Chapter 2

One of the most important duties of this Committee will be to combine, in a clear, concise, and well-digested system, the result of the joint knowledge and experience of the whole body, in plain and simple language, divested as much as possible of technical phraseology, and capable of being understood by every individual. This code of instruction should comprise the best and most prompt measures to be adopted in every sort of danger to which a vessel can be exposed, and on whatever kind of coast, in order that the most effectual assistance may be given, with the least possible loss of time, and with such means as in remote situations can most probably be obtained; and the Committee should be requested to report, from time to time, the result of those measures which they had found from experience to be most successful; whilst every friend to such a cause, who might suggest an invention or a means to facilitate these objects, would be certain, that in this Committee his plans would receive the most attentive consideration from those who would possess the power and the inclination to carry them into effect.

It will be desirable that this Committee should suggest the most eligible plans for permanent establishments in all sea-ports, road-steads, and resorts for shipping, and particularly on remote, wild, and exposed parts of the coast, where lifeboats, anchors, cables, hawsers, and the beneficial inventions of those enlightened and highly patriotic officers, Sir William Congreve, Captains Marryat, Manby, Dansey, Mr. Trengrouse, and various other meritorious individuals, should be kept in constant readiness for use, with every means for the preservation of lives in danger, and the assistance of vessels in distress, according to the nature of the coasts on which the respective depots may be established. The purchase, safe custody, and control over the stores of the Institution, their being deposited in places best situated for instant issue on every emergency, and always in a state fit for immediate service, are objects which demand the utmost circumspection and care.

This department is perhaps the most important of the whole--it is the operative; and on its judicious arrangements, the means of prompt and effectual efforts, the success of the most hazardous undertakings, the safety of those employed, and the rescue of those in peril, will unquestionably depend.

For these purposes, as well as every other connected with the Institution, the respective Committees proposed to be formed, in every port, and on every coast, will be of the most essential use. The zeal, and other requisite qualities, which the members of such Committees may naturally be supposed to possess, point them out as the most eligible persons to have the immediate direction of the measures to be adopted. From them also it is to be expected that the most experienced in nautical affairs may be selected to command.

To that department under which boats are to go out, and men are to risk their lives, for the rescue of those who may be in danger, the utmost attention is due: that, when they are so employed, it shall be under the direction of the most skilful advice which the occasion can afford; that their boats and equipments shall be such as best to insure their safety; and that the crews shall be selected from the bravest and most experienced persons who can be found.

To insure order and promptitude on these occasions, where the least delay or indecision may cause the loss of all opportunity of acting with effect, a previous and, as far as practicable, a permanent arrangement should be formed. Volunteers should be invited to enrol themselves from amongst the resident pilots, seamen, fishermen, boatmen, and others, in sufficient numbers to insure the greatest probability of having every aid at hand, which, in the moment of danger, may be requisite. Each man should have his department previously assigned, and the whole should act under their respective leaders.

To these regulations might be added a system of signals, equally available by night or by day, through which persons on board of vessels in distress could communicate the nature of the assistance of which they stood in need; and those on shore warn them of any danger, inform them of the succour they were going to afford, or give them any instructions requisite to their safety.

In addition to these means, a great source of assistance to vessels in distress might be secured to be at all times within reach, by permanent and judicious arrangements with pilot companies, steam vessels, anchor vessels, harbour boats, trawl and other fishing boats, which, under proper indemnities, and for reasonable remuneration, would doubtless at all times contribute their aid, and act under the regulations of the Institution; it might also be advantageous, on many parts of the coast, to give premiums to those owners of boats who should have them fitted up with air tight cases, casks or cork, so as to answer the purpose of life boats, and who should constantly keep them in that state, ready for immediate service.

At the same time care should be taken not to trammel by unnecessary regulations the spontaneous efforts of those, who, actuated by a generous ardour, on the emergency of the moment, seize on the first means which present themselves, and often accomplish their object in a manner which, to a cooler calculation, would appear impracticable.

To expect a large body of men to enrol themselves, and be in constant readiness to risk their own lives for the preservation of those whom they have never known or seen, perhaps of another nation, merely because they are fellow-creatures in extreme peril, is to pay the highest possible compliment to my countrymen; and that on every coast there are such men, has been fully evinced, even under the present want of system, when the best means for their purpose are not supplied; when they are without any certainty of reward; and act under the peculiarly appalling consideration, that if they perish, they may leave wives, children, and every one destitute who depend on them for support.

If, under such discouragement, we every year have so many instances of self-devotion, what might not be expected from the same men, when they knew that in the performance of their arduous duties, every possible means to execute them, with safety to themselves, and success to the objects of their efforts, would be supplied; that if they succeeded, they would be honoured and recompensed, according to their merits and situation in life; and if it were their lot to perish in so noble a cause, they had at least the consolation to know, beyond a doubt, that their families would not be left to deplore their loss in unassisted poverty?

To these objects the Institution ought unquestionably to extend, or it would be unworthy of the great country to which it belonged, and of the high patronage with which I hope it may be honoured.

Nor will I suppose that those whom I have specified are the only persons who will take an active part on such occasions. There is another class, who, from what I have individually seen, will, I am certain, become able and zealous leaders,--not only the employed, but the half-pay officers of the navy, now so widely spread over the coasts of the United Kingdom. Living in retirement in time of peace, they would not allow their energies to sleep when their brother seamen were in danger, but come forward with the conscious feeling, that those distinguished characters who preside over the British navy, would regard such meritorious services as being in the direct path of honour; and that to rescue a human being from the perils of shipwreck would not be less acceptable to their country than to subdue her enemies in battle.

The Romans rewarded with the civic crown those who had saved the life of a fellow citizen. Our late venerable sovereign conferred the baronetage on the gallant Viscount Exmouth, then Captain Pellew, for his noble and successful efforts, at the extreme hazard of his own life, to save the crew of an East Indiaman, wrecked at Plymouth, when the situation of every one on board appeared beyond the reach of human aid.

The whole class of the preventive service, with many departments of the revenue, could not be more honourably employed, and they must naturally feel that their brave exertions, on such occasions, would be fully estimated.

The assistance of medical men, who would enrol themselves to be ready to attend, might frequently be of the utmost importance to succour and restore those who might have sustained severe injury, or whose lives might be nearly extinct; and it is confidently to be hoped, that the happiest consequences would frequently result, from having always ready for use, the apparatus of the Royal Humane Society for restoring suspended animation--also by the circulation of their instructions for the treatment of persons in that situation.

There is not perhaps any subject connected with this proposed Institution, more worthy of its utmost attention and care, than the protection of persons and property from the cruel rapacity of those abandoned marauders, who, on some parts of our coasts, have but too long followed a practice disgraceful to a civilized state, and dangerous in its example as fatal to its victims, of plundering from wrecks, and there is much reason to fear, often suffering to perish, from want of assistance, many who might otherwise have been rescued from peril, and restored to their friends and their country; but by means of the numerous establishments of this Institution, the effects of a better example, the stimulus of rewards given for the preservation of life, the vigilant care and the vigorous measures which in such cases would unquestionably be pursued, it is confidently to be hoped that such atrocities would be heard of no more on our shores.

In time of war, it might be advisable that a limited number of known, steady, and brave seamen, who had already distinguished themselves on these occasions, should be protected from the impress, by belonging to this service. The number need not be large, as the retired veterans of the navy, and the fishermen on the coast, would constitute the majority to be employed.

The nature and extent of the recompenses for time and trouble, and the reward of those who hazard their own lives in the rescue of others, would form another important branch of the Institution for the labours of this Committee.

The qualifications for these rewards naturally form themselves into classes.

First, in case of successful efforts, where persons, at the risk of their own lives, save from imminent peril those of their fellow-creatures,--it should be established, beyond all doubt, that they should receive such reward for each life saved, as the Institution, on mature consideration, may determine. This might be fixed at not less than a certain sum, with power to extend it to a greater amount, to be decided by the Committee, according to the nature of the case; but, at all events, to the smallest of these rewards the parties to have an absolute claim, on furnishing unquestionable evidence of having saved a life.

In many cases of persons rescued from the wreck, saved amongst rocks, or when found washed by the breakers on shore, particularly on remote coasts, but too often exposed to scenes of lawless depredation, the parties should equally be entitled to reward.

Where lives are saved, without those employed hazarding their own, they should at least receive the smaller of the premiums conferred.

Rewards should also be given where every possible effort has been made, though unhappily without success.

When vessels are actually in distress, proportionate premiums should be given to the first, second, and other boats which get alongside, and for other assistance.

Remunerations should be given, and every inducement held out, for the prevention of plunder, and for the preservation of lives and vessels, in every situation of danger to which they may become exposed.

When a life is saved by a person who had been equally fortunate on a former occasion, his reward should be larger, and increase progressively for other successful efforts. In case of crime, the second offence is punished more severely than the first, and the third than the second. In meritorious acts, it were only sound policy that the rewards should bear a similar proportion.

Where an individual perishes in his attempts to rescue lives from shipwreck, or when assisting vessels in distress, his wife, children, or aged parents, if dependent on him for support, should have every relief which it may become practicable to give, and according to the particular circumstances of the case.

The Institution should also recompense for severe injuries, ascertained to have been unquestionably sustained in the actual performance of such services.

Ample and general powers should be given to confer rewards for such other acts as the Committee may consider justly entitled to them.

It might, perhaps, also be worthy the consideration of the Institution at large, whether any badge or medal conferred on a man who had saved a life from shipwreck at the hazard of his own, might not have a very powerful effect. To many minds, even in the humblest walks of life, such a recompense would be more acceptable than a pecuniary reward, whilst a laudable ambition might be thus excited in others to imitate so meritorious an example--thus holding out every species of inducement, to the brave and the generous--to the humble but humane, to render their utmost aid to the shipwrecked of every land, in the moment of their extreme distress.

To receive applications for rewards, to examine into the nature and extent of services performed, and to make reports, and forward certificates and recommendations to the general Committee, would become one of the most important duties of the local departments, on the judicious and faithful performance of which the honour and credit of the Institution would materially depend.

These appear to me to be the principal objects to which the attention of the Committees should be directed, in the original formation of the establishment, and subject to the decision of the general meetings of the Institution, to whom their reports should be submitted.

It is to be presumed that various parts of the interior of the United Kingdom will furnish considerable funds to the Institution, without calling upon it for any supplies; that many of the great sea-ports may perhaps raise means equal to the amount of their expenditure, in their immediate district; whilst there is a vast extent of the most rugged coast lying far distant from any prompt assistance, on which, above all others, vessels are exposed to the greatest danger. For such places, establishments could only be formed at a considerable expense; it being obvious, that from the solitude and remoteness of the surrounding country, only small pecuniary aid could be obtained; yet in these situations the seamen and fishermen ought to be stimulated by every possible incitement to take an active and decided part in the cause of humanity; since on these very coasts the vessels belonging to the most distant ports might be lost, and the relatives of those who resided in the very interior of the kingdom might perish. The cause, therefore, becomes common to all, and it will be of the highest importance to its success, that arrangements should be formed between the central Committee and the district associations, that, united in funds and in measures, they may as much as possible act in concert, in carrying the objects contemplated into the fullest effect through the whole extent of the British dominions.

How far it may be desirable to apply for an act of parliament, or to establish the Institution into a chartered association, will remain for the general Committee to decide, when the whole has assumed a distinct form. It is also probable that great advantages might result from the investigations of a Committee of the House of Commons into the insufficiency of the enactments and regulations now in force for the preservation of life, and the prevention of plunder, from vessels which may be wrecked within the jurisdiction of our laws.

I also venture, with deference, to recommend, that other maritime nations should be invited to form similar establishments, so far as accords with their respective laws and usages, and to concur in mutual arrangements with Great Britain for the reciprocal aid of the subjects and vessels of each other.

Nor is the universal adoption of this system more imperatively demanded, by those feelings which should incite us to afford the most prompt assistance to the people of every country who may be in danger of shipwreck on our shores, than it is consistent with a wise and enlightened policy, which should extend our views from our own immediate coasts, to the most remote quarters of the globe, and to every neighbouring state; more particularly from the entrance of the English Channel to the frozen regions of the North. And when we recollect the vast commercial fleets which the enterprise of our merchants adventures into every sea, and during every season; when more than a thousand sail of British vessels pass the sound of the Baltic each year; ought we not to bear in mind to what hazards the subjects and vessels of Great Britain are constantly exposed, on the whole of so extended a coast, and in every stormy and dangerous sea? and shall we not be wanting to them and to humanity, if we do not endeavour to obtain for our own shipwrecked countrymen, in every foreign land, the same effectual aid in the hour of danger, which, I doubt not, it will become one of the proudest objects of this Institution to extend to the vessels of every nation which may be in distress on the British shores?--Even during the most arduous prosecution of war, the cause of humanity, and the progress of civilization, would be eminently promoted by these noble and generous efforts, for the rescue of those, whom the fury of the elements had divested of all hostile character, and thrown helpless and powerless on a foreign coast.

Thus would nations be drawn by mutual benefits into more strict bonds of amity during peace, and thus might the rigours of war be ameliorated, by having one common object of benevolence remaining; in the exercise of which the jealousies and angry passions incident to a state of hostility could not have any part with a generous and a high-minded people; whilst the experience and penetration of liberal and enlightened governments could, without difficulty, form such arrangements as would prevent that which was intended as a benefit to mankind, from being made subservient to any political abuse.

My utmost wishes would be accomplished by seeing these international regulations established, in connexion with one great Institution, to extend to the most remote province of the empire, on the exalted principle, that wherever the British flag should fly, her seamen should be protected; and that those who risked their own lives to save their fellow-creatures from the perils of shipwreck should be honoured and rewarded; whilst every stranger, whom the disasters of the sea may cast on her shores, should never look for refuge in vain.

DOUGLAS, ISLE OF MAN, 28th Feb. 1823.

APPENDIX.

A year had scarcely elapsed after the first edition of the preceding Pamphlet was committed to the press, when the great object it recommended was accomplished, with an unanimity and a promptitude which the irresistible power of such a cause could alone effect, by the establishment of the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck;--district associations on a very extended scale have also been formed in the county of Norfolk, and on various other important parts of the coast, avowedly founded on the plan which this work had projected.

It has therefore become expedient, in the future circulation of this Pamphlet, to add a few pages, containing authentic statements of those proceedings by which the Institution was organized--how cordially this measure has been received and adopted, and how much in conformity with that outline which I had ventured to offer to the consideration of my country, these documents will best evince.

It will at the same time be seen, that the resolutions of the General Meeting do not extend to the remuneration of the Salvors of property in cases of shipwreck, where not immediately connected with the preservation of life, it having been the opinion of the Provisional Committee that the existing laws had already made such regulations as to render that measure unnecessary.

In reference to those passages which treat of the rewards to be conferred for services which may be performed, and more particularly as to the relief to be afforded to the destitute families of those who unhappily may perish in their attempts to preserve the lives of others, it will be obvious that the extent of such recompenses and relief must of necessity be guided by those means, which the liberality of the nation may supply--at the same time, I have the utmost satisfaction in stating the humane declaration of the Institution, that their operations will be limited only by the amount of those funds which may be placed at their disposal, or the number of cases calling for assistance; and I most sincerely concur in the confident hope which the Central Committee express, that the contributions may be so general as not only to give present effect, but also permanence, to this great national undertaking.

Honoured, as this Institution has been, by the high patronage of the King, and of his illustrious family--constituted a Royal Institution by his Majesty's gracious command--sanctioned by many of the most distinguished characters in the church and state, and sustained by the bounty of a generous nation--it is not for me to have the presumption to offer my acknowledgements, for that support which the cause of our shipwrecked fellow-creatures has obtained from the sovereign and the people of this great country.

But there are some names, the omission of which would be an act of injustice--the gentlemen of the Provisional Committee, who prepared the way for that success which attended the public meeting, over which his grace the Archbishop of Canterbury presided, in a manner as advantageous to the measures which he so essentially contributed to promote, as honourable to his own benevolent feelings; and the equally zealous members of the Central Committee, who now so ably conduct the affairs of the Institution, are eminently entitled to the warmest thanks of every friend of this cause, for their early and important exertions in its establishment, of whom I may perhaps be permitted to name Thomas Wilson, Esq. one of the representatives in parliament for the City of London, and George Hibbert, Esq. as having been amongst the foremost in affording their valuable co-operation in the formation of this Institution.

It only remains for me to express the heartfelt satisfaction which I experience, in witnessing the attainment of this object of my most earnest solicitude, and in the firm conviction with which I am impressed, that this Institution is now established on principles which will extend its beneficial effects to the most distant shores, and to generations yet unborn.

WILLIAM HILLARY.

May 29, 1824.

No. I.

_Circular, convening a preliminary and select Meeting, to consider of the Suggestions in the Pamphlet by Sir William Hillary, Bart. of an Institution for the Rescue of Lives from Shipwreck._

No. 33, New Broad Street, February 4, 1824.

SIR,