The Duke of Northumberland’s silver Lifeboat by Garrard & Co, 1852

This solid silver inkstand is presented as a model of the Beeching-Peake SR (self-righting) Lifeboat. It has seven seats, plus flotation and storage lockers fore and aft which, having hinged covers and glass liners, act as inkwells. The covers are incised ‘Presented by the Duke of Northumberland to Isaac Watts Esq. assistant surveyor of the Navy’ and ‘For his valuable assistance in establishing Life Boats; 1852’. The hull is pinned to two silver supports which in turn rest on a wooden base. The masts and rudder are replaced, all within a glazed case. English, 1852.

In 1851 Algernon Percy, 4th Duke of Northumberland was persuaded to become president of the ‘Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck’. At the time the Institution was in dire financial straits. This, and the South Shields lifeboat disaster of 1849, in which 20 of the 24 Tyne’s river pilots were lost, determined the new president to sort things out. The Duke personally offered £100 to be won for the best design and model of a safe lifeboat, with a further £100 to finance her build. 

He put together a committee led by Baldwin W Walker, Surveyor of the Navy, with Isaac Watts, Assistant Surveyor, John Fincham, Master Shipwright of HM Dockyard Portsmouth and James Peake, Assistant-Master Shipwright of HM Dockyard Woolwich, Captain John Washington and Commander Arthur Jerningham. They had to make a selection from over 280 designs, several from outside the UK. They rated safety features on a points system in which ‘great designs for fenders, lifelines,’ etc earned 1 point, while 20 points went to ‘qualities as a rowing boat in all weathers’. The winning design with 84 points was submitted by James Beeching of Great Yarmouth. This design, with a few improvements by James Peake, became the RNLI’s standard lifeboat for over 40 years.