SHIPS' LIFEBOATS.

Colonist, Volume XVI, Issue 1162, 22 August 1873, Page 2

SHIPS' LIFEBOATS.

Ph* subject of lifeboat! for passenger ships has . •eceived much attention in Liverpool since the loss of ■ ;he Northfleet and Atlantic. On Friday, April 18, a » leries of experimental trials were conduoted at Mesara. HI Eamilton's works, Garaton, near Liverpool, with the v new of subjecting an iron lifeboat, conducted on the C) same principle as that whioh gained the gold medal g( Df. the Society of Artß, to the most severe tests which . uould be devised, in order to prove its efficiency m oases of shipwreck. The lifeboat seleoted for the trial 8 was 25ft. long, with 7ft. beam, and 3ft. 3ins. inside h depth. She is double-bowed, with side and end <j air-chambers. Having bean lowered into the company's dock, the boat was measured, and found to have^when empty, 2ft. Bin. freeboard amidships. The trials then commenced. Eleven men were made C to stand upon the edge of the gunwale until the I water of the dock just touohed the edge of the p gunwale on.the loaded side. The boat was kept in |j this position for five minutes. Twenty-one men then jumped on board, and the boat being trimmed level, v the freeboard was found to be 2ft. lsin., or only t 6£in. deeper in the water than when empty. The i boat was then tested as to the carrying power. She \ was filled with as many men as she oould hold, and j her ample aooomodation for passengers in proportion to her width and length, and her remarkable air i buoyancy, was shown by the fact that with 47 men on 1 board- the boat preserved a freeboard of 19m. ] With this number of men on board the boat was , rocked heavily from gunwale to gunwale, but "hipped . no -water. The men were then ordered out, and told to jump into the boat hurriedly, in order to realize the behaviour of a lifeboat under circumstances of confusion or emergency. The steadiness and bouyany of the boat enabled her to stand "this test also Batisfaotorily. She was then filled to the outside level with water, and with 21 men on board, had still a freeboard of 16iin. As another test of buoyancy, the boat was filled to the outside level with water, but with no one on board, when the freeboard ihowed «o|in'. The boat was then filled with water to the thwarts, an order to show her manageability in the event of being filled by a heavy sea... Two plugs in the bottom of the boat were then drawn; wd the hoat gradually relieved herself.of the..«rater until it had subsided to the. level of the water in whioh sb» floated. The last test of buoyanoy. was to fill the boat with water to the outside level, and- then to direct 12 men to stand on the gunwale; The water of the dock thereupon just touohed the edge of the gunwala, showing that the water-ballast gave her really greater buoyanoy and stability. Lastly,, to. test the enormous strength of iron boats constructed on this principle, a dingy of a size suitable for oo»sting vessels—l2ft. long, by sft. beam, sad 2ft. 4in. in d jpth inside—was dropped from the crane bodily into the dock—a height of upwards of 21ft. It fell perfectly flat, with a tremendous force of impact and a noise of thunder. On examination it was found that the bottom of the dingy on the starboard side was slightly flattened, but that not a single joint or rivet had been started, and that the buoyancy of the boat had been in nowise affected. , The impresiion made by the pruoial trials was that in this patent lifeboat was tklonafide lifeboat for passenger ships and merchant vessels.and thatif the Northfleet and the Atlantio had been supplied with these and a proper boat lowering apparatus, hundreds,of lives might have been saved. The extra buoyancy, of these boats, which secures their manageability after, being filled by a heavy sea, is obtained by means of' disclosed air. The lateral stability and steadiness in a heavy 'sea are secured by, distributing this air-buoyancy along the sides of the boat, while an ample amount of endbuoyanoy gives longitudinal stability, and prevents the water being shipped in a heavy sea from rushing to either end of the boat. This side !and end buoyanoy is obtained by means of a serieß of portable water-tight oases or boxes, conforming to the boat s sides and fitting close ts> them.— English paper.