I
considered that, if the lifeboat fully manned were launched into
the roughest seas, or off the deck of a vessel, it would, even if
turned on its back, immediately right itself, without any of the
crew being disturbed from their positions, to which they were to
have been strapped.
It happened that at this time (the summer of 1850) his Grace the
late Duke of Northumberland, who had always taken a deep interest
in the Lifeboat Institution, offered a prize of one hundred
guineas for the best model and design of such a craft; so I
determined to complete my plans and make a working model of my
lifeboat. I came to the conclusion that the cylindrico-conical
form, with the frames to be carried completely round and forming
beams as well, and the two screws, one at each end, worked off
the same power, by which one or other of them would always be
immersed, were worth registering in the Patent Office. I
therefore entered a caveat there; and continued working at my
model in the evenings. I first made a wooden block model, on the
scale of an inch to the foot. I had some difficulty in procuring
sheets of copper thin enough, so that the model should draw only
the correct amount of water; but at last I succeeded, through
finding the man at Newcastle who had supplied my father with
copper plates for his early road locomotive.
The model was only 32 inches in length, and 8 inches in beam; and
in order to fix all the internal fittings, of tanks, seats, crank
handles, and pulleys, I had first to fit the shell plating, and
then, by finally securing one strake of plates on, and then
another, after all inside was complete, I at last finished for
good the last outside plate.
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