BENJAMIN W. WELLS.
are inventions for the preservation of life in cases of shipwreck. In the mercantile marine and passenger ships there are now life-belts for every passenger and every member of the crew. Buoys are car ried on the bridge and at the stern of most ships in the mercantile marine. Sometimes the handiest life-buoy is an empty water-cask, well bunged up and with ropes around it to hold on by. There are various kinds of buoyant pillows, life-jackets of india-rubber cloth and mat tresses. The cork-mattress can float three men in an upright position.
The life-belt commonly used was designed by Admiral Ward of England. It is made of cork covered with canvas and is both strong and buoyant. It has four separate compart ments, so that if one is punctured and bursts, the belt's buoyant power is not entirely de stroyed. Each life-belt must have sufficient extra buoyancy to support a man heavily clothed, with his head and shoulders above the water, and to enable him to support another person besides himself. It must be flexible in order to fit tightly to the wearer. There is a division between the upper and lower parts so that it can be securely fastened round the waist and will not impede breathing or the muscular action of the chest or arms. See LIFEBOAT; LIFE-RAFTS.
are various floating appa ratus for saving life in case of shipwreck. The primitive ones are merely square frames buoyed up by a cask at each corner. Empty water casks well bunged up are very ready and ef fective instruments of safety in shipwreck and should have ropes attached to them to hold on by. Frames of bamboo and inflated skins have long been in use as life-preservers among dif ferent nations, and contrivances more or less ingenious to preserve the buoyancy of the body in case of accidental immersion in water are re sorted to in all countries. Whatever is lighter i
than water, used on account of its buoyancy as a means of personal safety, may be consid ered a life-raft. A life-raft invented in Eng land in 1870 is triangular in shape and con structed of wood, cork and rope-netting. It has the advantage of being handy and could be easily hauled to and fro between a ship in dan ger and the shore. The typical modern life raft consists of two metal cylinders, usually cone-shaped on the ends, with a frame-work built between them. Owing to the large amount of air space in the cylinders, these have great supporting capacity and will carry all the peo ple who can climb on to or hang on them when m the water. Steamships prefer them to life boats because they can be stored in less space on board ship. Their character is regulated by the United States Steamboat Inspection Serv ice, and those for lake, and river steamers must have three and one-half cubic feet of air space to each person accommodated. For ocean steamships four and one-half feet must he pro vided. Another and less popular form of life raft consists of a copper compartment tube in the form of an 0, this being covered with cork and protected with canvas. A platform of slats and lines, oars, etc., complete the equip ment. Steamers are usually permitted to use rafts instead of boats for half or two-thirds of their life-saving equipment.