es) was then staying
in Broadstairs, and an appeal being made to him, he wrote to the
`Times', and in one week received nearly twice the amount required. The
bill was paid, the men were liberated and brought home to their
families, and the balance of the amount, a considerable sum, was
invested, the interest to be applied to the rewarding of boatmen who, by
personal bravery, had distinguished themselves by saving life on the
coast."

CHAPTER FOUR.

CONSTRUCTION AND QUALITIES OF THE LIFEBOAT.

In previous chapters enough has been told, I think, to prove that our
lifeboats deserve earnest and thoughtful attention, not only as regards
their work, but in reference to their details of construction. It has
been said that the lifeboat possesses special qualities which
distinguish it from all other boats. Chief among these are the
self-righting and self-emptying principles. Stability, resulting from
breadth of beam, etcetera, will do much to render a boat safe in rough
seas and tempestuous weather, but when a boat has to face mighty rollers
which turn it up until it stands straight on end, like a rearing horse,
and even tumble it right over, or when it has to plunge into horrible
maelstroms which seethe, leap, and fume in the mad contention of cross
seas, no device that man has yet fallen upon will save it from turning
keel up and throwing its contents into the water.

Instead therefore, of attempting to build a boat which cannot upset, men
have deemed it wiser to attempt the construction of one which will not
remain in that position, but which will, of necessity, right itself.
The end aimed at has been achieved, and the boat now in use by the
Lifeboat Institution is absolutely perfect in this respect. What more
could be desired in any boat than that, after being upset, it should
right itself in a _few seconds_, and empty itself of water in less than
one minute?

A boat which does not right itself when overturned is only a lifeboat so
long as it maintains its proper position on the water.

Let its self-emptying and buoyant qualities be ever so good, you have
only to upset it to render it no better than any other boat;--indeed, in
a sense, it is worse than other boats, because it leads men to face
danger which they would not dare to encounter in an ordinary boat.

Doubtless, lifeboats on the non-self-righting principle possess great
stability, and are seldom overturned; nevertheless they occasionally
are, and w