nd
over end.

The boat resting on its carriage on the sands (Figure 1) shows the
relative position of the two. It will be seen, from that position, that
a very slight tip will suffice to cause the bow of the boat to drop
towards the sea. As its keel rests on rollers, comparatively little
force is required to launch it. Such force is applied by means of ropes
attached to the stern, passing through pulleys at the outer end of the
carriage, so that people on shore haul the ropes inland in order to
force the boat off its carriage seaward.

Once the boat has got fairly over the surf and out upon the wild sea,
her progress is comparatively safe, simple tugging against wind and sea
being all that has to be done until the wreck is reached, where dangers
of another kind await her.

I have now shown that the great qualities of our lifeboat
are--_buoyancy_, or a tendency not to sink; _self-righting_ power, or
inability to remain upside down; _self-emptying_ power, or a capacity to
discharge any water that may get into it; and _stability_, or a tendency
not to upset. The last quality I shall refer to, though by no means the
least, is _strength_.

From what has been already written about lifeboats being hurled against
wrecks and rocks, it must be evident that the strength of ordinary boats
would not suffice.

In order to give them the requisite strength of frame for their
tremendous warfare, they are built of the best Honduras mahogany, on
what is known as the diagonal plan--that is, the boat has two distinct
"skins" of planking, one set of planks being laid on in a diagonal
position to the others. Moreover, these planks run from one gunwale
round under the boat to the other gunwale, and have a complete layer of
prepared canvas between them. Thus great strength and elasticity are
combined, so that the boat can stand an inconceivable amount of
battering on wreckage, rocks, or sand, without being destroyed.

That this is really so I will endeavour to prove by referring in the
next chapter to a particular instance in which the great strength of one
of our lifeboats was powerfully illustrated.

It may be added, in conclusion, that the oars of a lifeboat are short,
and so made as to combine the greatest possible strength with lightness.
They are fastened to the gunwale by short pieces of rope, and work in a
moveable iron crutch on an iron thole-pin. Each boat is provided with a
set of spare oars. Her equipment of compass