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'olume XLVI Number 466 Winter 1978/79 25p

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THELIFEBOAT

Winter 1978/79

/^ /"\y%-f /•*y» -f o' Notes of the Quarter, by Patrick Howarth 75

Lifeboat Services 77

V OlUine XL V1 Offshore Lifeboat Services, June, July and August 1978 82

Number 466Knockdown 83

Lifeboat People 87Chairman:MAJOR-GENERAL R. H. FARRANT, CB

Naming Ceremonies: Lerwick and Dungeness 88Acting Director and Secretary:JOHN R. ATTERTON, MBE Letters 89

175 Years 90Managing Editor:PATRICK HOWARTH Building a Rother Class Lifeboat: Part X—Engines and superstructure

,. fitted: Steering system 92

JOAN DAVIESShoreline 94

Headquarters:Royal National Life-boat Institution, Sweet William, by Rosemary Whitten 95West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH151HZ (Telephone Poole 71133). „ ... ,. „ . . ,, „_Some Ways of Raising Money 97

London Office: Book Reviews 102Royal National Life-boat Institution,21 Ebury Street, London SW1W OLD(Telephone 01-730 0031). Inshore Lifeboat Services, June, July and August 1978 105

COVER PICTURE

When HM The Queen, accompanied byPrince Edward, visited Orkney in August,coming ashore from the HMY Britannia atScapa Pier, the crew of Stromnesx lifeboatwere presented to her by Captain MagnusWork, DSC, honorary secretary of Kirkwallstation branch: (I. to r.) Coxswain AlfredSinclair (hidden). Second Coxswain RobertScott, Motor Mechanic R. Stewart Taylor,Assistant Mechanic William Sinclair, JamesAdam and Michael Flett. The photographwas taken by Gunnie Moberg.

Editorial: All material submitted forconsideration with a view to publica-tion in the journal should be addressedto the editor, THE LIFEBOAT, RoyalNational Life-boat Institution, WestQuay Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 1HZ(Telephone Poole 71133). Photographsintended for return should be accom-panied by a stamped and addressedenvelope.

Next issue: the spring issue of THELIFEBOAT will appear in April and newsitems should be sent by the end ofJanuary. News items for the summerissue should be sent in by the end ofApril.

Advertisements: All advertisingenquiries should be addressed toDyson Advertising Services, PO Box 9,Godalming, Surrey (TelephoneGodalming (04868) 23675).

Subscription: A year's subscription offour issues costs £1.40, including post-age, but those who are entitled toreceive THE LIFEBOAT free of chargewill continue to do so. Overseas sub-scriptions depend on the cost of post-age to the country concerned.

73

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NOTES OFTHE QUARTER

by Patrick Howarth

THE EXPERIENCES of a number oflifeboats in the severe gales last winterled to the appointment in February,1978 of a working party to examinewhat more could be done to reduce thedangers facing lifeboat crews inextreme conditions. Vice-Admiral SirArthur Hezlet was appointed chair-man. The working party was chosen toallow for an exchange of views be-tween committee and staff membersand others with extensive first-handexperience of service in lifeboats,including John King, the formerBridlington coxswain.

In addition to the formal meetingsdiscussions were held with crew mem-

bers from Kilmore Quay, where thelifeboat was capsized twice on Christ-mas Eve last year, as well as from StIves and Torbay, whose lifeboatsexperienced some of the worst of thestorm conditions.

The main subjects discussed werelifejackets, the design of seats and seatbelts, the provision of safety lanyardsand protective helmets, and traininggenerally. Evaluation trials of a numberof items of equipment will be carriedout before final decisions are made.

Governors' subscriptionsAs recently as 1970 the annual cost

of running the lifeboat service was lessthan £2 million. In 1978 the cost is morethan £8 million: a rise of more than 400per cent. Yet during those eight yearsno changes were made in the subscrip-tion rates for governors of the RNLI.Last spring, however, after extensivediscussions at the annual general meet-ing of the governors, it was agreed thatthe need for subscription increaseswould be well appreciated by lifeboatsupporters. The following proposal wascarried unanimously:

'The governors of the Institution shallconsist of the persons who at January 1,1979, shall already be life governors orwho thereafter shall have subscribed tothe funds either one sum of £150 orupwards, or by an annual payment of £15or upwards, and of such other persons asshall be elected to be governors by ageneral meeting, as having renderedessential service to the Institution, andshall be entitled to vote at all generalmeetings.'

While it is hoped that those memberswho are already governors will wish toincrease their contributions, whetherthey do so or not they will continue toreceive copies of the journal and aninvitation to the annual presentation ofawards.

(Right) When HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother visited Hastings last June all thelifeboat crew and launchers were introduced to her. Coxswain Joe Martin (behind HerMajesty) presents ILB crew members II. to r.) Peter Thorpe, Christopher Chapman,Anthony Hodgson and Anthony Barnard. photograph by courtesy of G. Horton

At the Earls Court, European Offshore Petroleum Exhibition last October, HRH TheDuke of Kent, president of the RNLI, discusses with Leverton Engine DivisionalManager Ron Jones the lifeboat photographed, Aberdeen's 54ft Arun B P Forties, whichhas two Caterpillar 343 engines. H. Leverton have supplied all Caterpillar engines fittedto Arun class lifeboats.

As we were going topress we were deeplyshocked to hear of thesudden death after ashort illness of CaptainNigel Dixon, QBE RN, thedirector of the Institu-tion. A full announce-ment will be made in thenext issue of the journal.

Value added taxConcern has understandably been

felt by lifeboat supporters recentlyabout the application of VAT to thelifeboat service and in particular aboutits effect on the work of branches andguilds. This is a complex subject andone on which the RNLI officials havebeen having long and friendly discus-sions with Customs and Excise officialsto determine how the RNLI and itssupporters, who must of course remainstrictly within the law, can suffer theminimum impact from the tax.

The RNLI already enjoys zero-ratingon the building and repairs of bothoffshore and inshore lifeboats. Fromthe discussions now in progress it ishoped that the burden placed on RNLIvoluntary workers in terms of paper-work will be reduced and simplifiedand that the outcome of these discus-sions can be communicated to them inthe New Year.

Lifeboat centresThe RNLI has now established a

number of important repositories oflocal history in the form of museumsand display centres. In addition to theolder established museums such as

1

75

Brian Potts (I.), who came ashore in 1976after 16 years at sea as an engineer officerin the Merchant Navy, presents a paintingto Eastbourne Lifeboat Museum. It wasaccepted by Alderman Cecil Baker <c.), sta-tion honorary secretary, and CoxswainDerek Huggett fr.>.

those in Eastbourne and Bamburgh anumber of boathouses, which wereformerly needed for operational pur-poses, now house attractive displays.Among those drawing the largestnumber of visitors are Cromer andExmouth. The old Whitby boathousehas the distinction of housing the onlyRNLI pulling lifeboat in this countrywhich has been preserved in her origi-nal condition. The number of these dis-play centres is growing steadily, largelythrough local initiative. A recentlyopened example is that at Southwoldwhere a former water tower has beentaken over.

The east coast of England has a largenumber of museums and displaycentres. Scotland is represented byDunbar and Portpatrick, and Wales byBarmouth.

A number of national museums alsoinclude lifeboat models and equipment,perhaps the best examples being thosein the Science Museum in South Ken-sington and the National MaritimeMuseum in Greenwich.

Unfortunately we are unable, toannounce the times of opening of thevarious centres. They are in practicemanned by volunteers who cannotalways guarantee to keep these centresopen at the times they would wish.

Cof MVice-Admiral Sir Arthur Hezlet, KBE

CB DSO DSC DL, Lt-Cdr Jeremy Tetley,RN (Retd), and William T. Bishop, CBEFRICS, have been elected vice-presidents of the Institution.

Vice-Admiral Sir Arthur Hezlet ischairman of the Search and RescueCommittee and also serves on theExecutive and Boat Committees; hejoined the Committee of Managementin 1970 and he is an RNLI representa-tive on the Government Search andRescue Committee. Lt-Cdr Tetleyjoined the Committee of Managementin 1967 and also serves on the Medicaland Survival Committee. Mr Bishopjoined the Committee of Managementin 1969; he was previously chairman ofthe Fund Raising Committee and is

chairman of a special committee whichwas set up to deal with construction ofthe new offices and depot when theRNLI moved the administration fromLondon to Poole.

Two new members recently joinedthe Committee of Management: Pro-fessor Sir George Algernon Smart, BScMD FRCP, who joined the Medical andSurvival Committee in 1971 and is theInstitution's honorary medical consul-tant, and Cargill Sandeman, chairmanof Glasgow branch and a life-longsailor.

'Right Way Up'Tremendous interest was caused by

'Right Way Up', an exhibition staged atthe Science Museum, South Kensing-ton, last summer which told the storyof the self-righting lifeboat. Mountedby the RNLI in a gallery provided freeof charge by the museum, it marked thetwentieth anniversary of the introduc-tion of the first modern self-rightinglifeboat at Scarborough in 1958. Visi-tors, many of them children and youngpeople, came not only from all parts ofGreat Britain and Ireland but also fromoverseas and, during the two monthsthe exhibition was open, it was esti-mated that about a quarter of a millionpeople passed through.

Arthur Gardner spent much of his summerholidays helping at the Science Museumexhibition.

Jack Chambers, exhibition manager,was helped by voluntary branch work-ers as well as by RNLI staff based inLondon. Some of the most loyal sup-port came from young Arthur Gardner(above); he helped for over a monthduring his school holidays and soonearned the nickname 'The Governor'!A number of Shoreline members wererecruited, foreign coin was collectedand, with donations and the sale of alimited range of small souvenirs, about£4,000 was raised.

The exhibition is to be remounted atthe National Museum of Wales, Car-diff, from May 16 to 22.

Cdr MichelmoreCommander T. G. Michelmore, QBE

RD RNR, who died in October 1978joined the RNLI from the P and OCompany in which he was serving assecond officer in RMS Rawalpindi. Inthis ship he met HRH The Prince ofWales, then president of the RNLI,who was at that time returning in the

vessel from one of his world tours.In World War I Cdr Michelmore

served with the Royal Navy and hisfirst post with the RNLI was as North-ern District inspector in 1930. Hemoved to the Eastern District in 1941and was appointed deputy chief in-spector in 1945. He became chiefinspector in 1951, retiring from theInstitution at the end of June 1958.

Cdr Michelmore brought to the postof chief inspector an encyclopaedicknowledge of lifeboats, their crews andthe local committees who administerthe stations on the coast. He was thelast of the chief inspectors with pre-war, and war-time, experience ofRNLI organisation and perhaps hasturned a quizzical eye on some of thepost-war innovations. Nevertheless, hewas fully aware of the inevitability ofchange and had a true seaman'sadaptability. E.W.M.

The qualities I remember most clearlyin Cdr Michelmore were fairness and asense of duty. I never knew him fail ineither.—P.H.

RemembranceBy invitation of the Royal British

Legion the lifeboat service was rep-resented at the Festival of Remem-brance at the Albert Hall on SaturdayNovember 1 1 , 1978, by CoxswainThomas Jones who has served in thecrew of Hoylake lifeboat for over 40years and as coxswain for the past four.

Northern LightsHRH The Duchess of Kent has agreed

to become Patron of 'Northern Lights',the National Festival of FlowerArrangement organised by TheNational Association of FlowerArrangement Societies of Great Brit-ain, to be held at The Winter Gardens,Blackpool, on May 9 and 10. Part of theproceeds from the festival will bedonated to the'RNLI, whose presidentis the Duke of Kent. Members from theIsle of Man flower clubs will be staginga special exhibit as a tribute to theRNLI, which was founded in 1824 bySir William Hillary, who lived atDouglas.

Information from Mrs MargaretHardman, 3 Stratford Avenue, Wal-mersley, Bury BL9 5LB.

'Men of the Year'Coxswain John Petit of St Peter Port

attended the 'Men of the Year' lunch-eon at the Savoy Hotel on WednesdayNovember 8. Coxswain Petit wasawarded a second bar to his bronzemedal for the rescue of the crew of fourof the French yacht Canopus onNovember 11/12, 1977, and a silvermedal for the rescue of two men fromthe oil rig Orion on February 1, 1978.

When you have finished withyour journal, please pass it onto a friend . . .

76

South Eastern Division

Capsized yachtWHILE CROSS CHANNEL FERRY Viking

Venturer was entering the NeedlesChannel on Monday evening July 3 shereported at 2002 the sighting of a cap-sized and semi-sunken yacht fivecables south of Bridge Buoy. Therewas no sign of life aboard. An SARhelicopter was immediately scrambledand at 2006 Needles Coastguardrequested the launch of Yarmouthlifeboat. Accordingly at 2015 the 52ftArun Joy and John Wade launchedwith Coxswain/Mechanic David Ken-nett in command.

There was a strong breeze to neargale, force 6 to 7, blowing from thesouth west, the sea was moderate torough and the tide was flooding. Visi-bility, good generally, was reduced toonly fair in occasional rain squalls.

While the lifeboat was on her waythe helicopter located the 17ft yachtTurpina and put a diver aboard who,having searched the cabin, reported nosign of life. The position was fixed anda rate of drift established. The helicop-ter then began a search of the Needlesarea and as far west as Anvil Point, butfound nothing.

Arriving on scene at 2038, Yarmouthlifeboat began a box search of the areauntil dusk, but found nothing. Withdark approaching it was decided toabandon the search and to take in towthe yacht, now drifted to some 3'/2cables off Tennyson's Cross nearFreshwater, Isle of Wight.

Coxswain Kennett manoeuvred thelifeboat close to Turpina which waslying with her stern only out of thewater and showing a freeboard of some12 inches. A grapnel was thrownaboard and the yacht taken in tow, butit was only a matter of moments beforethe tow line broke out from the yacht.The tow was again made fast and, asthe lifeboat got under way, the bow ofthe yacht was lifted clear of the water;only then was it realised that a bodywas caught in the rigging. As soon asspeed was reduced the bow sank oncemore and in the near gale now blowingfrom west by south and the rough sea itwas not possible for the body to berecovered by the lifeboat crew. (It was

On exercise: Joy and John Wade, the 52ft Arun stationed at Yarmouth, Isle of Wight.photograph by courtesy of HMS Daedalus

in fact established that this yachtsmanwas in the habit of securing himselfwith a lifeline to mast or rigging whenworking forward.)

A second helicopter, from HMS Nor-folk, relieved the SAR helicopter andtried to land a crew member aboard theyacht, but this manoeuvre also provedimpossible in the prevailing weather.Moreover, with the radio equipment itcarried on board, this helicopter wasable to communicate neither with thelifeboat nor with the Coastguard.

The lifeboat resumed the tow andwhen just into a slight lee around theNeedles the line broke out again. Asbefore, the broken mast, sails and rig-ging around the yacht made it impos-sible to get close enough to secure atow line properly without risk of foul-ing the lifeboat's propellers.

With the slight lee, sea conditionsimproved marginally and CoxswainKennett called for volunteers to manthe Y class small powered inflatable totake a tow line across to the yacht.Crew Members Stuart Pimm andRichard Downes volunteered and, withthe lifeboat steaming slowlv ahead intowind and sea, launched the inflatable.With Stuart Pimm at the helm they

closed the yacht and on the secondattempt managed to secure a line to oneof her cleats. The tow was resumed butalmost as soon as the strain was takenon the warp it again broke out; theweight of the three-quarters submergedboat was too much for the cleat and itsheared.

The crew took their boat alongsideand using their anchor as a jury grapnelmanaged to wedge it into the cabin.The tow was started once again and theinflatable was recovered, not withoutdifficulty in the rough weather. Thelifeboat then headed back to station at2'/2 knots, escorted for the last mile orso by the Police launch Ashburton. Sheentered Yarmouth Harbour at 0130 andmanoeuvred the yacht alongside thejetty, helped to right her and extricatethe body before returning to her moor-ings and being made ready for serviceagain by 0300.

For this service framed letters ofthanks signed by Major-General RalphFarrant, chairman of the Institution,were presented to Crew MembersStuart L. Pimm and Richard Downes.Letters of thanks signed by CaptainNigel Dixon, director of the Institution,were sent to Coxswain/Mechanic

77

David G. Kennett, Second Cox-swain/Mechanic Brian D. A. Miskin,Assistant Mechanic Nicholas G.Chandler, Second Assistant MechanicRobert R. Cooke and Crew MembersAlan Howard and Maurice A. Pimm.

South Eastern Division

Thick fogTHE WATCHMAN at St Aldhelm's HeadCoastguard heard sounds of a vesselstriking the rocks below his lookout inthick fog at 2145 on Thursday July 13.Without delay he alerted the Coast-guard Cliff Rescue Company and, at2157, requested, through the dutydeputy launching authority, the launchof Swanage lifeboat. Twelve minuteslater the 37ft 6in Rother J. ReginaldCorah launched into the fog with Sec-ond Coxswain/Mechanic Victor Marshin command. It was low water and thewind was variable force 0 to 1.

Course was set to take the lifeboatabout a mile south of Durlston Head toclear the numerous trots of lobster potbuoys inshore and by 2225 the lifeboat,using radar for blind pilotage in visibil-ity that was at best 50 feet, was abeamof Anvil Point making best possiblespeed. Half an hour later she reachedthe position where the casualty wasthought to be, approaching from almostdue south, and began to search.

Meanwhile, by 2245, three coast-guards of the cliff rescue team had beenlowered to the base of the sheer cliff.They found the yacht, Carillion ofWight, with a damaged rudder. Hercrew of six were all uninjured.

Visibility had closed to a maximumof 15 feet and the young flood tide nowrunning at over 3 knots towards theeast was bringing up a moderate groundswell making probes in between therocks at the cliff foot very difficult;they had to be made athwart the tidewhich carried the stern away to star-board. There were also many singlelines of lobster pot buoys laid in thearea. Visibility was practically nil andat such short distance from the shoreradar was no help, so Acting CoxswainMarsh asked the casualty to sound herfog horn to help him in his search.

After six attempts to find the yachtamong the rocks, during which thelifeboat had grounded several timesand had once been brushed against arock on the starboard quarter by a long,heavy swell, Acting Coxswain Marshprudently manoeuvred some 20 to 30feet to seaward, clear of the rocks, and,at 0012, anchored in about 5 feet ofwater. He then ordered the inflatabledinghy to be made ready.

It was estimated that the lifeboat was60 feet off the casualty. The dinghy,secured to the breeches buoy veeringline, was launched. Second AssistantMechanic George Bishop, acting motormechanic, and Crew Member Chris-

topher Haw then rowed between therocks to the yacht; a difficult task in theground swell and thick fog. Theyreached the yacht by 0020, however,and while Acting Motor MechanicBishop remained in the dinghy CrewMember Haw climbed aboard Carillionof Wight. Two of the crew were helpedinto survivors' lifejackets and thenhelped into the dinghy. With a secondveering line made fast to the dinghy andtended by Crew Member Haw aboardthe yacht, the dinghy was hauled backto the lifeboat. By 0045 all six peoplehad been taken off in this way and weresafely aboard the lifeboat.

The cliff rescue team also asked to betaken aboard the lifeboat, as the climbback up the cliffs would have beendangerous i,n the persisting fog. So, at0050, the inflatable dinghy secured toveering lines was rowed ashore by Act-ing Motor Mechanic Bishop andEmergency Mechanic Ian Marsh andthe three coastguards were taken offthe rocks and out to the lifeboat.

The dinghy was then rowed backagain so that Acting Motor MechanicBishop could join Crew Member Hawto see if it would be possible to refloatthe yacht and tow her off. An attemptwas made to bail her out but, when itwas found that she was making watertoo fast for the pump to keep pace withthe leak, two anchors were run out tosecure her and she was abandoned.

The dinghy was hauled back to J.Reginald Corah for the last time and at0255 the lifeboat recovered her anchorand course was set for station. She wasalongside her slipway at 0410. Theyacht's crew and the cliff rescue teamwere landed and given hot tea. Whilethe coastguards were picked up bytheir own transport, the yacht's crewspent the remainder of the night in thecrew room and were given breakfastnext morning by Mrs Gloria Marsh, thesecond coxswain's wife.

The lifeboat was rehoused and readyfor service by 0455.

For this service framed letters ofthanks signed by Major-General RalphFarrant, chairman of the Institution,were presented to Second Coxswain/Mechanic Victor A. C. Marsh, SecondAssistant Mechanic George W. Bishopand Crew Member T. ChristopherHaw. Letters of thanks signed by Cap-tain Nigel Dixon, director of theInstitution, were sent to AssistantMechanic Phillip J. Dorey, EmergencyMechanic Ian P. Marsh and CrewMembers Walter E. Bishop and JohnE. Corben.

North Western Division

MFV ashoreRAMSEY COASTGUARD, Isle of Man,

informed the honorary secretary ofPort Erin lifeboat station at 0616 onSaturday, June 17 that the 70ft motorfishing vessel Incentive on passage

from Whitehaven to Kilkeel with acrew of six aboard, had gone ashoresouth of Port Erin and needed help.

The weather was fine with good visi-bility, a moderate to fresh breeze, force4 to 5, was blowing from the north eastand the sea was rough when, at 0635,Port Erin's 37ft 6in Rother lifeboatOsman Gabriel launched and set out atfull speed. Half an hour later she cameup with the casualty ashore on therocks at the foot of a 250ft sheer cliff onCalf Island, some two-and-a-half tothree miles west south west of PortErin.

Incentive's port side and bilges weredamaged and she was taking in water.A line was passed and secured and withthe fishing boat's engines going asternthe lifeboat made three attempts, allunsuccessful, to haul her clear. WithIncentive starting to flood badly, thewind freshening and backing to thenorth and the tide now ebbing, Cox-swain Peter Woodworth decided totake off the crew from the fishingboat's stern. As the big swell runningmade this a hazardous task, the six menembarked on a liferaft which was pul-led to the lifeboat. By 0800 they wereall safely aboard. The six men weredisembarked at Port Erin and thelifeboat then returned to her station andwas rehoused at 0855.

For this service a letter of thankssigned by Captain Nigel Dixon, direc-tor of the Institution, was sent to Cox-swain Peter Woodworth and his crew.

South Eastern Division

Injured menA HANG GLIDER crashed on the rocks ofBeachy Head and the pilot badlyinjured was reported to Eastbournelifeboat station by Fairlight Coastguardat 1524.on April 23. Eight minutes laterthe D class ILB was launched and,crewed by Helmsman Colin Burdenand Crew Member David Corke, setout at full speed. The day was fine withgood visibility but a fresh to strongbreeze, force 5 to 6, was blowing fromthe north east and the sea was choppy.It was 4'/2 hours after high water.

As speed was reduced to negotiatethe confused sea at Head Ledge thehang glider was sighted on the rocksnear Falling Sands and at 1546 the ILBwas beached 150 yards from the pilot, aFrenchman, who was being treated formultiple injuries by ambulancemen andpolicemen. The two lifeboatmen helpedto carry the casualty on a stretcherover the big rocks and down to thewater's edge, where he was wrapped inprotective plastic sheets. To helprelaunch and give extra ballast PoliceConstable Anthony Kemp volunteeredto embark as third crew member, andhe put on the extra gear and lifejacketwhich had been brought in the boat.

At 1553 the ILB was dragged off therocks until she floated and then, while

78

Newhaven: At 2003 on Monday July 3 HMCoastguard informed Newhaven lifeboatstation that the German coaster Arosette,two miles south of Beachy Head, hadbroadcast a 'mayday' calling for immediatehelp. Newhaven's 44ft Waveney lifeboatLouis Marches! of Round Table slipped hermoorings at 2012. Reaching the positiongiven at 2105 she found the car ferry Senlacstanding by Arosette which had a very-heavy list to starboard. Her deck cargo oftimber had shifted. With a south-west galeforce 8 blowing and very rough sea, hercrew were cutting away lashings to releasetimber overboard using gear passed fromSenlac. The lifeboat passed over some ofher gear and eventually the list was cor-rected to about 20 degrees. Arosette setcourse under her own steam for Shorehamescorted by Newhaven lifeboat until at 0015her master advised that all was well. East-bourne lifeboat had also launched and stoodby. These photographs of Louis Marches! ofRound Table standing by Arosette weretaken from Senlac.

she was held steady by David Corke,the casualty was carried out. Twominutes later, with the injured mansafely aboard, the ILB set off slowlythrough the choppy sea; once clear ofthe confused, rough water at HeadLedge, speed was increased to half.

The ILB was safely beached at thelifeboat station, where help was mus-tered, at 1635 and the casualty transfer-red to an ambulance. The ILB wasrehoused and once again ready forservice at 1645.

For this service a letter thankingHelmsman Colin Burden and CrewMember David Corke signed by Cap-tain Nigel Dixon, director of theInstitution, was sent to Alderman CecilFrank Baker, station honorary sec-retary Eastbourne, and a letter signedby Captain Dixon thanking Police Con-stable Anthony Kemp was sent to theChief Constable of Sussex Police.

A few weeks later, on May 28, apleasure boat was returning from alighthouse trip when her crew, SecondCoxswain/Assistant Mechanic RonaldWheeler spotted a man on the rockssignalling that somebody was injured.Unable to help, he returned to East-

bourne and notified Coxswain/Mechanic Derek Huggett.

At 1555, once again with HelmsmanColin Burden and Crew Member DavidCorke as her crew, the ILB waslaunched and set off at full speed forBeachy Head. The weather was finewith good visibility, a gentle easterlybreeze and slight sea. The tide washigh.

Ten minutes later a man was seensignalling from the top of an old cliff fall15 feet up from the sea. It was not pos-sible to beach the ILB because of largerocks at the base of the fall and a fourto five foot swell, so she was anchoredoff and veered down as close in as pos-sible. Colin Burden entered the waterwith the first aid kit, managed to wadeashore and climbed the rocks. Findingthe injured man suffering from a brokenankle he immobilised the fracture withsplints and bandages.

As the position would be cut off forsome time, Colin Burden returned tothe ILB to see if he and David Corkecould get her ashore. A rope secured tothe ILB was made fast to a large rock,but, as it was found that the boat couldnot be left in this position for fear ofdamage, the rope was slackened andDavid Corke pulled her afloat again.

Colin Burden went back to the casu-alty and, with the help of his friend,carried him down to the water's edge.The ILB was pulled alongside the rockand the injured man lifted aboard; thenhis friend jumped in followed by ColinBurden after he had freed the rope. TheILB was pulled clear of the rocks withthe anchor and, at 1634, headed back tothe lifeboat station. She was beachedsafely twenty minutes later and theinjured man transferred to anambulance.

The ILB was checked for damage,but none had been sustained. She wasrehoused at 1705.

For this service letters of thankssigned by Captain Nigel Dixon weresent to Helmsman Colin Burden andCrew Member David Corke.

North Eastern Division

Four launchesOVER THE WEEKEND of September 16and 17 Filey lifeboat, the 37ft OakleyRobert and Dorothy Hardcastle,launched on service three times and thestation D class ILB once within thespace of 26 hours.

The first call, to a small fishing boatfiring red flares in the tideway off FileyBrigg, came to the deputy launchingauthority at 1250 on Saturday Sep-tember 16. The wind was south wester-ly, strong breeze to near gale, force 6 to7, the tide was flooding. The lifeboatlaunched at 1305 and headed for thecasualty through rough seas, comingalongside at 1320. The four occupantswere transferred to the lifeboat and atow line put aboard. As the weatherwas worsening, Coxswain ThomasJenkinson then headed south west toget into the shelter of Filey Bay beforeturning north for Filey. The fishermentold the crew that their boat had beenswamped by a wave which put the out-board engine out of action. After tryingto row, without success, they had fired

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a hand flare. The men were landed andthe lifeboat was rehoused by 1440.

At 2005 information was receivedthat Scarborough lifeboat was launch-ing to investigate red flares sighted byFlamborough Coastguard and at 2240Filey lifeboat was requested by TeesCoastguard to launch to join Whitbyand Scarborough lifeboats in a searchnorth east of Scarborough; the searchpattern was co-ordinated by Scar-borough Coastguard. Filey lifeboatlaunched at 2250. It was a fine eveningwith good visibility and the wind hadveered to west south west, moderatingto force 3 to 4; the tide was low. Afterthree hours the search was called off.No boats had been reported missingand nothing could be found. As the tidewas not suitable for rehousing Fileylifeboat, she was berthed temporarilyin Scarborough. The crew arrived backin Filey at 0330 and mustered again at0700 to bring their boat home. She wasrehoused at 0840 on Sunday September17.

Just after 1000 that morning FileyCoastguard reported a dismasted yachtoff Filey Buoy. The wind had goneround to north west and had risen againto a fresh breeze, force 5; the sea wasrough. At 1014 the lifeboat launched toescort the 25ft yacht, which was underher own power, through the heavy seasinto Bridlington Bay. During the pas-sage, Bridlington ILB, returning fromservice, offered to meet the yacht andlifeboat round Flamborough Head.This offer was accepted and the ILBtook over the escort. Filey lifeboatreturned to station and was rehousedby 1255 with tremendous spirit despitethe fact that there had been threelaunches and rehousings in 24 hours.

Filey ILB launched at 1515 after thecrew of a small boat had been reportedwaving an oar. It was one of the sailingclub's own rescue boats and the club'sother rescue boat came to her assis-tance, arriving just after the ILB. Theclub rescue boat took her 'partner' intow, the ILB escorting both boatsthrough the tideway. The ILB thenreturned to station and was rehousedby 1527.

For these services a letter of thankssigned by John Atterton, deputy direc-tor of the Institution, was sent to thecoxswain, crew and shore helpers ofFiley lifeboat station.

Eastern Division

Coaster capsizedA CARGO VESSEL, Nimrod, with a list tostarboard and requiring urgent assis-tance was reported to the honorarysecretary of Cromer lifeboat station byHM Coastguard at 0358 on MondayNovember 14, 1977. Her position wasgiven as two miles west of DudgeonLightvessel.

Visibility was fair with a near gale,force 7, blowing from the north northeast when, at 0426, Cromer's 48ft 6inOakley lifeboat Ruby and Arthur Reedlaunched and set out at full speed invery rough seas. While en route it waslearned that Nimrod, which had beenon passage from Whitstable to Leithwith a cargo of stone chippings, hadcapsized at 0540 and had sunk withinthree minutes. At this time it wasthought that her five crew membershad taken to liferafts but in fact theywere all in the water. Three ships werein the vicinity searching for survivors,

Bridlington: Late on the evening of Wednesday July 26 Arthur Dick, the honorary secretary,saw a small trawler pass the harbour entrance and go ashore on North Beach. The HarbourOffice was informed and Bridlington's 37ft Oakley lifeboat William Henry and Mary Kinglaunched immediately. She anchored and was veered down so that the man on board, whowas single/landed, coidd be taken off. photograph by courtesy of Arthur Dick

The Dutch Mate, the ferry Norwaveand Haico Holwerda. The men in thewater could be heard shouting but,even when located, they could not bepicked up by the high-sided vessels inthe eight to twelve foot waves.

A helicopter was able to winch onesurvivor to safety and, because of hiscondition, immediately took him backto shore.

The lifeboat arrived on scene at 0620and began to search. With the help ofNonvave's searchlight one man wasfound. Coxswain Richard Daviesstarted to approach in the normal man-ner but found that, with the high seasand the wind lifting the lifeboat, it wastoo dangerous: there was the risk of theboat coming down on top of the man.So he decided to go up wind and let thelifeboat blow down on the casualty.This approach still meant taking a risk,but it proved successful. Sufferingbadly from exposure and in great painthe man was unable to help himself.With two crew members lying on deckand hanging through the guardrail hewas pulled alongside; then other crew-men leaning over the guardrail pulledhim clear of the water and on board. Hewas taken below where members of thecrew worked to revive him.

Meanwhile the search continued.One more survivor was picked up byHaico Holwerda and the last two menwere successfully winched to safety bya second helicopter.

Having made certain that Nimrod'screw of five were all accounted for, thelifeboat started on the return passage at0715. She arrived back in Cromer at0918 but, not being able to rehousebecause of the heavy swell, went on toGreat Yarmouth, docking and landingthe survivor at 1209. Her crew returnedto Cromer by road, and the lifeboateventually returned to Cromer and wasrehoused on November 20.

For this service a letter signed byCaptain Nigel Dixon, the director ofthe Institution, was sent to Dr PaulBarclay, chairman of Cromer stationbranch, thanking Coxswain RichardDavies and his crew and also D. L.Snelling, at that time station honorarysecretary.

Western Division

Clawing off beachAT 2302 ON FRIDAY December 23, 1977,St Anns Coastguard informed the hon-orary secretary of St David's lifeboatstation that the cargo vessel Cumulus Iof Panama bound from Glasgow toBeirut appeared to be in serious troubleoff Musslewick Beach, Marloes, in StBrides Bay some 7'/2 miles south byeast of the lifeboat station.

The weather was bad. Storm force 10winds were blowing from the west, theseas were very high with a flooding tideand visibility was poor when, at 0140on December 24, the lifeboat was asked

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Launch of Bembridgelifeboat, the 48ft 6in SolentJack Shayler and the Lees,photograph by courtesy of

HMS Daedalus

On January 23 Bembridge lifeboat, the 48ft 6in Solent Jack Shayler and the Lees, launched ingale force winds to stand by the coaster Greta C, at anchor off St Catherines with enginefailure and awaiting a tug. When the tug arrived, the lifeboat (just discernible between theother two boats) put a line aboard the coaster for the tug, which then took the coaster in towto Cowes. photograph by courtesy of 'Isle of Wight Weekly Post'

to launch. Maroons were fired butbecause of the noise of the storm it wasdoubtful if they could be heard and thecrew were called by telephone. At 0210the 47ft Watson lifeboat Joseph Soar(Civil Service No. 34) launched and setout at full speed.

Cumulus I which had been draggingher anchor, managed to claw her wayoff the beach and make rendezvous at0306 with the lifeboat, which thenescorted her through very heavy seasto Milford Haven. They arrived at0835.

Having partaken of refreshment andhot drinks provided by Hakin Pointbranch, the lifeboat left Milford Havenfor her station at 1110 and arrived backin St Davids at 1345.

The captain of Cumulus I made adonation to the lifeboat crew and a let-ter signed by Captain Nigel Dixon,

director of the Institution, was sent toW. Llewellyn, the station honorarysecretary, thanking the coxswain andcrew.

North Western Division

Trapped under pierFOUR FISHERMEN in a 14ft dinghy,trapped among the girders under thecentral pier and being battered by thewaves, were reported to the honorarysecretary of Morecambe ILB station byHM Coastguard at 1458 on Sunday June11.

The tide was still flooding and a gen-tle to moderate breeze was blowingfrom the west when at 1505 the inshorelifeboat launched into a moderate seaand made for the casualty at full speed.

Arriving on the scene four minuteslater, the ILB embarked two of thesurvivors. Having landed them safelyashore, she returned to the dinghy and,taking the remaining two people onboard, she again returned to the shorewith the dinghy in tow.

It transpired that the fishing partyhad set out that morning in goodweather but as the day progressed, theweather deteriorated and they decidedto return to shore. On the way back,their outboard engine failed and theywere driven under the pier and into thegirders by the wind and tide.

The ILB returned to her stationwhere she was rehoused and againmade ready for service at 1538.

North Eastern Division

Propeller fouledAT ABOUT 2100 on Thursday June 1,HM Coastguard informed the honorarysecretary of Hartlepool lifeboat stationthat a Shackleton aircraft and ahelicopter were searching for the MFVDolphin whose trawl had caught on anunderwater obstruction and had fouledher propeller. The intention had beento drop skin divers with wire cutters tofree the propeller, but the aircraft wereunable to sight the vessel. At 2130Hartlepool's 44ft Waveney lifeboat TheScout was placed on standby.

The weather was good, with fair togood visibility, light variable winds anda smooth sea when, at 2205, thehelicopter returned to base bringingwith her the skin divers and The Scoutlet go her moorings and set off at fullspeed to the search area.

In the position given there was nosign of any vessel, nor was there any

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Lowestoft: A trimaran on passage from Wells to Ramsgate was reported making water fast onSunday August 6. Lowestoft's 47ft Watson lifeboat Frederick Edward Crick launched at 0554and reached the casualty at 0750. Three people were taken off the trimaran; three lifeboatmenwere put aboard and by continuous bailing were able to save the boat which was towed toLowestoft and beached. photograph by courtesy of W. J. Keith

sign on the radar screen. The lifeboatwidened the area of search and let goflares at eight miles from Hartlepooland again at 12'/2 miles. This last flarewas seen by the casualty which, inturn, set off a distress flare.

The Scout closed the casualty at 0015on June 2 and within half an hour thepropeller had been freed and the vesselwas able to return to Hartlepool underher own power, escorted by thelifeboat.

The Scout returned to her mooringsand was again made ready for sea at0430.

South Western Division

Catamaran out of controlA CATAMARAN, Floral Dancer of Fal-mouth with a crew of three aboard, outof control and needing help wasreported to the honorary secretary ofSennen Cove lifeboat station by HMCoastguard at 1347 on Saturday Feb-ruary 18. Her position was given as in

the vicinity of Longships Lighthouse.Storm to hurricane force winds were

blowing from the south east withsqualls of rain, hail and snow. Visibilityvaried from a quarter to two miles andthe sea was rough when, at 1418, thereserve 37ft Oakley lifeboat The Vin-cent Nesfield, on temporary duty atSennen Cove, launched and set off oncourse at full speed.

By this time, a helicopter hadbecome airborne and she sighted thecasualty some two miles west of theBrisons, two rocky islets, and wellclear of the lee of the land. Guided bythe helicopter, the lifeboat arrivedalongside the casualty at 1440. FloralDancer had a fouled propeller and rud-der, her stays and halyards had beencarried away and her engine had failedleaving her at the mercy of the windand tide.

To have transferred the three menaboard her to the lifeboat would haveentailed risk to both vessels and to thesurvivors themselves. Accordingly, atowline was passed and secured andthe casualty was taken in tow into the

ANNUAL AWARDS1977

The Maud Smith Bequest for theoutstanding act of lifesaving by a life-boatman in 1977 has been given toCoxswain Thomas Walsh of Kilmore.On December 24 the lifeboat under hiscommand was capsized twice whileinvestigating a report of red flares in astrong gale and exceptionally high seas.One crew member who was washed outof the lifeboat during the first capsizewas rescued and three of the four crewmembers who were washed out of thelifeboat during the second capsize werealso rescued.

The Ralph Glister Award for the mostmeritorious service of 1977 by the crewof an inshore lifeboat has been made toHelmsman Peter David Bliss and Crew

Members Barry Garland and RogerRadcliffe of St Agnes, who on July 17,rescued an injured man trapped in anarrow rocky cove at the base of 150ftoverhanging cliffs. The ILB, Blue PeterIV, continually swamped by breakingwaves, was driven through dangeroussurf and over rocks just below thesurface.

The James Michael Bower Fund monet-ary awards have been made to theseven lifeboatmen who received theRNLI's silver medal for gallantry in1977: The late Coxswain Eric Pengilly,Sennen Cove; Coxswain MatthewLethbridge, BEM, St Mary's; CoxswainAntony Warnock and Second Cox-swain/Assistant Mechanic Trevor Eng-land, Padstow; Helmsman David Bliss,St Agnes; Coxswain Thomas Cocking,Senior, St Ives; and Coxswain ThomasWalsh, Kilmore.

relatively calmer water close in underthe land. There it became obvious thatthe port hull was taking in water fastand unless the catamaran was quicklybeached, she could be lost. She wastherefore made fast to the starboardside of the lifeboat and a quick run wasmade for Sennen Cove. Haven wasreached safely at 1620 and FloralDancer was beached without damageto either her or to The Vincent Nes-field. The securing lines were cut andimmediately the lifeboat went fullastern to save herself being stranded bythe rapidly falling tide.

The lifeboat then returned to her sta-tion and was rehoused at 1637.

Services by OffshoreLifeboats, June, Julyand August, 1978Aberdeen, AberdeenshireAugust 24Aldeburgh, SuffolkAugust 2Amble, NorthumberlandJune 26 and July 1Angle, DyfedJune 23, July 11 and 31Anstruther, FifeJuly 2Arklow, Co. WicklowJuly 25, 29 and August 11Arranmore, Co. DonegalJune 23, 26, July 11, August 11 and 20Balljcotton, Co. CorkAugust 16Baltimore, Co. CorkJune 1, 5, 24, August 1, 11, 14 (twice) and15Barmouth, GwyneddJune 28 and August 13Barry Dock, South GlamorganJune 25, July 4, 7, Sand 16Beaumaris, GwyneddJuly 22 and 26Bridlington, HumbersideJuly 26 and 27Buckie, BanffshireAugust 7 and 11Calshot, HampshireJune 9, 23, August 27 and 31Campbeltown, ArgyllshireJuly 9 and 24Clacton-on-Sea, EssexJune 24, August 6, 26 and 28Clogher Head, Co. LouthJune 8 and July 22Clovelly, North DevonJune 11, July 3, 21, 23,26, 31, August 1 , 2 ,17, 21 and 25Courtmacsherry Harbour, Co. CorkJune 17, July 9, 20,23, 26 and 31Cromer, NorfolkJuly 24 and August 16Donaghadee, Co. DownJune 26Douglas, Isle of ManJune 1 and 18Dover, KentJune 3, 24, August 6 (twice), 9, 16 and 20Dunbar, East LothianJuly 2, 17 and August 8Dungeness, KentJune 15

continued on page 105

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Knockdown . . .

. . . DURING A WINTER OF UNUSUAL FEROCITY

IN THE EARLY HOURS of Christmas Eve1977 Kilmore lifeboat, the 37ft OakleyLad\ Murphy, and St Ives lifeboat, the37ft" Oakley 'Frank Pen/old Marshall.were both out on service in storm forcewinds and some of the worst seasexperienced for many years. There hadbeen a long period of hard south-westerly wind which had fetched a verybig, heavy swell into the westernapproaches and high seas were gener-ated right across the area from Corn-wall to the Irish coast Frank PenfoldMarshall took a tremendous sea on thebeam and was rolled over on to herbeam ends: Lady Murphy took a simi-lar sea on the quarter but she was cap-sized twice, righting herself each timeand each time her crew were able torestart the engine immediately. Onecrew member washed out of thelifeboat during the first capsize andthree of the four crew members washedout during the second capsize wererescued, but tragically one man lost hislife

Two months later, on February 19,1978, Torbay lifeboat, the 54ft ArunEdward Bridges (Civil Service No. 37)was knocked down on her beam endsby an exceptionally high wave while onservice in an east-south-easterly storm.Once again, there had been a longperiod of high wind, this time from theeast, and conditions in Lyme Bay werevery bad. The very big sea which brokeright over the Arun's flying bridge wasestimated to be 30 to 35 feet with anadditional 12 feet breaking top. Oneman was swept overboard but he wasrecovered safely.

When lifeboat people met in Londonlast May for the annual presentation ofawards, Vice-Admiral Sir Arthur Hez-let, chairman of the Lifeboat CrewSafety Working Party set up by theCommittee of Management, took theopportunity to hold a discussion withthe honorary secretaries, coxswainsand some crew members from thesethree stations together with divisionalinspectors of lifeboats and otheroperational staff.

Much was to be learned from such aforum, which included coxswains andcrew members who had been over-taken by freak seas such as fewencounter and who had handled thesesituations with skil l and success. FromKilmore there were Coxswain ThomasWalsh, awarded the silver medal forgallantry; Acting Motor Mechanic JohnDevereux, awarded the bronze medal;and Acting Second Coxswain JosephMaddock, the man who had been sweptout of the lifeboat twice and recoveredon each occasion. From St Ives there

was Coxswain Thomas Cocking,Senior, who was awarded the silvermedal. From Torbay there was GeorgeDyer, at that time Coxswain andawarded the bronze medal. It was ofgreat value to the working party in itsallotted task that it should be able totake into consideration the experiencesand suggestions of such seamen.

Later in the morning, after the mainmeeting had ended, conversation con-tinued informally between the fivelifeboatmen and Captain Roy Harding,trials officer RNLI , who has himselfbeen a lifeboat coxswain and who hashad experience of going right over in aboat; he remained aboard an Arunlifeboat, strapped in her coxswain'sseat, during her self-righting trial. Partsof the discussion which followed arereproduced here so that lifeboat peoplein general can share some of the first-hand descriptions of the three services.

One subject raised by Captain Hard-ing wax whether there had been anyforewarning of the exceptionally highseas which had caused the knock-downs; whether there had been anypremonition of what was approaching,any change in the sea pattern, anyincrease in the wind?

Coxswain Thomas Cocking, Senior, StIves: There was no forewarning, nonewhatever. We were outward bound 17miles north of St Ives Head. We got arecall. Red flares off Porthtowan. Wecame back, oh, six miles. On the wayback the boat behaved beautifully. Wewere all happy with her. We were sing-ing, actually. Some of the chaps weresinging carols. We were nine milesfrom Portreath when the secondmechanic, who was on my starboardhand, shouted, 'Look out, Tommy!'and when I looked, there was the seajust rolling up. It completely coveredthe boat; right over. We were goingalong full speed. The next thing, shewas just picked up and we were on ourbeam ends. I held the wheel as tight as Icould. I was holding on to the binnacleso that I had the wheel spoke held hardagainst my wrist. The wheel couldn'tmove. I thought I kept her straight.When we came out of it the secondcoxswain said, 'Tom, I can't see anylights.' I said, 'Eh? They aren't there.1'And that boat had literally turned onher port side 100 degrees And webrought her back. It seems ages whenyou are on your side going along likethat. Endless. And you are saying toyourself, 'Now is she going?' Then upshe comes. 'Thank God for that, men!'

You know, everybody holds theirbreath for a minute.

Coxswain Thomas Walsh, Kilmore: Ittook us completely by surprise, too; nodoubt of it. There were pretty big seasrunning all right, but there was noheavy breaking water whatsoever. Wehad come for miles and we had seennothing like that. Then we seemed tocome on a wave that was just coming tothe point of breaking and we just rolledwith it and went right over. It musthave been just as the wave comes tobreaking and it must have just pickedus up under. There was no sound at all.Then the noise started coming likebreaking water in, around and underthe boat. She had run on it. But theminute she started running she wastoppling as well at the same time. Youknow, when a wave comes on thebreak, how the head curls over? Wemust have just gone right over with her.J immy Bates, the former coxswain ofLady Murphy, was out on the corner ofthe pier watching and afterwards heasked, ' You didn't go end over end, didyou?' I suppose he had seen the naviga-tion lights and then they went downand disappeared and he could see thestern light. But actually we didn't. Wewent to port. You could feel her rollingover. But to him looking from a dis-tance away it seemed that we had goneend over end.

The second time I could hear thewave breaking, coming down on us,but we hadn't time to bring her up tothis one either. I gave her full ahead onthe starboard engine to bring her up toweather. The wave was coming at usfrom port. Thinking about it after-wards, there must have been ropes inthe screw on the starboard side orsomething because she didn't respondvery well.

Coxswain George Dyer, Torbay: It wasso slow, it took us by surprise. You'dnever think it was going to happen. Shewent over so slowly we were all look-ing at it, laughing. Then a couple ofseconds and up she came. Beautiful. Itwas the topping that knocked us over.We had a pilot boat in tow but she wasup on the top of it. We had the worst ofit, I should imagine. When we werelooking up aft, as you do, she looked asthough she was coming down with usas we went. But when the pressure ofwater came off and the lifeboat cameup, everyone, even the bloke who hadbeen washed overboard, seemed tocome with us.

The second coxswain took the wheeland I went aft, because the second cox-swain isn't a big man. The biggest of uswent aft to keep the tow clear and bringthe man in the water aft to where therewas more arm room. It was a problemof weight. The guard chain tended tofoul our lifejackets and then we had gotto lift a tidy bit of weight about fourfeet, I should imagine, plus a bit ofmotion. We didn't like that because I

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could see that the man had hurt hisarm. We tried to push him off until theright sea came to bring him in all in onego.

After a boat had recovered fromsuch a knockdown the whole crewwould be drenched; there would becold and discomfort. Did they also,perhaps, experience some disorienta-tion, asked Roy Harding? Were they atall confused?

Dyer: No problem at all.

Cocking: We were all bound for land,quite happy. Then the sea hit us and Isaw the assistant mechanic, DavidSmith, going past the back of my headat the rate of knots. 'My God!' I said,'That's one gone!' As soon as we cameback upright the first one I shouted forwas David. I heard his voice there,behind me, and he was jammed downbehind the seat. The signalman, he wasdown on the deck, round the secondcoxswain's legs. He got up. 'You allright?' I asked. Yes, he was all right.'Where's John Thomas?' David said,'He's under me.' There was Johnunderneath and the assistant mechanicon top of him, both jammed behind theback of the seat. When they had all gotup and I had looked under the canopyto make sure my boy and the mechanicwere there and we had sorted thingsout, I said 'How are you feeling?' 7can see the lights in there,' came areply. I said, 'That's all we want. Carryon searching.' The morale of the crewwas still all right. I asked them, 'Whatdo you think about going back?' 'No,we're going to search.' And that's it. Iasked their opinion. I don't make adecision unless I ask them. I'm onlyone. There's six others besides me. Wepassed the message through the Coast-guard to the honorary secretary:'Radar and MF out of action. Took bigsea. Crew all OK'. Message came back:'Are you happy about your position?' Afew choice words! I said: 'Message tohonorary secretary: We are nine milesnorth west of Porthtowan. Proceedingon our search.' And we carried on foranother four hours.

Walsh: Thinking back afterwards Ifound that some things stood out veryclear, and I suppose those were thethings that were going through mymind. The minute she came back afterthe first one I shouted out for everyoneto shout back that he was there. Had aroll call. And I found that there was oneman missing. I didn't know who it wasthen. We checked again and we foundout fast enough. Then we thought thathe should have been somewhere in theboat. Let's see if he's had a knock andlying down the other side, maybe. Wecouldn't believe that we had lost one ofour crew overboard. Every secondseemed like hours, going back to lookfor him. I thought we would never findhim again. I was really delighted when I

From Kilmore: (I. to r.)Acting Motor Mechanic-John Devereux, bronzemedallist, CoxswainThomas Walsh, silvermedallist, and ActingSecond Coxswain JosephMaddock.

(Below) George Dyer,bronze medallist, formercoxswain of Torbaylifeboat, now retired.

heard someone say they could hear himshouting.

Acting Motor Mechanic John Devereux,Kilmore: The first thought in my mindwas, 'Would the engines start again?'So I just went down and pressed thebuttons, and the minute I pressed themshe went immediately without any hesi-tation at all. It was like music to myears.

The man who had been swept out ofthe lifeboat twice was Joe Maddockand Roy Harding asked him about hisfeelings; had he perhaps felt despairthe second time?

Acting Second Coxswain Joseph Mad-dock, Kilmore: If I could start at thefirst occasion, my greatest fear wasthat the boat wouldn't come back tome. First of all I thought that there wasnobody else left in the world butmyself; that everybody else had gone.So when I saw the lights coming on inthe boat I think I came back to life. Buton the second occasion I was quiteclose to despair. I thought the boatcouldn't come back a second time. Ididn't think it possible that the mencould have done so good a job the sec-ond time. So I was really delightedwhen they came back and picked me upagain.

Before the first capsize JohnDevereux and I were having a discus-sion about the boat. I said I would goanywhere in her and John said she wassticking to the swells like a stamp, Ithink his expression was. And practi-cally within seconds of that I was in thewater. When I went underneath I won-dered which way up I was. The lifejac-ket worked perfectly. It was only amatter of seconds and I surfaced. Igave a few shouts when I came up tosee if there was anybody else in thewater. Two things ran through mymind. Should I kick off the boots orkeep them on? If I'm heading for therocky shore I would be better withboots on my f e e t . . . So when I saw thelights coming up on the boat—theyprobably were on all the time but theboat had gone quite a distance awayfrom me—I kicked off the boots andheld on until Tom headed back up towindward again. When I thought he

would be close enough to hear me, Igave a few more shouts. So they tookme on board.

Earlier you raised the question ofbrains. Personally my brain seemed tobe racing very clearly. I didn't think Ihad a brain until that night! I was think-ing of so many things that there wasn'ttime. You know, I thought, ChristmasEve; terrible night for something tohappen. What will they think at home?Will the boat come back for me? Will Ikick off the boots? Will the lifejacketkeep me up? Should I swim for a fen-der—I saw one off the boat and stayedclose to it because it looked very brightin the water. It was all over in a fewminutes. On the second occasion theyhad some of the lads back on board andthen they had me back and I was over-joyed. The lads must have been react-ing the same, you know, because theydid all the right things. Nobody seemedto be frozen or dazed or anything likethat. It all seemed natural . . .

Devereux: It all seemed part of thenight's work . . . .

Discussion turned to the problem ofgetting a man out of the water andeveryone agreed that it was far fromeasy, even in a lifeboat which has very-little freeboard. Could the presentpractice drills be augmented in any-way to help lifeboat crews?

Walsh: We were so short of manpowerthe second time. With four in the waterit only left three on board. I neverthought it was as hard before to getmen back into a boat. But it would behard to simulate the circumstances youwould meet on a night that will capsizeyou. You've not only got a man in the

Captain Roy Harding, trials officer RNLI.

photographs by courtesy of Peter E.Hadfield

(Below) From St Ives: Coxswain ThomasCocking, Senior, silver medallist.

water but you have chaos on board aswell. Your mast is down and fallenacross on the side; there are stays;there are aerials; your plastic canopydown round about you and you can'tget near the wheel without picking it upto climb in under. Your movement ondeck is very restricted, even to go tothe help of anyone. It would be veryhard to simulate it all .

Dyer: You've got a scrambling net. It'sall there, but at the time all you areinterested in is getting that man out ofthe water. My crew member seemedinjured and we wanted him aboard. Wecould have put out the net if we hadstopped and thought, but by that time,in those conditions, we might have losthim.

Cocking: Have you any experience ofan inshore lifeboat? That's where youlearn how to get a man aboard with alifejacket on. With an ILB you turn himback on to the boat, dunk him and lethim come to you and he'll float up toyou beautiful. And you take him in. wedo the same with the big lifeboat. If aman goes in, when he comes alongside,back on, dunk him once and he comesback on easily. They come aboard allright if you can get them to turn round.But if you are the one in the water?You know the feeling! I've got younow! You're not turning me around!I'm coming on!

Maddock: They tried to turn me round

Walsh: He was holding on to thelifelines . . .

Maddock: I said, 7 won't let go!'

Harding: Joe, when you felt the boatgoing over, did you consciously hangon to the boat or did you push yourselfoff clear? Can you remember?

Maddock: I have been asked that ques-tion a good many times. I couldn't givea definite answer as to what happenedon the first occasion. But on the secondoccasion I was very definite: I held onfor dear life with all the strength I couldcommand. But I was still swept off. Itwas something like going down a slopewith the turning over movement of thesea piling in and I was just swept out.

Earlier in the morning Tom Cockinghad told the meeting that in severeconditions he makes his crew pull theplugs on their life jackets so that, ifanyone should go overboard, the lightscan activate as they are immersedwithout the man himself having to takeany further action. Roy Harding askedhim to explain how he decides when togive this order.

Cocking: Well, say we are called out. Ifit is a flat calm you don't need yourlifejacket light on; you are not going tocapsize a lifeboat in a flat calm. If thereis a gale of wind, say from force 7 up,especially down our way where we getthe big nor'wester with a big groundswell, the plugs are pulled. If a man ishit on the head and he is unconscious,he can't pull the plugs in the battery toget the light working. Now you aresearching for a man who is unconscousand all you are depending on is thereflecting strips on the jacket. But if theplugs have already been pulled the bat-tery will be activated by the sea waterand the light will come onautomatically.

Talk continued about equipment,and about the boats . . .

Devereux: How did you keep your VHPdry when your boat went over likethat?

Cocking: My boy had his back againstit. He jammed himself right up in thecorner. As we were going he saw whatwas happening and he put his footagainst the battery box and stood up,and he is six foot. He was jammed up inthe corner and the radio was all behindhim. It was a very poor experience forhim because he saw everything happen-ing in front of him: the lights going out;the deckhouse going under; Phillip, themechanic, is gone; his father is gone;the water coming up ... He said to me

afterwards that he would not like to gothrough that again. I said, 'Do you wantto pack up?' 'No, thank you.'

Did any of your lights go out at all,John?

Devereux: No, Tom. We had them on.

Walsh: The compass light went afterthe first time, that is all.

Cocking: We lost our compass lightwhen we were coming back. We hadplenty of seas coming at us, althoughnot like the one that knocked us down.I got the crew to give me the mastheadlight and rigged it up as a jury compasslight.

When we were coming down acrossthe bay St Ives Coastguard called: 'StIves lifeboat. I can't see your bluelight. Where is it?' 'Nine miles off,where do you think!' It was the onlything we lost off her, that blue flashinglight. The sea ripped that right off thetop of the mast, so you can guess howfar she was over.

Devereux: Everything worked perfectlyas regards the machinery of the boat.

Harding: There was a time, in the earlydays, when self-righting lifeboats werenot very popular with some of the oldercrews. How do you feel now? Are youhappy to have a self-righting lifeboat?

Walsh: I think that's obvious—yes! Wewouldn't be here otherwise!

Cocking: For two years they were try-ing to push an Oakley on to us. Wewouldn't have her. Didn't want toknow anything about it. We'll keep ourLiverpool: you keep the Oakley. Theycapsize too easily. But I 'll tell you now,let anyone from head office come downand say they are taking Frank PenfoldMarshall away and, you know, we'llchain her down! You are not havingthat one, and this time we mean it!

Harding: John, going back to theengines, you would say that familiaritywith the position of the controls, sothat a chap, in the dark, would be ableto go to them straight away, isessential?

Devereux: Yes, that is essential. It isalso essential that every man on thelifeboat should be able to start herengines, regardless of the mechanic.The full crew should be able to start herat any time.

Cocking: I agree. All the crew shouldknow how to start the engine. Suppos-ing nearly everybody was thrown outof the lifeboat, leaving, say, just twomen aboard. Start? Which way do youdo it? You've got five men in the waterand nobody knows how to start theengines. You are in the same trouble asif the boat was in the boathouse. Everyone of my crew knows how to start the

85

engines of Frank Penfold Marshallnow.

The same argument applied to takingthe wheel of the boat . . .

Cocking: If you have got a boat out onservice in poor weather, by all meansyou are the man to stay on the wheel.But if you are out on service or onexercise in fine, good weather, youhave got six men with you and theyshould take a turn. It 's possible for meto go over the side the same as anybodyelse; somebody has got to go and catchthe rope . . .

Our boat went out on exerciserecently. I walked up to the honorarysecretary and said, 'I'm not going.'"What?' he said. 'I'm not going,' Irepeated. 'Let the second coxswaintake her.' The second coxswain tookher out. He was just coming back whena message came over the radio: 'St Iveslifeboat: proceed to Forth KidneySands. Vessel ashore.' They took off24 hands. And there I was standing onthe beach looking a fool! I said, 'Whathave I missed?' But never mind. Thatman took the boat on his own and didthe job, and that's what I want. It gavehim more confidence doing the jobwithout me there.

And so the conversation turned tocrews . . .

Dyer: Crews are born, you know. Youcan't train a crew. You can tellimmediately who are going to makegood crew members. They have onlygot to come once. It falls out of them.But you cannot get it out of someblokes at all. It isn't there to start with.

Harding: Some people have sea senseand some people don't.

Cocking: Lifeboat work is bred in theman that is doing the job. If it is notbred in you, you won't do the job. Oneof my boys was driving me mad for twoyears. I didn't want him in the boat.The only reason I didn't want him therewas that I have lost my whole familyonce before. If I go out, lose him andlose myself, that's another family gone.I didn't want him but he's there in myboat. I couldn't keep him out of it.

Dyer: With a fast boat you cannotafford to take a bloke on service whohasn't been before. Fair enough on apractice, but on a shout I would soonergo without than grab anyone.

Harding: Do you feel, George, thatwith the faster boats you need ayounger man?

Dyer: The Arun is a young man's boat,I can assure you of that.

Harding: Because of the increasedacceleration? The crew is bound to bethrown about a lot more on board.

Dyer: Yes. Even in a force 4 when youhave got any wind on the bow you needthe seat strap on. It eases you back. Ifyou are not strapped in you try to fightthe sea, but if you are strapped in, evenin just a little bit of plop, you are rock-ing along.

The cold can be intense on a wildwinter's night, particularly for anyonewho has been in the sea or soaked withsalt water . . .

Walsh: Everyone was really shivering,though I felt warm enough, that is untilI got up to the boathouse. A couple ofhundred yards on and I was reallyshivering.

Harding: That would probably havebeen nervous reaction, wouldn't it?

Maddock: You don't feel cold in thewater; that is one thing that doesn'tenter your head. You never think aboutthe cold until after. After the first cap-size I thought I was about the best oneof all of them. After the second cap-size, though, I was very shocked. Onething that is most important when yougo under is not to swallow salt water.It 's a funny thing, but it was impressedon me that if you are in the water andyou keep your mouth shut there is agood chance of survival. I had highblood pressure; they said from swal-lowing salt water. The Red Cross insistthat anyone who has been in the watershould always be treated for shock.There is exposure and shock will haveset in. It's the cold. I called out toDermot Culleton. He was perfectlylikely to be shocked as well, but hestayed watching where we were going,and I said, 'Keep talking to me, what-ever else happens, keep shouting andI'll shout back. If I don't shout, makesure you get an answer from me.'Because you see I have this thing that ifyou fall asleep you are a gonner. I think1 was shaking the whole bow part of theboat. I knew I was badly shockedbecause I was vibrating all over.

Walsh: You know that feeling of shiv-ery cold. While you are moving aroundand working it seems all right.

Cocking: It was all right at full speed.Quite warm. But when we got in closeto land, we had to ease down becausewe were in shoal water—not more than6 or 7 fathom of water—and there werebreaking seas all the time. The flarewas seen from Porthtowan, so we hadto search from three miles off and wekept going in, and in, and in, until wewere 50 yards off the rocks. That'swhen we felt the cold, when we had toease down. Everybody was out ondeck with a searchlight going and allthat lot. We've got one hand light andwe used the Aldis lamp as well. I hadhad enough myself because I had hadeight hours on the wheel.

Harding: You carried on for hours afteryour knockdown. When you do theselong services you never seem to gettired, do you? Do you find that you aregiven some sort of extra strength? Wehad a very long search on one occasionwhen I was coxswain of the 70-footer. Iwasn't off the bridge for 51 hours.When it was all finished I was abso-lutely flat.

Cocking: The reason is that you arethere to do a job. You know you aregoing out to save life and while there issomeone out there, you'll keep going.You keep plodding and plodding. I 'vedone 16 or 17 hours on the trot, butwhen you get in and settle down andthink about it ... oh, I'm all right . . .sit down in a chair by the fire . . . thenext thing, you are gone . . . asleep.

Dyer: Once you have done the job andyou relax, the heat gets hold of you andyou are gone.

Devereux: When we came in that night,the people on shore were wonderful.When you look back, the heart is in theright place.

Walsh: Everybody was marvellous.

Cocking: You were the same as us.Two of the ladies' guild were waitingfor us that morning when we came in.They had bacon sandwiches and tea alllaid on. It is usually the chairman andtreasurer who do it. They are up everytime we go out. But the whole town athome was interested because, as youknow, in 1939 we lost a boat. I supposethis was the closest we have been to it

Harding: Later that evening, still onChristmas Eve, Lt-Cdr Brian Mileswas on duty in the 'Ops' room at Pooleand a phone call came through fromCaptain Kemp, the honorary secretaryat St Ives, at about 10 o'clock, sayingthat they had made their repairs, com-pleted their running tests and the crewwas just going to stand down. They hadhad a whip round and they had about£60 which they wanted .to send to Kil-more as a contribution to any fundwhich might be set up in memory ofFintan Sinnott, the crew member whohad been lost. And that was just twohours before Christmas.

Walsh: We had great support from allstations, every one of them. It was agreat help.

To round off the discussion, CaptainHarding asked the three coxswainswhether they had any good advice forother coxswains who could possiblyfind themselves in similar situations, orwhether they thought anything could bedone to improve their type of boat . . .

Walsh: I think if you can keep the mencontinued on page 93

86

First lifeboat weddingat Littlehampton station:June Combes, daughterof Crew Member MickCombes, and Jim Osborn,the youngest member ofthe crew, were married atClymping Church inOctober, with the lifeboatcrew forming an arch ofoars as they left thechurch.

Crew Member John Dew of Torbaywas one of two men who rescued twoelderly people when fire broke out in ablock of flats in Brixham last October.He had seen the flames while drivinghome, went to investigate and helpedfiremen and police rouse sleeping resi-dents and lead them to safety.

* * *There has been a lifeboat at Walton

and Frinton for 94 years, but last sum-mer for the first time a ladies' guild was

Sharing the work—and the enjoyment—in ahusband and wife partnership, Alf and JoanJenkins are joint honorary secretaries ofTruro branch. They put their combined helpbehind such enterprising branch activitiesas a button auction which raised over i7,000and a Cornish concert at Truro PlazaCinema. 'This Celtic Land', a recording ofthis performance of brass and voices inmusic by Kenneth Pelmear is now availableprice i3 (plus 30p postage and packing)from A. A. Hyde, Plaza Cinema, LemonStreet, Truro, Cornwall TRl 2PN. All pro-f i t s to the RNLI.

(Right) A visit to St Mary's lifeboat stationwhile holidaying in the Scil/y Isles 22 yearsago began a lifelong interest in lifeboats forMr and Mrs Derrick Waters. Since then,they and their children, Carolyn, Stephenand David, have gradually been fulfilling anambition to visit every lifeboat station inEngland, Scotland and Wales: an ambitionfinally realised last summer during a holidayto Shetland. Next year they plan to startvisiting Irish lifeboat stations . . . Both Mrand Mrs Waters are active members of Win-chester branch committee, of which MrsWaters is chairman; Derrick Waters is alsoa founder member of the LifeboatEnthusiasts' Society.

photograph by courtesy of 'HampshireChronicle'

LifeboatPeople

formed. It has great plans for the futureand anyone who would l ike to helpshould write to the honorary secretary,Mrs B. Pearce, 9 Suffolk Street,Walton-on-Naze, Essex.

* * *The marriage took place last August

of The Hon. Sir Kenneth Jones andMrs Patricia Whittaker, former districtorganising secretary (North East). Themany messages of good wishes theyreceived from lifeboat people delightedthem and Lady Jones hopes that whileaccompanying her husband on circuitshe will have the opportunity to meetold friends.

The Lord is my pilot; I shall not drift.He lighteth me across the dark waters;He steerest me in the deep channels: He

keepeth my log.He guideth me by the Star of His Holiness

for His name's sake.

Yea, though I sail amid the thunders andtempests of life

I shall fear no danger, for Thou art near me:Thy love and Thy care, they shelter me.Thou prepares! a harbour before me in the

homeland of eternity;Thou anointest the waves with oil; my ship

rideth calmly.Surely sunlight and starlight shall favour me

in the voyageI take, and I shall rest in the port of my God

for ever.

Brian Williams, a Shoreline member,specialises in making scale miniature mod-els of individual boats. His replicas includesailing barges and yachts and a/so lifeboats,a number of which have been ordered forpresentation to serving or former crewmembers. He regards each miniature as achallenge, asking for drawings, data andphotographs so that detail is accurate. Partof all commissions are donated to theRNLI. Information from Brian H. Williams,Marine Artist, West Rock, The Cleave,Kingsand, Plymouth PLIO INJ.

It is with deep regret that weannounce the following deaths:June

Thomas Moore, coxswain of Porth-dinllaen lifeboat from 1956 to 1973.July

Miss A. D. Guy, holder of theInstitution's gold badge and presidentof Ashford, Kent, branch for the pastthree years. She had been honorarysecretary of the branch from 1952 to1957 and assistant treasurer from 1958.August

Roy Gawn, deputy launching author-ity and honorary bosun of Rye HarbourILB station. First helmsman when theILB station was opened in 1966, he wasa much loved and respected member ofthe branch.

Captain Ian B. B. Robertson, honor-ary secretary of Holy Island from 1953until the station closed in 1968, sincewhen he has cared for the Institution'sinterests on the island. He wasawarded binoculars in 1964 and thethanks of the Institution inscribed onvellum in 1968. The adaptation of theTwenty-third Psalm on this page isaccredited to Captain Robertson.

Mrs Angela Wooldridge, a foundermember of Stourbridge branch when itwas reformed in 1953 and honorarysecretary from then until she moved toSt David's in 1976. She was awardedthe silver and the gold badge.

OctoberAlfred D. Maddrell, BEM, coxswain

of Port Erin from 1946 to 1972 afterpreviously serving as bowman from1935 to 1946. He was awarded thebronze medal for gallantry in 1970.

NovemberCaptain T. W. C. Jones, honorary

secretary of New Quay (Dyfed) lifeboatstation from 1971 to 1978, having pre-viously served as deputy launchingauthority from 1970.

Dr E. W. Hicks, honorary secretaryof Wells lifeboat station from 1940 to1969. He was awarded binoculars in1952, the gold badge in 1966 and thethanks of the Institution inscribed onvellum in 1969.

87

Lerwick: The 52ft Arun Sol-dian before her naming. Inbackground, moored along-side, can be seen the Nor-wegian lifeboat Skomvaer II:she was also visited by theDuke of Kent during theafternoon.

photograph by courtesyof John Wilson, British

Pelroleum

Naming Ceremonies

LERWICK and DUNGENESS

After demonstration runs to sea, HRH TheDuke of Kent disembarks from Soldian atLerH'ick . . . .

photograph by courtesy of Fotopress,Dundee

. . . and Miss Ursula Upjohn disembarksfrom the 37ft 6in Rather Alice Upjohn atDungeness.

HRH THE DUKE OF KENT, president ofthe Ins t i tu t ion , visited Shetland for thefirst time on Tuesday September 12,1978, when he named Lerwick's new52ft Arun class lifeboat, Soldian. Aguard was provided by A (LovatScouts) Company 2/51 Highland Vol-unteers and as the Duke arrived at thepier, where more than 2,500 people hadgathered, he was presented with a Shet-land silver paper knife as a memento ofthe occasion by Julie Clark, the eight-year-old daughter of Motor MechanicHewitt Clark. A. G. Beattie, chairmanof Lerwick branch, opened proceed-ings, greeting the Duke, all the station'sguests and everyone who had come to

Dungeness: The moment of naming.

be present at the naming ceremony.Part icularly welcome was the Nor-

wegian lifeboat Skomvaer II, an oldfriend in Lerwick Harbour, and hercrew. Norwegian lifeboats sail in com-pany with their offshore fishing fleetsand over the years, during the fishingseason, Skomvaer II has paid many vis-its to the Shetland Islands.

Arun 52-10 was handed over to theRNLI by Lady Steel on behalf of theOil Consortium and all other donors;this lifeboat was provided by all whohad responded so generously to theLerwick Lifeboat Appeal includingmembers of the Brent and NinianPipeline Consortium, Chevron Pet-

photograph by courtesy of J. P. Morris

roleum (UK) Ltd, the Aberdeen Stu-dents Charities Campaign and anumber of bequests.

7 know,' said Lady Steel, 'that the oilindustry is-delighted to have been able tolend its support to the tremendousefforts that so many Shettanders, bothindividuals and firms, have made in rais-ing funds for this lifeboat.'

Soldian was accepted by Major-General Ralph Farrant, chairman of theRNLI, and placed in the care of Ler-wick station, the honorary secretary,Magnus Shearer, accepting her onbehalf of the branch.

The service of dedication which fol-lowed was conducted by the ReverendA. E. Lambie, Minister of Lerwick andBressay Parish Church, assisted by theReverend D. Monkton of LerwickMethodist Church and Bernard Clamp-ton, Superintendent of the RoyalNational Mission to Deep SeaFishermen.

Before naming Soldian, and thebreaking of the bottle of champagne,the Duke of Kent paid tribute to allthose who had helped provide her andt o . . .

'. . . the men upon whom the whole ofthe lifeboat service ultimately depends:the crewmen themselves, whose dedica-tion to the cause of saving life at sea,quite regardless of danger to them-selves, is simply beyond praise.'

The naming ceremony performed,the Duke went aboard and up to Sol-dian's flying bridge with CoxswainGeorge Leith for a demonstration runto sea.

* * *A month later, on Monday October

9, Dungeness lifeboat people and their

guests gathered at the station's newlifeboathouse for the naming of theirnew 37ft 6in Rother class lifeboat AliceUpjohn. Gordon Paine, chairman ofDungeness station branch, welcomedeveryone to what was indeed a familyoccasion from every point of view, thewarmth of which could in no way bediminished by the light rain falling.

The lifeboat had been given by MissUrsula Upjohn in memory of hermother and RNLB Alice Upjohn wasdelivered to the care of the station byCommander Ralph Swann, a vice-president and past chairman of theInstitution who is also Miss Upjohn'scousin. Miss Upjohn herself has got toknow the branch and crew membersclosely and the presentations made toher of a special plate decorated with apicture of the lifeboat and of a paintingof the boat by Mrs Pauline Fehr, werejust two expressions of the deep affec-tion of 'the family'.

Following the acceptance of AliceUpjohn on behalf of the station by thehonorary secretary, G. L. Bates, theservice of dedication was conducted bythe Reverend G. P. Chidgey, Rector ofLydd, assisted by the Reverend FatherO'Brien, Roman Catholic Parish Priest,and the Reverend Dennis Reynolds,the Methodist Minister.

Gordon Paine then invited MissUpjohn to name Alice Upjohn and, atthe conclusion of the ceremony, toboard her for an inspection andlaunching.

Lifeboat people had come from allthe neighbouring stations to be present,and the music for the occasion wasplayed by Hastings Lifeboat BrassEnsemble, whose conductor, RobertShoesmith, is second assistantmechanic of Hastings lifeboat.

Lifeboat weekendsA SERIES of unusual long weekends forlovers of ships, lifeboats and the seaare to be held in St Ives, Cornwall.Mike and Jill Elleston, who own thetiny Skidden House Hotel, haveorganised two weekends in Februaryand March for small groups of RNLIsupporters who would enjoy a winterbreak learning about the lifeboats andmarine traditions of the area.

Very full weekends are planned start-ing with talks and films by the RNLI,visits to local lifeboat stations andwalks along the coast path to ancientwreck sites. Good food, company and afascinating subject are the keynotes ofthe weekends.

The tariff of £65 per person is inclu-sive of all visits and travel aroundCornwall and the weekends run fromThursday dinner to Tuesday breakfast.A percentage of all money raised willgo to RNLI funds. Write to Jill Elles-ton, Skidden House Hotel, St Ives,Cornwall. Telephone: St Ires 6899.

Letters...Lerwick lifeboat

I read, with interest, James R. Kay'sletter regarding Lerwick lifeboat andhis uncle's yacht Soldian, which waspublished in the autumn issue of THELIFEBOAT.

It may be of some interest to Mr Kayto know that the lifeboat to which herefers was Lady Jane and MarthaRylands, 51ft Barnett class. This boat,which has now been converted, lies atBarry Docks, South Glamorgan, and isused by her owners as an instructionand examination vessel for yachtsmenwho wish to qualify as yachtmastersunder the Royal Yachting Associationand Department of Trade syllabus.

Also, moored alongside this craft,now named Cambrae, is the ex-

Aberdeen Barnett lifeboat HiltonBriggs which we believe is being con-verted for a similar purpose.—w. G.BROOKS, 50 Trinity Street, Barry, SouthGlamorgan.

'The Padstow Lifeboat'One of our greatest composers, Mal-

colm Arnold, lived for a period nearPadstow in Cornwall and had a greatadmiration for the local RNLI crew,often seeing their work at first hand. Asa tribute to the Padstow boat with itslong, distinguished and heroic recordhe composed a descriptive marchwhich is now known almost every-where at home and overseas; a mosteffective piece from a composer whowas himself a leading instrumentalist

and principal trumpet for many of ourgreat symphony orchestras.

One of the finest renderings of 'ThePadstow Lifeboat' I have heard for avery long time was played by TheNational Band of New Zealand con-ducted by Mervyn J. Waters, MBEFTCL, during their recent visit to Lon-don as part of a world tour. The per-formance was given in WestminsterAbbey. It was perhaps appropriate thatMalcolm Arnold's fine music should beheard in a building so steeped in ournational heritage and tradition as isindeed the lifeboat service. The com-poser incorporates the sound of Tre-vose Lighthouse foghorn and wrote:

'The new (1967) lifeboat station is nearTrevose Lighthouse whose foghorn var-ies in pitch between middle C and D. Forthe sake of musical unity it remains Dthroughout the march.'

The clever interpretation of theimpressive booming of the signal is areal musical experience not easily for-gotten. A fine march indeed.—LENKITCHER, 13 Captains Row, Lyming-ton, Hampshire.

89

175 YEARSA TIME TO PAUSEAND LOOK BACK

AROUND THE BEGINNING of thenineteenth century 31 'Original'lifeboats buil t by Henry Greathead ofSouth Shields were established in portsand harbours scattered all round theBritish Isles. Not a great deal is knownabout their activity on the coast, butnevertheless they were an early practi-cal expression of the mounting concernfelt in seaboard communities for thegreat loss of life at sea.

Eight of those 31 'Originals' went tothe coast in 1803: to Arbroath,Exmouth, Guernsey (with a boat firstat St Sampson, then, in later years, atSt Peter Port), Hoylake, Mount's Bay(first at Penzance, then Newlyn, nowPenlee), Newhaven, Plymouth and RyeHarbour (with Winchelsea). Most ofthem were funded in part by the Corpo-ration of Lloyds and in part by the

Eight of Greathead's 'Originals' went on station in 1803.

communities they were to serve andthe link with Lloyds has remained veryclose in Mount's Bay. The first RNLIhonorary secretary of Penzancelifeboat station, Richard Pearse (1826to 1862) was the Lloyd's agent for thearea, as have been his successors in analmost unbroken line right down to thepresent honorary secretary of Penleelifeboat station, D. L. Johnson.

In the early years a lifeboat presencewas not necessarily continuous; insome areas the exact site of the boat-house was to change; gradually indi-vidual stations would be absorbed intothe RNLI. Nevertheless for these eightcommunities a start had been made andby 1978 they could look back on 175years of lifesaving history.

Those 175 years saw the gradualdevelopment of many different types of

lifeboats and just some of the boats thathave been, and are, stationed at one orother of these eight stations are illus-trated on these pages. Oars and sailswere followed by steam, petrol andfinally diesel engines. The very firstlifeboat to be fitted with an internalcombustion engine, J. McConnellHussy, was in fact sent to Newhaven inNovember 1904 on service trials. Shewas well received and it is reported thatshe gained 'golden opinions from thecoxswain and crew'. Plenty, Palmer,Peake, Liverpool, Watson, Barnett . . .so the roll call comes right up to thepresent day. There is now a 52ft ArunClass lifeboat at St Peter Port; a 48ft 6inSolent at Exmouth; a 47ft Watson atPenlee; 44ft Waveneys at Newhavenand Plymouth; a 42ft Watson atArbroath; a 37ft 6in Rother at Hoylake

(Above, left) Exmoiith's third lifeboat, Vic-toria, a 32ft self-righter pulling ten oarsdouble-hanked, was on station from 1867 to1884, during which time she rescued 15 peo-ple. In one gale she was hauled on her car-riage through narrow, twisting countrylanes to launch from Budleigh Salterton tohelp a fishing smack; she look off the cap-tain after three of the smack's crew hadbeen rescued by Sidmoulh lifeboat.

(Above) John Lockett, also 32ft palling tenoars, was the third lifeboat on Giternse\.She was stationed at St Sampson from 1875to 1888.

(Left) Thomas Forehead and Mary Rowse, a52ft Barnett lifeboat stationed at Plymouthfrom 1952 to 1974. For her service to MercEnterprise an January 16, 1974, CoxswainJohn Dare was awarded the bronze medalfor gallantry.

90

Penlee's first motor lifeboat (1922 to 1931) wax a 45ftWatson, The Brothers. She still carried auxiliary sails

and inshore lifeboats at Rye, Exmputhand Plymouth.

In the 175 years, 2,077 people havebeen rescued by offshore lifeboats atthese eight stations and 170 by theirinshore lifeboats. The combined roll ofhonour is impressive: seven gold med-als for gallantry, 71 silver and 27bronze. The last of the seven gold med-als was awarded to Coxswain HubertE. Petit of St Peter Port, father of thepresent coxswain, for the service to MVJohan Calien in 1963.

Arbroath's 42ft Watson lifeboat, The Duke of Montrose, went on station in 1956.She was exhibited at the International Lifeboat Conference at Edinburgh in 1963.

continued on page 93

Oldham, the second ofHoylake's four Liverpoollifeboats which spannedthe years 1906 to 1974; thefirst was a pulling and sail-ing boat, the last threemotor. Oldham, presentedby the town of Oldham,was on station from 1931 to1952; she carried auxiliarysail and also four oars.

The Liverpool* were followed at Hoylake in 1974 by a 37ft 6in Ratherlifeboat, Mary Gabriel.

The 44ft Waveney lifeboat, Louis Marches! of Round Table waxstationed at Newhaven in 1977.

(Right) The 52ft Arun lifeboat Sir WilliamArnold, second in her class, was sen! to StPeter Port in 1973.

Rye Harbour station, closed in 1928 afterthe loss of Mary Stanford and her wholecrew of 17, was re-established as an ILBstation in 1966.

91

One at a time the twin Ford diesel engines . . . are lifted aboard the Rather lifeboat

Building a RotherClass Lifeboat

PART X: ENGINES, SUPERSTRUCTUREAND STEERING SYSTEM

A CRANE MOVED into the boatshed atWilliam Osbornes one day last autumnto lift first the twin engines and then thesuperstructure aboard the 37ft 6inRother class lifeboat which will beRNLB Shoreline.

The engines are twin Ford 2712Efour cylinder 4.165 litre marine dieselsdeveloping 52 SHP at 1,750 RPM andthey are fitted with 2 :1 reverse reduc-tion PRM gearboxes. These engines aresupplied in handed pairs, one withright-hand rotation for the starboardside, and one with left-hand rotation forthe port side. Thus the starboard pro-peller will be turned clockwise and theport propeller will be turned anticlock-wise so that when both engines arerunning at the same speed the opposingtorques of the two propellers will coun-

The steering system.

. . . and fitted into theengine room.

terbalance each other. The bias of thetorque, or twist, of each individualpropeller can, of course, be used toadvantage when the boat has to bemanoeuvred in a confined space.

Before the engines are lifted aboard,the bearing pads on which they will bebedded down are machined so that theengines, when put in place, willautomatically be aligned with the shaftcoupling. Each engine is bolted in itsposition through the bearing pads withfour 'Ain bolts, two on each side.

Now the aluminium superstructurecan be lifted aboard. It is fitted downover the wooden forward engine room

SPHERICAL BEARINGUNIVERSAL JOINT

TRICING LINES

bulkhead and faired to the deck sheer;then it is bolted in place withaluminium angle.

Within one day the building of thelifeboat has suddenly made an impres-sive move forward and work which hadbeen waiting until these importantmembers were in place can now goahead; the fitt ing, for instance, of theafter engine room bulkhead(aluminium); the fitting of pipeworksuch as the exhaust, closed water cool-ing and fuel systems; the fitting of theengine controls; the fit t ing oftoughened glass windscreen and win-dows; on deck the fitting of stanchions,guardrails, capstan, searchlight socket. . . and so it goes on.

The diagram (left) shows the steeringsystem, which is also being assembledat this time. The steering wheel ismounted on a pedestal which in turn ismounted on a support taking its weightright down to the centreline structureof the boat, thus ensuring completerigidity. As the wheel is turned to portor starboard, its rotation is transmittedthrough two pajrs of bevel gears to thevertical intermediate shaft and on viathe tail shaft and steering gearbox tothe rudder.

Movement of the boat's hull in aseaway would make the working of theentire system very rough if it were notfor the flexibility of the connectionsbetween the pedestal and the gearbox.

92

This is achieved by universal joints anda spherical bearing where the inter-mediate shaft passes through the endbox bulkhead. The tail shaft is alsosplined at its lower end, allowing alimited travel of the universal jointalong it.

The rudder is mounted on a squareshaft on which it can be raised and low-ered by means of tricing lines. It israised to avoid risk of damage on slip-way or carriage when the lifeboat islaunched or recovered and lowered assoon as there is enough water under thebeat as she gets away from the beachafter launching.

(To be continued)

The aluminium superstructure goes aboard.

Knockdownfrom page 86

in the boat, that is the main thing. Toget them back out of the water is theproblem. If you keep them in the boatyou wil l not have to pick men out of thewater in seas that are s t i l l liable to cap-size you. The crew should be secured ifat all possible. When to strap in, I sup-pose, would be the big question. Inservices in lighter weather youwouldn ' t . But our capsize, and theknockdowns we have been talkingabout, they all took us so completelyby surprise. Even with straps in theboats, would they s t i l l be used at all , orwould you go over and stil l find themen not strapped in?

Dyer: The only thing I would say withthe l i t t le bit of experience I have got isthat the coxswain should see that asfew men as possible are on deck whenhe is doing a job; he should keep closedship at all times; and he should makeuse of all the facilities he has, es-pecially the crash helmets, becausethey are 100 per cent.

Cocking: If the men can stay with theboat, so much the better, and I agreewith George, if crash helmets or capsare issued I think the coxswain shouldinsist the crew wear them and keepthem on. Then I think you wil l find youwill not have any head troubles at all.All my crew have got hats now. If wewere called out in a gale of wind I thinkthe crew would pick up their hatsautomatically and put them on.

Harding: And your boats? You haveconfidence in them?

Walsh: The performance of the boatspeaks for itself. We came back twiceand the engine worked perfectly. On aservice that is the great thing.

Dyer: I th ink the crews are 100 per centmore confident now than they werebefore.

Cocking: You try taking our boat away!

Harding: That says everything! So,after—let's face it—a tragedy and somenear misses, I am sure we would allagree that there is a great deal we canlearn from these experiences.

175 Years from page 91

Some of the lifeboats have taken partin historic events. Plymouth 's lifeboatClemency was present on August 19,1879, at the ceremony of laying the

foundation stone of the new EddystoneLighthouse by the Prince of Wales andthe Duke of Edinburgh. Newhaven's45ft Watson Cecil and Lilian Philpottwas one of the lifeboats at Dunkirk.

Sadly, not all remembrance in 1978was happy. On November 19 a servicewas held at Rye Harbour ParishChurch in memory of the loss 50 yearsago, on November 15, 1928, of the RyeHarbour lifeboat Mary Stanford withher whole crew of 17 men while on ser-vice to the Latvian vessel Alice. It wasthe greatest loss of life from any singlelifeboat of the RNLI in the Inst i tu t ion 'shistory. Rye Harbour was closed as anoffshore station in 1928, but wasreopened as an ILB station in 1966.

A service at Mutley Baptist Churchon April 24 was one of Plymouth's tri-butes to her 175 years of lifesaving, anda l i t t le later, in May, Major-GeneralRalph Farrant, president of the Ins t i tu-tion, was to open the West CountryBoat Show in Plymouth. In that samemonth Guernsey lifeboat station wasthe central feature of the first GuernseyBoat Show.

Penlee celebrated its 175th birthdaywith special fund raising effortsembracing the whole Mount's Bayarea. A week of celebrations organisedby Penlee branch from May 28 to June2 included events in Penzance andNewlyn and there was also a sponsoredsail by Penzance Sailing Club, therewere Harvest Homes at the Old Coast-guard Hotel, Mousehole, and theCrown Inn , Penzance, and also ananniversary draw with a prize ofMartell-Cognac given by Martell. 'Amarked feature of the year' wrote D. L.Johnson, Penlee honorary secretary,'has been the tremendous support wehave had not only from our own peoplebut from the local organisations, thepublic and the police.' A fi t t ing post-script to such an historic year.

93

ShorelineSection

IN THE PAST tWO JSSUCS of THELIFEBOAT I have asked members of mystaff to give you an insight into theirwork within the department and I thinkyou will agree that this has caused a fairamount of interest. So in this issue Iwould like to give you more details ofwhat is happening within Shorelineitself.

On Wednesday November 1 therewas a very successful gathering of over200 Shoreline members at Portsmouth.At a cheese and wine reception fol-lowed by discussion everyone seemedto enjoy an opportunity of meetingothers all with a similar interest inlifeboats. A further meeting has beenarranged with a talk by Sir Alec Roseand it is hoped that these socialexchanges will be run on a regularbasis.

If this idea is successful then possi-bly such a scheme will be of interest inother parts of the country.

* * #

The Shoreline Lifeboat Appeal tofund a Rother class lifeboat has finallycome to a close. The total amountreceived from all your efforts was justover £101,000 and I would like to takethis opportunity of thanking all of youfor your loyal support of this venture.As you will see from the previouspages, building is progressing well.

Now the time has come when wemust consider what to do next, so againif any of you have any good ideasplease drop me a line.

* * *When fitting out of R N L B Shoreline is

complete, her Pye Westminster radiotelephone, with its whip aerial, will be alasting memorial to the late DonaldBridgman, who died last August. MrBridgman was senior navigationinspector of the Thames Water Author-ity and a founder member of Moleseybranch and more than £740 has beengiven in his memory by his friends andcolleagues.

* * *The membership is growing steadily

and we are now over 51,000. The magicfigure of 50,000 has been well and trulypassed, and I hope that by the end ofthe year our target of 53,000 will havebeen achieved. If you have not alreadydone so, how about asking your friendsor work colleagues to support us?

The Earls Court Boat Show inJanuary will be a landmark in the his-tory of the RNLI membership becauseit was in January 1969 that Sir AlecRose founded the YLA, forerunner toour present membership scheme. TheRNLI stand this year will feature theten years of Shoreline and what hashappened within the Institution duringthat time, and I sincerely hope that anymember coming to the show, whichruns from January 4 to 14, will make apoint of visiting us in the PembrokeHall.

* * *

We are happy to show you here apicture of our friend and Shorelinemember Mrs Nora Neill of whosescheme we have made mention in pre-vious issues and who has, by her dedi-cated and untiring efforts, now raisedthe staggering sum of around £1,300 forlifeboat funds by collecting and tradingin unwanted Green Shield stamps. Sheis still hard at it and will be until not astamp remains. So, come along all youmembers and your friends; rally round;dig out all those stamps that you alwaysmeant to use but didn't and help MrsNeill to beat the almost unbelievabletotal that she has already reached. Heraddress is 95 Fitzroy Avenue, Har-borne, Birmingham B17 8RG.

* * *

You may remember that I asked youto send me little snippets you thinkwould interest other members and I ampleased to report that the following hasbeen received from K. H. Moss, sec-retary of Dudley branch. The InlandWaterways Association held itsNational Rally at Titford Pools, Old-bury, over the three days of last AugustBank Holiday. Dudley branch was inattendance with a souvenir stand andthe former Rhyl D class ILB which isnow used as a promotional boat in theWest Midlands. Because of holidaycommitments only three members ofthe Dudley committee were availableto man the stand during the 12 hourseach day that the rally was open. Dur-ing this period, however, they managedto sell £122 worth of lottery tickets and£265 in souvenirs, receiving £30 indonations; but by far the most success-ful part of their efforts was the fact thatmore than £500 worth of Shorelinemembership subscriptions werecovenanted during the weekend. Manymore of the narrow boat fraternity tookaway with them Shoreline applicationforms which we hope will eventuallyfind their way to our office in Poole.Well done the three of you and manycongratulations.

* * *

Southampton Boat Show celebratedits tenth anniversary year and isundoubtedly going from strength tostrength. The RNLI was well rep-resented with a very busy souvenirstand manned by members of the localbranches and guilds and a Thames class

Mrs Nora Neill hard at work.

lifeboat exhibited afloat. At our end ofthe stand we enrolled 2 1 1 newShoreline members and sold £785worth of insignia, while the branchesand guilds raised a splendid £6,099 sel-ling souvenirs and tickets for theSouthern District competition the prizefor which was a Saab car.

* * *Many of our members in their letters

ask for details of their nearest branchor guild so that they can take part in itsactivities. This information is readilyavailable from the various RNLI dis-trict offices, the addresses of which aregiven below. Our district organisingsecretaries will be happy to help andlocal support from Shoreline membersis very welcome.Scotland: 45 Queen Street. Edinburgh.

Tel.: 031-225 4014.North East: The Mi l l . Glasshouses. Nr Harrogate. Nor th

Yorkshire.Tel: 0423 711667

West Midlands: Royal Mail House. 2 Calthorne Road.Birmingham 15.Tel: 021-454 300V

Midland Shires: Royal Mail House. 2 Calthorpe Road.Birmingham 15.Tel: 021-455 96X1

East: Aldham Road. Hadleigh. Suffolk.Tel: 047-3IX 2837

North London: 553A High Road. Wembley . Midd lesex .Tel: 01-903 3230

South London: 6 Bell Parade. Glebe Way West WickhamKent .Tel: 01-777 1776

City of London: RNI . I . 40 St Mary Axe. London t'CITel: 01-283 4680 K\i 497

South East: 9 Un ion Square. The Pantiles. T n n h i i d g cWells.Tel: 0812 35000

Southern: West Quay Road. Poole. Dorset.Tel: 02013 71133

SouthWest: Carlton Chambers. 25 Ba ldwin Street. Bristol.Tel: 0272 291939

Wales: The Exehange. Moun t Stuart Square. CardiffTel: 0222 31831

North West: Princes Chambers. 26 Pall Mal l . Manchester 2.Tel: 061-834 6978

Ireland: 10 Merrion Square. D u b l i n .Tel: Dublin 76221733 Sainttleld Road. Belfast .Tel: 0232 645645

Once again, ladies and gentlemen,the year has come to an end and Iwould like to take this opportunity ofwishing you a prosperous and happy1979 with success in anything that youundertake. In closing may I take thisopportunity of thanking you for yoursupport over the past year and from allthe staff at Poole good luck for thefuture.—PETER HOLNESS, membershipsecretary, RNLI, West Qua\ Road,Poole, Dorset, BH15 1HZ (Tel. Poole71133).

94

Sweet WilliamA MARATHON 278-MILE DONKEY TROT FROM

ST IVES TO LONDON

by Rosemary Whitten'Hey, what's that Freisian donkeydoing staked out on your grass?'

The cheerful farmer's voice stoppedthe conversation in the comfortable barof The White Hart, Bishop's Caundle,where we were enjoying an excellentsalad lunch and we became the centreof attention. Our story told, the lifeboatcollecting box circulated and returnednoticeably heavier. And so it proved tobe most of the way from St Ives inCornwall to Hyde Park Corner inCentral London.

To start at the beginning: I wasbecoming somewhat restless living inthe depths of the country with my hus-band weekend commuting, two boys atboarding school and our seven-year-olddaughter at the local school. Having leda very active life as an Army wife Idecided I ought to be doing something;as a member of a keen sailing familywith strong seafaring connections in StIves I decided to help raise urgentlyneeded money for the RNLI. The way Iwould do it came in a moment of inspi-ration: 1 would undertake a sponsoreddonkey trot with Sweet William, ourfour-year-old coloured stallion donkeywith a light chaise from Cornwall toLondon! With a bit of luck I thought Imight raise £500 or so and that it wouldtake about a month.

The family, and particularly my hus-band once the subject had beenbroached and 'planning' approvalgiven, entered enthusiastically into thescheme. Not knowing where to start Iapproached our local vet for his opin-ion, not only of William's generalhealth but on the feasibility of thewhole project. He was extremely help-ful and we reckoned that 10-15 milesper day was perfectly reasonable for afit, shod donkey with well-fitting har-ness and a single seat chaise. The Don-key Breed Society also gave me valu-able advice and invited me to attend theDBS Drive In and Assessment atNewquay.

I started training four months beforemy planned start date, which had to bein May to avoid the heavy traffic whichbuilds up in the holiday season. As myroute was inevitably along the generalline of the A30, I was most anxious notto create a hazard for other road users,nor to subject William, who has anexcellent temperament, to any unduestress. His first ever shoeing took placein January. Our local farrier, KenTrengrove, made a very light trainingset and was amazed how well hebehaved. I used our large children'scart initially as it was reasonably heavyand therefore ideal for our four to fivemile daily jaunts in the early months.My husband meanwhile was making avery light chaise with rubber shod artil-lery wheels for the actual journey.

By mid April the organisation was infull swing: heavier sets of shoes madeand fitted (I took three sets with me);William and I fully fit; 200 sponsorforms and posters out to all sorts ofpeople and organisations; the localpress and television informed;arrangements made for our children'shalf term; the family car containingback-up food, water, tack, two dogsand my husband all organised and mostovernight stops confirmed. The variousPolice Divisions had been contactedand the RSPCA informed. Eric Wil-liams, public relations, DBS, was nowfully in the picture and generouslyoffered every assistance.

May Day dawned bright and clear,Cornwall apparently had the only fine

Sweet William's personalappearance (above) withJohn Noakes on the BBC's'Blue Peter' programme,Thursday May 25.

(Left) end of a day's trot.

End of the road: Hyde ParkCorner, Saturday May 27.

weather in the whole country, and alocal farmer, Gordon Moore, drove usto St Ives in his horse box. A cheerfulholiday crowd had gathered at thelifeboat house on the quay and collect-ing boxes were well filled. The Mayorkindly saw me away after a short cere-mony and many senior members of theRNLI including chairmen of the vari-ous guilds were there in force. TommyCocking, St Ives' coxswain, presentedme with a huge RNLI flag which was tofly from my whip tied to the back of thechaise thereafter, providing an excel-lent traffic warning as well as publicity.Away up the hill past Carbis Bay,trailed by small boys and withencouraging messages ringing in myears, I suddenly realised that I hadstarted!

Lunch was a picnic in a field withfriends while William munched thehedgerows. This was the pattern for thenext month and very relaxing it proved.The first week passed quickly. Theweather was cold but dry and the A30lightly trafficked. After one or twoincidents—William testing the securityof his stable at Zelah, for instance, andclimbing on to the windowsill—Ireached Five Lanes where my husbandwas going to join me and act as escortfor the remainder of the journey. Onaverage I was receiving £10 per day inthe lifeboat box on the chaise; havinghad good local media coverage, peoplewere most generous and loved to talk.One of William's shoes was showingsigns of wear and I was glad I hadarranged for a farrier to call at mycousin's farm near Petrocstowe on ourfirst rest day.

Here William met sheep for the firsttime and had a marvellous time chasingthem like a playful puppy until herealised they could turn quicker than hecould. Three huge men turned up witha mobile forge and took immense painsto fit one of the spare sets of shoes cor-rectly. Again William behaved per-

continued on page 103

95

(Left) Joyce Pearce, who handles all the lot-tery counterfoils at head office.

Touring headquarters after the third lottery-draw, June Whitfield said how much shewould like to go out in a lifeboat. Arrange-ments were made for her and Terry Scott togo out on trials of the 50ft Thames classlifeboat which will be stationed at Islay.

National LotteriesYOU WILL FIND in this journal eighttickets for our fifth national lottery,also a reply paid envelope to use if youwish to take part. The tickets can besold to any member of the public andnot necessarily to members of abranch, guild or Shoreline. If branchesand guilds sell lottery tickets the pro-ceeds can be paid into their accounts aslong as a remittance together with thecounterfoils is sent to head officebefore the date of the draw.

Some people disagree with lotteriesand would rather not receive tickets intheir journal but, owing to the methodof distribution, it is not possible to ex-clude tickets from any individual copy.We can only suggest that unwanted tic-

American/British AppealA 500-page book on North Atlantic

Seafood by Alan Davidson is to be pub-lished by Macmillans around the end ofMarch. By the kindness of the pub-lishers and author, the 'first run' of 250copies of the first edition will be sold inaid of our American/British LifeboatAppeal. These 250 copies will be num-bered and signed by the author on aspecial book-plate type insertion. Theprice will be the normal £9.95, plus£1.05 for packing and postage.

RNLI members who wish to reservecopies of this limited edition shouldsend a cheque (made out to the RNLIAmerican/British Lifeboat Appeal) for£11.00 to the author, Alan Davidson, at45 Lamont Road, London SW10 OHU.To keep costs to the minimum, postalorders will not be acknowledged unlessthe limited edition is already fully sub-scribed when they are received. Booksordered by post will be despatched assoon as they are available. If all 250

kets either be given to a friend or put inthe waste paper basket. On the otherhand, if you think you can sell morethan eight tickets, please let the appealsdepartment at head office know and weshall be happy to send you more.

The first three national lotteries havebrought in £80,000 and in future we willbe running four a year. That means thata maximum of £160,000 is possible; theoverheads are so low that we could be

A cheque for £5,000 from theAssociation for Rescue atSea (AFRAS) towards theAmerican/British LifeboatAppeal was recentlypresented by KingmanBrewster, United StatesAmbassador (I.) to Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Comp-ston, chairman, Fund Rais-ing Committee. With them(I. to r.): Patrick Howarth,PRO RNLI, and NormanBlake, an Appeal Committeemember.

books are sold almost £1,500 will beraised for the appeal. Although a pricehigher than the published price cannotbe charged, there is no objection topurchasers sending larger cheques ifthey wish to increase theircontribution!

The book is in two parts. The first isa beautifully illustrated catalogue of allthe marine fish, crustaceans and mol-luscs which are eaten in the NorthAtlantic countries, from Portugal up tothe Soviet Union and Iceland, anddown the eastern seaboard of NorthAmerica.

(Right) Foreign coin has been pouring intoPoole HQfrom collecting points generouslyset up last year by Lipton's at their 850stores in England and Wales. (1. to r.)Numismatists John Phillimore and ColinDay with Cdr Ted Pritchard, appeals sec-retary, and Diane King who organises thecollection at Poole. So far more than £6,000has been raised and foreign coins are stillpouring in.

funding a new Rother lifeboat annually.Winners are sent their cheques on theday of the draw and the names are pub-lished in the next issue of the journal.They are also put into 'The DailyTelegraph'.

June Whitfield and Terry Scott tooktime off from their very successfulsummer show 'A Bedfull of Foreigners'at the Pier Theatre, Bournemouth, todraw the third RNLI national lottery atPoole headquarters on September 29; alottery which raised nearly £29,000. Bycoincidence the first prizewinner was alocal man and he and his wife visitedthe Pier Theatre for the last perfor-mance of the show.

Here is the full list of prizewinners:

£1,000: E. P. Goodger, Poole.£500: D. Cornell, London.£250: A. Ellingford, Bexleyheath.

£25: W. Poole, Ashford; Miss Bragg,South Humberside; Mr Wood Guildford;Mrs Mead, Thornaby; Mrs F. B. Harrison,Bournemouth; Mr Henderson, London;David Jacobs, Lightwater; Leslie Wilson,Walesby; B. L. Wilkinson, Plymouth; MrsRadbourne, Horndean.

A number of supporters are askingwhy we do not go into 'instant lot-teries'. Many promoters haveapproached us but these schemeswould seem to benefit the promotermore than the lifeboatmen.

Golf SupremeTo enhance the funds of the RNLI

and the Gunnar Nileson Cancer Treat-ment Campaign, Clifford Jardine andBritish Airways are combining toarrange a day's competitive golf with adifference. Golfers are invited to fly bySuper 1-11 on Saturday February 24 toplay golf on the island of Mallorca.Departure from Luton, 0800; arrival ofreturn flight, 0200 next morning. Thecost, due to the generosity of BritishAirways, is £69 a person.

The day will include a buffet lunchand gala dinner as well as drinks kindlysupplied by British Airways during theflights. An auction will be held on theoutward bound 'plane.

Tickets from Clifford Jardine,George Hotel, Beaconsfield(7e/: 049463086).

96

Some

Arundel Cathedral was the magnifi-cent setting for a concert and organrecital last July by Broadwater ManorSchool Choir from Worthing; a concertwhich raised £308 for Littlehamptonboathouse fund. The 30 boys in thechoir, conducted by Norman Pope andaccompanied by Gregory Wheele at theorgan, sang pieces by Mozart, Handel,Mendelssohn, Quilter and many othercomposers. Soloists were Paul Staples,David Leonard, Clive Jefferies andJames Richardson (trumpet). To swellthe funds, the boys also collected £20 inpennies.

Eight members of Yarmouth andDistrict Round Table, led by TerryMorrison, made a sponsored trip by seafrom Gorleston to Seaham and then onto Glasgow by road with an inflatabledinghy. Crews of three took it in turn toman the boat. After completing thejourney the men were able to presentthe RNLI with a cheque for £3,050,written on an eight foot hardboardreplica of an ILB. More than £3,000worth of equipment used in this effort,including the boat, Yamaha 40 out-board engine and 12 sets of waders andoilskins, given by Freeman's of Yar-mouth, were also handed to the RNLIfor use on the coast.

During the bad weather of earlyAugust, 16-year-old Sharon Slaterdecided to organise the children onholiday in Morfa Nefyn, North Wales.After some days of rehearsing, a con-cert including a condensed version ofthe musical 'Oliver' was performed infront of parents and holidaymakers.Such was the demand for tickets thattwo performances were put on. As aresult £20 was sent to the RNLI.

Clacton Co-operative Band was just one of the attractions on Clacton Pier for a highlysuccessful 'Charity Nile' last June. Free rides on the funfair, cabaret and two free dolphinshows helped to make the evening a success. More than £1,000 was raised for the lifeboatservice. photograph by courtesy of 'East Essex Gazette'

'What Granny Threw Out' wasthe theme of an auctionorganised by May McMaster,ADOS Northern Ireland, andHarry Briggs at The DunmoreHotel, Killyleagh, on October10. Nearly 300 letters tofriends and lifeboat supportersasking for anything that couldbe spared from the atticresulted in 121 lots, includingan oil painting by Paul Henry'knocked down' by auctioneerJim Morgan for £810 and aChinese mandarin's em-broidered silk costume whichwent for £69. Silver, linen,glass, paintings came underthe hammer and in all, £2,500was raised.

Mike Inkster raised £500 by running from Whitstable via Birchington and Mansion and back,a total of 50 miles. The money was divided equally between Whitstable branch and CancerResearch. Mr Inkster's firm, Pedigree Toys Ltd, kindly gave 50 dolls to Whitstable branch toraise further funds. They are being raffled and used in competitions.

Six children from Harpenden, whoseages ranged from four to ten years old,made a clover chain measuring 92 feet!Sponsors were asked to contribute '/2por lp per foot and £10.58 was raised forthe lifeboat service.

Fleetwood's lifeboat week,organised by members of the localladies' guild, station branch and crew,raised £3,500. A crowded week ofdances, concerts, flower and river dis-plays, and including a fish sale at thelifeboathouse, culminated in a serviceat St Peter's Church.

A harvest home sale held in the OldCoastguard Hotel, Mousehole, raisedover £200 to buy equipment for thePenlee lifeboat. It was organised by themother of the coxswain, Mrs M.Richards, who has worked for theRNLI for over 40 years as honorarysecretary and chairman of Penleeladies' guild; Mrs S. Madron, wife ofthe motor mechanic; and Mrs MaryWilliams, whose husband, before hisretirement, served as assistantmechanic and wireless operator for 28years. Other helpers included Mrs M.Pomeroy, wife of the winchman of

97

^

Members of the Brierley Hill and Kingswinford branch had highflyingideas for fund raising, for John Stoker, a branch committee member,persuaded some of his friends to make a sponsored parachute jump.When all the jumpers had their feet firmly on the ground once more,and all the money had been collected in, £400 had been raised. Asimilar event on Bodmin Moor, undertaken by nine young people,raised £150 for the Mevagissey branch, Cornwall.

Two by two they rode to the Young Farmers' Conference at Black-pool. Members of the Norton and Gaulby Young Farmers' Club sol-ved a transport problem and raised money for the RNLl as they wentby organising a sponsored tandem ride to Blackpool. A cheque for£200 was later handed over to Leicester ladies' guild.

photograph by courtesy of 'Leicester Mercury'

A clear day and a pleasantsetting made a coffee morn-ing run by Mr and MrsWilkes in their caravan-typehome at Acaster Malbis,York, a tremendous event.Despite the limited spaceavailable Mr and Mrs Wilkeswere able to entertainenough guests to raise £143.

many years standing, and AssistantMechanic Nigel Brockman who actedas auctioneer.

Mud, mud, glorious mud—and itraised £500 for the RNLI. Ann andMike Porter-Ward, landlords of theShip Inn, Canterbury, organised a mudday for their regular customers. Tug-of-war, greasy pole and three-leggedraces were among the competitionsbattled out in the mud of ConyerCreek.

After a successful sale held in hergarage last year which raised over £60,Mrs McMurray of Rye, Sussex, hasgone on this year to raise a further £84.

The greyhound which won the BassTrophy Race at Middlesbrough indi-rectly raised £100 for Whitby branch,for he was 'adopted' by the GeorgeHotel, Whitby, to run in the raceorganised by Bass Charrington. Thelandlord, Ted Davis, presented hisprize to Peter Thomson, coxswain ofWhitby lifeboat, in appreciation of thelifeboat's splendid record of serviceand because he had been rescued twiceby the boat.

Four young children, Alan and Ste-ven Boyle, Michelle Cane and CorineRimmer collected jumble and held asale in Alan and Steven's front garden.Tea and biscuits were also sold and atthe end of an enjoyable day for the fourfriends, £9.86 had been made.

An annual appeal in the north eastamong employees of the several insur-ance companies which come within theIndustrial Life Offices organisation hasthis year realised £578.

A record profit of £900 was raised byMudeford guild's annual fete onMudeford Quay last summer duringwhich Elizabeth Dewey was crownedlifeboat queen. A children's lifeboatpainting competition, races and manyother events helped to make the day asuccess.

A Japanese luncheon was held at thehome of the chairman of Aldeburghladies' guild in May and raised £150.The main course, a genuine Japanesechicken dish together with the tradi-tional side dishes, was cooked by anAmerican family, who are staunchsupporters of the local lifeboat.

Eight children and three teachers ofEmmanuel Junior and Infants School inPreston raised £85 by each swimming20 lengths of the local swimming pool.

Following a visit by pupils ofBerkhamstead High School for Girls toPort Isaac ILB station, the girlsdecided to hold a flower show to raisemoney for the station. Over 120 entrieswere judged ranging from miniaturegardens, Victorian posies and pressedflowers to plants grown by the childrenthemselves. As a result the girls wereable to send £20 to Port Isaac.

Filey station held its first lifeboat queencontest at a dance at Primrose Valley Holi-day Park in August. The winner was MandySimpson from Beverley; Jane Beaumont (I.)and Julie Moxon (r.) were second and thirdrespectively. Coxswain Tom Jenkinson pre-sented the prizes which were donated bylocal firms. The money raised from the con-test and dance was credited to the Fileylifeboat week, when about £1,700 wascollected.

During Greenwich Clipper Week,ladies from Woolwich branch sold£1,500 worth of souvenirs. In addition,£250 of lottery tickets were sold toholidaymakers, including visitors fromAmerica, Australia, Canada and SriLanka.

A folk music evening and fork supperat Oxonhoath, the home of Mr and MrsBayne-Powell, raised £230 for Ton-bridge branch last October, and asummer evening at Penshurst Place,the home of Lord de L'Isle, whichincluded supper and a guided tour ofthe house, raised £160. In all, Ton-bridge branch, which has 'adopted'Sheerness lifeboat, raised more than£1,000 in the first six months of thefinancial year.

98

This remarkable scene, depicting Weymouth lifeboat rescuing a manoff Portland Bill, is made entirely from sand. It is the work of FredDarrington whoAs now the only sand sculptor in Weymouth and whomade the sculpture for Wey mouth's flag week. It raised £15.97 of the£4,022.53 raised altogether during the week.

photograph by courtesy of 'Dorset Evening Echo'

Two magnificent efforts by children in Ipswich have raised enoughmoney to buy 112 sets of ear defenders for lifeboat crews. The topthree classes ofWhitehouse Infants School hoped to raised £100 witha sponsored spell; they actually raised £429, enough for 100 sets ofear defenders. Three pupils from St John's School raised the moneyfor 12 sets, photograph by courtesy of the 'Evening Star', Ipswich.

Last October, Mrs Carmen, vice-president of Lianelli branch, was pre-sented with a bar to her gold badge byDavid Mansel-Lewis, HM Lieutenant ofDyfed. Mrs Carmen has had a perma-nent collecting box in her hotel fornearly 20 years and has personallyraised over £12,000 for the RNLI.

Mark Hannah and his 73-year-oldgrandfather, W. F. Harris, recentlyundertook a sponsored walk fromPlymouth to Brixham: a walk whichtook them three days. Over £81 wascollected which has been given toPlymouth lifeboat pontoon fund.

Each year the Ritchie family, wholive at Billericay, Essex, arrange theirholidays to coincide with flag week atBorth, Dyfed. Each year they manageto increase the amount they collect andthis year they brought in £92 of the£496.95 raised at Borth during theweek.

After being paid at the end of theweek, the seven crew members of MVHoocrest only take their money to theround pound; any surplus coins go intothe lifeboat box kept on board. If theygo ashore for an evening out, any loosechange is put in the box. In just threemonths this crew has collected £54.

Shawls in all colours crocheted byGlenys Clarke are raising money forRugby branch and guild. So far, MrsClarke, a full time teacher, hascrocheted 50 shawls and has amassed£200 for branch funds.

Four Dutch schoolboys, MichaelHeins, Dick Ket, Andre U. Oosten andWim Vink, while staying in York,raised £37.63 for the RNLI in just onehour by playing their accordians anddrums in Kings Square, York. Theboys called their group Rubbish; not aname that fits the music, according tothe response from the shoppers.

A weekly ticket competition held byMichael Skinner, landlord of the Mos-tyn Hotel, Swanage, has raised £350over the last 18 months.

Foreign students taking Englishcourses at the Anglo-European Schoolof English in Bournemouth, are fined5p if they are caught talking in theirown language while in the school. Sofar about £45 has been raised in thisway.

A model lifeboat made entirely out ofmatchsticks has been made and pre-sented to the RNLI by a prisoner inDungavel Jail, Scotland. The model isfitted with working lights and inside is atable, bunks and bookcase. So far themodel has been used during flag weeksin the Southern District.

The 16 forms of Sawston Village Col-lege, Lower School, set themselves atarget of raising £4.50 per form to buyear defenders for lifeboat crews. Aftertwo months of races, sweet and cakestalls and sponsored events, £450 washanded over.

Shortly after the opening of the newArts Centre in Poole, a concert of bar-bershop singing was organised by theEast Dorset Barbershop HarmonyClub, after which a cheque for £462was donated to the Yarmouth lifeboatappeal. Barbershoppers from Bristol,Reading, Crawley, Bridgwater andBournemouth also took part.

A cheque for £20 in memory of thelate Dick Partington was given to

At a highly successful concert by Harrow Concert Band at Kodak Hall, Wealdstone, inSeptember, the music played ranged from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Tchaikovsky.Rayners Lane and Eastcote branches helped with the decorations and at the end of the eventover £500 had been raised. The band has very kindly offered to help at any RNLI function forout-of-pocket expenses only. Branches and guilds should write to the honorary secretary ofthe hand. Herbert Scott, at 20 Mount Drive, North Harrow.

photograph by courtesy of Peter Ransom

99

Norden Primary Schoolraised £250 for the RNL1 bycollecting newspapers andorganising fairs and com-petitions. Philip Shepherdhanded over the cheque toBrian Stevenson, ADOSNorth West, with Mrs S.Taylor and Mrs J. P.Heywood of Rochdaleladies' guild looking on.

photograph by courtesy of'Rochdale Observer'

Presentation by Rear-Admiral Sir Edmund Irving,a vice-president of theInstitution, to Littlestone-on-Seu ILB crew of a tele-scope paid for by the Rom-ney Marsh ladies' dartsleague (see right). Theleague cup for 1977/78 waswon by the Royal Mailladies' team.

photograph by courtesy of'Folkestone and Hythe

Herald and Gazette'

The ladies guild in the smallmarket town of Driffieldraised £3.046 in 1978, mak-ing a total of £9.497 in fiveyears. A cheese and wineparty at the Trout Inn is onepopular annual event. (I. tor.) Mrs H. Byas. honorarytreasurer. Lady Farens, MrsB. Navlor, chairman, K.Thirlwell, DOS North East.Mrs G. Sykes, vice-chairman, and Mrs R. G.Foster, honorary secretary.

Beaumaris ladies' guild by the NorthWales Venturers Yacht Club ofBeaumaris. Mr Partington, a long-distance cruising man, was honorarytraining officer for the club, and thuspassed on his knowledge of the sea.of the sea to others.

Bob Young, a crew member of PortIsaac ILB, has twice raised £25 by hav-ing bags of wet pig food thrown at him

Llunelli ASC organised asponsored sea swim inAugust and raised £145, £80of which was raised bySusan Roach who presentedthe cheque to Mrs DorothyWilliams, chairman of BurryPort ladies' guild. BurryPort ILB was herself pro-vided us a result of a pre-vious national sponsored.swim, the money havingbeen raised by TivertonSwimming Club.

while sitting in a set of stocks; the sec-ond occasion was during LifeboatLarks last August 27. Certainly foodfor thought!

New Brighton station has a verygood friend in young John Liddle. Forthe past two years John has been hold-ing small sales at his home while hismother is holding coffee mornings. His

fund-raising ideas include guessing howmany sweets are in a jar and treasuremaps as well as selling games andbooks. His last sale, earlier this year,raised £5.82, the highest total so far.Keep up the good work. John!

A successful barbecue was organisedby Boston Motor Yacht Club lastautumn and despite bad weather theevent raised £148 for the lifeboatservice.

Barnt Green Sailing Club kindlyallows the local ladies' guild to hold afork supper in its grounds each year.This year the supper raised £720, all thefood being prepared by guild members.Wi th such good co-operation, no won-der raising money is plain sailing.

A ladies' darts league, started eightyears ago in public houses on RomneyMarsh, has proved to be a real moneyspinner. During each match a collectingbox is handed round, the money col-lected being given to the local branchfor that area. At the end of each seasona presentation dance is held and anymoney raised from the raffle is spli tequal ly between Dungeness lifeboatand Littlestone ILB. During the1977/78 season. £6(X) was raisedthrough the collecting boxes and £589from the raffle.

Pangbourne branch has had abumper year, raising an a l l - t ime recordsum for them of over £6.500. Some£3.200 of this was raised on one day inJuly at Beenham Gala, for which , on aglorious day, a crowd not far short of10,000 turned up. Of this sum £1.600came from a raffle and the first prize, aMirror dinghy donated by HambrosLife of Park Lane, was won by GeorgeLaing from Fife. Vice-Admiral SirPeter Compston, chairman of the FundRaising Committee, was guest of hon-our and members of the crew andcommittee of Weymouth lifeboat sta-tion paid the gala a welcome visit.

At least once a month someone fromthe Welsh District Office is called toempty the lifeboat collecting box in thebar of the Red House, a pub near thei roffice in Cardiff's dockland. The land-lord, Mr Young, and his regulars havecollected over £100 in six months.

Hove Deep Sea Angler's Club arenett ing more and more money for theRNLI as the years go by. In 1972. £134had been collected in thei r lifeboat box.by 1977 the amount had risen to £223and £105 from special efforts. So farthis year £187 has been put in to the col-lecting box and £211 raised by specialevents.

London lifeboat day, held on March14 raised £90.208 gross.

100

A raffle, a cake stall, a bring and buystall and a game of bingo were all partof the programme of a coffee eveningheld at the home of Tynemouth ladies'guild chairman, Mrs Whatley, lastApril. The evening, for which therewas a full house, raised over £122.

A cheque for £200.67 was handedover for Torbay lifeboat by pupils ofYarner House, Audley Park School,Torquay. During the past two years the450 pupils of the house have been rais-ing about £50 a term by selling hotpasties, soup and cake.

Mandy and Ashley Way of Chaw-leigh, North Devon, with help fromsome of their school friends, raised£83.50 for Appledore lifeboat with acoffee evening. There was an exhibi-tion of ancient objects as well as stallsand competitions.

Leeds Model Group of the LifeboatEnthusiasts' Society raised £53 in twohours at their first fund-raising effort.Their stall, at a local gala, was stockedwith homemade cakes, jams andsweetmeats.

A wine and cheese party, held by asmall branch almost in the centre ofEngland, raised £82 in July. The partywas held at the home of Buckinghamand District branch's chairman G. W.Battersby.

'Come as you were when the shipwent down' was the invitation for adance organised by Cannock branch,and we are told it caused a greatamount of fun and unusual dress. Over£100 was raised from this very enjoy-able evening.

This year's rag efforts by Aberyst-wyth students raised a total of £67,300,£4,500 of which was donated to theRNLI. In all the students donatedmoney to 37 different charities andorganisations. Swanage police held aball which raised £200 for localcharities, one of which was the RNLI.

A balloon race organised by SelsdonPark Hotel, Surrey, during its Easterhouse party raised £106 for the lifeboatservice. The winning balloon reachedDusseldorf by midday on Bank HolidayMonday.

Garden parties, sherry parties andcoffee mornings have helped AlderleyEdge branch to raise £7,639 in the lastten years. In 1977 £1,046 was sent toheadquarters from this village with apopulation of only 4,000.

In the summer issue of THELIFEBOAT a photograph was publishedof Rupert, the parrot who 'collects' forthe RNLI at the garden gate of hisowners, Captain and Mrs Wilson ofFalmouth. Rupert's lifeboat box took£175.17 in 1977 and £224.62 in 1978.

'Every man to the boat and every woman to the rope' used to be the cry at Newbiggin and, asa tribute to the past, for the branch's harbour fete in August the ladies dressed in traditionalfisherwomen's costume. With the help of donations from Morpeth and Bedlington guilds,£5,458 was raised this year, photograph by courtesy of White House Photographic Studio

Sculpture from scrap hasbeen a highly successful ideafor John Perse nee, a com-mittee member of Heist onbranch and also a Shorelinemember. Mr Persence, awelder by trade, creates, inhis spare time, model steamengines, boats and figuresfrom discarded nuts, boltsand scrap metal. Half theproceeds of any pieces soldis handed over to Helstonbranch.

Portpatrick lifeboat museum, lookedafter by Mrs Patsy Milligan, sister ofthe late Coxswain Andrew Mitchell, isgetting busier and busier every year. Inthe past two years the museum's manyvisitors have given £4.500 to thelifeboat service.

Point Battery Art Exhibition,Portsmouth, has been running for tenyears, during which time £4,000 hasbeen raised for lifeboat funds. In 1978alone, from May to September, £975was collected through the generosity ofthe artists and the public. Initially themoney came from RNLI collecting

boxes and a percentage of the sale ofpaintings, but latterly a souvenir standhas been opened every weekend man-ned chiefly by Portsdown branch butwith helpers from other branches in thePortsmouth area.

Upminster branch has received£211.70 raised for the RNLI at a recentconcert held at Chafford School,Rainham, Essex. The entertainmentwas provided by 'Stardust', a group ofstudents from the school aged between12 and 16 years who arrange all theirown choreography, and the ChaffordSchool band.

Philatelic souvenirs

IT is NOW MORE than four years sincethe series of official RNLI com-memorative covers was started. Thesecolourful philatelic souvenirs of eventsin the life of the Institution were firstissued in 1974 during the 150th anniver-sary year, when several of the postaladministrations in the British Islesissued special lifeboat stamps.

Further covers have been producedsince then for many different eventsresulting in a regular contribution toRNLI funds. By the end of 1978 over40 different covers will have beenissued, many for naming ceremonies ofnew lifeboats or centenaries and 150thanniversaries of lifeboat stations.

All the covers depict lifeboats, bothmodern and early types, from speciallycommissioned drawings, and almost all

of them are cancelled by one-day pic-torial handstamp postmarks for theevent being commemorated. A smallnumber of each issue are carriedaboard the lifeboat concerned andcopies are also available signed by thecoxswain.

Some early covers are no longeravailable from stock and these canchange hands for anything up to £10each. However, the RNLI philatelicagents have a comprehensive stock ofthe remaining covers and are alwaysprepared to receive and consider offersof early covers for resale from collec-tors. A complete list of covers availableand current prices, including the RNLIcover album with an embossed crest onthe cover, can be obtained by foward-ing a stamped addressed envelope to:RNLI Philatelic Agents, 13 Best Lane,Canterbury, Kent CT1 2XX (Tel. Can-terbury 61859).

101

REVIEWS• Richard Evans of Moelfre has nowjoined the distinguished band oflifeboatmen of whom a full-length bi-ography has been written. This is Life-boat VC by Ian Skidmore (David andCharles, £4.95).

The great rescues from Hindlea in1959 and Nafsiporos in 1966, for whichRichard Evans was awarded gold med-als for gallantry, are vividly recalled.There are also a number of otheraccounts of services which indicatesomething of the variety of work whichlifeboat crews are called upon to do.On one occasion Moelfre lifeboattowed in a cow which had fallen intothe sea and which was in calf. The dif-ficulties of war-time service withoutlights or radio are also emphasised.

To many the most interesting parts ofthe book will be the descriptions of lifein a small fishing community ratherover half a century ago. RichardEvans's grandfather, Richard Matt-hews, never learnt to read or write, yethe was the local butcher and a fineseaman. He made his own nets, sailsand masts and built houses with hisown hands. The commercial import-ance of fishing to supplement the lowwages of seamen is also stressed. Oneof the most vivid pictures is of colliersarriving off Moelfre, from which thecoal was hand-winched from the holdsinto carts, which were then drawn byhorses over the shingle.

As many lifeboat supporters know,Richard Evans is now a brilliant publicspeaker with an exceptional capacityfor holding an audience's attention. Itmay therefore seem strange to learn ofthe young Dick Evans, who when hefirst went to sea stayed on board ratherthan risk the danger of losing himself inthe back streets of ports and worriedbecause he had difficulty in speakingEnglish.

The new work must be an essentialfeature of any adequate lifeboat library.It is well written with a smoothly run-ning narrative and an air of authen-ticity. It is a pity therefore that it ismarred by a number of factual errors.Outstanding record though it has,Moelfre station has not, as the authorstates, won more medals for gallantrythan any other. The late Coxswain DanKirkpatrick of Longhope did not die onthe day he was to go to London toreceive his third lifeboat medal.

Inshore lifeboats do not average 50calls a year. These and a few othersare, however, only minorblemishes.—P.H.

• The public library at Cowes con-tains a small maritime museum onecorner of which is devoted to Uffa Foxand includes, among other things, a let-ter he wrote as a young man applyingfor a job at a local boatyard. In the let-ter he chats away about everythingunder the sun—including his prefer-ence for plump girls—in his own inim-itable style. It is an extraordinary letterand, like everything else he wroteincluding the material chosen for Bestof Uffa compiled by Guy Cole (NauticalPublishing Co., £8.50), it is immenselyreadable. You may disagree with someof his opinions and deductions but youcannot fail to be entertained andsomewhere, for everyone, will be snip-pets of instruction and moments ofinspiration.

Best of Uffa is composed of materialfrom five volumes of design choicespublished in the 1930s. You will not putit down without experiencing the con-tagion of his inextinguishable love oflife, of boats and the sea.—B.A.

• Family tradition in service to sea-faring people is well understood bylifeboat people, who will surely find thestory of the Stevensons told by CraigMair in A Star for Seamen (John Mur-ray, £7.50) enthralling. For five genera-tions this Edinburgh family of civilengineers were lighthouse builders,gradually bringing to Scottish coastsnavigational aids vital to the safety ofthe men who sail those waters.

The story began in 1786, the sameyear that Lionel Lukin's 'unimmerg-ible', the first boat to be adapted forlifesaving, was established at Bam-burgh. It was in that year that ThomasSmith took to the newly establishedNorthern Lighthouse Trust his inven-tion to improve the intensity of light insimple oil lamps: a parabolic shapedreflector to be fitted behind the lamp.Thomas Smith and his descen-dants—Robert Stevenson, who wasboth his stepson and his son-in-law, hisgrandchildren Alan, David andThomas, his great grandchildren David

and Charles, and his great great grand-child Alan—all became in their turndesigners, engineers and supervisorsfor the Northern Lighthouse Board,spanning the years from 1786 to 1971.Even the best-known of the family,Robert Louis Stevenson, was trainedas a lighthouse engineer before turningto writing.

They designed and supervised thebuilding of towers, lanterns, lamps andoptics, fog signals, enginerooms,storehouses, keepers' dwellings,beacons, buoys, radios and piers, andthey were also responsible for theirmaintenance. Until 1900 they under-took an annual inspection tour of allinstallations. By the 1930s they hadbuilt over 90 lighthouses including thelighthouses on the notorious Bell Rock,a reef 11 miles out in the North Seacovered by several feet of water eachhigh tide (completed 1811) and onSkerryvore Rock, 12 miles out into theAtlantic (completed 1843). MuckleFlugga, Cape Wrath, Sule Skerry,Flannan Isles and many others were tofollow. Eventually the Stevensons'influence was to stretch right round theworld: to New Zealand, Newfound-land, India, Australia, Japan andChina.

An impressive chronicle of highadventure and imaginative hard workwell worth reading.—J.D.

• A number of innovations appear inthe latest edition of Reed's NauticalAlmanac, for 1979 (Thomas Reed Pub-lications Ltd, £6.25). Welcome minoradditions and changes have been madeto the tables and explanations, in par-ticular the tide tables which have beenextended to cover the French Atlanticcoast; the section on the use of thetables has been much improved andsimplified with a new table for interpo-lation of heights at times intermediatebetween high and low water. The con-tinental port entry section has beenextended to include Dutch ports.

One new departure is the extensionof the text of the chapters describingthe use of the tables and the problemsof coastal navigation to include calcula-tions performed on the hand-held elec-tronic calculator. This prompts one toobserve that many of the more lengthytables—traverse tables, versines, logcosines, departure into difference oflongitude and so on—are renderedobsolete by the arrival on the charttable of the electronic calculator withtrigonometry functions. Perhaps, infuture years all these could be omittedor replaced by a single table of naturalfive-figure sines and cosines for thebenefit of the navigator whose cal-culator does not include trig, functions.

There is a correction to the BBCRadio changes given on page 826 whichmust be noted. At the time theAlmanac went to press it was intendedthat there should be two wavelengthsfor Radio 4 on long wave. This decision

102

was later revised by the BBC and thereis now only one: frequency 200kHz,wavelength 1500 metres.

The contents page has been re-designed with coloured flashes leadingto marks on the edges of the pages foreasy reference. One day we may hopethat the colour printing will extend tothe cloud illustrations in Chapter XXIwhich lose so much from being printedin black and white.

In all respects the Almanac main-tains the high standards set by previouseditions and it is perhaps churlish torepeat the perennial complaint of smallship navigators that it should be printedin two volumes; one annually, contain-ing the ephemeris and tides, and oneless frequently with the unchangingchapters on general matters. This stepwould be a great help to the seafaringpublic which has to pay the ever-increasing cost of the complete issueevery year.—K.M.

• Accidents Happen by Ann Welch(John Murray, hardback £5.95; paper-back £2.95), with the subtitle Anticipa-tion, Avoidance, Survival, is a bookthat has been written no doubt follow-ing a great deal of research and con-tains a fund of useful advice amidst

amusing illustrations. Although notprincipally concerned with the seathere are some very good sections forthe help of boat owners relating to windand weather, fog, conflagration andeven the traditional 'lookout'.—E.J.

• Among books recently receivedare:

The Shell Book of Practical andDecorative Ropework by Eric C. Fryand Peter Wilson (David and Charles,£3.95), which shows the bights andtucks of each knot in clear photographstaken from the point of view of theknotmaker's own eyes. After workingthrough decorative knots, plaits, sen-nits and mats, the book ends withdesigns for a small bell toggle, a largebell toggle and a multi-unit mat.

Merchant Fleets in Profile, by Dun-can Haws (Patrick Stephens, Cam-bridge, £4.95), which is the first in aproposed series of books giving briefhistorical records of shipping com-panies and their fleets and includingprofile drawings of many of their ships.This volume covers the P and O, Orientand Blue Anchor lines.

The Puffin Book of Salt-Sea Versecompiled by Charles Causley (Kestrel

hardback, £4.50; Puffin Books paper-back, 90p), which is an anthology rang-ing from the writings of Ancient Greeceto those of the present day, acrossmany countries and touching on manysea-related subjects.

And finally, Old Harry's BunksideBook, by J. D. Sleightholme (AdlardColes, £1), which is a collection ofstories about 'Old Harry' originallypublished in 'Yachts and Yachting' and'Yachting Monthly'. A good bunksidebook indeed.

Fire . . .Fire at sea can be both swift and

devastating. All too often not enoughthought is given to its prevention; notenough preparation made for fightingit. The Royal Yachting AssociationSeamanship Foundation, in conjunc-tion with Nu-Swift, has produced aposter illustrating some of the reasonswhy fire occurs and how they can beprevented; it also gives informationabout suitable fire extinguishers tocarry on board. These posters areavailable, price 20p each, from RYASeamanship Foundation, VictoriaWay, Woking, Surrey GU21 1EQ.

Sweet Williamcontinued from page 95

fectly and they departed full of smiles, Isuspect of relief, and only charged anominal fee.

Hatherleigh Market was close by so Iasked the market RSPCA inspector tocheck William; he was reported inexcellent shape.

On then through the Devon country-side with its short, steep hills and redsoil; it was beautiful weather with a realhint of spring in the air. Off the mainroad, in the little villages, how manysights there are that you miss from acar: an old fording place across a clearstream; a local forge; delightfulthatch-covered cottages dispensingcream teas and William the centre ofgroups of children offering sweets, car-rots and titbits. Wherever I could I letour two Lurchers run on short chainsbehind the chaise and they loved theexercise.

By now the hedgerows were break-ing into blossom and were thick withcampions, foxgloves, scabias and, inDorset, wild orchids. Hedges rustledwith bird life, rabbits and other smallmammals as we passed: a real educa-tion to me being used to travelling bycar. Farmers were extremely generous,not only with contributions but in stab-ling William and helping wherever pos-sible. They all observed how nice itwas to see a working donkey andalways gave encouragement. Onefarmer, complete with two strapping

sons in floppy hats, put £1 in the boxafter a long chat, then caught up withus at our lunchtime pub and, claimingthat he had been mean earlier, put afurther £5 in the box! Another splendidcharacter took out his cheque book andsaid, 'How much the lot? Come on, I'mserious!'

Animal reactions were just as varied.Thoroughbred hunters backed awaywide eyed when William greeted them,while other donkeys always soundedoff and came to investigate. Webecame adept at spotting other don-keys and I always led William past theirfields as he was liable to go up thebank, chaise and all, to exchangeviews!

We were well over half way for oursecond rest day on Lord Chichester'sestate near Salisbury. Wilton, with itsArmy messes, proved a lucrative stopand many of my husband's friendscame to wish us well. A further set ofshoes were fitted, by the cold process,and these were to last the rest of thetrip. We met a number of enthusiasticDBS members near Salisbury and weremost encouraged. We managed to keepdates with TV crews and local press-men who I am sure all thought we weremad but who always left wishing usluck.

Our final week saw us drawing closerto London and stabling William was abit more difficult. From Staines wetook the A315 which proved to be veryquiet. Children flocked round and wedrew amused glances from peopleshopping.

Then came an enthusiastic welcomefrom the BBC's 'Blue Peter' team who

rearranged their programme to give usa three-minute slot. William and I dulypresented ourselves at the studios onthe Thursday and after three rehear-sals, all different, we appeared live.From White City we went toKnightsbridge Barracks, from wherewe made the final trot down RottenRow to Hyde Park Corner. The journeywas over, on time, and it had beenthoroughly enjoyable. William wasvery fit and quite unperturbed and thejourney back by trailer was the onlyhurdle to overcome. We finally arrivedback in Cornwall the next Sunday,exactly 28 days after setting off on thatMay Day morning.

What was achieved and what are mylasting impressions? I proved to myselfthat a journey of this sort can still beundertaken if proper training, prepara-tion and planning is carried out. Theaverage person is still as generous andkind as one would wish, and the RNLIhas tremendous support throughout thecountry, even in places remote fromthe sea. The small B roads are stillincredibly traffic free and those whouse them are far more tolerant of ani-mals than those on the main roads.Incredibly beautiful countryside stillexists quite unspoilt and is well worthvisiting, particularly in the spring.

Finally, without the support and helpof the many people who really madethe adventure possible—my motherwho held the fort in Cornwall, ourgenerous sponsors, helpers, friendsand members of the DBS and RNLI—Iwould never have been able to handover a cheque for £1,506.06 on board StIves lifeboat.

103

Lifeboats and wrecksof Cornwall

Spend a long and relaxing weekend in Cornwall, learning about wrecksand lifeboats.

Based at St. Ives. two weekends will be held in February and March 1979.concentrating on the history, traditions and bravery of the lifeboatmen ofthe area and the men they rescued Lectures and slide shows will be givenby RNLI representatives and time will be allowed to tramp the smugglerspaths to see some of the spots where great ships foundered years ago

Lots of good food, talks and films on lifeboats and rescues and visits tolifeboat stations will ensure a fascinating weekend for a small group ofRNLI supporters. A percentage of all course fees will go to RNLI funds

Book now by writing to:Jill Elleston. Skldden House Hotel, St. Ives. Cornwall.

Tel: St. Ives 6899.

* A Ship's 'Wheel ** for only £19.80!*

Nothing conjures up visions of

the sea more vividly than

a traditional ship's helm.

Nauticalia wheels are

authentic re-creations,craftsman made, and

extremely good value.

Available in acacia-woodor teak.

20in. (50cm) acacia-wood, brass hub, wooden dowling,

varnish finish £19.80 (Post £1.50)

36in. (90cm), as above £32.00 (Carr. £3.00)

36in. (90cm) teak, individually handmade. Solid brass

hub, ring and spoke cap. Antique finish.

£79.00 (Carr. £3.00)

Dept. LB1,121 High Street, Shepperton-on-Thames, Middx TW17 9BL_ Tel: Walton-on-Thames 44396/4 1 860

The battery that's fitted to the Atlantic

The Atlantic 21 was designed for the RNLI towithstand the arduous conditions involved in highspeed search and rescue operations.

This special boat needs a very special batteryand Varley were selected for their outstandingreliability under the most severe conditions.

Varley produce a unique battery that isvirtually unspillable and highly resistant to shockand vibration, resulting ina system that gives highelectrical performance and long effective life, ina safe, compact package.

Does your craft deserve anything less?

Berec (Varley Batteries) Limited12-14 Chandos Road London NW10 6NF

VarleyPlease send me full details and technicalspecifications on Varley marine batteries.Nome

Address

Telephone

1(14

Lifeboat Servicesfrom page 82

Dun Laoghaire, Co. DublinJuly 18, August 26 and 31Eastbourne, East SussexJuly 2 (twice) and 3Exmouth, South DevonJuly 22 and 23Eyemouth, BerwickshireJune 28Falmouth, CornwallJune 3, 10, July 5, August 18, 21 and 27Filey, North YorkshireJuly 3, 13 and August 18Flamborough, HumbersideJuly 29 (twice)Fleetwood, LancashireJune 18, July 6, 9, 17 and 25Fowey, CornwallJune 20, July 25^27 and August 20Galway Bay, Co. GalwayJune 23, 25, 29, July 13, 29 and August 2Girvan, AyrshireJune 19 and August 31Great Yarmouth and Gorleston, NorfolkJuly 3, 6, 7, 25 and August 1Hartlepool, ClevelandJune 1, July 24 and 28Harwich, EssexJune 8, 13, July 23, August 5, 21 and 22Hastings, East SussexJune 19 and August 7Holy head, GwyneddJune 18, July 10, 11, 23, 29, 31, August 14,24, 25 and 31Howth, Co. DublinJune 13, 14, July 25, August 14 and 21Humber, HumbersideJune 16, July 11, 19. August 1,3,8 (twice),12, 27 and 28Ilfracombe, North DevonJuly 22, 25 and August 18Islay, ArgyllshireJune 16Kilmore, Co. WexfordJune 19 and July 22Kirkcudbright, KirkcudbrightshireJune 27 and July 9Kirkwall, OrkneyJuly 2 and August 4Lerwick, ShetlandJune 8 and August 19The Lizard-Cadgwith, CornwallJune 4Llandudno, GwyneddJuly8Lochinver, SutherlandAugust 4 and 9Lowes toft, SuffolkAugust 6 and 30Macduff, BanffshireJuly 15 and August 11Mallaig, Inverness-shireJune 19, July 19, 20 and 23Margate, KentAugust 1, 28 and 30Moelfre, GwyneddJune 21, 24, 26, August 13 and 31The Mumbles, West GlamorganJune 24Newbiggin, NorthumberlandJune 12 and 26Newcastle, Co. DownJuly 23Newhaven, East SussexJune 22, 25, July 2 (3 times), 3, August 5,19 and 21New Quay, DyfedJuly 22Oban, ArgyllshireAugust 26

Padstow, CornwallJuly 21 and August 1Penlee, CornwallJune 23Peterhead, AberdeenshireAugust 14Plymouth, South DevonJune 2 and 19Poole, DorsetJune 18, July 1 (four times) July 30, August1, 7 and 20Port Erin, Isle of ManJune 17, 18 and July 22Porthdinllaen, GwyneddJuly 20, 21, 28, August 12, 13, 25 and 27Portpatrick, WigtownshireJuly 10, 31 and August 6Ramsey, Isle of ManAugust 2Ramsgate, KentJune 23, July 15, 21, 22, 25, 28, 31, August9, 11, 24 and 28Rosslare Harbour, Co. WexfordJune 5, 14 and August 3St David's, DyfedJuly 12, 15, 19, 23 and August 30 (threetimes)St Helier, JerseyJune 24, July 12, August 20 (twice) andAugust 27St Ives, CornwallAugust 1, 6 and 26St Mary's, Isles of ScillyJune 3, 19, August 18 and 30St Peter Port, GuernseyJune 13,15, July 23, August 15 (twice) and 19

Salcombe, South DevonJuly 2 (twice) and 11Scarborough, North YorkshireJune 15Selsey, West SussexJuly 1, 26, August 1, 6 and 27Sennen Cove, CornwallJune 14Sheer-ness, KentJune 3, 17 and 24Sheringham, NorfolkJuly 5Shoreham Harbour, West SussexJuly 30 and August 1Skegness, LincolnshireJuly 5Stornoway, Ross-shireJune 7, 10, July 23, 27 and August 30Sunderland, Tyne and WearJune 11 and August 16Swanage, DorsetJune 24 (twice), 25, July 3, 13 (twice), 16(twice), 19, 30, August 2, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20and 27Tenby, DyfedJune 10, 23, 26 and August 12Thurso, CaithnessJune 3, July 10, 26, August 4 and 16Torbay, South DevonAugust r5,Tynemouth, Tyne and WearJune 11, August 20 and 25Valentia, Co. KerryJune 24, July 12, August 16, 17 and 23Walmer, KentJuly 2 and August 21Wells, NorfolkJuly 5 and August 30Weymouth, DorsetJune 7, 24, 29, July 13, 15 and August 20Whitby, North YorkshireJune 10 (twice) and July 11Wicklow, Co. WicklowJune 4, 11, July 22, 23 and August 18Workington, CumbriaJune 22 and July 6Yarmouth, Isle of WightJune 17, 21, 23 (twice), 24, 25, July 3

(twice), 7, 8, 20, 22, 23, 31, August 3, 5, 6(twice), 24 (twice) and 31Youghal, Co. CorkJuly 3, 22 and 31Lifeboat ON 1032 on passageAugust 22

Services by InshoreLifeboats, June, Julyand August, 1978Aberdovey, GwyneddJune 17, 25 and July 22Abersoch, GwyneddJune 1, 2, 17, 20, 26, July 2, 8, 20, August5, 16, 24, 25 and 27Aberystwyth, DyfedJune 3, 17, July 30 and August 2Aldeburgh, SuffolkJune 26Amble, NorthumberlandJune 24 and 26Arbroath, AngusJune 24Arran (Lamlash), ButeshireJune 11 and August 13Atlantic College, South GlamorganJuly 4 and August 14Bangor, Co. DownJune 4 and July 25Bar mouth, GwyneddJune 28, July 24, August 13 (twice) and 22Barrow, CumbriaJuly 24Beaumaris, GwyneddJune 10, 29, July 23, 26 and 28Bembridge, Isle of WightAugust 9Berwick-upon-Tweed, NorthumberlandJune 28 and July 31Blackpool, (D.117), LancashireJune 10, July 18, 22, 31, August 12, 19, 20and 25Blackpool, (B.528), LancashireAugust 7Blyth, NorthumberlandJuly 5, 24 and August 8Borth, DyfedJune 18, July 1, 14, 18, August 7, 13, 18, 26and 27Bridlington, HumbersideJune 1, 10, July 8, 25, 28 and August 17(twice)Brighton, East SussexJuly 29 and August 20Broughty Ferry, AngusJuly 30 and August 13Bude, CornwallJuly 26, August 2 and 9Burnham-on-Crouch, EssexJune 17 and July 1Burry Port, DyfedJune 2, 3, 20, July 21, August 19 and 20Clacton-on-Sea, EssexJune 24, 29, July 21, 26 (twice), August 20,25, 26, 27 and 30 (twice)Conwy, GwyneddJuly 11, 14, August 8 and 12Coverack, CornwallJuly 30 and August 27Craster, NorthumberlandJuly 25Criccieth, GwyneddJune 18, 28, July 27 and August 29Cromer, NorfolkJune 25, July 9 (twice), 21, 27 (twice) andAugust 28Cullercoats, Tyne and WearJune 15, July 21, 22, August 15, 19 and 20Duribar, East LothianAugust 19

105

Eastbourne, East SussexJune 28, July 2, 4, 7, 9 (twice), 17, August 8and 16Exmouth, South DevonJune 4, 18 (twice), 26, August 5, 11, 13, 15,16, 24 and 29Filey, North YorkshireJune 15, July 9, 13, 25, 27, August 15, 18and 23Fleet wood, LancashireAugust 17Flint, ClwydJuly 30Great Yarmouth and Gorleston, NorfolkJune 2, 7, 12, 13, 26, July 5 (twice), 25, 27,28, August 6, 13, 19, 22 and 25Happisburgh, NorfolkAugust 7Hartlepool, ClevelandJune 6, 11, 24, 29, August 16 and 26Harwich, EssexJuly 4 and August 8Hastings, East SussexJune 5, 8, July 27, 30, August 13 (twice),19, 20 and 29Hayling Island, HampshireJune 18, 25 (twice), July 8, 16, 29, August 6(twice), 15 and 19Helensburgh, DunbartonshireJune 9Holyhead, GwyneddAugust 3 (twice) and 25Horton and Port Eynon, West GlamorganJune 19, July 1, 8, 23, August 3 , 6 ,7 (twice)and 20Howth, Co. DublinJune 4, 5, 17, 18 and July 8Humber Mouth, (Cleethorpes), HumbersideAugust 19St Catherines, JerseyJune 4 and July 19Kinghorn, FifeJune 19 (twice), 26, July 9, 15, August 10,18 and 22Kippford, KirkcudbrightshireJuly 11, August 4 and 12Largs, AyrshireJune 3, 16, 18, 28, July 5, 15, August 6, 10,18 and 20Little and Broad Haven, DyfedJune 3, 17, 18 and 25Littlehampton, West SussexJune 3, 4, 8, 25, July 24, 26, 29, August 6,13, 20, 23 and 27Llandudno, GwyneddJune 11, 20, July 8, 24, 26, 27, 31, August 4,13 and 14Lyme Regis, DorsetJuly 25, August 6, 16, 20, 21 and 27Lymington, HampshireJune 15, August 7 and 13Lytham-St Anne's, LancashireJuly 30 and August 22Mablethorpe, LincolnshireJuly 2, 24 (twice), 27 (twice), 29, August 9,15, 17 and 21 (four times)Margate, KentJune 1, 4, July 1, 2, 15, 17, 23, 31, August6,9, 10, 15, 27 and 30

Minehead, SomersetJune 11, 25, July 7 (twice), 15 (twice),August 2 (twice), 11, 23 and 24 (twice)Moelfre, GwyneddJune 6, 30, July 17, 21, 22, 23, 26, August13, 15, 16, 18 and 21Morecambe, LancashireJune 3, 11, 16, July 11, 15, 28, August 12and 22Mudeford, DorsetJune 26, July 11, 20, August 5, 6 and 16The Mumbles, West GlamorganJune 5, 24 and 25New Brighton, MerseysideJuly 22, August 26 and 27New Quay, DyfedJuly 26 (twice), July 30, August 11, 16, 19,26 and 29Newquay, CornwallJune 3 (twice), 13, 18, 20, 22, 27, July 16,18, 24, 29, August 11, 13, 16, 17, 18 and 20North Berwick, East LothianJuly 17 and 23 (twice)North Sunderland, NorthumberlandJune 13Oban, ArgyllshireJune 4, July 1, 5, 27 and August 26Plymouth, South DevonJune 1, 2, 22, 25, July 2, 7 and August 3Poole, DorsetJune 11, 18, July 7, 22, 30 (twice), August1, 15, 16, 17 (twice), August 30 (twice) and31Porthcawl, Mid-GlamorganJune 13, 18, 24, July 8 and 22Port Isaac, CornwallJuly 2, 16 (twice), 28, August 1, 3, 7, 9, 11,14, 18, 22 and 25Portsmouth, (Langstone Harbour), (B.530),HampshireJune 3, 4, 16 (twice), 23 (twice), 24, July 3,7, 14. 22 (twice), August 5 (three times) and17Portsmouth, (Langstone Harbour), (D.184),HampshireJuly 13, August 6 (twice) and 20 (twice)Port Talbot, West GlamorganJune 14 and 17Pwllheli, GwyneddJuly 5, August 23, 24 and 29Queensferry, West LothianJune 1, 11, 18and July 10Ramsgate, KentJune 7, 20, July 5, 22 (three times), 23, 24,25, 30,31, August 16, 23 and 27Red Bay, Co. AntrimJuly 15 and August 8Redcar, ClevelandJuly 23Rhyl, ClwydJune 1, 2, 20, 28, July 1 , 1 1 (twice), August3, 11 and 13Rye Harbour, East SussexJune 9, 12, 17, July 15, 19, 22 (twice) and 24St Agnes, CornwallJune 15, 21, 24 and 25St Bees, CumbriaJuly 6 and 29St Ives, Cornwall

June 7, 15, 21, 23, July 20, 30, August 18Scarborough, North YorkshireJune 18, July 17, 27, August 19 and 21Selsey, West SussexJune 4, 17, July 3, 9 (twice), August 1(twice), 6 (twice) and 19Sheerness, KentJune 17Shoreham Harbour, West SussexJune 18 (twice), 25 (twice), July 3, 8(twice), 14, 28, August 8 (three times), 20,23, 26 and 29Silloth, CumbriaJune 4, July 15 and 16Skegness, LincolnshireJuly 4, 5 (twice), 17, 21, August 3, 14, 15and 28Southend-on-Sea, (B.527), EssexJune 3, 5, 6, 18, 24, 25, 30. July 5, 8 (twice),12, 13, 16 and 18Southwold, SuffolkJuly 17, 22 and 25Staithes and Runswick, ClevelandJuly 24 and 26Stonehaven, KincardineshireJune 10 and 11Stranraer, WigtownshireJuly 2 and August 11Sunderland, Tyne and WearJune 10Tenby, DyfedJune 3 (twice), 6, 10, 30, July 3, 7, August15, 16, 30 and 31Torbay, South DevonJune 16. 18, July 3, 5, 16, August 12, 13, 15,16, 25, 27 (twice)Tramore, Co. WaterfordJuly 20 and 26Trearddur Bay, GwyneddJuly 19, 27, August 12 and 13Tynemouth, Tyne and WearJune 10. 11 (three times). July 15, August20 and 25Walmer, KentJuly 9, 23 and August 18Wells, NorfolkJune 18, 28, July 5, 9, 12, 16, 26, August 21and 28 (three times)West Kirby, MerseysideJune 4West Mersea, EssexJune 7, 15, 21, 24. July 2 (twice), 8 (twice),31 (twice), August 3 (twice), 6 (twice), 12,15, 19, 23 and 25Weston-super-Mare, (A.504), AvonJune 24, July 26 and August 18Weston-super-Mare, (D.170), AvonJune 3, 4 and 24Weston-super-Mare, (D.135), AvonJuly 26, August 12 and 18Whitby, North YorkshireAugust 22 and 25Whitstable, KentJune 5, 12, July 2 (twice), 22, August 6 and12Withernsea, HumbersideJuly 19, August 3, 9 and 29Yarmouth, Isle of WightJuly 8, August 3. 5 and 21

SERVICES AND LIVES SAVED BY OFFSHORE AND INSHORE LIFEBOATSJanuary 1, 1978 to October 31, 1978: Services 1,982; lives saved 779

THE STATION FLEET(as at 31/10/78)

125 inshore lifeboats operating in the summer46 inshore lifeboats operating in the winter

LIVES RESCUED 104,054from the Institution's foundation in 1824 to October 31, 1978

134 offshore lifeboats

106

RNLI INSHORE CREWSUSE

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Where complete reliability under arduousconditions is essential to human life.theRNLI specify MERMAID marine engines.

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RATHER SPECIAL

107

Index to AdvertisersBirds Eye Food Limited Inside Back CoverEvett Sailwear Limited 107Functional Clothing Inside Front CoverDavid Jolly (Tiller Master) 108Maritime Book Society (Readers Union) 74Martell Brandy Back CoverMermaid Marine Engines Limited 107Nauticalia 104Neco Marine Limited 107Peeks of Bournemouth 108Skidden Lifeboat Study Course 104Varley Batteries 104V. Webster 108

Classified AdvertisementsACCOMMODATION

BOURNEMOUTH—Seaside holiday flat, 5tnins walk to beach or town centre and nearRNLI HQ and Museum. Sleeps 5 in com-fort. Fully inclusive rent £60 per week.Please write: Eric Jensen, 1A PurbeckRoad, Bournemouth.

BRIXHAM, Devon. Beside outer harbour,overlooking Torbay Lifeboat. Comfortablyfurnished self catering holiday apartments,each with lounge/diner, fridge, televisionand modern electric facilities for 2-6 per-sons. (Children over 8 years.) Residentproprietors associated with Torbay Life-boat. Stamp please for brochure: G. A.Smith, "Harbour Lights", 69 Berry HeadRoad, Brixham. Telephone 4816.

PORT ISAAC, Cornwall. Overlooking PortIsaac Bay on North Cornwall footpathroute. Family Guest House, Bed and Break-fast, evening meal optional. Cornwall regis-tered accommodation. Proprietress: MrsK. M. Castle, 12 Tintagel Terrace, PortIsaac. Telephone Port Isaac (020888) 383.

THE OLD HOTEL, RUSWARP, WHIT-BY. Delightful Jacobean Hall bordering theglorious North Yorkshire moors andbeaches. Ideal for fishing, boating, walkingor relaxing. Residential proprietors ensurewarm hospitality and good food. Twentybedroom family hotel, radio and baby listen-ing system, lounge, television lounge,restaurant, bar. Brochure—Whitby (0947)2801.NORTH DEVON. Period farm cottage. 2miles from Welcombe Beach. Sleeps six.Cooker, refrigerator and television. Tele-phone Holsworthy (0409) 253030.

TEDDY BEARS PICNICWhen your organisation holds its next fund raising effort at acarnival, fete, donkey derby, boat show or similar activity youcan make an additional £200 in a few hours by running aTeddy Bears Picnic. No financial risk as all stock is supplied atwholesale price on full sale or return, nothing to pay until afterthe event, then you pay for what you use, return the balance.Send for full details giving Club/Guild name and status to:

V. WEBSTER (DEPT LB)BRINELL WAYHARFREYS INDUSTRIAL ESTATEGREAT YARMOUTHNORFOLK NR31 OLU

HOLIDAYS AFLOATTake a waterways holiday in Brittanyaboard our hotel boat, or hire one of ourself-drive Cruisers. For further informationwrite to Watercruises Ltd, 10 NicholasCourt, Green Lane, Hayling Island,Hampshire.

BOAT FOR SALEOn 485 Misty Dawn Ex RNLI LifeboatRobert & Catherine, former Appledore &Holyhead Boat, 36ft o/a Rubie Self Righterconverted 1934 8 berth Ketch Rig. Perkins4.99 Main Britania 6.9 Aux. Full survey toThames Conservancy requirement. L. H.Jones & Son (Boatbuilders) Ltd, Tel: 048063463.

FINANCEMarine Finance for new and secondhandyachts and motor cruisers (Registered andUnregistered) including yachts in course ofconstruction, at competitive fixed or float-ing interest rates. Repayments over fiveyears if required—longer in some instancesto suit your income. Competitive insurancefacilities also available. For details or quota-tions, write to: Trade and Consumer EquityLtd, Freepost, Harrow, Middx. HA2 6BR.

INSURANCEFrom the RNLI's home town of Poole.Specialist Marine Craft Insurance Brokerswould welcome the opportunity of advisingmembers on the insurance of their boats.For prompt and personal service contactGEOFFREY BERE, FCII, TEMPLEINSURANCE BROKERS LTD, 29 HIGHSTREET, POOLE BH15 1AB. Telephone(02013) 79444.

PAINTINGSLIFEBOAT OIL PAINTINGS £45, postpaid. S.A.E. to Lee, 9 Esplanade,Weymouth, Dorset.

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THE ORIGINAL

T I L L E R M A S T E RWITH THE LONG-LASTING MOTOR FOR WHEEL OR TILLER

1969/70California to UK and back in 36ft sloop.

1978Round Britain Race—Our autopilots wereaboard three of the first four home—two

had already crossed the Atlantic.

Wind, water and solar batterychargers available.

DAVID JOLLYLong Range and Emergency Radio Consultant

2 Little Russel, Lytchett Minster, Poole, Dorset BH16 6JD.Tel: 0202 622142 TELEX: 41495.

HAVE FUN FUNDRAISING

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108

The Captaintakes his hat off

totheRNLL

When you're saved from the drink.For those who'll need a pick-me-up, there's a bottle of 3 star cognac

on board every RNLI lifeboat. Courtesy of Martell.