An equal bulk of good horsehair will cost ten shillings. For the sake of the men's comfort, when the Admiralty experiments were tried, four years since, as they criticized the original cork mattress and wanted something more comfortable, I introduced about an inch thickness of hair on the top of the mattros. Such a mattress can be supplied to the men at about the same cost as their hair mattresses, and much cheaper if made in the dockyard. With the waterproof sheet between the hammock and the mattress, the hammock, as has been already said, has not only a permanent buoyancy of 60 lbs., but also a supplementary buoyancy, but not so permanent, of 60 lbs. more. The silor is perfectly familiar with the way of casting the clews of his hammock adrift. When the man is in the water he ties the clews round his waist, see Figs. B, C, or two men between two hammocks, see Fig. D, with their arms resting over them, are floated almost at their waists. The object of making hammocks buoyant is to enable men-of-wars' men to be saved by being floated for a short time when their ships have to be abandoned at very short notice, say in a few minutes. In some passenger ships the mattresses and cushions have, for years, been stuffed with cork, but, as yet, there is no obligation so to fit them. Of course, if there is time to launch rafts and lower boats, it would be madness to neglect them for buoyant hammocks. One of the speakers told us he could launch his raft in one second. Wonders will never cease: he may, perhaps, be able to invent a means of launching a raft in that time, but if he fails to do so, and I am a little suspicious of his success, it is surely advisable, and it is certainly thought so by many, that there be a means on board of saving, that is to say, floating for at least a short time, say a few hours, everybody on board. Such appliances should, evidently, be close at hand, available immediately, and, as far as I have seen at present, I do not know of any other means than utilizing the hammocks, which, in men-of-war, are generally carried on deck. The nettings ought always to be so fitted as to allow of the hammocks being easily extracted. We have had several cases of loss of menof-war, with, of necessity, almost immediate abandonment. I believe, in many cases, viz., Her Majesty's ships "Bombay," 'Orpheus," and others, a large number of the lives might have been saved if their hammocks had been made permanently buoyant. I feel perfectly confident, and I know my opinion is shared by a large number of experienced Officers,' that in the "Eurydice," if the hammocks

If the "Eurydice's" nettings were partially boxed in, as has been asserted, the hammocks would have been less easy to extract, but had they been buoyant many would have been got at after permission was given to do so, and for the future "boxing in" should be abandoned.

NOTE. Figs. E and F show the use of the calico waterproof sheets when the men are landed as a Naval Brigade. Sheets of a waterproof (india-rubber) material are issued to our troops in the tropics when campaigning. They are much smaller, much heavier, much more expensive than the stout calico sheets prepared with boiled oil, 8 feet by 4 feet in size, as recommended by me, and they do not stand

had been buoyant the men who were really standing on them, had their feet touching them, could have extracted many of them, while others would have extracted themselves and floated to the surface. Perhaps the hammock cloth was hauled over and secured, but this could have been cut adrift easily in a few seconds. Having been exercised when bathing, the men would have fastened their hammocks round them, see B and C, and floated safely for a number of hours, varying according to their physical powers of endurance; at all events, they would have had the same chance of being picked up as the two men who were lucky enough to come across the two life-belts in the water. After Commander Gilmore's lecture in this theatre, a

rough usage nearly so well, nor are they easily repaired; the short campaign in Malacca ruined them.

It will be seen that there is a light roping with beckets round each calico sheet. The sheet weighs, after being waterproofed and roped, less than 4 lbs.

The size selected by me, 8 feet by 4 feet, is sufficient to protect three men of moderate size from the damp when lying down on ground, prepared as in F with a surrounding ditch, and two sheets will form a tente d'abri.

The sheet affords a perfect protection as a cloak to men on sentry.

The Chinese, at Hong Kong and elsewhere, largely use waterproof preparations of boiled oil for clothing. The man I employed at Hong Kong to waterproof several sheets would not give me the receipt, but I ascertained that the ingredients were boiled oil, soft-soap, and bees-wax. I have tried experiments and found that one quart of oil, with which had been carefully mixed one ounce of soft-soap and one ounce of bees-wax, boiled down to two-thirds and rubbed into calico dried in two or three days, and after that was neither sticky in extreme heat nor stiff in cold-boiled oil when used alone will not stand extreme heat, but sticks. A thoroughly satisfactory waterproof sheet will enable the Commander-in-Chief, when organizing a naval brigade in the tropics, to dispense with great coats and blankets, provided the men are dressed in serge. The adoption of a satisfactory waterproof sheet for the Royal Navy will answer, therefore, two important purposes, viz., largely increase the buoyancy of the hammocks, and place our men in the same, I may go further and say in a much better, state of preparation for a campaign on shore than their brethren of the Army.

I have distributed round the theatre the annexed Circular of the Society of Arts. If the Council will allow it to be printed in their Journal, attached to Commander Gilmore's paper, of which paper and of the discussion here, it is one of the most important results-they will help to confer a great benefit, not merely on our Officers and men, but on the profession generally and the country at large. The Journal of the Royal United Service Institution penetrates where the announcement and offer of the Society of Arts will not reach unless attached as I suggest.-A. P. R.

Mr. Hely wrote to me and said that about thirty-two years ago (and I was able to substantiate all his statements) he brought an invention for saving life by means of waterproof covers to hammocks, &c., before the public, that Prince Albert inspected it at Portsmouth, and the Admiralty sent down Officers to report on it, also that he received the Isis Medal from the Society of Arts for it. Mr. Hely's invention, now over thirty years old, was really what I fancied had not been previously thought of, until I brought it under the notice of the Admiralty four years ago, viz., having a waterproof covering for each mattress. Mr. Hely crossed over to Calais on a raft made of these buoyant sacks, and he was the first person, as far as I know, who brought to a practical trial the obtaining buoyancy by having waterproof sacks, &c. I cannot help thinking a combination of the two is the best thing we could have, the cork mattress, which gives a permanent buoyancy of about 60 lbs., and, in addition, the more or less temporary buoyancy of the large waterproof sheet, not less than 8 feet by 4 feet, between the mattress and the hammock.

Mr. CULLIS: I may perhaps claim to occupy a few minutes of your time on the ground that I have devoted some attention to this matter, and have worked out some of the details of this raft of Mr. Roper's. For this reason I am very likely to be prejudiced in favour of it, but premising this, I wish to point out one or two weak points, as they seem to me, in the schemes before you. Señor de la Sala has brought forward a valuable and interesting invention, but the objection to this and similar schemes is that it does not meet the great difficulty and necessity of providing for the escape of a large number in a body, and of affording them some means of sustenance if shipwrecked in mid-ocean. I venture to say that death at once is almost more desirable than the prolonged torture endured by a man cast away in a tropical sea, perhaps, with his head kept above water. With regard to all these inventions for providing individuals with means of flotation, the weak point is that you provide for isolated units, but the raft system has the advantage of keeping them together, so that the strong are able to help the weak, and women and children stand some chance of escape, and then you have provisions at hand, which also is a very important point in favour of the raft. Other reasons can be urged why the raft or boat system is so preferable, such as the possibility of navigating such lifesaving apparatus and making for the nearest land. We have in the raft or boat system of Mr. Thompson, no doubt, a very ingenious one. I had the pleasure of seeing the first experiment to which Mr. Thompson has alluded, and I must confess that my satisfaction was somewhat marred by the upset of the boat on this trial. Of course such accidents are very liable to happen in first experiments, but it seems to be a grave objection to this scheme that you launch the raft and boat from so great a height. You must at least have seven feet under your beam to afford head room; that throws your launching apparatus up very high, and centred as the beam is amidships, you necessarily raise one end of the beam as much as you lower the other, throwing up one end of your raft to a great height and dangerously increasing the angle of your launchway. This difficulty is obviated in Mr. Roper's raft by lowering the launching beam from either end, as circumstances require, right down on to the deck, thus launching with a much gentler slope (just half the angle which the beam makes if centred amidships), and you have also the great advantage of the outboard sliding rails, which almost brings the launching end of your raft into contact with the water before the other end has left the ship. Then I think it must be patent to everybody that a raft of the dimensions and construction shown in Roper's model is very much less likely to capsize (indeed it is almost an impossibility) than any structure of the boat shape. You have also the advantage of making the very utmost of the room at your disposal. In Mr. Thompson's boat-raft you have rounded ends and bottoms, which, however advantageous for some things, involve some loss of space. It is obvious that, as compared with any boat-formed structure, the flat rectangular raft secures the maximum of buoyancy with the least demand upon the ship's space. Roper's raft is constructed on the cellular principle, which is the very best possible for gaining strength and buoyancy. But I think if, point by point, careful comparison be made of the advantages of the respective plans for instance-as to buoyancy, space occupied in proportion to the numbers carried, facility in launching, strength and stability, Mr. Roper's system would be found to have the advantage every way. On a raft of this size, you could carry

nearly 400 as against the 250 persons Mr. Thompson proposes to provide for. The weights of raft have been carefully calculated, so have the weights of passengers and provisions and the displacement; and I may very safely say that such a raft of these dimensions would accommodate 400 people with provisions and all appliances. Captain CROZIER, R.N.: May I ask the dimensions of the raft?

Mr. CULLIS: 40 by 20.

Captain CROZIER: You could not carry 400 people on it. I am under the im pression that the question of saving life which at the present moment we are discussing is not so much with regard to merchant ships as to ships of war in the event of collision or action, and I take it that that raft would be very little service to us in the event of a general action taking place. That raft in the first place would be liable to be destroyed by shot or shell. There is another thing to be said also as far as that raft is concerned. It is a very simple matter to lower it into smooth water, but when a ship is rolling 30 or 40 times a minute it becomes another question, because at the time the ship was rolling she would be more or less disabled, and she would roll possibly almost as much to windward as leeward. If it gets away from the ship what is to prevent it being smashed up by striking the ship as it meets the ship on the roll? How are the people to get on board? I take it the kind of thing we require is some means not so much for launching rafts (when there is no time to do it) but for the water to act upon a portion of the ship's deck and so float that portion away and allow the men to get on till assistance can be secured. We always as a rule place water and a certain amount of provisions in our boats ready for lowering, but I take it all the appliances we have seen, excepting the hammock which Admiral Ryder has spoken of, would only be of use to us under circumstances where we have nearly smooth water, or at all events when the ship was going down through a leak or anything of that kind, but not in a heavy gale of wind, with the ship rolling and I may say being perfectly unmanageable. I had the honour of commanding a small ironclad gunboat some time ago; she was divided into compartments, and the hatches which formed her principal safety were screwed down when the ship went to sea in order that the water should not get below, and so that she would have a certain amount of floating power. It seems to me there is very little difference except that these were iron. We might have a portion of our hurricane deck or quarter deck secured in such a way as in the event of a ship suddenly coming to grief, with a sharp knife or something of that kind a portion of the deck might be disengaged which would afford some means, at all events, of saving life. When the "Eurydice" was capsized, there were vessels in sight, and if a portion of the deck only could have been kept afloat, a certain proportion of her crew would have been saved. The appliances we have seen, although useful in merchant vessels, would be of little or no importance to us if the ships were engaged in a naval action.

Mr. ROPER: I think I have explained that for a man-of-war, my principle can be adopted to form the ordinary deck of a vessel; it is in my patent that a deck could be self-floating in case of foundering, and the tops of the deck houses also.

Mr. THOMPSON: Mr. Roper has made some observations as against my principle. I consider his a most inconvenient arrangement, because the structure stops the action of the deck absolutely. The fact is I get really and absolutely a nearer approach to the water than he does, and certainly more quickly. There is no appliance in mine except one single action. I object also to cutting the bulwarks. Mr. WOOD: One gentlemen spoke with regard to rafts in case of a ship in action being liable to be struck by shot or shell. Of course Mr. Roper has not placed before you a raft which is shot-proof, but by a simple mechanical arrangement, it can be lowered on to the deck, and I imagine it would then be protected from broadside fire. Besides that, even if struck, being partly composed of cork it would reain its buoyancy to a considerable extent. With regard to the launching of a raft 1 should imagine the weight of it would give it a velocity that would carry it almost clear of the ship.

The CHAIRMAN: I will say one or two words, which are these: that in this Institution we have no sympathy whatever with rival inventors. We are here to discuss a great object, that of saving life at sea under circumstances of difficulty and danger, and if gentlemen who come here would only recollect that what one invention may

supply in one direction may be still better supplied in another direction, they would not waste so much time in arguing a question which does not interest an Institution like this. It is quite clear to us on board men-of-war we have to consider a case in which the ship herself is not proof against shot, and still less in structure of deck. Her bulwarks would offer no protection whatever against such shot as would be directed against them. Under those considerations it may be easily seen how an Officer with the experience of Admiral Ryder, has chosen rather to advocate that which is not subject to those disadvantages. This hammock would unquestionably prevented a very large proportion of the loss of life that we all regret took place since I last occupied this chair. It is not a question to-day of what you would do if you had plenty of time, and how you would utilize well devised appliances, but it is what you should do in order that each man may feel (particularly on board a man-of-war) knowing when the ship is sinking from under him, and the boats are all shot to pieces, that there are still floating objects to which he may address himself in order to save what is left him his life. In a fleet action it is quite clear that there would be sufficient aid at hand to pick up those able to float about for a time. So generally in such cases as the " Eurydice," not far from land, subject therefore to heavy squalls which she might have passed through quite regardlessly had she been in the open sea, there was a position in which unmistakably these hammocks would have saved life. We all know that if a shot struck any machinery of that kind (pointing to a bridge-raft) you could not rely on the action of a single portion of it, a lever is bent, something goes wrong, and it won't work. But with a hammock no such objection exists; they are already in the hammock-nettings on the edges of the ship, and they are there detained by so very slight protection as to be easily got at by any seamen at any moment. The instant a sailor comes up on deck, finding his ship sinking under him, he is able to rush to his hammock, having been thoroughly drilled to the use of it, and knowing beforehand that it will afford him perfect safety. Under those conditions he retains the presence of mind which you would in vain seek for by any uncertainty whatever. With these few observations I will call upon Commander Gilmore to make whatever reply he deems necessary.

Captain CODRINGTON, R.N.: I have heard it stated several times in public that the hammocks were so exceedingly accessible, but I beg leave to call attention to the fact that the "Eurydice's" nettings were built in a wooden and not in an ordinary hammock box. I think Sir Leopold M'Clintock will bear me out in that, and the whole of the outer part of the netting is wood with iron bands over, and a very small portion of hammock cloth at all. It would be a very difficult matter to get the hammocks out of the netting. They could not float out, the men could not cut the cloth off, and under all ordinary circumstances it is necessary for the men to drag them out of the nettings.

The CHAIRMAN: All naval Officers present will recollect that that must be classed under extraordinary fittings.

Captain CODRINGTON: No, every man-of-war at the present time is fitted in that way. I do not know any ship that is not at the present moment.

Commander GILMORE: The short paper I had the honour of reading the other night was more for the purpose of creating discussion upon this very important subject than for the value of the paper itself. To-night we have had some very beautiful designs shown us for saving a number of men when there is time for launching a raft, or for saving individuals also in great number when Admiral Ryder's hammock is used. It is very strange that in this Institution we have models of every weapon for killing people, from the bow and arrow of the savage to the torpedo and the 600-pounder of this highly civilized age, but beyond the models here, there is not in the whole of this Institution any apparatus for saving life. I think it is a very extraordinary circumstance. I had hoped the discussion here might have found its way to the Admiralty. I believe, however, that there is no one here from that Department. I should like, however, to suggest to the Council, that a Committee should be formed to take this matter into consideration and bring it under the notice of the Admiralty. It is a most important subject, and I am very much obliged to all the gentlemen who have taken part in the discussion. I hope it may be productive of good.