forts made by man for saving life, and
diminishing suffering, in comparison with the deeds of havoc and
destruction which have been so much gloried in, in ages that are past.
The Life-Boat rests in its retreat, not like a ferocious beast of prey,
crouching in its covert to seize and destroy its hapless victims, but
like an angel of mercy, reposing upon her wings, and watching for
danger, that she may spring forth, on the first warning, to _rescue_ and
_save_.

* * * * *

[Illustration]

The Life-_Car_ is a sort of boat, formed of copper or iron, and closed
over, above, by a convex deck with a sort of door or hatchway through
it, by which the passengers to be conveyed in it to the shore, are
admitted. The car will hold from four to five persons. When these
passengers are put in, the door, or rather _cover_, is shut down and
bolted to its place; and the car is then drawn to the land, suspended by
rings from a hawser which has previously been stretched from the ship to
the shore.

[Illustration]

To be shut up in this manner in so dark and gloomy a receptacle, for the
purpose of being drawn, perhaps at midnight, through a surf of such
terrific violence that no boat can live in it, can not be a very
agreeable alternative; but the emergencies in which the use of the
life-car is called for, are such as do not admit of hesitation or delay.
There is no light within the car, and there are no openings for the
admission of air.[4] It is subject, too, in its passage to the shore, to
the most frightful shocks and concussions from the force of the
breakers. The car, as first made, too, was of such a form as required
the passengers within it to lie at length, in a recumbent position,
which rendered them almost utterly helpless. The form is, however, now
changed--the parts toward the ends, where the heads of the passengers
would come, when placed in a sitting posture within, being made higher
than the middle; and the opening or door is placed in the depressed
part, in the centre. This arrangement is found to be much better than
the former one, as it greatly facilitates the putting in of the
passengers, who always require a greater or less degree of aid, and are
often entirely insensible and helpless from the effects of fear, or of
exposure to cold and hunger. Besides, by this arrangement those who have
any strength remaining can take much more convenient and safer positions
within the car, in their