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BOAT. 



life Boat, the property and practice of outriggers, known to 

 ' ' all the savages of the South Sea islands. Projecting 

 gunwales are built to vessels of the ordinary con- 

 struction, sloping from the top of the common gun- 

 wale towards the water, so as not to interrupt the 

 oars in rowing ; and from the extreme projection re- 

 turning to the side in a faint curve, at a suitable dis- 

 tance above the water line. These projecting gun- 

 wales are very small at the stem and stern, and gra- 

 dually increase to the requisite dimensions : and they 

 may either be solid consisting of light substances, of 

 cork, or hollow. In the inside of the vessel at stem 

 and stern, and at the sides where projecting gun- 

 wales are unnecessary, as also under the seats and 

 thwarts, are to be inclosures or bulk heads water 

 tight, or filled with substances specifically lighter 

 than water. " By this means," the inventor ob- 

 serves, " the boat or vessel will be so much lighter 

 than the body of the water it must displace in sink- 

 ing, that it will with safety carry more than its com- 

 mon burden, though the remaining space should by 

 any accident be filled with water." To give stability 

 to the vessel, the inventor further proposes to affix a 

 false keel of cast iron or other metal along the centre 

 of the real one. The patent granted to Mr Lukin 

 is dated in 1785. We do not discover that he ob- 

 tained any honorary reward for his invention, but 

 above twenty years later we find a gold medal voted 

 by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts to 

 Mr Christopher Wilson, for a " secure sailing boat, 

 or life boat." This boat, which is called the neu- 

 tral built self-balanced boat, is balanced exactly ac- 

 cording to Mr Lukin's device, by empty projecting 

 gunwales. Mr Wilson divides his projecting gun- 

 wales into compartments, by which means the failure 

 of one will not injure the others, and is undoubtedly 

 a material improvement. The Chinese vessels are 

 said to be on the same principle. Instead of a large 

 open hold, as in European ships, there are so many 

 chambers, all water tight, and unconnected with 

 each other, so that a leak springing in one cannot 

 communicate to the rest. There are some peculia- 

 rities in the construction of Mr Wilson's boat, in 

 being neither clincher nor carvel built, which ena- 

 bles her to sail quicker ; and the oars, resting on the 

 extremity of the projectinggunwale, rowing is also 

 more easily accomplished. These gunwales are a foot 

 in breadth ; and Mr Wilson affirms, that his boat 

 cannot roll at sea, but must always keep a level po- 

 sition, so far as the surface of the sea will allow. 

 " She may heel, but cannot roll ; as the balances 

 (projections) are always ready to catch either way, 

 and the opposite one assists the other by its weight 

 out of water and gravitation ; neither can this boat 

 pitch like another, for the balance bodies (empty 

 gunwales) being out of the water, and the breadth 

 of six feet only in the water, it can act with a gra- 

 vity on the water equal to a boat of the weight 

 (width) of six feet ; but the resistance of the water 

 upwards equal a boat of eight feet wide." The au- 

 thor of this device is here exactly describing the pro- 

 perty of outriggers, to which his reasoning is appli- 

 cable in respect to the projections. But, excepting 

 in the compartments of the hollow gunwales, we can 

 scarcely discern any difference between his boat and 



Mr Lukin's. An experiment is said to have been Life Boat, 

 made with it in 1806,. when eight persons put to sea ' ' v" * 

 and rowed through very heavy breakers, during bois- 

 terous weather. She shipped very little water, and 

 seemed to promise much utility. But we cannot 

 overlook, on a comparison with Mr Greathead's 

 boat, that the latter, even though shattered, preserves 

 a great degree of buoyancy from the quantity of 

 cork used in its construction ; whereas Mr Lukin's 

 or Mr Wilson's boat in that condition would only 

 have the buoyancy of simple timber. A boat of su- 

 perior staunchness and strength, devised by Mr Bos- 

 well, cannot properly be included under this head, 

 although the principles which he lays down merit 

 consideration, because there is nothing to prevent 

 them from being adopted in a life boat. 



Several years previous to 1799, Mr Bremner, a 

 Scottish clergyman in the Orkneys, conceived it 

 practicable to prepare a common ship boat in such a 

 manner, as to be highly useful in cases of shipwreck. 

 The expedient he proposes is, first, to load the bot- 

 tom or keel with a piece of iron for ballast of three 

 hundred weight. Secondly, to secure a quantity of 

 cork, by lashings, sufficient to render any particular 

 boat buoyant ; or, where cork cannot be procured, 

 to secure, in like manner by lashings, two casks in 

 the inside of the bow of the boat, and other two in 

 the stern, which shall have the same effect. In pre- 

 paring a boat for this apparatus, four ring bolts must 

 be fastened in the inside of the keel, one close to the 

 stem, and another close to the stern, and each of the 

 remaining two a third of the whole length from stem 

 and stern. On the outside of the keel are to be two 

 auger holes, through which ropes lashing the cork 

 may be run and fastened to the ring bolts. " The 

 quantity of cork necessary, which will depend on the 

 size of the boat, is to be made up into several par- 

 cels, but none larger than one person can easily ma- 

 nage. Each parcel to be properly secured and num- 

 bered, so that the whole may fit and fill up the boat 

 completely in the spaces betwixt the ring bolts fore 

 and aft, as above described ; and to answer the end, 

 it is material that there should be cork enough to 

 rise nearly three feet above the gunwales, so as to 

 form an arch from gunwale to gunwale. The cork 

 being thus laid in the boat, it is to be properly secu- 

 red, first, by passing a strong rope round all, over 

 the gunwales and through the auger bore outside the 

 keel : as also by passing seizing ropes from the ring 

 bolt in the stem to that next it in the keel, taking 

 care to make as many turns and seizings betwixt 

 these ring bolts as completely to secure the cork 

 from slipping out. The very same thing to be done 

 as to the rope round the gunwales and through the 

 hole outside the keel, with seizing ropes from the 

 ring bolts, to be made aft, or in the stern of the 

 boat." We readily agree with Mr Bremner, that, 

 in ordinary circumstances, a boat provided thus with 

 buoyant substances, will neither sink nor overset ; 

 but the previous condition of three hundred weight 

 of iron for ballast, we acknowledge inspires us with 

 well-grounded apprehension. Neither is there any- 

 thing here to enable the boat to encounter a boister- 

 ous sea, which in all life boats we consider an indis- 

 pensible qualification. The buoyancy of a cargo has 



