Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 05.djvu/555

LEFT LIFE BUOY 479 LIFE-SAVING SERVICE peril or certain death to those within them. The qualities necessary in a life- boat may be thus summed up: Extra buoyancy, self-discharge of water, bal- lasting, self-righting, stability, speed, stowage-room and strength of build. 36-FT. SELF-BAILING AND SELF-RIGHTING LIFEBOAT LIFE BUOY, a buoy or float which is thrown overboard to sustain a person till assistance arrives. LIFE GUARD, the guard of a sov- ereign's person; a king's body guard- In the British army the name of life guards case of accident; a cork-jacket or inflat- able belt or waistcoat are ordinary de- vices for this purpose. They are prin- cipally made of cork, in the form c^ jackets and belts, or of india-rubber cloth belts or cylinders, which, when in- flated, are able to sustain a person above the surface of the water. The term life preserver has also been applied to a small weapon, about a foot long, made of twisted whalebone, and heavily loaded at each end. LIFE ROCKET, a rocket discharged from a life mortar; it carries a line intended as the means of opening com- munication between a ship in distress and those on shore. LIFE-SAVING SERVICE, a branch of the Treasury Department of the United States Government. The first stations of a life-saving service were established by the Massachusetts Hu- mane Society at Lovell's Island and Cohasset. All efforts for saving life and 5)roperty in cases of shipwreck were made by this society till 1837, when the President of the United States was au- thorized to employ ships to cruise along the shores and render assistance to dis- tressed navigators. William A. Newell, . afterward Governor of New Jersey, wit- DECK PLAN OF SELF-RIGHTING LIFEBOAT DIAGRAM OF 26-FT. POWER LIFEBOAT is given to two cavalry regiments of the Household Brigade. LIFE INSURANCE. See INSURANCE. LIFE PRESERVER, which, preserves, or is serve, life; specifically, to enable a gerson to one who, or that intended to pre- (1) a contrivance float in water in nessed a fearful shipwreck off Barnegat Island, and when elected to Congress in 1848 he introduced a bill for the relief of shipwrecked persons. The result of the passage of this bill was the placing of a few live-saving stations between Sandy Hook and Little Egg Harbor, N. J. From this beginning has grown