Perfect and invaluable as the invention is, yet, strange to say, neither the late inventor of the tubular life-boat nor his son, Mr. H. T. Richardson, have ever received the slightest pecuniary advantage from the invention, although it has cost them (father and son) many thousands of pounds in advocating this noble principle.

Records of the services performed by the tubular life-boats are given in the 'Life-Boat Journal,' published under the direction of the Royal National Life-Boat Institution.

There is a beautiful model of one of the tubular life-boats in the United Service Museum, London.

LAMB AND WHITE'S LIFE-BOATS.

The life-boats under the name of 'Lamb and White's Patent,' built by Messrs. T. and J. White, of West Cowes, Isle of Wight, have now stood the test of many years' service; they are well adapted for the use of ships, steamboats, and large yachts.

These boats are extensively used by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company; and also by the Royal Mail West India Steam Company, all their vessels being supplied with them. They have also been adopted in vessels sent on the Arctic expeditions; and by many public companies, merchants, and shipowners.

The capabilities of Lamb and White's life-boats have been frequently and severely tested, and in every instance proved deservedly meritorious; they are built of two thicknesses of plank, with prepared waterproof material of an adhesive nature interposed. The whole of the internal work, comprising the water-tight compartments, foremost and aft bulk-heads and decks, are also in two thicknesses, with waterproof material interposed. The several compartments on each side, and forward and aft, are all built in the boat during its construction, forming double sides, and giving great stiffness and strength; which renders these boats particularly applicable for hoisting up and hanging in davits. They may be sailed in any weather, with or without ballast, and will not capsize, owing to the centre of buoyancy, when the lee

K

side is immersed, being so near the gunwale; and if water is shipped, it acts as ballast, rendering them still more stable, from its being confined to the centre of the boat by the compartments on either side.

The primary object kept in view by this invention appears to have been to produce a boat which it is almost impossible to capsize; because, should such an accident occur to any lifeboat, the crew must (if in a heavy sea) be in imminent peril, whether the boat rights itself or not, and whether or not the crew can swim.

If losing sight of this fact, the boat be so constructed as readily to roll over, and right itself again, she is liable to be rolled over and over again by the following seas with greater facility when filled with water, because the buoyancy in the bottom then becomes a lifting power. The danger of this need not be dwelt upon. On the other hand, these boats, which possess such stability (without ballast) that it is almost impossible for them to be capsized, also possess this additional important qualification, that, supposing they are ever turned over, the crew can remain under them in perfect safety, as has been proved by experiment. This is explained by the buoyancy of the two ends, which, in consequence of the sheer, will float the boat, so that the gunwale amidships will only be immersed three inches, thus leaving the whole interior of the boat as free of water as a diving-bell; so that the crew may remain in safety, fresh air being constantly admitted by each wave lifting the boat, as well as by valves in the bottom, which open inwards. Some of these boats are also fitted with a scuttle in the bottom, large enough to allow the crew to get through, if required. But it appears that the builders do not pretend to construct a boat which shall right itself at the sacrifice of the main qualification, the secondary one being only to be obtained by so altering the relative centres of gravity and buoyancy as to make the boats dangerous, and liable to the very accident they are intended to prevent.

The engraving on the opposite page exhibits one of Lamb and White's life-boats, of the form intended for yachts and merchant vessels.

SCHOONER YACHT & LIFE BOAT.

PART III.

MANAGEMENT OF SAILING-BOATS.

RUDIMENTS.

'D'ye mind me, a sailor should be every inch,

All as one as a piece of the ship,

And with her brave the world, without offering to flinch,

From the moment the anchor's a-trip.'

DIBDIN.

No man can be called an able seaman unless he knows how to haul down a reef-earing in a gale of wind, and lay out on a yard-arm in a tumbling sea. He should also thoroughly understand the use of the marlinspike, and be capable of making both long and short splices in a rope; should know how to turn in a dead-eye, strop a block, pass seizings, and make all the ordinary knots in a neat, workmanlike manner; and every boat-sailor ought to be equally experienced, before he is entrusted with the control and management of a sailingboat.

A rope is composed of three or more strands; each strand consists of a number of yarns twisted together. Yarns in small ropes are sometimes called threads. Bolt-rope is the strongest, and most tightly twisted, and the best rope of all for working through blocks; it is also used for shrouds and stays; being heavier than other rope, it is the most expensive. Manilla rope is made of white flax, and is generally cheaper than hempen rope; it is clean looking, and much used in yachts and pleasure-boats, particularly for halliards; it requires to be well stretched when new, or it is very liable to kink.

Standing rigging are those ropes which are stationary, and seldom require alteration, as shrouds and stays.