Several years previous to 1793, Mr Bremner, a Scottish clergyman • in the Orkneys, conceived it practicable to prepare a common ship boat in such a manner, as to be highly useful in cases of shipwreck. The expedient he proposes is, first, to load the bot tom or keel with a piece of iron for ballast of three hundred weight. Secondly, to secure -a quantity of cork, by lashings, sufficient to render any particular boatbuoyant ; or, where cork cannot be procured, to secure, in like manner' by lashings, •two•casks in the inside of the bow of the- boat; and other two in the stern, which shall have the same effect. In•pre paring a boat for this apparatus, four ring bolts must be fastened in the inside of the keel, one close to the stem, and another close to the stern, and each-of the remaining two a third of the whole'length from stem and stern. On the outside of the keel are to be two auger holes, through which ropes lashing the cork may be run and fastened 'to the ring bolts. " The quantity of cork necessary, which will depend on the size of the boat, is to be made up into several par. eels, but none larger than one person can easily ma nage. Each parcel to be properly secured and num; bered, so that the whole may fit and fill up the boat in the spaces betwixt the ring bolts fore •and aft, as above described ; and to answer the end, it is material that there should be cork enough to rise nearly three feet above the gunwales, so as to form an arch from gunwale to gunwale. The cork being thus laid in the boat, it is to be properly secu red, first, by passing a strong rope round all, over the gunwales and through the auger bore outside the keel : as also by passing seizing ropes from the ring -bolt in the stem to that next it in the keel, 'taking care to make as many turns and seizings betwixt these ring bolts as completely to secure the cork from slipping out. The very same thing to be done as to therope round the gunwales 'and through the -hole outside the -keel, with seizing ropes from the ring bolts, to be made aft, or in the stern of the boat." We readily agree with Mr Bremner, that, in ordinary circumstances, a boat-provided thus with buoyant substances, will neither sink aim. overset ; but theprevious condition of three hundred weight of iron for ballast, we acknowledge inspires us with well-grounded apprehension. ' Neither is there any
thing here to-enable the boat to encounter a boister ous sea,•which in all life boats we consider an indis pensible qualification.•"Ile buoyancy of a cargo-has preserved many vessels. In the deplorable accident which betel the Guardian frigate, she sunk until her decks were level-vith the water ; and when all her remaining crew expected to be instantly slvallowed• up in the ocean, to their inexpressible astonishment she still floated. But the decks of the vessel were strong, and there were empty casks within, which, exactly on Mr Bremner's principle, prevented her from sinking: We doubt not that in smooth water, and in certain cases of shipwreck, a boat provided with cork or casks may be useful ; yet we cannot forget that, without either, some open boats have sailed one, two, even above three thousand• miles through tempestuous seas. The Royal Humane Society awarded a premium for this expedient in 1800; and the Highland Society of Scotland, to which., the model of a boat prepared as above was transmitted, likewise testified their approbation by an honorary remuneration. We believe that more recently, Mr Bremner has submitted his expedient to the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, and that it has met with the like approval, though we are still ignorant of the particulars. The principal inferiority of this and the other life boats, compared with Mr Greathead's invention, consists in their be ing so much more easily injured, and in their remain ing serviceable only so long as entire ; whereas his boat may be grievously damaged, and still bring a crew safe ashore. In studying the best principles whereon a life boat should be constructed, great re gard is to be paid to those expedients adopted by shipwrecked mariners, who had few conveniences at command ; and to the causes which have been de structive of open boats or decked vessels at sea. See Greathead's Report of the Evidence respecting the Invention of the Life Boat. Transactions for the Encouragement of Arts, vol. x. 20, 25. Reper tory of Arts, vol. iii. 27. Transactions of the High land Society, vol. ii. (c)