An essay on the preservation of shipwrecked persons : With a descriptive account of the apparatus, and the manner of applying it / [George William Manby].

  • Manby, George William, 1765-1854
Date:
1812
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the preservation of shipwrecked persons : With a descriptive account of the apparatus, and the manner of applying it / [George William Manby]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/120
    of the life boat. I have devised a simple method of giving to every kind of boat these advantages, and at a most inconsiderable expense. Thus every vessel provided with a boat so prepared, would possess within herself the power of preserving the life of any person fallen or washed overboard in a high wind and heavy sea. And boats around the coast, by the same means, may be converted into efficient life boats. The discoveiy that has last of all occupied my thoughts and attention, is by no means of the least magnitude; indeed it is likely to be attended with such valuable consequences to my country in every service, that it ranks highest among the productions I have the honour of submitting for public consideration. In the early stage of my inquiry, the intention was to secure a method of discharging a mortar with certainty in extreme wet and windy weather, which could not always be effected with the match; and when success¬ ful, it has often been attended with considerable diffi¬ culty and much w aste of time. The mode proposed has most completely succeeded; and as this method of dis¬ charging a gun in the most violent storm, and under any circumstance of humidity, being without the aid of fire, promised to be of the very first utility to both the navy and army, I hope to make it hereafter the subject of an useful work.