Sitting of 10 June 1811

PETITION OF MR. GREATHEAD RESPECTING HIS LIFE BOAT.
A Petition of Henry Greathead, of South Shields in the county of Durham, Boat Builder, was presented, and read; setting forth, "That, in the year 1789, the Petitioner built at South Shields a boat upon a new construction, for the purpose of saving seamen from shipwrecK, and affording assistance to ships in distress in making the harbour, which boat being found by experience to have attained those important objects, obtained by general consent the name of the Life Boat; and that the Petitioner, not having secured to himself any pecuniary advantage by the exclusive right of making and vending such boats, the House, after a minute examination of evidence as to the utility of the Life Boat, the originality of the invention claimed by the Petitioner, and the remuneration he had received, did, on the 9th day of June 1802, resolve that a sum, not exceeding 1,200 l., be granted to his Majesty, to be paid to the Petitioner, as a reward for his invention of the Life Boat, whereby many lives had already been saved, and great security was afforded to seamen and property in cases of shipwreck, for which distinguished reward the Petitioner will ever entertain a deep sense of gratitude; and that the great utility of the Life Boat has been confirmed and established by continued experience since the year 1802, many lives and frequently ships having in each succeeding year been saved from destruction by means of the Life Boats at South Shields and most of the places where they have been stationed; and that, since the year 1802, the Petitioner has built boats for the following places, viz. Guernsey, Newhaven, Plymouth, Arbroath, Pillan, Exmouth, Constradt, Rye, Penzance, Whitehaven, Stettin, Riga, Dantzic, Cromer, Leith, Bridlington, Charleston in America, Frazenburgh, Gottenburgh, San Lucar in Spain, Montrose, Dunbar, Blyth, Spurn, and Heligoland; and also, by the directions of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, five other Boats of a smaller construction; and that the fees and expences attendant upon the proceedings in parliament during the investigation above-mentioned, together with the charges and deductions to which the receipt of the money was subject, reduced the said sum of 1,200 l. voted to the Petitioner the

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net sum of 850 l. or thereabouts; and that, from the situation of affairs in Europe, whereby the commercial intercourse with the continent became greatly interrupted, the Petitioner has been prevented from executing orders which he received from the continent for building several Life Boats, and for which he had provided the necessary materials, that he has since been obliged to convert to other purposes, at a great loss; and that the Petitioner, having for upwards of twenty years almost exclusively employed his time and attention towards improving the construction and promoting and facilitating the use of the Life Boat, his former trade or business of a boat builder was necessarily sacrificed in the ardent pursuit of these objects, and the building of Life Boats having now, for some time past, been almost suspended, the Petitioner finds himself deprived of any adequate means of support; and that the remuneration which the Petitioner has received from the public, and the profits which he has received from the building of Life Boats, after deducting his neccssary expences, and making a reasonable allowance for the loss of his trade, have not, according to the best computation which the Petitioner is able to make, hitherto yielded to the Petitioner any clear profit or emolument, or if any, only of very inconsiderable value or amount; and praying, that the House will be pleased, in consideration of the premises, to grant some further remuneration to the Petitioner."
Ordered to lie upon the table.