CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



life-boats of the most perfect description on all 

 parts of the coast ; to provide, through the instru- 

 mentality of local committees, for their proper 

 management, and the occasional exercise of their 

 crews ; to bestow pecuniary rewards on all who 

 risk their lives in saving, or attempting to save, 

 life on the coast, whether by means of its own or 

 other boats, and honorary rewards, in the form of 

 medals, to all who display unwonted heroism in 

 the noble work. It is supported entirely by 

 voluntary contributions. It saves about 900 lives 

 annually, and is therefore eminently worthy of 

 support. It has now a fleet of 300 life-boats sta- 

 tioned all round our shores. Since its establish- 

 ment, the Society has been instrumental in saving 

 30,000 lives ; the number during 1875 being 921. 

 It has also given rewards in cash to the extent of 

 .50,000, besides nearly zoo gold and 900 silver 

 medals. 



The principal means of saving life in shipwrecks 

 besides the life-boat is by rocket and mortal- 

 apparatus. This consists of a mortar, which can 

 be made to throw a rocket carrying a light line to 

 a distressed ship. The light line enables connec- 

 tion to be made between the ship and the land by 

 a strong rope, and on this a cradle is slung, and 

 one by one the crew of the ship are hauled safely 

 to land in it. Nearly 300 sets of mortar apparatus 

 are placed on our coasts, wholly provided and 

 paid for by the Board of Trade out of the Mer- 

 cantile Marine Fund. 



The Wreck Register, annually issued by the 

 Board of Trade, contains a sad account of the loss 



of life which, notwithstanding all our appliances, 

 still occurs every year on our coasts. From it we 

 learn that in the ten years ending with 1871, there 

 were 17,086 vessels wrecked on our coasts; of 

 these, 1713 were attended with loss of life, and the 

 number of lives actually lost reaches the appalling 

 total of 7910. The numbers for the year 187 

 alone were respectively 1575, 135, and 636 ; or 

 considerably below the average of the decade. 

 The number of wrecks and casualties of all kinds 

 on the British shores in the year ended June 30, 

 1875, amounted to 3590. In 155 cases lives were 

 lost, the total number being 926. The wrecks 

 and casualties for 1 880-81 amounted to 3575, and 

 the total number of lives lost was 984. 



We conclude this paper with some relevant 

 statistics. In the year 1881, there were 24,830 

 sailing and steam vessels belonging to the United 

 Kingdom. Of this number, 19,325 were sailing- 

 vessels, and 5505 were steamers. The detailed 

 table below shews the state of the shipbuilding 

 trade in 1875, and gives the relative importance 

 in this respect of the chief ports. The little table 

 prefixed is given for the sake of shewing the rapid 

 growth of steam-shipping. 



MERCHANT STEAMERS BELONGING TO THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 



Year. No. of Vessels. Tonnage. 



1820 43 7,243 



1830 315 33,444 

 1840 824 95,807 

 1850 1350 187,631 



NUMBER AND TONNAGE OF VESSELS, THE BUILDING OF WHICH WAS COMPLETED IN THE UNITED 



KINGDOM IN 1882. 



464 



