AN
ESSAY
ON THE
PRESERVATION
OF
SHIPWRECKED MARINERS,
IN ANSWER TO THE PRIZE-QUESTIONS
PROPOSED BY
THE ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY:
“1. What are the best Means of preserving Mariners from Shipwreck?—2. Of keeping the Vessel afloat?—3. Of giving Assistance to the Crew, when Boats dare not venture out to their Aid?”

By A. FOTHERGILL, M.D. F.R.S.

Member of the Royal College of Physicians, Lond.

Honorary Member of Medical and Phil. Societies of Lond.

Edinb. Paris, Manchest. Philadel. &c.

Delightful task!—to soften human woe,

“’Tis what the happy to th’ unhappy owe.”

LONDON:

Printed for the Society by John Nichols,

And sold by Johnson, Dilly, Hookham;

And at the Libraries in Bath, Bristol, &c.

1799.

(Price Two Shillings and Sixpence.)

TO THE

KING’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY,

PATRON

OF THE ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY:

TO THE

RIGHT HONOURABLE THE PRESIDENT,

THE VICE PRESIDENTS,

THE TREASURER,

AND MEDICAL ASSISTANTS,

THIS ESSAY,

IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,

BY THEIR VERY OBEDIENT,

AND FAITHFUL SERVANT,

THE AUTHOR.

LONDON, March 19, 1799.

At a special Meeting of the Directors of

THE ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY;

Several of the Elder Brethren of the Trinity House being present; the Prize Essays, on preserving Mariners from Shipwreck, were read; when the following RESOLUTIONS passed unanimously:

I. That the ingenious Essay which has for its motto, “Delightful task, to soften human woe,” &c. is a very able and scientific performance, happily enlisting Philosophy in the cause of Humanity.

II. That, as the precautions which it so earnestly impresses may tend to prevent the fatal disasters of shipwreck, and to preserve the lives of British seamen, its publication, especially at this eventful period, will be peculiarly interesting; and that, therefore, the permission of the Author be requested.

III. That, on opening the sealed packet, annexed to the above mentioned Essay, the Author appears to be Dr. Fothergill of Bath.

JOHN NICHOLS, Chairman.

TO
THE COURT OF DIRECTORS.

Gentlemen,

Since you were pleased to crown my former Dissertation with your Honorary Gold Medal, I must now, (agreeably to what I long ago hinted,) beg leave to decline any share in your present pecuniary premium. In obedience, however, to your second resolution, respecting the publication of this Essay, I submit to your superior judgement. Since it has been honoured with your sanction, I have re-touched it throughout, in hopes of rendering it more worthy of your approbation. In compliance, therefore, with your obliging request, it now ventures, though not without diffidence, to meet the public eye.

As the naval force of Great Britain is computed to consist of not less than eight hundred ships of war; while her commercial fleets, and trading vessels of various denominations, surpass those of all other nations, disasters at sea, particularly at this juncture, are most seriously to be deprecated. So great, indeed, is the aggregate value of her ships, with their respective cargoes and merchandise, that it can hardly be estimated. Great as it is, however, it can bear no competition with the lives of British seamen on board; yet between them and a watery grave is hourly interposed, only a thin partition of brittle planks!

The present subject, therefore, involving the lives of thousands of our fellow-subjects, and property to an amount almost incalculable, is perhaps one of the most momentous that can, at this time, engage our attention. When, under the signature of a Life Director, I first submitted this question to your consideration, as perfectly congenial to your life-saving institution, it was chiefly with a view to call forth the abilities of ingenious writers and experienced navigators. If the present Essay should ultimately contribute to so important a purpose, by opening a new path of inquiry, I shall think the labour well bestowed.

“Vice fungar cotis.”

No philosophical work written expressly on shipwreck having yet reached my notice, the subject to me, appears to be novel, and in a manner untouched.[^[1]] The following sketch, undertaken amidst a variety of avocations, though much short of what I could wish, is yet the best I could produce in so short a time, and with so few materials.

[1]. In contriving various means of forming a line of communication with the shore, that some of the methods proposed by me may have occurred to others, is not improbable, as has been hinted respecting Mr. Bell’s experiment. Had the anonymous writer in a late Morning Chronicle, who claims it as the discovery of another anonymous writer, and published eight years ago in an Anonymous French Journal, brought forth any thing MORE NEW or MORE PRACTICABLE than what originally appeared in this Essay, when read before the Society in March last, it would assuredly have afforded me much pleasure to have announced it.

But who the original inventor is, if not Mr. Bell, or in which of the numerous French Journals the supposed discovery is recorded, “this deponent saieth not.” Therefore,

——“Si quid novisti rectius istis,

Candidus imperti, si non his utere mecum.”

Doubtless the Author may be accused of rashness, in thus venturing out of his native element, and in quitting, at once, terra firma, to encounter the dangers of the deep, and to brave the still more stormy sea—of criticism!

Presuming, however, on your wonted candor, that you, my Lords of the Admiralty (in other words, my Supreme Judges), will not be extreme to mark what may seem amiss, I here cheerfully submit to your inspection, my logbook, charts, and such implements as appear necessary to render sea-voyages less perilous, and, in case of shipwreck, to save the lives and property of unfortunate mariners in the hour of distress.

TOTHE COURT OF DIRECTORS.

TO
THE COURT OF DIRECTORS.