the
accident, which ought to have been prevented, would in all probability
have been saved. Neither he nor the life-buoy, however, could be
discovered before the night closed.

The life-buoy at present in use on board his Majesty's ships, and, I
trust, in most merchant ships, has an admirable contrivance connected
with it, which has saved many lives, when otherwise there would hardly
have been a chance of the men being rescued from a watery grave.

This life-buoy, which is the invention of Lieutenant Cook of the Navy,
consists of two hollow copper vessels connected together, each about
as large as an ordinary-sized pillow, and of buoyancy and capacity
sufficient to support one man standing upon them. Should there be more
than one person requiring support, they can lay hold of rope beckets
fitted to the buoy, and so sustain themselves. Between the two copper
vessels there stands up a hollow pole, or mast, into which is
inserted, from below, an iron rod, whose lower extremity is loaded
with lead, in such a manner, that when the buoy is let go the iron rod
slips down to a certain extent, lengthens the lever, and enables the
lead at the end to act as ballast. By this means the mast is kept
upright, and the buoy prevented from upsetting. The weight at the end
of the rod is arranged so as to afford secure footing for two persons,
should that number reach it; and there are also, as I said before,
large rope beckets, through which others can thrust their head and
shoulders, till assistance is rendered.

On the top of the mast is fixed a port-fire, calculated to burn, I
think, twenty minutes, or half-anhour; this is ignited most
ingeniously by the same process which lets the buoy down into the
water. So that a man falling overboard at night is directed to the
buoy by the blaze on the top of its pole or mast, and the boat sent to
rescue him also knows in what direction to pull. Even supposing,
however, the man not to have gained the life-buoy, it is clear that,
if above the surface at all, he must be somewhere in that
neighbourhood; and if he shall have gone down, it is still some
satisfaction, by recovering the buoy, to ascertain that the poor
wretch is not left to perish by inches.

The method by which this excellent invention is attached to the ship,
and dropped into the water in a single instant, is perhaps not the
least ingenious part of the contrivance. The buoy is generally fixed
amidships over the stern, where it is