[ 14() J [March I, 



PROCEEDINGS OF PUBLIC SOCIETIES. 



SOCIETY of ARTS. 



DescHption of an Apparatus for cmi- 

 vertinrj a. Ship's Bout inio a Lfe 

 Boat; hi) Henky Gokdon, esq. 

 Capt. U.N. 



IriHE late shipwrecks that have hap- 

 L pencil, and the number of lives 

 whicli have been lost, owing to liic dan- 

 ger attending boats approaching a 

 wreck in a gale of wind, with a \\\^\i sea 

 on, when they arc not previonsly or ex- 

 pressly bnilt or prepared for so perilous 

 an enterprise, clearly prove the urgent 

 necessity of adopting some means that 

 may be found adequate to the accom- 

 plishment of so important an object. 



The writer of this having paid some 

 attention to the subject, and being tho- 

 roughly convinced that it is one of the 

 greatest moment, has visited two ports 

 (Bristol and Rye) wiicre life-boats arc 

 ke|)t, and has attentively examined 

 them, and found them both so ponderous 

 and so constructed, that he did not 

 approve of cither. He objects to the 

 first, because an air-tight locker is one 

 of the buoyant principles; to the other, 

 because it was so very heavy that it 

 must take a great many men to launch ; 

 to obviate, therefore, all these difiicul- 

 ties, and to make this kind of boat an 

 appendage to every ship, whether mer- 

 chant or man of war, he has drawn up 

 the present observations, and submitted 

 the accompanying draught, with a view 

 to its being inspected by the Society of 

 Arts, &c. confident that it will be 

 found to answer, because it has been 

 submitted to experiment by the in- 

 ventor, who, on the 6th and 7(h of 

 December last, caused a boat at Mill- 

 bank to be totally submerged, got into 

 her in this situation, and floated. The 

 buoyant principle was proportioned only 

 for ins weight; but the boai. would have 

 as easily floated with fifty persons or 

 more on-board, had the buoy been pro- 

 portionably augmented ; thus proving 

 beyond a doubt, that the theory hereafter 

 explained answers a practical purpose, 

 even in the most extreme case. 



As simplicity and lightness of weight 

 are the two principles on which the plan 

 now presented is founded, it requires 

 little reasoning to show how very essen- 

 tially such a principle recommends 

 itself to seafaring purposes, it being an 

 indispensable requisite that a boat 

 should not be one ounce heavier than is 

 necessary, in order that she may be as 



portable as possible for hoisting in and 

 out-board; and for being sent in the 

 highest sea and the hcaviestgalc, to take 

 up a drowning man, when fallen from 

 the top-sail-yard, either by day or 

 night. 



The model of the boat in this draught 

 is citlculated to row six oars, which, 

 with a coxswain and midshipman =: 

 eight men, triple this, = twenty-fmir, 

 being the full complement of men such a 

 boat can contain, and then there will be 

 scarcely room for the rowers to pull 

 freely. The buoy is composed of prime 

 Spanish cork, and consists of eight 

 pieces or rows, each piece being a foot 

 longer than that immediately below it.* 

 The pieces are connected to each other 

 by strong cord, thus producing a degree 

 of flexibility in the triangle suflicient to 

 allow of its being closely applied to the 

 boat's side, each layer occupying in 

 breadth a streak of the boat. It farther 

 possesses this great advantage, that it is 

 not a fixture to the boat, but may be at 

 any time removed ; and, when the boat is 

 hoisted in-board or out, always can be 

 nn-shipped, so that the boat is intrinsi- 

 cally as light as ever ; neither would it 

 be necessary to carry it on every occa- 

 sion, yet it would be the safest way never 

 to leave the ship without it. 



It measures at the base one-third of 

 the boat's length, and is supported by 

 split canes or bamboo, tied together by 

 strong cord well covered with shoe- 

 maker's wax. The pieces composing 

 each individual row arc secured by 

 longitudinal layers of split bamboo or 

 cane; anti, being tlins constructed, a 

 blow that would slave in the boat, 

 would not penetrate the triangle, owing 

 to its elasticity. 



Large boats, such as those capable of 

 holding one hundred men, instead of 

 being furnished with a single large tri- 

 angle on each side, should have three of 

 nine feet each in length ; by which many 

 advantages will be obtained. First, 

 that the same triangles would serve for 

 boats of dilfcrcnt sizes, and hence the 

 expense of the outfit be very materially 

 reduced ; secondly, triangles of the above 

 dimensions 



* Two buoys thus made contain fourteen 

 and two-thirds cubic feet of cork, weigh- 

 ing 226 lbs. 10 oz., and displace 944 lbs. 

 8 oz. of sea-water, leaving 717 lbs. 14 oz. 

 of buoyancy, for a boat twenty-ei{;lit feet 

 long, containing twenty-four men. 



