STABILITY OF LIFEBOATS. 139 



Service, and had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the boats used in that service 

 and the men who handled them. If I may say briefly, there are in the service three types 

 of boats. The oi^en surf boat many people think can go anywhere and do anything that 

 should be demanded of any boat rowed by oars. There is a decked lifeboat, with a bailing 

 arrangement, which was developed for the service by an able officer of the Revenue Service, 

 who has done more toward perfecting the appliances for lifesaving than any other individual. 

 This boat is furnished to surfmen, as they desire, and as it seems expedient, is much in 

 favor wilii them. Nevertheless, I believe there are grave questions whether it is a good boat 

 for the purpose, which is distinctly different from that of boats carried on a ship. This boat 

 must have water ballast in order to carry the crew. The crew and the passengers are all on 

 the deck, and a deck load on any vessel is a very questionable matter. 



I may state that in the course of my service I had occasion to make many experiments 

 (something of the sort shown in the paper under discussion), and the impression which I 

 received in regard to decked lifeboats has prejudiced me against any type of decked life- 

 boat, except the regulation lifeboat with high ends and heavy metal keel, a type which no 

 one would think of carrying on ships. 



I thought at the time when the paper was shown to me, before being ofifered to the 

 Society, and I still think, that the paper does not declare the makes of the boats. 



Coming home this fall I found upon the boat deck of the steamer a lot of boats of type 

 similar to No. 4 — I do not know the name but I think they are not the s^me boat. I was 

 so impressed against the boats (which were lettered to carry the same number of passengers 

 as the regulation boats under davits) that I made up my mind if I ever had an opportunity 

 to use any influence against the carrying of boats of that type on a steamer I should do it 

 without hesitation. I think it is quite important that every lifeboat should be competent to 

 do everything that it purports to be able to do. 



Mr. E. H. Rigg, Member: — I think the work which has been done recently on the subject 

 of lifeboats is ample evidence of how greatly the whole world is interested in this question, 

 and it is of good omen that so much work has been done. We have recently had a report 

 from the British Departmental Committee on Boats and Davits, which goes along very similar 

 lines to those of Professor Everett's paper. One paper confirms the other to a marked 

 degree. 



There is one point in Professor Everett's paper to which I would like to call attention. 

 He emphasizes the desirability of getting the people seated as low as possible in the boat, 

 and his curves give the stability for one-third of the complement seated on the bottom of the 

 boat. There will be trouble in persuading people to sit on the bottom of a boat ; an old sea 

 dog will be glad to get down there out of the wind, but the general public will generally prefer 

 to keep high up. 



I have recently had something to do with the designing of a large lifeboat, twenty-eight 

 feet long, to seat between fifty-five and sixty persons. Professor Everett mentions the de- 

 sirability of lowering the seat. I do not think you can do much in that line, as the thwarts 

 must be a certain distance below the gunwale to suit the oars, which will be needed in manip- 

 ulating the boat. What we did was to arrange an auxiliary set of combined seats and 

 stretchers at a lower level than the regular thwarts and side seats ; the oarsman then gets 

 a stretcher, the next thwart being too far away for proper reach in a good rowing position. 



