q 
al 
A 
ir 
om 
cation? 
1611.] 
obscure it for a while, are, to those. who 
can discourse of causes and effects, at 
once 2 conviction of its splendor aud 
atility. And Captain Manby, too, if he 
wanted any additional evidence of the 
merit of his invention, might bring for- 
ward the indifference with which it was 
treated by a distinguished body, and the 
clamours that have been raised against it 
hy the invidious. Some have opposed 
his right to the merit of originality, in 
favour of a man who made an experiment 
many, years since at Woolwich, which 
hore some resemblance to his, and which 
the man rélinquished, without any inten- 
tion of renewing his endeavours. The 
intérest with, which the conviction of thé 
importance of this apparatus impresséd 
me, induced me to enquire minutely into 
the trath of this counter-ciaim ; and, as I 
suspected, I found it impossible to be 
applied in a storm, and without the 
slightest shadow: of usefulness. Others 
have said, (deceived, L imagine, by the 
simplicity of the design, which leads them 
to think, thatit must have occurred he- 
fore, and which makes the quotation from 
the poet so applicable,) that they re- 
member to have read or heard of it' years 
ago. I doubt this assertion altogether; 
but, for mere argument’s sake, let us sup- 
pose it were invented a hundred years 
hack. Who has ever heard of its appli- 
Te will not at all detract from 
Captain Manby’s merjt or claim on the 
public, The reviver"Gf a good custom 
that has fallen into disuse, has always 
been allowed the next honors to the in- 
stitutor. I haveneither leisure nor'room 
for such references, but those who have, 
abd may choose to make them, will find, 
that the custom has taken its name from 
thereviver, rather than the inventor, and, 
as far as the tacit consent of society ex- 
tends,swithout injustice. When this is 
the qge, surely when one man has relin- 
qwished a plan inembryo, or jaid it aside, 
because im his hands it proved abortive, 
if another take it upafter him, and, from 
thesimperfect hints and irregular outlines 
atheaded by the suggestor, by a happier 
impulse.and livelier conception, produces’ 
a-periect piece, he deserves the second 
place ‘at least: and, as it was'said’ by a 
great man of Virgil as a poet in compa- 
rison. of Homer, certainly the second, 
and rather:the first; than the third: and, 
though a division of the honor should be 
contended: for, it seems to me; that he 
has an exclusive title to that honor and 
the rewards that are duey 
greater lengthy than: J as first intended, 
., 
Sor the Relief of Ships in Distress. 
Tam led to a 
208 
and must beg the’patietice of the reader: 
the matter 1s not susceptible of much 
ornament, nor is this paper written under 
relations very favorable to compositiongg 
but I trust to the importance of the sub- 
ject to gain me attention, An official 
employment fur some time past has fixed 
Captain Manby’s residence at Yarmouth 
in Norfolk, where, from witnessing nu- 
merous scenes of distress by shipwreck 
every winter, he determined, if possi- 
ble, to lessen those melancholy events ; 
and, by perseverance and repeated expe~ 
riments, he produced a system which has 
had the decided approbation of every one 
whose opinion and judgment can be sup- 
posed of weight. In the violent storm 
that happened in February 1807, I saw - 
two vessels (haying about thirty men on 
board them,) driven on shore at Win- 
terton. The fishermen of this village 
are celebrated for their daring and indes 
fatigable exertions to rescue lives from 
shipwreck; but; it this instance, the ves- 
sels were driven so near the shere, that 
it_was covered with water suffitiently 
deep to float.a boat only as the waves 
rolled in, and the niouient they were res 
sorbed, the boat was left dry, and dashed 
to pieces by the violence with which it 
was precipitated against the beach, 
After many bold-and imeffectual attempts, 
even at the hazard of their own lives; ' 
they were forced to endure the afiliction 
of being idle spectators’ of. the catass 
trophe: and, with the horror of their si- 
thation aggiavated by the sight’of the 
shore and safety so near them; the sailors 
dropped benumbed from the rigging, one 
after the ‘other, till they. had a!l perished, 
I shall never forget that night. | The 
despair of the crews! the corresponding 
agony of the beholders! but no language 
can do justice to such a scene; and, like 
the historical. painter, I must drop the 
veil, and leave to the imagination the 
distress that it is impossible to describe, 
These fishermen have since been present 
at repeated trials of the apparatus,. and- 
have proved its effectiveness, by having) 
saved a'crew with it.- “ Coilibetin arte 
sta" credéndum est.” They have de- 
cla¥ed that if they had possessed it when 
these vessels (With many’ others,) were” 
wrecked, they might have saved, without 
difficulty, their'créws; which, as it was, 
al} perished close to the shore. Let ‘any 
one now take into consideration the dis- 
position of alarge extent of coast of these 
islauds, and the immense amount of ship. 
ping:employed in our trade, to which the 
number of accidents must necessarily be 
WwW 
