214 THE SEA. 



all of the leading improvements,, and was the first to build a " self-righting " life-boat. All 

 of the Institution's modern boats are on this principle. 



" The chief peculiarity of a life-boat," says our authority, " which distinguishes it 

 from all ordinary boats, is its being rendered unsubmergible, by attaching to it, chiefly 

 within boards, water-tight air-cases, or fixed water-tight compartments under a deck. . . . 

 Especially it is essential that the spare space along the sides of a life-boat, within boards, 

 should be entirely occupied by buoyant cases or compartments ; as when such is the case, 

 on her shipping a sea, the water, until got rid off, is confined to the midships part of the 

 boat, where, to a great extent, it serves as ballast, instead of falling over to the lee-side, 

 and destroying her equilibrium, as is the" case in an ordinary open boat/' The Institution's 

 self-righting boats are ballasted with heavy iron keels (up to 21 cwts.), and light air-tight 

 cases, cork, &c. The advantage of employing a ballast of less specific gravity than water 

 is, that in the event of the boat being stove in, the buoyancy of the material itself then 

 comes into play. 



" Self-righting " is, of course, a most important principle in life-boats, and out of 

 some 250 boats of the Institution there are scarcely more than twenty which do not possess it. 

 Up to twenty years or so ago it was derided by many otherwise practical men. Yet as 

 early as 1792 we find the Hev. James Bremner, of Walls, Orkney, proposing to make all 

 ordinary boats capable of righting themselves in the water by placing two water-tight casks, 

 parallel to each other, in the head and stern sheets, and by affixing a heavy iron keel. The 

 self-righting power of to-day is obtained by the following means. The boat is built with 

 considerably higher gunwales at the bows and stern than in the centre, while four to six feet of 

 the space at either end are water-tight air-chambers. A heavy iron keel is attached, and 

 a nearly equal weight of light air-cases, and cork ballast cases are stowed betwixt the 

 boat's floor and the deck. " No other measures are necessary to be taken in order to effect 

 the self-righting power. When the boat is forcibly placed in the water with her keel 

 upwards, she is floated unsteadily on the two air chambers at bow and stern, while the 

 heavy iron keel and other ballast then being carried above the centre of gravity, an unstable 

 equilibrium is at once effected, in which dilemma the boat cannot remain, the raised weight 

 falls on one side or the other of the centre of gravity, and drags the boat round to her 

 ordinary position, when the water shipped during the evolution quickly escapes through 

 the relieving tubes, and she is again ready for any service that may be required of her/' 



Nearly all life-boat stations are provided with a transporting carriage, built especially 

 for the particular boat. The use of this, in many cases, is to convey the boat by land to 

 the point nearest the wreck. On some coasts the distance may be several miles. In 

 addition to this, a boat-carriage is of immense service in launching a boat from a beach 

 without her keel touching the ground ; so much so, indeed, that one can be readily launched 

 from a carriage through a high surf, when without one she could not be got off the beach. 

 The carriage is often backed sufficiently far into the water to enable the boat to float when 

 she is run off. 



The foregoing will give a sufficient idea of the boat itself, and now to its work. Courage 

 and ability are required to put it into action, and the dangers to which the crew of a life- 

 boat are exposed entitle those who encounter them to the greatest honour. " It is impossible 



