LIFE-PRESERVER. 
fave them all, it would Hill be defirable to fave, at lead, 
thofe who might'be in the boat or clinging to it. The 
fituation of the others, who are molt in number, would 
not be fo defperate as it appears to be at firft fight. Every¬ 
man might and ought to try to be faved. Let a long 
ftrong rope be tied to the ftern of the boat : to this rope 
let air-calks be lathed, w ith a rope round the middle of 
each calk, in a row, fide to fide, the rope lying along upon 
the calks ; and let loops of cord be fixed along the ends 
of the calks on each fide, at a little dillance from one an¬ 
other ; fo that every man, who is not either in or along- 
fide of the boat, may have a loop to hold by. Allowing 
only twenty-feven men for every hoglhead of air, 28 hogf- 
heads, in this manner, would lave 756 men, exclufively 
of thofe in and alpng-fide of the boat; and, allowing fifty- 
four men for each hogfnead, 14 hoglheads would luffice. 
But a man of war, with 7 or 800 men, would, even for 
its fliorteli voyages, always have many more than 28 hogf- 
heads with water only ; and the greater the number uled 
in this way, the more would the men clinging to them 
float at eafe. This mode of floating calks has probably 
never yet been tried for the end here propofed ; but it is 
very common on fome parts of the Mediterranean coafl, 
for (hipping wines and brandy on-board of veffels, which, 
not finding depth of water to approach near the fhore, 
anchor and load in bays or open roads, where no other 
method is ufed. In very ftormy weather, or when fud- 
denly furprifed by a fquall,the main rope, made of a kind 
of rulh, fometimesbreaks, and the detached calks are driven 
back to the Ihore, or float out to fea, till they are overtaken 
by boats. With our ropes there would be little danger 
of this kind ; or, even if the ropes were to break, the de¬ 
tached party would float fafe as the reft, and would only 
be deprived of the benefit of the boat as a leader. It ap¬ 
pears that men, fupported and floating in this manner, 
would not be hurt by the calks, as they could not be 
caught between them, and their legs and bodies would 
fink under the calks, and, like them, move and yield to 
the impulfe of the waves. An experiment of this kind is 
well worth a trial. There may alfo be the fame refources 
on-board of a finking man of war, as have been ftated 
before ; i. e. to ufe all the water-tight calks that may be 
or can be got ready, ladling them together in pairs, or in 
life-rafts, as has been already explained. 
Were the ufe of empty or air-calks to be adopted for 
the purpofe in view, it would be proper to have rings or 
loops permanently affixed to the calks, by which men might 
hold, and to which ropes or cords might quickly be tied 
when wanted. Such rings, or'cord with knotted loops, 
might be fixed round the heads of the cafics, nailed to 
the infide of the projecting ends of the ftaves, w’here they 
would be very conveniently placed for ufe, and preferved 
from being torn off or injured. Particular care ought to 
be taken to have bungs for all the calks; a provifion of 
them might always be kept in referve, and thofe actually 
in ufe might be attached by a firing or (mail brafs chain 
to their reipefitive calks. Should, however, bungs at any 
time be wanting, in their Head might be fubftituted un¬ 
twilled ropes, rags, pieces of fails, Ihirts, clothes, See. 
When recourfe is had to boats, rafts, or calks, for fav- 
ing lives, and there is danger of being long out, a provi¬ 
sion of broken bifeuit, for food, might be put into one or 
more calks, which, if in a boat, would add little to the 
weight of the cargo when the boat was dry, and confider- 
ably to its buoyancy when the boat w^ full of water, as 
there would be always a good deal of air mixed with the 
particles of bifeuit. A calk with water, beer, or wine, 
might alfo be put into the boat, or tied to it and towed 
along. Thefe provifions could not be ufed during a ftorm ; 
but might be very ufeful when it had fubfided, or when 
the people were landed, efpecially if on an uninhabited 
shore. 
It has already been feen, that twelve pints of confined 
air are more than fufficient to lupport a bony man of 
twelve ftone weight in frefh water, and fix pints in fea- 
Vol.XII. No/861. 
6C)S 
water;' therefore, let fix pints of confined air be granted 
for every man, on an average, in fea-zuatcr. Thus, lix 
pints of confined air, properly attached to a map's (boul¬ 
ders, or rather to his bread, would make him float with 
fafety and eale on the molt boifterous fea, without expe¬ 
riencing any other inconvenience than what unavoidably 
proceeds from wet, cold, and perhaps want of nourilh- 
tnent, which would feldo’m continue long enough to en¬ 
danger his life. _ This new kind of vehicle will alfo carry 
its rider in a fitting pofture, by having tied to the air- 
calk, or life-buoy, the two*ends of a rope, and the middle 
of it hanging down double behind the man, like a fwing, 
on which he may fit as on a chair. 
It may be objected to the ufe of life-buoys for indi¬ 
viduals on-board of men of war, efpecially firft-rate (hips, 
which have fo many (fuppofe 700) men, that there would 
not be (pare room for a life-buoy for each. But 700 life¬ 
buoys, of fix pints, or three-fourths of a gallon, each, are 
in all only 525 gallons, or not quite ^"hoglheads ; and 
even this fmalj number might be reduced to 350 gallons, 
or about hoglheads, by allowing only four pints, or 
half a gallon, of confined air for each man, which would 
be fufficient to fave a (hip's crew, if, upon an average, the 
men did not weigh more than twelve ftone each. The 
fpace that any of thefe laft-mentioned life-buoys would 
occupy could hardly be a fufficient reafon for not adopt¬ 
ing them ; and, if r.o other exift, perhap?*each man’s life¬ 
buoy might be kept in his birth, hung to his bed or ham r 
mock, like a hat, where it might be eafiiy and quickly 
found on any emergency, Should this be objected to, 
(which indeed it has,) as being apt to favour defertipn, 
or going on Ihore without leave, the life-buoys might be 
collected and put under proper care when the (hip is at 
anchor; and when at fea, or at lead when there is reafon 
to think they would be wanted, they might be delivered 
one to each man. They might all be numbered, and with 
very little trouble, and in a very (hort time, might be dis¬ 
tributed, and collected again when the danger was paft. 
If thefe life-buoys were calks, it would be neceflary to 
keep them always wet or moift within, that they might be 
air-tight; but metal life-buoys, which would be rather 
fmaller in lize, would require nothing of this kind ; they 
would be always air-tight, provided they were well corked 
and not injured. The expcnle of either would not be 
more than two or three lb filings each Separately, and con- 
fiderably lefs when bought in large numbers at the whole- 
fale price. On-board of merchant-lhips, the number of 
life-buoys requifite would be fo Small, that there does not 
appear the lead objection to them. 
As the epithet of patent is frequently prefixed to novel¬ 
ties, in order to fell them at an advanced price, even when 
no fuch patent lias been obtained ;—with a view to pre¬ 
vent any l'uch abufe relative to the navigator's life-buoy, and 
to render it as univerfally beneficial as poffible, Mr. Cleg- 
horn declares, that, “ whatever right cultorn and the law 
might give him, he never intends to apply nor aOilt in fo- 
liciting fora patent, that may in any wile reftrain the be¬ 
neficial effects of the inventions mentioned in this elfay 
for faving men’s lives.” 
Amongft many other cafes in which (hips might be 
faved by means of confined air; w'hen a (hip happens to 
be ftranded, as is very frequent, near the Ihore, a com¬ 
munication might be eafiiy and certainly eftablilhed be¬ 
tween the (hip and the land by a rope, one end of which 
might be conveyed to the Ihore by men in a boat with air- 
calks, or clinging to a pair of calks, or individually, each 
man having on his refpefitive life-buoy. This feems greatly 
preferable to any thing of the kind in ufe, as it would 
not only fend a rope’s end fafe on (bore, but at the fame 
time convey there ufeful hands to make it fall, and turn 
the thus-eftablilhed communication to the greateft advan¬ 
tage. 
I11 that valuable mifcellany, the Piiilofophical Maga¬ 
zine, we have an account of various means for preventing 
the lols of a Ihip, when in danger within two or three 
8 G hundred 
