href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@42394@[email protected]#a-gallant-rescue">A GALLANT RESCUE

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE LIFEBOAT IN THE STORM . . . . . . Frontispiece

LAUNCHING THE LIFEBOAT

THE LIFEBOAT HOUSE

MEDAL OF THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION

NEWS OF A WRECK ON THE COAST

A RAMSGATE BOATMAN

AN OLD WRECK

SURVIVORS OF THE "INDIAN CHIEF"

A LIFEBOAT GOING OUT

SAVING THE CAPTAIN

A PERILOUS REFUGE

THEY BENT THEIR BACKS TO THE OARS

SIGHTING THE WRECK

LIVES IN PERIL

COMING ASHORE--"ALL SAVED"

The Lifeboat! oh, the Lifeboat!

We all have known so long,

A refuge for the feeble,

The glory of the strong.

Twice thirty years have vanished,

Since first upon the wave

She housed the drowning mariner,

And snatched him from the grave,

 

The voices of the rescued,

Their numbers may be read,

The tears of speechless feeling

Our wives and children shed;

The memories of mercy

In man's extremest need.

All for the dear old Lifeboat

Uniting seem to plead.

STORIES
of
THE LIFEBOAT

CHAPTER I.

MAN THE LIFEBOAT!

o Lionel Lukin, a coachbuilder of Long Acre, London, belongs the honour of inventing the lifeboat. As early as the year 1784 he designed and fitted a boat, which was intended "to save the lives of mariners wrecked on the coast." It had a projecting gunwale of cork, and air-tight lockers or enclosures under the seats. These gave the boat great buoyancy, but it was liable to be disabled by having the sides stove in. Though Lukin was encouraged in his efforts by the Prince of Wales--afterwards George the Fourth--his invention did not meet with the approval of those in power at the Admiralty, and Lukin's only lifeboat which came into use was a coble that he fitted up for the Rev. Dr. Shairp of Bamborough. For many years this was the only lifeboat on the coast, and it is said to have