"Your suggestion in the _Cornishman_ of the 15th instant ... that all vessels should be compelled by the Board of Trade to carry this apparatus, is very practical, and should, and I trust may, be soon adopted. "It may interest your readers to learn that the inventor, my grandfather, the late Mr. Henry Trengrouse, of Helston, urged this upon successive Governments without any encouragement whatever, and I on two occasions have also suggested it to the principals of the Marine Department of the Board of Trade, who have informed me of a strong opinion always entertained, that on the occasion of wreck, there would probably not be any one on board possessing sufficient knowledge of the use of the apparatus to render it of any value; which seems very strange indeed, and might be readily obviated by, at least, the captain and officers of vessels being instructed in its use--surely simple enough. My grandfather devoted much time to make it so; and the advantage of an appliance for use on board is so palpable, and the loss of life during many years by its absence so considerable, that it is extremely gratifying to observe a renewed and increasing interest in the subject, which I hope, Sir, as you state, being so important, may now be kept to the fore. "I am, Sir, "Your obedient servant, "H. TRENGROUSE." That this admirable letter to the _Cornishman_ should at the time produce no effect on the Board of Trade is what every one who has had any dealings with that Board would predicate. At length, however, some goading has roused that obstructive, inert body into inquiring into this matter. I read in the _Daily Express_ of 27th January, 1908: "The question whether the carrying of rockets for projecting lifelines should be made compulsory on all British ships is being investigated by a special committee appointed by the Board of Trade. One witness before the committee said that he had seen fifty men drowned within sixty yards of the shore in a gale, and that all might have been saved had the vessel been equipped with line-throwing guns." So--after the lapse of eighty-six or seven years, and the loss of thousands of lives that might have been saved had not the Board of Trade been too inert to move in the matter--an inquiry has once more been instituted. Let us hope that after this inquiry the matter may not be allowed to fall again into neglect. That the rocket _fired from the shore_ has been already the means of saving lives, the following report on it made to the Board of Trade, for the year ending 30th June, 1907, will testify:--