CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
HISTORY OF THE LIFEBOAT.
We pause at this point in our story, good reader, to treat you to alittle of what mankind is prone to consider "dry," namely, a chapter ofinformation and statistics. We dislike sailing under false colours,therefore we warn you at the outset of the nature of what is to follow.
And yet our subject ought not to be considered dry, for it isindissolubly connected with salt water, and if human hearts weresuitably affected by the simple statement of facts, drops of salt waterwould frequently moisten these pages!
Please, do not skip. _Multum in parvo_ shall be our motto.
Lionel Lukin, a coach-builder in London, was the inventor of thelifeboat. He took out a patent for it on the 2nd November, 1785, andwrote a pamphlet on lifeboats, entitled "The Invention, Principles, andConstruction of Insubmergible Boats." His boat was rendered buoyant bymeans of a projecting gunwale of cork, and hollow air-cases within it;one of these being at the head, the other at the stern. It wasballasted by means of a false iron keel. In these respects this boatpossessed, in rudimentary form, the essentials of the lifeboat of thepresent day. A coble was converted into a lifeboat on these principlesby Lukin, and launched at Bamborough, where, in the course of the firstyear, it was the means of saving many lives. This was the firstlifeboat ever brought into action.
Lukin, though a man of energy and perseverance, was doomed todisappointment. The Prince of Wales (George the Fourth), to his creditbe it said, was his warm and liberal patron, but even the Prince'sinfluence failed to awaken the sympathy of the public, or of the men inhigh places who alone could bring this great invention into general use.People in those days appeared to think that the annual drowning ofthousands of their countrymen was an unavoidable necessity,--the pricewe had to pay, as it were, for our maritime prosperity. Lukin appealedin vain to the First Lord of the Admiralty, and to many otherinfluential men, but a deaf ear was invariably turned to him. With theexception of the Bamborough coble, not a single lifeboat was placed atany of the dangerous localities on the east coast of England for severalyears. Wrecked men and women and children were (as far as the NavalBoards were concerned) graciously permitted to swim ashore if theycould, or to go to the bottom if they couldn't! Ultimately, theinventor of the lifeboat went to his grave unrewarded andunacknowledged--at least by the nation; though the lives saved throughhis invention were undoubtedly a reward beyond all price. The highhonour of having constructed and set in motion a species of boat whichhas saved hundreds and thousands of human lives, and perchance preventedthe breaking of many human hearts, is certainly due to Lionel Lukin.
In 1789, the public were roused from their state of apathy in regard toshipwrecked seamen by the wreck of the "Adventure" of Newcastle, thecrew of which perished in the presence of thousands who could do nothingto save them. Under the excitement of this disaster the inhabitants ofSouth Shields met to deplore and to consult. A committee was appointed,and premiums were offered for the best models of lifeboats. Men cameforward, and two stood pre-eminent--Mr William Wouldhave, a painter,and Mr Henry Greathead, a boat-builder, of South Shields. The formerseems to have been the first who had a glimmering idea of theself-righting principle, but he never brought it to anything. Cork wasthe buoyant principle in his boat. Greathead suggested a curved keel.The chairman of the committee modelled a boat in clay which combinedseveral of the good qualities of each, and this was given to Greatheadas the type of the boat he was to build.
From this time forward lifeboats gradually multiplied. Greathead becamea noted improver and builder of them. He was handsomely rewarded forhis useful labours by Government and others, and his name became sointimately and deservedly associated with the lifeboat, that peopleerroneously gave him the credit of being its inventor.
The Duke of Northumberland took a deep interest in the subject oflifeboats, and expended money liberally in constructing and supportingthem. Before the close of 1863, Greathead had built 31 boats, 18 forEngland, 5 for Scotland, and 8 for foreign countries. This was so farwell; but it was a wretchedly inadequate provision for the necessitiesof the case. Interest had indeed been awakened in the public, but thepublic cannot act as a united body; and the Trinity House seemed to fallback into the sleep from which it had been partially aroused.
It was not till 1822 that the great (because successful) champion of thelifeboat stood forth,--in the person of Sir William Hillary, Baronet.
Sir William, besides being a philanthropist, was a hero! He not onlydevised liberal things, and carried them into execution, but hepersonally shared in the danger of rescuing life from the raging sea.Our space forbids a memoir, but this much may be said briefly. He dwelton the coast of the Isle of Man, and established a Sailors' Home atDouglas. He constantly witnessed the horrors of shipwreck, and seemedto make it his favourite occupation to act as one of the crew of boatsthat put off to wrecks. He was of course frequently in imminent danger;once had his ribs broken, and was nearly drowned oftentimes. During hiscareer he personally assisted in saving 305 lives! He was the means ofstirring up public men, and the nation generally, to a higher sense oftheir duty to those who risk their lives upon the sea; and eventually--in conjunction with two members of Parliament, Mr Thomas Wilson and MrGeorge Hibbert--was the founder of "THE ROYAL NATIONAL INSTITUTION FORTHE PRESERVATION OF LIFE FROM SHIPWRECK."
This noble Institution--now named THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOATINSTITUTION--was founded on the 4th of March, 1824. From that date tothe present time it has unremittingly carried out the great ends forwhich it was instituted.
Let us glance at these in detail, as given in their publication, _TheLifeboat Journal_.
The objects of the Institution are effected--
"_1st_, By the stationing of lifeboats, fully equipped, with allnecessary gear and means of security to those who man them, and withtransporting carriages on which they can be drawn by land to theneighbourhood of distant wrecks, and by the erection of suitable housesin which the same are kept.
"_2nd_, By the appointment of paid coxswains, who have charge of, andare held responsible for, the good order and efficiency of the boats,and by a quarterly exercise of the crew of each boat.
"_3rd_, By a liberal remuneration of all those who risk their lives ingoing to the aid of wrecked persons, whether in lifeboats or otherwise;and by the rewarding with the gold or silver medal of the Institutionsuch persons as encounter great personal risk in the saving of life.
"_4th_, By the superintendence of an honorary committee of residents ineach locality, who, on their part, undertake to collect locally whatamount they are able of donations towards the first cost, and of annualcontributions towards the permanent expenses of their severalestablishments."
In order to see how this work is, and has been, carried out, let us lookat the results, as stated in the last annual report, that for 1864.
The lifeboats of the Institution now number 132, and some of them werethe means of saving no fewer than 417 lives during the past year; nearlythe whole of them in dangerous circumstances, amidst high surfs, when noother description of boats could have been launched with safety. Theyalso took into port, or materially assisted, 17 vessels, which mightotherwise have been lost. The number of persons afloat in the boats onoccasions of their being launched was 6,000. In other words, our armyof coast-heroes amounts, apparently, to that number. But in reality itis much larger, for there are hundreds of willing volunteers all roundthe coast ready to man lifeboats, if there were lifeboats to man.Although nearly every man of this 6000 risked his life again and againduring the year, not a single life was lost.
Nearly all these boats have been supplied with transporting carriagesand boat-houses by the Institution. The cost in detail is as follows:--
+===========================+==========+|Lifeboat and her equipments|300 pounds|+---------------------------+----------+|Transporting carriage |100 pounds|+---------------------------+----------+|Boat-house (average cost) |150 pounds|+---
------------------------+----------+|Total |550 pounds|+===========================+==========+
The sums granted last year for the saving of 714 lives by lifeboats,shore-boats, etcetera, amounted to nearly 1,300 pounds (about 1 pound 16shillings 6 pence each life!) Fifteen silver medals and twenty-sixvotes of thanks, inscribed on vellum and parchment, were also awardedfor acts of extraordinary gallantry.
The income of the Institution in 1863 amounted to 21,100 pounds.Fifteen new lifeboats were sent to various parts of the coast in thatyear.
It is interesting to observe in the report the persons by whom donationsare sometimes given to the Institution. We read of "100 pounds from asailor's daughter"; and "100 pounds as a thank-offering for preservationat sea, during the storm of 31st October last." Another thank-offeringof 20 pounds, "for preservation from imminent danger at sea," appears inthe list. "100 pounds from `a friend,' in gratitude to God for thepreservation of his wife for another year"; and "20 pounds from aseaman's daughter, the produce of her needle-work." Among smaller sumswe find 1 pound, 6 shillings, 9 pence collected in a Sunday school; 3pounds, 18 shillings, 8 pence collected in a parish church, as a NewYear's offering. Last, and least in one sense, though by no means leastin another, 1 shilling, 6 pence in stamps, from a sailor's orphan child!
The prayer naturally springs to one's lips, God bless that dear orphanchild! but it has been already blessed with two of God's choicestgifts,--a sympathetic heart and an open hand.
Small sums like this are not in any sense to be despised. If thepopulation of London alone--taking it at two millions--were individuallyto contribute 1 shilling, 6 pence, the sum would amount to 150,000pounds! Why, if everyone whose eye falls on this page--to descend tosmaller numbers--were to give a shilling, it is not improbable that asum would be raised sufficient to establish two lifeboats! [See Note1.]
But there are those who, besides being blessed with generous hearts, arefortunate in possessing heavy purses. We find in the same reportdonations of from two hundred to two thousand pounds, and legaciesranging from ten to a thousand pounds. The largest legacy that seemsever to have been bequeathed to the Institution was that of 10,000pounds, left in 1856 by Captain Hamilton Fitzgerald, R.N., one of thevice-presidents of the Society.
The mere mention of such sums may induce some to imagine that thecoffers of the Institution are in a very flourishing state. This wouldindeed be the case if the Society had reached its culminating point--ifeverything were done that can be done for the preservation of life fromshipwreck; but this is by no means the case. It must be borne in mindthat the Institution is national. The entire coasts of the UnitedKingdom are its field of operations, and the drain upon its resources isapparently quite equal to its income. Its chief means of support arevoluntary contributions.
Since the Society was instituted, in 1824, to the present time, it hasbeen the means of saving 13,570 lives!--many, if not most, of thesebeing lives of the utmost consequence to the commerce and defence of thecountry. During the same period, it has granted 82 gold medals, 736silver medals, and 17,830 pounds in cash; besides expending 82,550pounds on boats, carriages, and boat-houses.
Considering, then, the magnitude and unavoidable costliness of theoperations of this Institution, it is evident that a large annual incomeis indispensable, if it is to continue its noble career efficiently.
Closely allied to this is another society which merits brief noticehere. It is the "Shipwrecked Fishermen's and Mariners' Royal BenevolentSociety." Originally this Society, which was instituted in 1839,maintained lifeboats on various parts of the coast. It eventually,however, made these over to the Lifeboat Institution, and confineditself to its own special and truly philanthropic work, which is--
To board, lodge, and convey to their homes, all destitute, shipwreckedpersons, to whatever country they may belong, through theinstrumentality of its agents. To afford temporary assistance to thewidows, parents, and children of all mariners and fishermen who may havebeen drowned, and who were members of the Society; and to give agratuity to mariners and fishermen, who are members, for the loss ordamage of their clothes or boats. Membership is obtained by an annualsubscription of three shillings.
Assuredly every mariner and fisherman in the kingdom ought to be amember of this Society, for it is pre-eminently useful, and no one cantell when he may require its assistance.
The Lifeboat Institution and the Shipwrecked Fishermen's and Mariners'Society are distinct bodies, but they do their benevolent work inharmonious concert. The one saves life, or tries to save it; the othercherishes the life so saved, or comforts and affords timely aid tobroken-hearted mourners for the dead.
Both Institutions are national blessings, and as such have the strongestpossible claim on the sympathies of the nation.
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Note 1. In case any reader should sympathise with us, and desire to acton the above hint, we subjoin the following address, to which money maybe sent: The Secretary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, 22Charing Cross Road, London, W.