AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR SAVING LIFE AND PROPERTY AT SEA.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Fewster, of Pier Office, Margate, in the
County of Kent, Master Mariner, and Harbour Master of Margate
aforesaid, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS
FOR SAVING LIFE AND PROPERTY AT SEA.
Sealed the 25th June 1875, and dated the 26th January 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Fewster at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th January 1875.
I, WILLIAM FEWSTER, of Pier Office, Margate, in the County of Kent,
Master Mariner, and Harbour Master of Margate aforesaid, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF
AND APPARATUS FOR SAVING LIFE AND PROPERTY AT SEA," to be as follows:-
:-
The Invention is built in the shape of a duck, with two heads and two
necks, one at each end, the one at the fore end turned aft, and the one
at the after end turned forwards, both looking downwards, forming air
pipes answering for ventilation.
The duck is constructed in the bottom to be fitted with water tanks,
over which will be a platform for provisions passengers' luợơage shins

page_text: stores, and other articles. Above this will be a deck forming the flooring
of saloon, steerage, and cabins. The mast will be hollow, and stepped
one-third of the length of the duck from the fore end, answering for
chimney of stove, also for ventilation.
The duck will vary in size according to the size of the ship and number
of passengers she carries.
A ship 300 feet long, 40 feet hold, 60 feet
beam, 30 feet draught of water, when laden with 400 persons on board
would be fitted with a duck 100 feet long, 30 feet beam, 15 feet hold, and
10 feet draught of water, and would have 100 tons of fresh water, 50 tons
of provisions, 50 tons of passengers' luggage, 10 tons of ships' stores in
her lower hold; estimated weight of passengers in saloon and other parts
of the vessel about 25 tons, altogether 235 tons; she would be about
half laden and in good sea trim when afloat.
The duck's nest is built in the ship's 'tween decks, supported to and
from the sides of the ship exactly the shape of the duck, and can be built
either of wood or iron. It is perforated up to 10 feet, the draught of the
duck.
The duck itself can also be of wood or iron, and suited either to poop
or flush decks. When the ship founders the duck would float with pas-
sengers, crew, nautical instruments, and all other articles therein
contained.
The duck being placed in the aft third of the ship the mast will serve
as the ship's mizen mast. In case of fire the captain would of course
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Fewster in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st July 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, WILLIAM
FEWSTER, of Pier Office, Margate, in the County of Kent, Master
Mariner, and Harbour Master of Margate aforesaid, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the

page_text: thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Fewster, Her special
licence that I, the said William Fewster, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Fewster, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR SAVING LIFE AND PROPERTY AT SEA," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Fewster, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Fewster, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :—
The said Invention is to be called a duck, and is built in the
ordinary way that a ship or vessel is built, either of wood or iron,
proportionate to the size of the ship or vessel in which it is to be placed.
It is to be built in the shape of a duck, with two necks and two heads,
one at each end, the one at the fore end turned aft, the one at the
after end turned forward, both looking downward and forming air pipes
for ventilation.
In the duck's lower hold are placed tanks for fresh water, which also
answer as ballast. Over these tanks is a platform or deck, on which to
stow provisions, ships' stores, passengers' luggage, mail chest, and any
other articles desired to be preserved. Over this platform or deck is
another platform or deck forming the flooring of saloons and cabins, and
above this is the main platform or deck, which when the duck is placed
in the ship or vessel will be flush with the main deck of the said ship or
vessel. The main deck of the duck is fitted with skylights for giving.
light to the saloons and cabins in the duck.

page_text: The duck rests in a nest built of either wood or iron in the ship or
vessel's "between decks." The bottom of the nest is on the ship or
vessel's beams, strengthened from the ship or vessel's sides by stays.
The nest is perforated up to the draught of the duck with holes to allow
the water to enter the nest when the ship or vessel is sinking, and so
to float the duck.
The object of building the nest in this manner is to save the duck
from being damaged as she is floating out of the sinking ship or vessel."
The water between the duck and the nest having no way of escape
prevents the striking that would be felt if the duck was resting in
chocks. A pipe is fitted between the nest and the ship or vessel's deck
to allow the air to escape when the water rushes into the nest. The top
of this pipe is several inches above the ship or vessel's deck, and is fitted
with a cap, which is removed by the force of the air as it rushes from
the nest when the water enters.
The duck has a hollow mast made of iron, and is so constructed that
it answers as a chimney for a fire-stove in the saloon, or for purposes of
ventilation. The mast is placed one-third the length of the duck from
the fore end, and answers for the mizen mast of the ship or vessel in
which the duck is placed.
A ship or vessel three hundred feet long, forty feet hold, sixty feet
beam, and thirty feet draught of water, when laden with four hundred
passengers on board, can be fitted with a duck one hundred feet long,
thirty feet beam, fifteen feet hold, and ten feet draught of water, with
one hundred tons of fresh water in her lower hold, fifty tons of pro-
visions, fifty tons passengers' luggage, ten tons of ships' stores in her
"'tween decks," and weight of passengers estimated at about twenty-five
tons. With the above weight this duck would be about half laden, and
in good sea trim when afloat.
In the event of the ship or vessel in which the duck is placed foun-
dering the duck requires no hoisting or lowering as with boats, and
having everything always placed in her which it is desirable in such a
situation, to save such as nautical instruments, charts, mails, food, and
clothing, and all valuables, the crew and passengers would be as safe in
the duck as they would have been had the ship or vessel not foundered.
The duck takes up no more room in the ship or vessel than is usually
set apart as cabins or storerooms, and does not therefore alter the ship's

page_text: stowage for cargoes, nor does it cause any lumber or inconvenience on
the deck of the ship or vessel in which it is placed.
In the event of fire in the ship or vessel in which the duck is placed
the captain would scuttle the ship or vessel, and as everything of value,
as well as the passengers, should be always in the duck, which is in good
trim, properly ballasted, and able to stand any sea, a great saving of life
and property would be thereby insured.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Fewster, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
above-named William Fewster, in
the presence of
WILLIAM LOWTER,
8, Oxford Street,
Margate.
WILLIAM FEWSTER. (L.S.)