I remember, a quarter of a century ago, attending, in conjunction with its generous-hearted Chairman, the late Mr. Thomas Wilson, and its present excellent Chief Secretary, Mr. Richard Lewis, and other gentlemen, a meeting which had for its object the renovation of this noble and truly national institution. Its annual income was then only 150_l._; its income is now upwards of 40,000_l._ per annum! But it is only due to the foresight of Lord Cardwell to state that, seeing, when President of the Board of Trade, in 1854, the value that such an institution was likely to prove, he recommended a small Government subsidy to aid it during its struggle for existence. His approval, more than the money voted, was then of great advantage, and he must now look back with no ordinary satisfaction to his thoughtful and generous recommendation. Nor must I withhold from Government the credit due to it for establishing that almost equally valuable and useful contrivance, the Rocket Apparatus, managed by the Coast Guard, under the directions of the Board of Trade, and supported from the Mercantile Marine Fund. [145] I have frequently thought it would be desirable to institute an inquiry into _all_ losses at sea, where reliable evidence can be obtained. I should have every loss recorded, with a brief notice of the cause of loss, and this record should either be open to the inspection of the public, or published annually by order of Parliament. It would be instructive and valuable, and would, I think, tend to materially lessen disasters at sea, by distinguishing those which arose from unavoidable accidents and those which might have been avoided. Indeed, so strong are my convictions on this subject that, if spared for a few years longer (which I can hardly hope to be, as I am physically myself a wreck), I hope to write another book, to be entitled the ‘Annals of the Sea,’ giving an account of all disastrous shipwrecks, and calling attention to those which would not have happened had ordinary prudence been exercised.