On the top of the mast is fixed a port-fire, calculated to burn, I think, twenty minutes, or half-anhour; this is ignited most ingeniously by the same process which lets the buoy down into the water.  So that a man falling overboard at night is directed to the buoy by the blaze on the top of its pole or mast, and the boat sent to rescue him also knows in what direction to pull.  Even supposing, however, the man not to have gained the life-buoy, it is clear that, if above the surface at all, he must be somewhere in that neighbourhood; and if he shall have gone down, it is still some satisfaction, by recovering the buoy, to ascertain that the poor wretch is not left to perish by inches.

The method by which this excellent invention is attached to the ship, and dropped into the water in a single instant, is perhaps not the least ingenious part of the contrivance.  The buoy is generally fixed amidships over the stern, where it is held securely in its place by being strung, or threaded, as it were, on two strong perpendicular iron rods fixed to the taffrail, and inserted in holes piercing the framework of the buoy.  The apparatus is kept in its place by what is called a slip-stopper, a sort of catch-bolt or detent, which can be unlocked at pleasure, by merely pulling a trigger.  Upon withdrawing the stopper, the whole machine slips along the rods, and falls at once into the ship’s wake.  The trigger which unlocks the slip-stopper is furnished with a lanyard, passing through a hole in the stern, and having at its inner end a large knob, marked “Life-Buoy;” this alone is used in the day-time.  Close at hand is another wooden knob, marked “Lock,” fastened to the end of a line fixed to the trigger of a gunlock primed with powder:  and so arranged, that, when the line is pulled, the port-fire is instantly ignited, while, at the same moment, the life-buoy descends, and floats merrily away, blazing like a lighthouse.  It would surely be an improvement to have both these operations always performed simultaneously, that is, by one pull of the string.  The port-fire would thus be lighted in every case of letting go the buoy; and I suspect the smoke in the day-time would often be as useful in guiding the boat, as the blaze always is at night.

The gunner who has charge of the life-buoy lock sees it freshly and carefully primed every evening at quarters, of which he makes a report to the captain.  In the morning the priming is taken out, and the lock uncocked.  During the night a man is always stationed at this part of the ship, and every half-hour, when the bell strikes, he calls out “Life-buoy!” to show that he is awake and at his post, exactly in the same manner as the look-out-men abaft, on the beam, and forward, call out “Starboard quarter!” “Starboard gangway!” “Starboard bow!” and so on, completely round the ship, to prove that they are not napping.

After all, however, it must be owned, that some of the most important considerations, when a man falls overboard, have as yet scarcely been mentioned.  These are,—­