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MANBY, George William (1765-1854). An Essay on the Preservation of Shipwrecked Persons. With a Descriptive Account of the Apparatus, and the Manner of applying it. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Murray, 1812.
8o (224 x 141 mm). Woodcut title vignette and illustrations by J. Berryman after W. M. Craig in text, erratum leaf at end. Provenance: John Seebright (presentation inscription from the author); Robert Honeyman (his sale part V, Sotheby's London, 13 May 1980, lot 2125).
FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed by Manby on title: "Sir John Seebright, Bart. from the author." Manby's witnessed the shipwreck of the Snipe off Great Yarmouth during a strom in February 1807 and describes this "dreadful event" in his preface: "when His Majesty's gun-brig Snipe was driven on shore near the Haven's Mouth at Yarmouth, first made an impression on my mind, which has never been effaced. At the close of that melancholy scene, after several hours of fruitless attempt to save the crew, upwards of sixty persons were lost, though not more than fifty yards from the shore, and this wholly owing to the impossibility of conveying a rope to their assistance." "It occurred to him that the first thing, when effecting a means of rescue, was to establish communication with the shore. To this end he borrowed a mortar from the Board of Ordnance, and in August and September 1807 carried out some experiments before members of the Suffolk Humane Society" (DNB). By 1823 approximately 230 lives had been saved by his apparatus, and it's use extended to other countries.
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FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed by Manby on title: "Sir John Seebright, Bart. from the author." Manby's witnessed the shipwreck of the Snipe off Great Yarmouth during a strom in February 1807 and describes this "dreadful event" in his preface: "when His Majesty's gun-brig Snipe was driven on shore near the Haven's Mouth at Yarmouth, first made an impression on my mind, which has never been effaced. At the close of that melancholy scene, after several hours of fruitless attempt to save the crew, upwards of sixty persons were lost, though not more than fifty yards from the shore, and this wholly owing to the impossibility of conveying a rope to their assistance." "It occurred to him that the first thing, when effecting a means of rescue, was to establish communication with the shore. To this end he borrowed a mortar from the Board of Ordnance, and in August and September 1807 carried out some experiments before members of the Suffolk Humane Society" (DNB). By 1823 approximately 230 lives had been saved by his apparatus, and it's use extended to other countries.