had on their cork belts, and
were dragged ashore, though with difficulty; but three amateurs, who
were without belts, perished.

These two cases occurred in the day-time.

The third case happened at night--on a very dark stormy night in October
1858. A wreck had been seen about three miles off Dungeness, and the
lifeboat at that place--a small self-righting and self-emptying one
belonging to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution--put off, with
eight stout men of the coast-guard for a crew. On reaching the wreck,
soon after midnight, it was found that the crew had deserted her; the
lifeboat therefore returned towards the shore. On nearing it she got
into a channel between two shoals, where she was caught up and struck by
three heavy seas in succession. The coxswain lost command of the
rudder; she was carried away before the sea, broached to, and upset,
throwing her crew out of her. Immediately she righted herself, cleared
herself of water, and the anchor, having fallen out, brought her up.
The crew, meanwhile, having on cork belts, floated, regained the boat,
clambered into it by means of the life-lines hung round her sides, cut
the cable, and returned to shore in safety.

So much for the nature and capabilities of our lifeboats. We cannot
afford space to say more in regard to them than that they are the means,
under God, of saving many hundreds of human lives every year on the
coasts of the United Kingdom, besides a large amount of shipping and
property, which, but for them, would inevitably be lost. The noble
Institution which manages them was founded in 1824, and is supported
entirely by voluntary contributions.

Along with the lifeboat we may appropriately describe here another
species of vessel, which, if it does not directly rescue lives, at all
events prevents disaster by giving timely warning of danger. We refer
to:--

LIGHTSHIPS.

These floating beacons are anchored in the immediate vicinity of the
numerous sand-banks which lie off the mouths of some of the principal
ports of the kingdom, especially in England, and on other parts of our
shores. There are numerous floating lights around our coasts, marking
shoals on which lighthouses could not easily be erected. Their
importance to shipping is inconceivably great. The accompanying
illustration shows a vessel passing the lightship at the Nore. The
impossibility of shipping getting safely into or out of the port of
London without the guiding a