iOO 
AN INGENIOUS PLAN FOR A LIFE BOAT. 
seson of the year, when the dangers of our 
coast are so much aggravated, and call so 
loudly for every means which can be used to 
ameliorate the horrors of shipwreck. Will 
you, then, assist me in giving it additional 
publicity, by recording it in the pages of 
your valuable Periodical ? 
lam. Sir, yours obliged, 
Henry Duncan Cunningham. 
Gosport, March 28, 1835. 
P. S. — I shall be much pleased to see my 
machine noticed by some of your French 
subscribers. I am informed, they are at pre- 
sent forming stations along their northern 
coasts. 
DE.SCRTPT10N OF THE ENGRAVINGS. 
Fig. 1 is the life-carriage with its ap- 
pendages, ready for travelling. 'Fhe interior 
construction of the boat A A may be under- 
stood by the dotted sectional view : ./'/’is a 
platform parallel with the line of floatation, 
which is taken when the boat is fully manned 
and equipped. From this platform are tubes 
which communicate witii the water, through 
the bottom. There, are two of these tnbe.s 
between each thwart, one upon each side, 
and close to the keel, and by them any 
water the boat ships runs out again. But to 
enable the boat to free herself as soon as 
possible, increased buoyancy is given by all 
the parts not occupied by the rowers and 
setters, being fitted in with a casing of wood, 
flush with the thwarts, and covered with fine 
painted or oiled duck. The boat is on the 
dimensions of a 10-oared cutter. A hollow 
copper, or tin gun-wale streak, is carried 
round the outside, capable of holding several 
gallons of air. By these precautions, the 
danger of swamping is entirely removed, and 
the difficulty of capsizing so great, as to per- 
mit the boat to right when the keel is nearly 
parallel with the surface, of the water. The 
midship tubes are advantageously employed 
for the purpose of weighing or carrying 
anchors, the fall being led through them to a 
w'indlass also placed amidships. 
On the hindmost axletree of the carriage 
are two levers, of which G is one. The head 
of the bolt, or linch-pin, is so constructed as 
to form the fulcrum to another large lever B, 
equal to the tvvo smaller ones G G. The 
lii ch pin is represented by the dotted figure 
at C. The parallelogram which hides it 
from view is the end of one of the magazines 
for supplying ammunition to the carronade 
O, intended to heave lines to ships in dis- 
tress. By mean.s of the levers the boat is 
atlached to the carriage, and they are so pro*' 
portioned as to allow one man at each small 
lever, and two men at the large one, to heave 
the boat up. The ends are secured by the 
rope F, and the ring bolt d; b and a 
are slings attached to the boat. A better 
idea of the formation of the carriage, &c. may 
be conceived by fig. 2, 
The process of vvoiking the apparatus is 
this : — In attaching the boat to the carriage 
the latter is wheeled over the former, and 
the slings in the sides and stern of the boat 
hooked to the levers, which are then hove 
down and secured. The whole operation 
might be done in a few minutes, and in a 
reversed manner with the same speed. 
The gun is used by withdrawing the linch- 
pin C, thus detaching the shaft E from the 
fore-axletree, the end of which being allowed 
to go upon the ground prevents recoil. A 
line is then fired, and a communication esta- 
blished between the ship and the shore-rif 
r-jg; . 2. 
the distance is great, by means of the lifeo 
boat, but if through much surf by the cata- 
maran, which would in that case be the safest 
mode. 
There are many parts of the coasts of 
England which consist of long flat bays, in 
every part of which ships are liable to go on 
shore, or be in distress ; for instance, White- 
Sand Bay, near Plymouth, which extends for 
ten or twelve miles. Now, a life-apparatus 
cannot be stationed at every part of tliis dis- 
tance ; consequently, the only way which 
such a place can be supplied effectively, is 
to have a machine which can be transported 
to any part, and any distance, with facility 
and speed. 
Suppose a life-machine, on this plan, were 
stationed at Looe, and a vessel is observed 
to be in distress in the middle of the bay. 
