maritime industry that the Exhibition was organised and 

 carried out to promote. The subject has its bearing on the 

 Fisheries, if not very direct or apparent upon actual fishing 

 craft, certainly upon the vessels that bear home the harvest 

 of the sea from the fishing grounds. In any case, discovery 

 and application of the most trustworthy means of saving 

 life and of reducing the perils of the sea to a minimum, 

 must be an object of universal desire. 



The subject offers three divisions for discussion : — 



I. The need for extended and improved means for 

 saving life at sea when the ship fails to provide a place of 

 safety. 



II. The distinctive qualities and capabilities that such 

 improved means should possess. And, 



III. The mode and authority by which such improved 

 means should be applied. 



First, then, as to the need for extended and improved 

 means for saving life at sea when the ship fails to afford a 

 place of safety. There is, alas ! a bewildering abundance 

 of heartrending evidence in proof of this need. Narratives 

 of disasters at sea, in which indescribable sufferings and 

 appalling loss of life have been endured and sustained — 

 calamities that have sent their successive quivering thrills 

 of pain throughout the civilised world from its centre to its 

 circumference, rush unwelcome into mind. Even a selec- 

 tion from what may be regarded as typical cases that have 

 occurred within the lifetime of the present generation, even 

 within comparatively few years past, would require more 

 space than can be spared for a bare catalogue of names of 

 ships, and the dates and localities of the disasters. Amongst 

 these would be the Atlantic, Kent, President, London, 

 Royal Charter, Schiller, Deutschland, NortJifleet, Avalajiche, 

 Eurydice, Princess Alice, Waitara, &c. In little more than 



