THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



295 



THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION. 



We beg to direct tlie attention of our readers to the 

 extracts from the " Wreck Register," &c., inserted in 

 another part of this publication, and to the startling 

 facts it reveals. Four thousand three hundred and forty- 

 one, wrecks, and seven hundred and eighty-sevea col- 

 lisions, in five years, attended with a loss of four 

 thousand three hundred and forty-eight lives ! If any- 

 thing can illustrate the necessity for a Life-boat Listi- 

 tution, surely it is the melancholy details afforded by 

 this short abstract from the " Wreck Register," espe- 

 cially the alarming increase in the number of collisions, 

 ranging from 57 in 1852 to 316 in 1856, owing in great 

 measure to the increasing number of vessels of every 

 description arriving at or departing from our shores. 



Every shipper, every ship-owner, every voyager — 

 whether on business or pleasure — is deeply interested in 

 this question, and ought to be a subscriber to this insti- 

 tution. We might go further, and say that all those 

 who have friends at sea, ought to feel how much the 

 spnse of their securili/ is increased by the certainty 

 or otherwise that a life-boat is at hand, should a casu- 

 alty occur to the frail vessel in which they have em- 

 barked. A vety large proportion of the wrecks, and 

 neirly all the cases of collision, tiike place near the 

 land, and are consequently within reach of the assist- 

 ance a life-boat would render ; and beyond a doubt, 

 were there a chain of those invaluable craft established 

 at suitable distances around the whole of the British 

 isles, as we recommended in our notice of the institution 

 some months since, hundreds of valuable lives might be 

 saved that are now sacrificed annually. 



To carry into effect, however, this plan, would require 

 aa amount of money ten times that of tlie income of 

 the present institution ; and this must either be raised 

 by inc."eased subscriptions from those who are interested 

 in it, or by the Government. With regard to the first, 

 we fear the majority of those mos.t deeply concerned, 

 namely, the shippers and ship-owners, rest satisfied 

 with having insured their pi'operty, and care but little 

 about the loss of life in case of a wreck. On no other 

 principle can we account for the comparatively small 

 support the Life-boat Institution receives from those 

 classes, and the perfect indifference they display for the 

 safety of the men who thus peril their lives in the pro- 

 motion of the wealth of their employers. This neglect 

 and indifference are in the highest degree criminal, and 

 unworthy of the character that the British merchant 

 bears in the estimation of foreigners. Those who thus 

 employ men in hazardous enterprises are bound, in 

 honour, conscience, and humanity, to make their em- 

 ployment as safe and comfortable as possible ; but from 

 the recklessness with which the shipping trade is con- 

 ducted, as detailed in the report, and the rough treat- 

 ment the sailors meet with on board many of our 

 merchant vessels, the safety and comfort of the men is 

 the last thing thought of by the majority of ship- 

 owners; and provided the stiip is insure(i, the crew 

 may sink or swim, in case of a wreck, for aught they 

 care about them. 



Is it therefore to the Government that we must look 

 for the establishment of a continuous and efficient chain 

 of life-boats round the coast? Glad indeed should 

 we be to find this matter taken up by some influential 

 men in Parliament, with a proposal of affording? such 

 aid to the Life-boat Institution as would enable it to 

 carry out the views and intentions of its benevolent 

 founders to their utmost extent. Such a measure is far 

 more worthy of the consideration of the legislature than 



many of the frivolous and expensive matters which are 

 annually made the subject of grave debate. Certainly 

 the statistics revealed in the " Wreck Register" for 

 1856, afford a subject demanding the attention of the 

 Government of a country, whose national wealth and 

 prosperity have ever depended upon, and been derived 

 from, our mercantile marine. 



THE WRECK REGISTER AND CHART FOR 1856. 



In accordance with the practice which has been observed 

 for some years past in the Life Boat Journal, we give in our 

 current number a synopsis of the wrecks and casualties 

 which have taken place during the past year on the coasts 

 and in the seas of the British Isles, accompanied by an en- 

 graved coloured chart, distinguishing the sight of each 

 casualty. The register has been presented to Parliament 

 by the Board of Trade, and a more complete and interesting 

 document has never been published. 



In the year 1850 the fir.-t Wreck Register in this country 

 was published. It was oom^led, we believe, at the sngses- 

 tion of Captain Washington, R.N., the present Hydro- 

 grap'ier of the Admiralty. The startling facts which the 

 register has in each successive year since disclosed, have 

 awakened general attention, have several times been dis- 

 cussed in both Houses of Parliament, and have resulted in 

 the establishment on our coasts of a system of life-boats for 

 the preservation of the lives of unfortunate shipwrecked in- 

 dividuals, that hns never had a parallel in this or in any 

 other country. In this philanthropic work, in which the 

 Royal National Life-Boat Institution has taken so promi- 

 nent a part, much remains still to be done ; and if we ex- 

 pound correctly the views of the Committee of Manasement 

 of that Institution, we believe that it is their fixed determi- 

 nation, if aided by the support of the public, to leave no ex- 

 posed point on our dangerous coast unprovided with an 

 efficient life-boat establishment. 



The following list gives some details of the work of de- 

 struction during the past five years : — 



Wrecks. <->"'- Total. "^''^^ ^'^^ 

 sions. 



Wrecks and 



Casualties in 1852 



„ 1853 



1854 



„ 1855 



1856 



Lost 



958 57 1,015 820 



759 73 832 989 



893 94 987 1,549 



894 247 1,141 469 

 837 316 1,153 5-21 



Total 4,341 787 5,128 4,348 



Who can cont-mpkte these lamentable details without 

 seeinjT the great necessity for continued exertion and pre- 

 cautionary measures in respect' to the preservation of life 

 and property.'' The same, too, must be pursued with untiring 

 energy, until the average loss of life and property is reduced 

 to the minimum attainable by human skill. 



The number of casualties in each month of 1G56 are thus 

 given in the register for that year: — .January, 149; Feb- 

 ruary, 154 ; March, 96 ; April, 74; May, 57; June, 32; 

 July. 48; August, 51 ; September, 98; October, 99; No- 

 vember, 129 ; December, 166 : total, 1,153, representing 

 229,936 tons, and employing 10,014 haods, of whom 521 

 perished. 



These di.sasters are again thus classified : — Sailing-ships 

 oversea, 546 ; coasting-ships not colliers, 432 ; colliers, 139 ; 

 steam-ships, 34. 



Those vessels are again classified so as to distinguish their 

 cargoes, that is— In ballast, not colliers, 108; coal laden, 

 314 ; colliers in ballast, 79 ; cotton, 12 ; fishing smacks, 10 ; 

 fish or oil, 19; grain and provisions, 115; general ca^go, 

 139; iron and other ores, 83; manure and ke'p, 26; pas- 

 sengers, 11; potatoes or fruit, 15; salt 40; su^ar, coffee, 

 spices, tea, molasse?, 19 ; stone, slate, lime, or bricks, 46. 



We arrive at the conclusion from these facts that our 

 coasting trade, and our coal-trade in pariicular, is the most 

 dangerous, and yields one-third of the whole losses or col- 



