance. That the prize of $20,000 will yet succeed
 
 ing appliance in the world is the devout hope of all those who are assisting the government in selecting the most promis- ing of the moleds for more thorough eX- animation at the hands of the shipping experts.
 Even at the present time however, the life-saving appliances that in use have much to recommend them They have seen good service and it is seldom that they have failed to accomplish their purpose.
 Among the most we'll known of these appliances are the life buoys and life-belts. The ordinary life-buoy is the best known. It consists of pieces of solid cork sewn in stout canvas and is provided with line. The cork-jacket is the invention of Ad- miral Ward of the English navy, and, since it first came into use, it has been adapted and readapted scores of times and in various ways.
 BETWEEN LAND AND SEA.
 Experience has shown that the most useful appliances for saving life at sea are those contrivances by means of which communication can be established between stranded vessel and the shore The first contrivance devised for establishing com munica ton between a ship and the shore was the invention of Captain Manby, in 1907. It was familiarly known as the life mortar" and discharged shot fastened to a line, this catching in the rigging of the stranded vessel. The usual way of doing this now Is to send rocket to which line Is attached directly over the ship, and after the rocket has dropped, the small line to which 1t has been fastened falls within reach of the men on the deck of the stranded craft.
 Such, then, are the three classes of life saving appliances-the boat, the buoy or jacket, and the mortar or gun. Based upon these rough classiications there have been thousands of inventions submitted during the past few months, and in some of them there is undoubtedly the germ of a bright idea. As it is generally admitted, however, that the problem of lite-saving on the sea involves the question of help furnished from the land, the guns and mortars at