MOTOR LIFEBOATS
Turning to the more serious side of life, we find the marine motor still much in evidence. On account of its comparatively short existence it is at present only in the experimental stage in many applications, and time must pass before its position is fully established. Take, for instance, the motor lifeboat lately built for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Here are encountered difficulties of a kind very different from those of a racing craft. A lifeboat is most valuable in rough weather, which means more or less water often coming aboard. If the water reached the machinery, troubles with the electrical ignition apparatus would result. So the motor must be enclosed in a water-tight compartment. And if so enclosed it must be specially reliable. Also, since a lifeboat sometimes upsets, the machinery needs to be so disposed as not to interfere with her self-righting qualities. The list might easily be extended.
An account of the first motor life-saver will interest readers, so we once again have recourse to the chief authority on such topics—the Motor Boat—for particulars. The boat selected for experiment was an old one formerly stationed at Folkestone, measuring thirty-eight feet long by eight feet beam, pulling twelve oars, double-banked, and of the usual self-righting type, rigged with jib, fore-lug, and mizzen. After she had been hauled up in Mr. Guy's yard, where some of the air-cases under the deck amidships were taken out, a strong mahogany case, measuring four feet long by three feet wide and as high as the gunwales, lined with sheet copper so as to be water-tight, with a close-fitting lid which could be easily removed on shore, was fitted in place, and the whole of the vital parts of the machinery, comprising a two-cylinder motor of 10 h.p., together with all the necessary pumps, carburetter, electric equipment, etc., were fitted inside this case. The engine drives a three-bladed propeller through a long shaft with a disconnecting clutch between, so that for starting or stopping temporarily the screw can be disconnected from the engine. The petrol, which serves as fuel for the engine, is carried in a metal tank stored away inside the forward "end" box, where it is beyond any possibility of accidental damage. Sufficient fuel for a continuous run of over ten hours is carried. The engine is started by a handle fitted on the fore side of the case, which can be worked by two men. The position and size of the engine-case is such that only two oars are interfered with, but it does not follow that the propelling power of the two displaced men is entirely lost, because they can double bank some of the other oars when necessary.
Fitted thus, the lifeboat was tested in all sorts of weather during the month of April, and it was found that she could be driven fairly well against a sea by means of the motor alone; but when it was used to assist the sails the true use of the motor as an auxiliary became apparent, and the boat would work to windward in a way previously unattainable. Neither the pitching or rolling in a seaway, in any weather then obtainable, interfered at all with the proper working or starting of the motor, which worked steadily and well throughout. Having been through these preliminary tests, she was more severely tried. Running over the measured mile with full crew and stores on board, she developed over six knots an hour. The men were then replaced by equivalent weights lashed to the thwarts, and she was capsized by a crane four times, her sails set and the sheets made fast, yet she righted herself without difficulty. An interesting feature of the capsize was that the motor stopped automatically when the boat had partly turned over. This arrangement prevents her from running away from the crew if they should be pitched out. The motor started again after a few turns of the handle, so proving that the protecting compartment had kept the water at bay.
From this account it is obvious that a valuable aid to life-saving at sea has been found. The steam lifeboat, propelled by a jet of water squirted out by pumps below the water line, is satisfactory so long as the boat keeps upright. But in event of an upset the fires must necessarily be extinguished. No such disability attends the petrol-driven craft, and we shall be glad to think that the brave fellows who risk their lives in the cause of humanity will be spared the intense physical toil which a long row to windward in a heavy sea entails. The general adoption of this new ally will take time, and must depend largely on the liberality of subscribers to the fine institution responsible for lifeboat maintenance; but it is satisfactory to learn that the Committee has given the boat in question a practical chance in the open sea by stationing her at Newhaven, Sussex, as a unit in the lifeboat fleet.