A most admirable life buoy, for the preservation of men who may have the misfortune to fall overboard at sea, by day or night, has been invented by Lieut. Cook, R.N. and is so much approved, that the lords of the Admiralty have given orders that every ship in the royal navy shall be fitted with one. The buoy is so fitted to the stern or quarter of the ship, that in the event of an accident by night, it can be detached from its position into the water in about ten seconds, with a fusee at the head of the staff, giving a brilliant light, which a sea passing over it cannot extinguish. Ships may on these occasions frequently have to run a mile before they can sufficiently shorten sail so as to heave to with safety ; but the buoy having fallen close to the man, the light blazing above his head will direct the boat to the spot without loss of time : this is a most valuable feature in the invention, invaluable, as from the great difficulty of finding a man in the water in a dark night, under these circumstances, men have been left to perish when there has been every reason to conclude that they had reached whatever might have been thrown to their assistance. The apparatus consists of two
hollow copper spheres, connected together by a horizontal bar, through the middle of which is fixed, vertically, a strong staff, formed of a metallic tube; the upper extremity of this tube supports the fusee, and the lower portion contains the balance rod and weight, which drop out of the tube when the apparatus is released from the ship, and preserves it upright in the water ; the fusee is lighted at the same instant by a gun lock. The above cut represents the life buoy suspended at the stem of a vessel. In many ships, the cation with the triggers for firing and for letting it go, is so contrived, that the man at the helm can detach it without quitting his post. The following cut represents the life buoy in use, with the fusee' blazing over the head of the man, who is seen standing on the balance plate.