90 



The plan zp- 

 proved br 

 competent 



SHIP ii LIFEBOAT. 



their secretary is inserted in the forementioned Appendix, 

 signed James Court. 



In the next place, the plan has been laid before the 

 Royal Humane Society, and they, not being naval men, do 

 submit every essay of that nature to the Elder Brethren of 

 the Trinity; and in consequence of their approbation a pre- 

 mium of five guineas was given by the R. H. S., as appears 

 from their printed Reports 1800 and 1801. 



And to these attestations might be added the subscribed 

 approbation of more than one hundred ship masters, whonj 

 the author had occasion to see only accidentally, and whose 

 subscribed names are now in his possession. 



It is under the sanction of such authorities and documents, 

 that it is now offered to the public, and they are such as 

 must be satisfactory to every impartial and candid mind. 



They have been obtained without interest, favour, or 

 friend, and small premiums have been given without the 

 author's knowledge, till informed by letter that his plan had 

 received this mark of approbation. 



It is impossible therefore to ascribe so honourable testimo- 

 nies and gratuitous bounties to any other motive than to the 

 conviction of the utility and efficacy of the plan, and an ar- 

 dent desire to promote an object so devoutly to be wished, as 

 the preservation of lives in cases of shipwreck. 



The inventor trusts his statements will show, that he is 

 jiol unacquainted with his subject : and he shall only add, that 

 he has had more than forty years experience in the use of boats, 

 among dangerous tideways and rapid currents, such as the 

 Pentland Frith, and all the other channels among the Ork- 

 ney Islands ; and that he has been several times at sea on 

 shipboard, in storms that were attended with shipwrecks; 

 and that from such experience he is perfectly convinced, 

 that his plan is sound and unexceptionable, and is confident 

 that the period is not very distant, when it will come into as 

 great repute and sjeneral use as lifeboats, properly so called, 

 are now known to be. 



The plan may be executed upon boats of all dimensions, 

 ^nd the largest, provided they could be got out, would be 

 found the most advantageous: but, all circumstances con- 

 sidered, the size deemed in general best adapted for the 



P^rpo8« 



