nstruction for
their use. "The keepers ought to understand these as well as all other
apparatus in the station, and under the new management they usually
do. The keeper here is an old wracker, and has 'good judgment of
the sea,' as Jacob would say. _He_ never made harness or friends in
Congress," the captain threw in with fine satire. "If the ship can
be reached by a boat, this lifeboat is run into the surf. It moves on
wheels, you see, and in two minutes ought to be launched and the men
aboard. This ridge on the outside is an air-tight chamber for giving
buoyancy. Here are the oars swung in place and the buckets for
bailing, as you see."

"Is this the English lifeboat?"

"No, sir. Two years ago the service imported a lifeboat and rocket
apparatus from England to test them here. The lifeboat was found to be
nearly perfect, but too heavy for launching on our flat beaches with
light crews: she weighed four thousand pounds. This boat was invented
by Lieutenant Stodder."

"But if the sea be too heavy for the lifeboat to live in it?"

"Then we give the ship a line: the ball is fired from this mortar, the
line being fastened to the shot by a spiral wire. Mortar, powder and
matches are set, you see, ready for instantaneous use. The ball must
be shot so that the line falls over the ship. Not an easy mark to hit
in the night and the storm driving. Sometimes it is not done until
after many trials: sometimes, as in the case of the Giovanni, it
cannot be reached at all. I saw the Argyle go down eight years ago
with all on board, after we had tried all night to reach her. One man
was washed ashore, and we made a rope of hands out beyond the first
breaker, and so got him in."

"The men farthest out on the line had not much better chance than he?"

"No, but the man had to be got in," carelessly. "I was going to say
that as soon as the line does fall over the ship it is hauled
aboard. There is a hauling-line fastened to it, and a hawser to the
hauling-line. Here they all are in order. When the hawser reaches the
ship it is made taut and secured to the mizzentop or mainmast, high
enough to swing clear of the taffrail. It is fastened on shore by
this sand-anchor. Then we send over the breeches-buoy," pointing to a
complete suit of india-rubber very similar in appearance to that used
by Paul Boyton. "One man can be sent safely to shore in that. But we
use the life-car most frequently."

"A boat?"

"You may call it a covered boa