3-074-651 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Launch of a life-boat in Manchester, 1883. 'Some interest was excited in Manchester on Tuesday week by the appearance of a life-boat in the streets, and its subsequent launch in the Rochdale Canal, near the London-road Station. This boat is the nineteenth presented to the Royal National Life-Boat Institution through the Manchester Branch. The crew of the Blackpool Life-Boat Station, in full costume, were in attendance to man the boat, which was accompanied, in the procession through the streets, by the brass band of the Certified Industrial Schools. Immense crowds lined the route, and the proceedings at the Rochdale Canal were witnessed by many thousands of spectators. The boat is the gift of Mrs. Charles Leigh Clare, in memory of her late husband; and the ceremony of naming was performed on her behalf by Mrs. S. L. Helm. The self-righting and self-emptying properties of the life-boat were practically demonstrated amidst the cheers of the assembled spectators. It was stated that the boats sent out by the Manchester Branch had been the means of saving 720 lives. Our Illustration is from a Sketch, taken on the spot, by Mr. Arthur L. Hewlett'. From "Illustrated London News", 1883.