THE LIFE-BOAT, OB JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION. (ISSUED QUABTEBLY.) VOL. XI.— No. 116.] MAY 1, 1880. AT the ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, held at Willis's Booms, King Street, St. James's Square, on Tuesday, the 16th day of March 1880, His Grace THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, Lord Privy Seal, President of the Institution, in the Chair, the following Keport of the Committee was read by the Secretary:— work of the Institution is conscientiously ANNUAL EEPOET. and successfully performed. THE Committee of Management of the The Committee have the satisfaction to ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION state that Eear-Admiral H.E.H. The DUKE have much satisfaction in being able to OF EDINBURGH, KG., has kindly consented, report its continued prosperity, and to at their request, to become, in his official ca- record the successful prosecution, during pacity as Admiral Superintendent of Naval the past twelve months, of the important Eeserves, a Member of the Committee of and onerous National duty, the direction Management, in succession to his prede- of which has been entrusted to them. cessors holding the same appointment. That such should have been the case The transactions of the year may be during a period of almost unprecedented summarised under the usual heads, as pecuniary reverses and consequent great follows:— depression, is, they trust, an indication both of the general confidence -which has been Life-loats.—Since the last Annual Eeport twelve new Life-boats have been placed ou reposed in them, and of the firm root 1 which the Society has taken amongst the the coast, one of them to a new Station permanent institutions of oiir land. and eleven to replace other boats. As has been hitherto their wont, they The following are the Stations to which they have been sent:— desire to express their gratitude to the Divine Disposer of Events for the blessing ENGLAND AND WALES. NORTHUMBERLAND Birth. which has attended their labours in carry- YORKSHIRE Runswick. ing out the sacred objects of the NATIONAL Upgang. Whitby. LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION. ESSEX .... Southend. Their best acknowledgments are also SUSSEX .... Eastbourne. ISLE OF WIGHT Brighstone Grange. due to all those who have given them their DORSETSHIRE . Poole. co-operatiou or pecuniary aid, and they CARMARTHENSHIRE Ferryside. ANGLESEY . Pentnon. now confidently appeal for a continuance LANCASHIRE Fleetwood. of that support, which they feel sure IRELAND. will never be withdrawn, so long as the LOUTH Drogheda. LIFE-BOAT JOURNAL.—VOL. XI.—No. 116. 22 ANNUAL KEPOKT. [MAY 1,1880. Nine of the above Life-boats have been There were 25 persons on board her at supplied with transporting-carriages, and the time, viz., 13 forming her own crew for two of them new boat-houses have and 12 rescued men, of which number been built. 2 of the former and 2 of the latter were The coasts of the United Kingdom, unfortunately drowned. which extend over several thousand miles, being now nearly provided with Life-boats Feeling satisfied that the permanent wherever their services would be useful efficiency of a large proportion of the Life- and it would be practicable to wo*k them, boat Establishments must greatly depend the Committee are able to turn their atten- on their frequent inspection by qualified tion to the gradual replacement of old and experienced Officers, and looking to and inferior boats by those of the latest the increased magnitude of the Spciety's construction. operations, the Committee have, on the During the year 1879 the Life-boats of recommendation of a Special Committee, the Institution rescued 637 persons from increased their staff of inspectors. They wrecked or endangered vessels, nearly have divided the coasts of the United King- the whole of them under perilous circum- dom into five districts, have appointed stances, when ordinary boats could not one to each, and decided that instead of, with safety have been employed. as hitherto, living in London, they should The Committee are thankfully able to each reside in their own districts, with the record that those invaluable services were exception of the Inspector of the Home performed without loss of life to any of the District, who together with the Chief In- brave men who formed the Life-boats' spector will have duties to perform in crews during the year 1879 or in the pre- London as well as on the Coast. ceding year, notwithstanding the fact By this arrangement every Life-boat that during the two years the boats were Station will be more frequently inspected. manned on all occasions of service and It will necessarily occasion an increased quarterly exercise by about twenty-five expenditure, but if the result should pro- thousand men. mote corresponding increased efficiency— Unhappily, however, as if to remind which the Committee have reason to be- them of the honourably perilous nature lieve it has already done—they feel sure of the work in which they are engaged, that the same will meet with the ap- two fatal accidents have happened since proval of their supporters throughout the the commencement of the present year. kingdom. On the 20th of January last the Life-boat at Bacton, in Norfolk, was upset by an Shipwrecks.—Taking into account the overwhelming hollow sea breaking on her violence of the storms which periodically broadside when boarding a wrecked vessel. visit the coasts of the United Kingdom, On that occasion two of her crew un- and the enormous shipping interests of happily perished, and of the remainder, the country, the number of shipwrecks 11 in number, 4 went round in the boat, every year on our coasts and in our which quickly self righted, 4 w'ere again narrow seas must inevitably be very taken into her, and the remaining 3 were large. carried safely to the shore supported by Accordingly, from the last official returns their life-belts, although they wore heavy the number of shipwrecks in one year on sea-boots and none of them could swim. our shores amounted to four thousand Again, on the 1st March the Ardrossan fouf hundred and thirty-six, accompanied Life-boat, when returning to the harbour by the loss of eight hundred and ninety- in tow of a steamer, with the crew of a two lives. wrecked ship on board, was struck by a series of heavy seas, one of which upset her. The services of the Life-boats of the MAY 1, 1880.] ANNUAL EEPOET. 23 Institution during each month of the risks, and exposure bring constantly the year were as follows :- riches of the world to our shores. in me J\o. of laves Number Year Saved. Year Saved. of Life- Vessels .Lives 1824 124 1853 678 1879 boat Saved. Saved Launches. - 1825 218 1854 355 182K ITS 1855 406 January 44 4 170 1827 163 1856 473 21 3 81 1828 301 1857 374 March 21 3 78 i 1829 463 1858 427 12 — 46 ! 1830 372 1859 499 ' May, June, and July . 22 1 35 : 1831 287 1860 455 August 14 — 47 1832 310 1861 424 September .... 16 1 60 1833 449 10 2 6 1862 574 N"ovember .... 27 6 58 1834 214 1863 714 December .... 19 1 56 1835 364 1864 698 1836 225 1865 714 Total .... 206 21 637 1837 272 1866 921 1838 456 1867 1,086 1839 279 1868 862 In addition to these Life-boat services, 1 1840 353 1869 1,231 218 lives were saved from shipwreck by , 18« "8 1870 784 1871 882 shore-boats and other means, making a ig43 236 1872 739 total of 855 lives preserved in 1879, for 1844 193 1873 668 1874 713 which honorary or pecuniary rewards were | JgJ! ^^ 1875 921 made by the Institution. i 1847 157 1876 GOO d 1848 123 1877 1,048 The Committee would venture, to QraW i 1849 209 1878 616 special attention to the number of lives j • 1850 470 1879 855 thus saved and reported at each successive 1831 ZdU 1852 773 Total 26,906 Annual Meeting — proving the absolute necessity in a great Maritime Country Rewards. — A summary is given in the like ours of a National Institution for the Appendix of the cases where honorary Preservation of Life from Shipwreck. and other rewards have been voted last It is also gratifying to mention that year. In that period 12 Silver Medals, hundreds of lives are saved every year by 13 Votes of Thanks inscribed on vellum, means of the Eocket Apparatus belong- and 2,250Z. were granted for saving the ing to the BOABD OF TRADE, and worked lives of 855 persons by Life-boats, shore so efficiently by the Coastguard and the and fishing boats, and by other means, on Eocket Volunteer Brigades. the coasts and outlying sandbanks of the The number of lives saved during j United Kingdom. the fifty-six years from the establish- The Committee continue to devote ment of the Institution, to the end of the much time and consideration to the in- year 1879, either by its Life-boats or by vestigation and granting of these rewards ; special exertions for which it has granted and as a rule their decisions give general rewards, is 26,906, as shown in the satisfaction, and encourage our coast following Table. population to put forth their utmost It is hardly necessary to dwell on the exertions to save the lives of others — amount of happiness which the saving of often at the peril of their own. nearly twenty-seven thousand lives must Since the establishment of the Insti- have conferred on the Shipwrecked per- tution, it has expended on Life-boat Sta- sons themselves and their families; but tions, and other means for saving life the community at large has also benefited from shipwreck, on the coasts of the by the services of the Life-boat Insti- United Kingdom, upwards of 508,000?., tntion in contributing to preserve the and has voted 93 Gold Medals, 902 Silver lives of so many of that deserving class Medals, and 60.200Z.