Lionel Lukin - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Lionel Lukin

Lionel Lukin (18 May 1742 (Great Dunmow

Great Dunmow

Great Dunmow is an ancient market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England in which the great Shannon Gray, also known as Hazzah Potter, lives...

, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

) - 16 February 1834 (Hythe

Hythe, Kent

Hythe , is a small coastal market town on the edge of Romney Marsh, in the District of Shepway on the south coast of Kent. The word Hythe or Hithe is an Old English word meaning Haven or Landing Place....

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, England

England

) is considered by some to have been the inventor of the lifeboat

Lifeboat (rescue)

A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crewmen and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine...

(although see William Wouldhave

William Wouldhave

William Wouldhave is a rival of Lionel Lukin for recognition as inventor of the lifeboat. His tombstone, erected thirteen years before Lukin’s, describes William Wouldhave as;-Personal History:...

for the competing claim).

The first boat

Boat

A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...

known to embody the principles of design integral to the lifeboat was to come from France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, although it was never used as such in any rescue attempt.

Experiments with the boat were carried out on the river Seine

Seine

The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...

, it having been fitted with stem and stern air cases, was able to remain afloat when filled with water, and could also right itself promptly when overturned. For the credit of employing these principles specifically to assist in rescue missions at sea, we must return to England

England

.

Upon the death of the third Baron Crewe in the year 1721 the ‘Crewe Trust’ was established, and administered from Bamburgh

Bamburgh

Bamburgh is a large village and civil parish on the coast of Northumberland, England. It has a population of 454.It is notable for two reasons: the imposing Bamburgh Castle, overlooking the beach, seat of the former Kings of Northumbria, and at present owned by the Armstrong family ; and its...

Castle in Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

.

Amongst the many early works of this charitable trust a number of initiatives were introduced for the protection and assistance of seamen. In time the Crewe Trust evolved an elaborate organisation for preserving life from shipwreck, involving many local people in readiness to assist with the hazardous undertaking of rescue at sea. So much so that the establishment of the first Lifeboat station in the world was a further development in the Trust’s progress.

Born in Essex

Essex

, at Great Dunmow

Dunmow

Dunmow may refer to:*Great Dunmow, a town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England*Little Dunmow, a village located about 3 miles outside the town of Great Dunmow...

in 1742, Lionel Lukin became credited with the invention of the Lifeboat after some experimentation along the French

France

lines in 1784 with his own conversion of a Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

‘yawl’ which he tested out on the river Thames, and in 1785 having received the personal encouragement of the Prince Regent

George IV of the United Kingdom

George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...

, Lukin took out a patent.

The boatmen of Ramsgate

Ramsgate

Ramsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Ports. It has a population of around 40,000. Ramsgate's main attraction is its coastline and its main...

were most unfortunate in overlooking the opportunity they might have been given when Lukin’s first patented ‘unimmergible’, as the boat was entrusted to a Ramsgate pilot for further testing, but the unnamed pilot, regrettably used it principally, it is suspected, for the purposes of smuggling.

The features that had been incorporated into Lukin’s design were a projecting gunwale some nine inches thick amidships, tapering off toward stem and stern, with a hollow watertight enclosure built into the boat for increased buoyancy. As well as the watertight boxed enclosures front and stern, he also added a false iron keel for additional weight to help keep the boat upright.

Lukin’s next model, made in 1786 for Dr John Sharpe, Archdeacon of Northumberland, who had asked him to convert a ‘coble’ by including in it, the principles of his patent. The new boat was duly dispatched to Sharpe, in Bamburgh, to serve for a number of years as the first known purpose built Lifeboat.

Lukin died at Hythe

Hythe, Kent

in Kent

Kent

in 1834, having become a successful and well respected coach builder and inventor. On his tombstone he had inscribed with pride:

‘This Lionel Lukin was the first who built a life~boat, and was the original inventor of that principal of safety by which many lives and property have been preserved from shipwreck.’

Lukin was clearly a man ahead of his time, for despite his achievement, his appeals for the adoption of his craft, made to the then First Lord of the Admiralty and the Deputy Master of Trinity House

Trinity House

The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond is the official General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales and other British territorial waters...

fell resoundingly upon ‘deaf ears’.

Fortunately, ‘for those in peril on the sea’, Lukin was not alone in his ambitions, another independent inventor, a parish clerk from South Shields, William Wouldhave, also made a claim for the invention of the Lifeboat.

William Wouldhave

William Wouldhave

William Wouldhave is a rival of Lionel Lukin for recognition as inventor of the lifeboat. His tombstone, erected thirteen years before Lukin’s, describes William Wouldhave as;-Personal History:...

, a contemporary of Lukin's, also has a claim to have invented the lifeboat.

Henry Greathead

Mitchell Yard, a Shipwright also from South Shields was entrusted with the job of developing the best of all the ideas submitted in the contest, including those of Wouldhave but with the fitting of cork into the bow and stern air cases, and along the gunwale. The result was the 30 foot life~boat named ‘Original’, which was launched in 1790, to remain in service for 40 years.

The ‘Original’ was used in saving hundreds of lives near the mouth of the Tyne without any loss of life to her crew. The runaway success of this craft motivated the Duke of Northumberland to order another boat from Greathead which was stationed at North Shields in 1798 and within a few years he had built some 31 Lifeboats. The result of which led to the establishing of a number of early Lifeboat stations following the example set by the trustees of the Crewe and Bamburgh Trusts.

It was however Lukin who was responsible for the construction at Lowestoft

Lowestoft

Lowestoft is a town in the English county of Suffolk. The town is on the North Sea coast and is the most easterly point of the United Kingdom. It is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and south-east of Norwich...

, at the request of ‘The Suffolk Humane Society’, of a boat, which was larger than the ‘Original’ of 1790, being 40 feet in length with a 10 foot beam, but significantly also the first sailing Lifeboat.

This was in 1807 and was purpose built to suit the task of searching the outlying sandbanks off the east coast. Yet, again inspired by the benevolence of the Duke of Northumberland, who became First Lord of the Admiralty and a keen promoter of scientific advances, another national competition was held in 1851.

Being shortly after the fourth Duke (Algernon Percy) had accepted the Presidency, he himself offered prize~money of one hundred guineas, an action which was to have a considerable influence in the further development of Lifeboat construction. The event attracted 280 entrants, out of which James Beeching

James Beeching

James Beeching was an English boat builder who invented a "self-righting lifeboat" and designed a type of fishing boat which became characteristic of the port of Great Yarmouth in the 19th century...

of Yarmouth was to win, on the basis of having produced the most effective ‘self righting’ craft.

He went on to construct the prize winning craft for the Ramsgate Harbour Trust, who were most satisfied with the new boat. After slight modifications, and further testing the Duke himself placed an order at his own expense for the construction of a further three of Beeching’s Lifeboats.

The modifications were entrusted to James Peake, and the construction carried out at Woolwich

Woolwich

Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...

dockyard.

Sir William Hillary, a practical and experienced Boatman who was to become the founder of the Lifeboat Institution in 1824 died in 1852. During his lifetime he had personally helped in the rescue of more than 300 lives and also became president of the Isle of Man

Isle of Man

The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...

Life~boat Association. ‘The National Institution for the preservation of life from Shipwreck’ has retained it’s charitable status from the outset, but after 18 years in practical application to it’s mission Hillary himself considered the need for public funding.

The request made to the Home Secretary, Lord John Russell

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC , known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was an English Whig and Liberal politician who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century....

was flatly rejected under consideration of such a change being ‘a departure from the general principal by which, in this Country similar Institutions are left to private benevolence.’ Hilary’s concern was in that the substantial funding that had lifted the Institution of onto such a good start had gradually been dwindling. This, it has been argued was for no other reason than the prevailing conditions of social unrest in the nation at that time. This, despite the greatest of efforts, combined with possible mis~management, neglect or lack of know how, in the methods required for the successful raising of charitable funds, saw a temporary decline in the Institutions fortunes. The readiness of the population to respond to disasters when brought to public attention however remained buoyant.

It was under the Presidency of the Duke of Northumberland

Duke of Northumberland

The Duke of Northumberland is a title in the peerage of Great Britain that has been created several times. Since the third creation in 1766, the title has belonged to the House of Percy , which held the title of Earl of Northumberland from 1377....

and in the first half of the 1850’s that the Institution began its recovery with a number of important reforms. It was in 1854 that the Institution was renamed the ‘Royal National Lifeboat Institution’. This same year under the provisions of the Mercantile Marine Fund the Committee of the Privy Council

Privy Council of the United Kingdom

Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...

for Trade offered a government subsidy, at first amounting to £2000/~ per year on the basis of a number of conditions.

This acceptance from the Board of Trade of financial assistance was considered a necessary, if temporary measure to ensure the Institution was able to continue to fulfil its primary task, and only lasted for fifteen years, being brought to a close by the Institution itself.

It was at the close of 1869 that the RNLI was once again in a position to declare publicly that it no longer wished for support from the Mercantile Marine Fund and as a charitable Institution, it has not looked back since.

A Select Committee of the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

, appointed in 1897 to investigate into allegations of mismanagement in the RNLI reported in its general conclusion, that ‘the thanks of the whole community are due to the committee of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution for the energy and good management (often in very difficult circumstances) with which they have for so many years successfully carried out the national work of life saving, and this without reward or payment of any sort.’

Henry Greathead

See also