INTRODUCTION xxxi 



But ai'ter tiic enclosure took place, the Captain 

 entirely abandoned his favorite amusement."^ 



In 1811 he was much interested in having a 

 device of his own tried that would make any boat 

 answer the j^urpose of a life-boat. He sta,yed with 

 his brother John at his house in Westminster at 

 the time, and, as he was unfortunately confined 

 by a severe rheumatism, his brother very kindly 

 attended to the business. The invention '' con- 

 sisted of a portable apparatus formed of bladders 

 and corks, so arranged as to be easil}^ attached to 

 the sides of a shi2:)'s boat in case of emergency, 

 and, by affording the greatest possible degree of 

 buoj^ancy, enabled it to support an extraordinary 

 weight. ... 



** The exi:)eriment was tried on the 7th of Oc- 

 tober immediately below Blackfriars Bridge, and 

 the apparatus was attached to a six-oared cutter 

 belonging to the Cabalva East Indiaman, Captain 

 Birch. 



** It appeared that with twenty-three men on 

 board all standing on her thw^arts, and eight hun- 

 dred-weight of iron in the boat, which was also 

 crowded with sail, the thwarts w^ere an inch above 

 water, so that the w^eight actually sustained must 

 have been equivalent to at least forty-five men 

 properly stowed in case of a wreck. "^ 



But a few years later, in 1819, his l^rother John 

 received news of the dangerous illness of his elder 

 bi'other O corpse at ^fansficld. Although John was 



' Annfil'^ of \ottinp;hnmphiro. Thos. Railpy. 



* Life and correspondence of Major Cartwright, loc. cit. 



