212 THE SEA. 



to-day are too limited. Sir William Hillary was not a talker or subscriber merely, but had 

 been personally active in saving life. When a Government cutter, the Vigilant, was wrecked 

 in Douglas Bay, Isle of Man, where he was then residing, he was one of the foremost in 

 rescuing a part of the crew. Listen to our authority : " Between the years 1821 and 184-0, no 

 fewer than 144 wrecks had taken place on the island, and 172 lives were lost; while the 

 destruction of property was estimated at a quarter of a million. In 1825, when the City 

 of Glasgow steamer was stranded in Douglas Bay, Sir William Hillary assisted in saving the 

 lives of sixty -two persons ; and in the same year eleven men from the brig Leopard, and nine 

 from the sloop Fancy, which became a total wreck. In 1827 32, Sir William, accompanied 

 by his son, saved many other lives ; but his greatest success was on the 20th of November, 

 1830, when he saved in the life-boat twenty-two men, the whole of the crew of the mail 

 steamer Sf. George, which became a total wreck on St. Mary's Rock. On this occasion he was 

 washed overboard among the wreck, with other three persons, and was saved with great 

 difficulty, having had six of his ribs fractured." No wonder that a genuine hero of this 

 character should have succeeded in obtaining the assistance and encouragement of His Majesty 

 King George IV., and any number of royal highnesses, archbishops, bishops, noblemen, 

 and other distinguished people,* when the formation of a " Royal National Institution for the 

 Preservation of Life from Shipwreck " was mooted. The Society was immediately organised, 

 and the receipts for the first year of its existence were 9,800 odd. The Committee, in their 

 first report, were able to state that they had built and stationed twelve life-boats, while, 

 doubtless, from their good example, thirty-nine life-boats had been stationed on our shores by 

 benevolent individuals and associations not connected with the Institution. In its early days, 

 the Society assisted local bodies to place life-boats on the coast, such being independent of its 

 control. The good work done by the Association in its early days is indicated in the following 

 statement. In the second annual report the Committee showed that up to that period the 

 Society had contributed to the saving of 342 lives from shipwreck, either by its own life-saving 

 apparatus or by other means, for which it had granted rewards. And its total revenue for 

 the second year was only 3,392 7s. 5d. ! f For fifteen years afterwards the annual receipts 

 were still smaller. 



Between 1841 and 1850 the Institution lost three life-boats, and this was the smallest 

 part of the loss. In October, 1841, one of the boats at Blyth, Northumberland, while being 

 pulled against a strong wind, was struck by a heavy sea, causing her to run stern under, and to 

 half fill with water. A second sea struck her, and she capsized. Ten men were drowned. The 

 second case occurred at Robin Hood's Bay, on the coast of Yorkshire, in February, 1843. The 

 life-boat went off to the assistance of a stranded vessel, the Ann, of London, during a fresh 

 northerly gale. The life-boat had got alongside the wreck, and was taking the crew off, when, 

 as far as can be understood, several men jumped into her at the moment when a great wave 

 struck her, and she capsized. Many of the crew got on her bottom, while three remained 

 underneath her, and in this state she drifted towards the shore on the opposite side of the bay. 

 On seeing the accident from the shore, five gallant fellows launched a boat and tried to pull off 

 to the rescue, but had hardly encountered two seas, when she was turned end over end, two of 



* Including the grand name of William "Wilberforce. 



+ Its revenue is now approximately ten times the above amount. 



