LIFE-THE

TAPRIL 1971 15p

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ANNOUNCEMENTThe January number of THE LIFE-BOAT, which was the first edition in the newformat, was delayed by the postal strike and many readers did not receivecopies until well into March. In that issue we stated that those who havehitherto received the Journal free of charge in recognition of services ren-dered to the R.N.L.I, will continue to do so. So will Yachtsmen's Life-boatSupporters' Association members. THE LIFE-BOAT is and will remain theprincipal means of informing R.N.L.I, supporters of what is happening inthe service. However, since our January announcement, the postage on asingle copy has jumped from 2?p to 4?p, which means that the postage onmailed copies has doubled. We are therefore particularly grateful to themany readers who have expressed a wish to pay for the copies to whichthey are entitled. A year's subscription of four issues costs 78p, includingpostage.

Vol. XLII April, 1971 No. 435

CONTENTSAnnouncement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Notes of the Quarter by the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58A Powerboat Rescue by Ray Bulman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60The R.N.L.I, in Pakistan 64Book Corner . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 69The Surf Life Saving Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Life-boat Quiz/Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73, 91The Central Appeals Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Letters 77Royal Visitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79George Crabbe's Borough by A. W. Hawkes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80New Year Honours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Yachtsmen's Life-boat Supporters' Association Section . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Some Ways of Raising Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Awards to Coxswains and Crews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Classification of Life-boat and IRB Launches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Cave Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96The Stranded Children of Chuirn 98Life-boat Launches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101IRB Launches 103Index to Advertisers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

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57

iSiiiiiHiitfKvi SJHSBsj&S

A MAJOR new boat building programme wasdecided upon by the Committee of Managementof the R.N.L.I, at its February meeting. As animmediate action orders are being placed fornine new life-boats at an estimated cost of£652,000. This will have the effect of doublingthe normal boat building programme for thenext two years. It is planned to include life-boats of the 37-foot Mk II Oakley, 44-foot steel,48-foot 6-inch Solent classes, a new 50-footclass of steel life-boat and one 70-foot steel life-boat. The new 37-foot life-boats will be adevelopment of the existing Oakley type butfitted with a covered steering position andradar. The 50-foot class is being developed fromthe 44-foot steel life-boat, which is much likedby the crews operating them.

The programme envisaged for the next fiveyears could involve a capital expenditure ofabout £3J million. In addition to new boatconstruction this programme is expected toinclude the fitting of self-inflating buoyancybags to certain classes of non-self-righting life-boats, which will have the effect of giving thema once off righting capability. Development ofthe self-inflatable bags is being carried out forthe Institution at the British Hovercraft Cor-

by courtesy of T. P. Roskrow

poration laboratories at East Cowes. Modifi-cations to the superstructure to other life-boatswill give them an inherent self-righting poten-tial. These various modifications are expectedto cost about £300,000.

NEW CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE

A new technical consultative committee is tobe set up to advise the Institution on differentaspects of life-boat design and construction. It ishoped to have representatives from universitiesand industry, the Navy Department of theMinistry of Defence, the Department of Tradeand Industry, the National Physical Laboratory,the British Ship Research Association, Lloyd'ssurvey department and the National Instituteof Oceanography.

The R.N.L.I.'s future boat building pro-gramme is being kept flexible to allow time forthe new consultative committee to express itsviews. Also the 52-foot life-boat with a speed of20 knots which is planned for future constructionin glass reinforced plastic, is still under develop-ment, and this life-boat, with its greater speed,could well have a radical effect on life-boatrequirements and deployment in the future.

COVER PICTUREThis photograph by Mr. Ronald E. Turner of the R.N.L.I.'s hull drawing office staff shows one of theInstitution's McLachlan fast rescue boats—the fast R.N.L.I, rescue craft to be specifically designed for theInstitution with a glass-reinforced plastic hull. The type—she has an overall length of 18ft. 6 in. and aspeed of 22 knots—was ordered in September, 1969, and was designed by Mr. J. A. McLachlan of G. L.Watson & Co. of Glasgow. Costing about £5,000 each, the craft have been built by Messrs. WilliamOsborne at Littlehampton, and early this year it was announced that the R.N.L.I, had agreed to allow thecompany to take 12 McLachlan hulls from their mould for commercial purposes. This followed the satisfactorycompletion of the boat's evaluation trials.

58

GRATIFYING SURPLUSIt is most gratifying to be able to record that

contrary to forecasts the R.N.L.I, had a surplusof receipts over payments in 1970 of approxi-mately £246,000. The dedication of theR.N.L.I.'s voluntary workers is clearly reflectedin this result, but a number of large legaciesreceived towards the end of the year also had asubstantial effect on the final results. There wasalso a reduction in capital expenditure, whichwas partly attributable to boat building delays.A surplus of £246,000, welcome though it is,must be regarded as only a limited advancetowards the large capital sum required in theimmediate years. The Institution is alreadyexpected to have to raise about £2f million in1971, and this in itself represents an increase ofbetween a quarter and a half a million poundsover the sum raised last year.

FRASERBURGH LIFE-BOATAt the time of going to press there are no

immediate plans for the replacement of thelife-boat which capsized off Fraserburgh on20th January, 1970, with the loss of five of hercrew. The Fraserburgh branch committee wereoffered a new 48-foot 6-inch Solent class life-boat.Life-boats of this class are already stationedin Scottish waters at Peterhead, Longhope andThurso. The Fraserburgh committee, however,expressed its willingness to accept a boat of thistype only if limitations were imposed on itsoperations. In the opinion of the Committeeof Management these limitations would havehad the effect of preventing the life-boat fromfulfilling its proper role.

As there is no alternative life-boat availablewhich meets the wishes of the Fraserburghcommittee, the station had regretfully to beconsidered temporarily non-operational.

NEW COMMITTEE MEMBERSA former Director of Naval Construction, a

Member of Parliament with a distinguishedcareer in the Royal Navy and a Head OfficeManager of a Scottish bank have recentlyjoined the Institution's Committee of Manage-ment. They are respectively Mr. John Chapman,C.B., Rear Admiral M. C. Morgan-Giles, D.S.O.,O.B.E., G.M. and Mr. W. F. G. Lord.

Mr. Lord has had a long association with theR.N.L.I, having been vice-chairman of theexecutive committee of the Scottish Life-boatCouncil as well as secretary of the Edinburghbranch of the R.N.L.I. for the past 21 years.

Additional life-boats to come into production willinclude those of the 70-foot, 48-foot 6-inch Solent,44-foot steel and 37-foot Oakley classes. The fourtypes mentioned are shown above in that order.

59

The Michael and Lily Davis entering Ramsgate harbourwith Blu-Blud in tow. The rescued crew can be seenamidships.

WHILE its popularity rise has not been quite soobvious when compared with the pleasureboating explosion as a whole, offshore power-boat racing today has a very strong coastwisefollowing with events held every summer week-end at different resorts. The sport is made upfrom four classes. Class I: for large craft fallingbetween 20 foot and 45 foot overall with amaximum engine size of 16 litres. Class II: forcraft of the same size with half the maximumhorsepower, and Class III, by far the mostpopular of all, catering for offshore powerboatsbetween 14 foot'and 25 foot overall with amaximum of three litres. Class IV is similar toIII but with less engine power and is primarilyintended for the production 'off-the-shelf ski-boat owner.

All these craft, except perhaps for those inClass IV that compete on very small shelteredcircuits close inshore, are forced by the rulesof the sport to carry very extensive safetyequipment. Items include daylight smokesignals, hand flares, parachute flares, sea andstandard anchors, automatic pumps and handbailers, signalling lamps and first-aid kits, etc.,to name just a few, and in the two larger classesit is also obligatory to carry a liferaft.

* The author is on the staff of 'Motor Boat and Tackling' bywhose courtesy the article and above photograph are published,

60

A POWERBOATRESCUEby Ray Bulman

If all pleasure craft were asked to carry suchequipment fewer needless searches would becarried out, but with powerboat racing eventhis is not considered enough. Organisers arealso expected to space large rescue craft atcertain intervals along the course, and to makesure all these safety rules are obeyed, officialobservers and scrutineers are always in atten-dence at every race.

With all these precautions one would imaginethat organisers of powerboat races would neverneed assistance. But while outside help isseldom called upon, there is always that oddoccasion. . . .

Class III racing started in Great Britain in1962 with an event from Putney in Londondown the Thames and across the Channel toCalais and back—the competitors' only com-pulsory stop being one hour at Ramsgate forfuel—and this race has been annually stagedever since. In 1970 it took place on 7th June andI accompanied, as co-driver, Anthony Dentonin Blu-Blud—a 17-foot Class III (D) outfitpowered by a single 125-h.p. Mercury outboard.

The weather forecast was certainly not veryencouraging as the 26 entries shot off from the9 a.m. start at Tower Bridge. Force 5-6 north

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61

easterly winds blowing in the estuary wereproducing sharp, short seas along the northKent coast particularly off the North Foreland.

We found conditions extremely punishing inSea Reach and crossing the Cant to Herne Bay.It was almost dead on the bow, and at speedsbetween 40-50 m.p.h., Blu-Blud slammed intothe seas with such force that both the driver andmyself were soon bruised all over. We were alsofinding difficulty in preventing ourselves beingthrown forward from our seats with eachdeceleration.

Meanwhile, unknown to us, several com-petitors had made navigational errors with somerunning aground (easily done when compassesswing continually with the jolting) and thiscoupled with mechanical breakdowns and hullfailures had depleted the more powerful fieldahead to such an extent that Blu-Blud lay secondoverall as we approached the North Foreland.

Our course past Margate had been closeinshore, which had given slight shelter from theheadland, but as the organisers had stipulatedthat Longnose Buoy would be left to starboardin order to avoid the underwater training wallextending seawards, we were forced to head out.

The comforting sight of several patrol crafthad been seen during the journey down riverand across the estuary, and yet another wasrolling around on station at Longnose. However,in this case it was serving a double purpose andacting as a check boat to ensure all competitorsrounded the mark correctly.

The seas running out to the buoy were theworst encountered so far, and at times thedriver had difficulty holding Blu-Blud on theplane.

Longnose was rounded to the accompanimentof encouraging shouts from the patrol boat crewand we headed west for Ramsgate harbour withthe sea now on the beam.

Although less punishing on the crew, thewaves were very "steep indeed and provingextremely awkward for the small powerboat.She was uncontrollable above half-throttle, andAnthony was just about to alter the hydraulictrim tabs (small underwater ailerons on thestern that control trim) when Blu-Blud wasknocked off course.

The effect of this threw the driver forwardwhich in turn caused him to accidentally pushthe foot throttle to maximum power, driving thecraft down into the trough at right angles to heroriginal course. The acceleration was so greatthat when the boat reached the bottom shetravelled completely under the surface for herwhole length like a dart. Everything went blackand the water pressure felt like a ton of bricksthrowing us backwards and ripping off ourgoggles in the process.

Luckily, the craft popped back to the surface62

stern first, leaving Blu-Blud awash to the gun-wales. The engine continued to run for a fewseconds until water entered the bores and thisleft us wallowing in the seaway slowly beingblown on to a rocky lee shore directly below theNorth Foreland lighthouse.

Although we both took turns at the largediaphragm hand pump, crests were breakingaboard faster than we could clear them, andwithin five minutes from surfacing the buoyancyin the hull overcame the waterlogged trim andshe rolled upside down, throwing us both inthe sea.

Meanwhile, the patrol boat on the Longnosestation had seen us go under and was makingher way to where we were clinging on to theupturned hull. Unfortunately, however, herskipper suddenly realised he was fast headingfor shallowing water and was forced to turnabout and stand off. We, of course, from our lowposition knew nothing of this and had noknowledge of the depth which was probablyaround one and a half fathoms at the time. Butat the speed we were being driven ashore we soonrealised that unless we were picked up within ashort time the boat and ourselves would end upin the surf breaking over the outcrop.

Thinking no one had reported us (in actualfact our plight had already been radioed toRamsgate coastguard by the patrol boat), wedecided to use one of the orange smoke signalsthat Anthony had sensibly taken from the flarelocker before Blu-Blud turned over.

I was already finding the BS approved life-jacket awkward in these particular circum-stances. Life-jackets designed to roll the wearer

'The signal was eventually fired, and if nothing else,provided excitement for the many holidaymakers nowlining the cliff top.'

on his back are not conducive to holding on toan upturned boat in rough seas. Each time awave washed us against the hull, our bodieswould be floated back by our life-jackets causingus to lose grip. Now, on attempting to use thesmoke signal, I suddenly realised the stupidity ofnot reading and memorising the instructionsbefore going to sea. There I was with one handtrying to hold on to the boat while attempting toread the small instructions printed on the signalheld in the other. I found yet another difficultyin its pack. In some cases these days, small handflares are made waterproof for stowage by beingsealed in tough polythene bags. Although littlestarting slits are provided to ease tearing, thismethod of packaging is almost impossible toopen with cold and slippery hands.

The signal was eventually fired and, if nothingelse, provided excitement for the many holiday-makers now lining the cliff top.

Fortunately the rubber wet-suits we werewearing kept us warm, and within 30 minutesof our mishap and still some way out beyond theline of breakers, we suddenly saw to the westwhat we thought to be a group of yellow-cladmen walking upon the water in true biblicalfashion. They turned out to be the crew of theRamsgate inshore rescue dory 17-001 (whichitself was below our view) that had accompaniedthe Michael and Lily Davis up the coast; the latterdrawing too much water to safely manoeuvreinshore to our position.

In no time at all we were both hauled aboardthe dory and it was only then that we saw justhow close inshore we actually were and thereason why the Michael and Lily Davis wasstanding off.

There was some hurried activity as the crewtook a turn with a line round the outboard legof Blu-Blud—the only suitable fixing above thesurface—and towed the craft out to deeperwater where the life-boat was waiting. Weimmediately transferred and stood back as bothcrews endeavoured to right the racing boat.

Although this operation later made the hulleasier to tow, it is not always necessary to do thiswith racing powerboats. They normally haveplenty of built-in buoyancy and will tow quitehappily upside down although with heavier drag.The particular danger lies in their propellers.These are extremely sharp and could, if thrown

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Less than 30 minutes from being picked up,the Michael and Lily Davis, with us aboard andBlu-Blud in tow, entered Ramsgate harbour.

To the R.N.L.I, it had been a straight-for-ward, simple rescue, but to us and the racingofficials it was the exception to the rule in normalorganisation. However, had it not been for theRamsgate crews, Blu-Blud would quite possiblyhave been severely damaged, if not a total loss—to say nothing of ourselves. . . .

Sennen CoveMr. C. Pedrick, of Bath, collected the £40

mentioned on page 29 of the January Journal atSennen Cove and not at Penzance as stated.

All contributions for the Institution should be sent to the honorary secretary of the local branch or guild, toCaptain Nigel Dixon, R.N., Secretary, Royal National Life-boat Institution, 42 Grosvenor Gardens, London,S.W.I (Tel: 01-730 0031), or direct to the Institution's bankers, Messrs. Coutts & Co., 440 Strand,London, W.C.2, or National Giro account number 545 4050.

All enquiries about the work of the Institution or about this journal should be addressed to the Secretary.

63

AS reported in the January issue of THE LIFE-BOAT, the R.N.L.I., following an urgent appealfrom the British Red Cross, sent staff and inshorerescue boats to aid victims of the flood disasterin East Pakistan. The cargo of inflatable boats—20 in all—was air-lifted from Stansted,Essex, to Dacca on 21st November and theexpedition returned to this country on 8thDecember.

The expedition, which carried spares, wasled by Lieutenant David Stogdon, Staff Inspector(inshore rescue boats). He was accompaniedby Mr. Michael Brinton, a mechanic, from

East Cowes. They were later joined by two menfrom the Littlehampton 'Blue Peter' IRBcrew, Mr. C. R. Cole and Mr. C. J. Pelham.

The R.N.L.I, team were part of the inter-national Red Cross relief force which movedin from various parts of the world for work inthe south east sector of Bhola Island.

Clive King, who accompanied the expedition,reported: 'On either side of this coastal stripoperations were being conducted by the British64

by courtesy ofFrancois Martin and League of Red Cross Societies

Lieutenant David Stogdon, Staff Inspector (inshorerescue boats), seated by IRB engine during the reliefoperations in East Pakistan. With him (centre) is Mr.Chowdhury, Aga Khan Ranger Scout.

THE R.N.L.I, INPAKISTANRoyal Navy and the American armed forcesrespectively, with all the resources of aircraftcarriers, landing craft, helicopters, etc. Ourexpedition received something of a shock onboarding the mv. Bilkis late on 28th November,to find that this vessel was an antiquated riverlaunch with two totally enclosed decks, sixcabins and one latrine, but all 57 of us acceptedthe conditions philosophically.

'The boats were stowed on the roof (beingquite devoid of davits or any such refinements itdid not deserve the name of boat deck). Someof the party used them as sleeping cabins, therest fitted in wherever we could. The othershock was to find the total complement was ashigh as 57, and doubts began to arise aboutwhether the food and water would last. Thewater supply was assured, thanks to the Dacca

fire brigade, who pumped water into our tankswith great efficiency, and then we sailed.

'Some confusion was caused at first light onSunday when we found ourselves moving north-wards up the coast of what we were assured wasBhola Island, instead of south, but this was onlybecause we had overshot the pilot point in thedark.

'After the landing party had returned, wemoved south. The coast seemed largely deserted

(it is probable that the inhabitants had at thatmoment moved inland towards distributionareas already set up). We saw increasing signsof breached seawalls, devastated coastal villages,large vessels carried inland, and dead cattle.Unburied human bodies in this area were few.We arrived at our first base near Tazumuddinand awaited the support vessel.

'At anchor that night we had our firstexperience of the difficulties of these tidal waters.We dragged anchor for about three-quarters ofa mile and were in serious danger of grounding.This kind of thing was to happen every night ofthe expedition, due to the inadequate weight ofthe anchor. . . . The leaders of the expeditionwere never to have the benefit of an undisturbednight.

'We lowered some of the boats and took threeof them away on a reconnaissance to the south,looking for navigable channels. Despite theextremely shallow draft of the speedboats wewent aground several times, and we began toappreciate further difficulties to come. This wasan essential hydrographic reconnaissance, andleft little time to assess relief requirements.Again the coast seemed largely deserted, but thelarge herds of water-buffalo and cows that wesighted suggested that the inhabitants were notin dire need.

lAt the mouth of the Betua river we found grimenough evidence of the disaster. Bodies of men, cows,women, goats and children were piled together closeto the shore. They had presumably been washed downthe river with the receding storm wave and depositedthere. Several village mounds had been swept bare.We landed and met survivors. They were all men, andit was clear that no women or children had survived

from that village. They were in a state of mentalshock still, but were clothed, healthy and not visiblystarving (this was already a fortnight after thecyclone].

•

by courtesy ofFrancois Martin and League of Red Cross Societies

Three R.N.L.I, inshore rescue boats towing an Armypontoon barge laden with relief supplies during theEast Pakistan operations. Successful drops were madeup the rivers by this means, but it proved too clumsyfor use in a tideway.

'We returned up the coast to Tazumuddin(finding that driving the IRBs at full throttle intoa choppy sea was an ordeal that called for con-siderable muscular endurance). On our return

we found a state of near mutiny. Theweather was unseasonably overcast—evidenceof another depression—and it would not havebeen impossible that another cyclone was on theway. However, with the aid of the additionaldistrict commissioner and the master of hislaunch which was also at anchor there, ourserang was persuaded to stay. The supply barge,however, had still not arrived. . . .

'By 1st December the weather was clearing....We landed doctors, the nurse, and some supplies

65

bylRBand continued crewtrainingnearthe ship.At 1600 hours the supply vessel Reka arrived;her loading had been held up by celebrations ofthe religious festival in Dacca. No food suitableto the expedition was among the cargo, neitherhad additional water been included, but wewere relieved to find a drum of kerosene onboard, which we had been assured was amongthe petrol drums loaded on to Bilkis in Dacca,but wasn't. Absence of cooking facilities hadadded to our worries.

Chairman's MessageThe Chairman of the R.N.L.I., Admiral SirWilfrid Woods, G.B.E., K.C.B., D.S.O., sentthe following message: 'On behalf of theCommittee of Management, I would like tothank you all for the truly magnificent way inwhich you responded to the British Red CrossSociety's appeal for inshore rescue boats foroperation in East Pakistan. The remarkablespeed with which this request was met is in thefinest traditions of the Institution. I would alsolike to send my personal thanks to all those whovolunteered to accompany the boats to EastPakistan. . . .'.In recognition of their humani-tarian efforts while helping in the flood reliefwork the thanks of the R.N.L.I, inscribed onvellum have been accorded to Lieutenant Stogdon,Mr. Brinton, Mr. Cole and Mr. Pelham

'On 2nd December everything suddenlybegan to make sense. Each boat now had atrained coxswain and crew member; a routinewas evolved for loading them alongside withtins of foods, biscuits, blankets and lengths ofcloth so that each boat had a mixed cargo; theissue of petrol mixture for the outboard engineswas controlled, and each was assured of a sparetank; strict instructions were given that boatswere to work in pairs so as to help each other inemergencies; a boat recall signal was established.

'Red Cross organisers were landed with thefirst boats to line up the villagers in the largerdistribution groups, which soon reached thefigure of a thousand people in each. For thesmaller groups, the boat coxswains devised theirown distribution schemes. The doctors werelanded independently and left to their inocula-tion programmes, which often continued so lateinto the hours of darkness that we had difficultyin retrieving them. On one occasion we werealarmed by a strange craft bearing down on uson a strong tide accompanied by wild cries.We thought it might be pirates and, in any case,feared for our fragile boats moored alongside,but it was only the doctors returning in acountry boat.66

'Our only potentially dangerous accident wasdue to the decision of the master of the Bilkis toget under way at short notice, while scouts werein the boats alongside. One capsized and ascout was thrown into the water, but rescueoperations were effective and there was no lossor damage. It was, however, an early lesson inthe need for strict discipline and coordination onan untried operation such as this.

'We borrowed from the Army some heavysteel pontoon barges and experimented withloading these and towing them with the IRBs.Successful drops were made up the rivers by thismeans, but it proved too clumsy for use in atideway.

'On this first day of real work one boat madeas many as 16 landings, and others did as well inproportion to the distance they had to travel.Before dark a sounding party took the serang ofthe Bilkis southward and convinced him that itwas possible to move the ship in that direction.We anchored south of Char Lakshmi and hadanother night disturbed by dragging anchor.

'On 3rd December we organised a moreambitious long-distance expedition for the boats.Eight experienced crews were chosen and sentoff in flotillas of four down to the Betua River,a distance of 11 miles, or 22 for the round trip,which was just about the limit for the two petroltanks we could issue to each boat. It is impossibleto over-emphasise the necessity for this kind ofstrict organisation in tidal waters. . . . Distri-butions in this most remote and afflicted areawere satisfactorily completed, all boats returned,and a similar expedition sent away almostimmediately.

'Meanwhile the parent ships Bilkis and Rekaat Char Lakshmi were having a difficult time.A crowd of some 500 had gathered on theshore at a distance of about 50 yards and anumber of country boats began to clusteralongside the vessels. The Red Cross leader de-cided against issuing anything to this crowd, onthe grounds that they were the same people whohad received a generous distribution the daybefore, and that any hand-out now would onlyincrease their importunity. Only a few scoutsand volunteers, the nurse and one expatriate (aWorld War II sailor) were on board, and whenit came to "repelling boarders" by violence itit was decided to weigh anchor and move slowlynorth, although all boats were still away. For-tunately the boat expedition and the doctorswere able to catch up.

'Our holds were cleared, our own foodsupplies nearly exhausted, and all hands hadput in a week of physical labour. We consideredour mission completed, got the boats inboardand deflated them, bade farewell to Tazumud-din, headed north and grounded on a mudbank.W'hile waiting for the tide to lift us off the m.v.

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67

Urbashi hove in sight, with another stock ofrelief goods. We were told of riots and deaths inDacca, which could hardly fail to confirm theresolution of the married volunteers to get back.Possibly if sanitary and feeding conditions hadbeen adequate during the previous week therewould have been volunteers to stay on, but inany case the expedition leaders felt very stronglythat the phase of high-speed immediate reliefexpeditions had passed.

'Another unanimous decision was that in thelight of the week's experience of tides, winds,shoals, featureless shore, breakdowns, groundings,capsizings, collisions, those of us with nauticalknowledge could not take the moral responsi-bility of handing over to the young scouts thesefairly sophisticated pieces of machinery.'

A Sister's ThanksThe following is an extract from a letter

received by Captain J. B. Jones, O.B.E.,honorary secretary, New Quay, Cardiganshire,from Miss Anne Budgett, of Chislehurst, Kent,whose brother was lost from a yacht in NewortBay on 15th August: 'Our admiration and deepgratitude for all you have done in the searchfor my brother Robert Budgett is beyond words.We know full well the appalling conditions inwhich you were working and the courage andendurance of all the men involved. To go outin such a storm at very great risk to your ownlives is heroism of the highest order. Ourthoughts will be constantly with you in yourheroic work. Will you please give this messageto all the men who went out in the life-boat.'

Miss Budgett gave the R.N.L.I, two sub-stantial donations in appreciation of the effortsmade by the life-boats to find her brother, theother life-boat involved in the search beingfrom Fishguard, Pembrokeshire.

Jolly BoysThe Gorleston life-boat went to the aid of the

Royal Navy in September—ferrying libertymenback to their ship in stormy waters off GreatYarmouth. This 'courtesy' of service began at8 a.m. when an officer from the frigate H.M.S.

Yarmouth faced the problem of trying to get 38men who had been on shore leave back to thevessel almost two miles out in the YarmouthRoads.

At the time there was a southerly galeblowing which made it impossible for navalboats to carry out the liberty ferry service, andH.M.S. Yarmouth—which had been paying acourtesy call on its namesake town—was dueto sail at noon.

After the request for help, the R.N.L.I, life-boat Khami was launched and in three tripssuccessfully ferried the naval personnel to theirship.

ConcertThe Baron's Hall at Arundel Castle, historic

home of the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk, wasthe setting for a special celebrity concert in aidof the Royal National Life-boat Institution.Celebrated pianist, Semprini, headed the cast,which also included Mary Murane, the B.B.C.mezzo-soprano, and the Forest Row Choir.

Annual MeetingThe annual meeting of the R.N.L.I, will take

place at the Royal Festival Hall, London, at 3p.m. on 20th April. The Duchess of Kent willpresent the awards and the principal speakerwill be Captain Hans Hansson, Director of theSwedish Life-boat Service.

Life-boat EnthusiastsThe address of the correspondence secretary

of the Life-boat Enthusiasts' Society is Mr. R.Foster, 16 Wordsworth Road, Kettering,Northants, and not 14 as given on page 37 ofthe January issue of THE LIFE-BOAT.

Fraserburgh RelicsA propeller and the emergency tiller from

the Fraserburgh life-boat The Duchess of Kent,which capsized on 21st January, 1970, with theloss of all but one of her crew of six, have beenacquired by Buckie Town Council for theirmaritime museum.

LAUNCHES AND LIVES SAVED BY LIFE-BOATS AND IRBs

1st September 1970 to 30th November, 1970: Launches 581, lives saved 257

THE ACTIVE FLEET(as at 30/11/70)

133 station life-boats 36 inshore rescue boats

LIVES RESCUED 93,169from the Institution's foundation in 1824 to 30th November 1970

68

BOOK CORNER

9 In Captain George Manby, the inventorof the line-throwing mortar, Kenneth VValthewhas found an excellent subject for a lively andcolourful biography (From Rock and Tempest,Geoffrey Bles, £1.90/38s.). Manby was one ofthose eccentrics with a genius for inventionwhich the eighteenth century threw up in suchremarkable numbers. Apart from the mortar,he invented a portable fire extinguisher andprovided a blueprint for the organisation of anational fire service. He also developed what heconsidered to be an unsinkable boat andnarrowly escaped murder by drowning fromNorfolk fishermen as a result. Manby was tooa man of considerable courage. At the age of 56he set off on a whaling expedition to the Arcticon board the Baffin. His object was to test aharpoon gun which he had invented, but theharpooners treated him with little more con-sideration than the Norfolk fishermen haddone.

Manby's capacity for invention was rivalledby his talent for upsetting those people whosesupport he was likeliest to need. While the RoyalSociety of Arts was still considering whether toaward him a medal he publicly described itscommittee as 'persons neither exalted by rank,nor that dignity of mind which flows from aliberal education'. He did not get the medal.Mr. Walthew considers that Manby nevercompletely regained his sanity after a series ofcrude operations on his skull. Certainly hisvanity was abnormal. He designed and createdhis own stone memorial during his lifetime, andin spite of shamefully neglecting his wife andcontinually sponging on his friends he was ableto announce that 'there is not one action in mylong life which I look back on with regret'.Some of Manby's claims were so outrageous itis difficult to subscribe to Mr. Walthew's viewthat not enough credit has been given toManby for his part in the foundation of theR.N.L.I. Manby was indeed present at the Cityof London Tavern when the embryo organisa-tion came into being, and in connection withhis invention of a mortar he had propagated the

idea of some kind of national society for savinglife from shipwreck. None of this, however,detracts from the originality of Sir WilliamHillary's pamphlet published in Douglas in1823, which is the basis of the organisation ofthe R.N.L.I. today—P.H.

• The Science Museum, London, is noted forthe high quality of its publications and twoillustrated booklets to hand are Steamships 1:Merchant Ships to 1880byE. W. Bathe (H.M.S.O.,price 35p/7s.) and British Warships 1845-1945by B. W. Bathe (H.M.S.O., price 35p).Although no definite date can be given for theintroduction of the paddle-wheel for the pro-pulsion of a vessel, a bas-relief of 527 A.D. showswhat is believed to be a Roman war vessel fittedwith six small paddle-wheels and driven bythree pairs of oxen. In the booklet on warshipsit is stated that trials arranged by the Admiraltyduring the 1840s showed the superiority of thescrew propeller over the paddle-wheels forordinary sea purposes. Both booklets apiececontain 20 coloured plates of ship models.

• Seamanship by Duncan Macrae Henderson,Master Mariner, M.I.N. (The Shipping andTrading Co., 16 Rochester Terrace, Leeds,LS6 3DF, price £2.75/55s.) took 13 years togrow and it is expected to become a standardwork. It is designed and written for apprenticesand candidates for the B.O.T. examinations forthe master's, mate's and second mate's certifi-cates, but it contains much basic seamanshipwhich will be of value and interest to fishermen,yachtsmen and others. It is easily compre-hended by the solitary student and has a widerange of subjects as the partial list below shows.There are 475 pages of print, 26 chapters, 357figures, one diagram, one plate and a loose copyof the Regulations for Preventing Collisions atSea.

• Broadstairs, Kent, once had a famouslife-boat station. Now William H. Lapthorne,local and naval historian, has recaptured someof the local life-boat exploits in A Broad Place:An Historical Account of Broadstairs from 1500 A.D.to the Present (through the author at 'ArxRuochim', 42 Pierremont Avenue, Broadstairs,price 30p/6s.). The Chairman of the R.N.L.I.,Admiral Sir Wilfrid Woods, G.B.E., K.C.B., D.S.O.,has written the introduction. The booklet listslife-boats, launches, lives saved and the namesof past life-boatmen associated with Broadstairs.Three of the 18 illustrations are of the firstBroadstairs life-boats and are published for thefirst time.

by courtesy of John Tanner

Volunteer life savers, who patrol Australian beaches, taking a surf boat out from the beach to the open sea throughtreacherous waters at Dee Why, a popular resort, near Sydney, New South Wales.

THE SURF LIFE SAVING STORY*• An everyday scene which even the complacent Australian cannot take for granted is the surfboat crews battling their way through the wildest surf. They make an unforgettable sight on the shore-ward run with the five-man crew crowded at the stern. They lift the bow as the sturdy craft slicesthrough the breakers. Balanced precariously on the stern is the powerful 'sweep' who needs a sixthsense in timing and judgement to steer the craft to the shore. The sweep occupies a glamorous place inAustralian surf life-saving history. He is skipper and navigator rolled into one. Using a 20-foot longoar and his intimate knowledge of the sea he is the man who guides the surf boat on its speedy, tur-bulent journey. Boatmen still talk of North Steyne's famous sweep, Harold C. 'Rastus' Evans, who be-came a legend in his own lifetime. Evans had spent his life among boats, and when he stepped into aNorth Steyne surf boat in the 1920s the club embarked on an era of invincibility which no other hasbeen able to match. With the latest in boat design Evans went through one entire season unbeaten.He whipped his crew into a crack combination which swept all before them. In one summer seasonan easterly gale heralded a carnival at Bronte, and the first surf race resulted in near tragedy. Theentire field of 30 swimmers were suddenly swept hundreds of yards out to sea, and only one managedto complete the course within the time limit. Strong swimmers found themselves powerless in the gripof the current. Their only hope of rescue lay with the boat crews. Three boats headed out but found

*Story matter by Gerard Power and Ken Watson, via the Australian News and Information Bureau.

70

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71

it impossible to get through the breaking surf. Evans waited impatiently on the beach for the finalmember of his crew to arrive. He watched the other boats in their vain attempts to reach the flounder-ing swimmers. He knew he would need all his skill to make it. That day he gave an exhibition of boathandling that was nothing short of fantastic. He worked his crew to the limit, throwing his boat in alldirections, zig-zagging, turning and inching his way through the surf. He filled his boat with exhaustedmen, then made two more trips for extra loads. Largely because of the skill of 'Rastus' Evans, no liveswere lost.

RECENTLY a well-known Australian newspapercontributor was asked 'Which is the truestamateur sport in the world ?' After discussing atlength the 'true blue' qualifications of all trackand field athletics (rowing, swimming, cricket,tennis, football and golf), the decision was givenin favour of the young men who form the SurfLife Saving Association of Australia.

Although Australia is widely recognised asbeing the home of many famous sportsmen andwomen it is not generally known that it was inthis land of just over 10,000,000 people that theworld's most spectacular organisation for thesaving of lives originated.

One Sunday morning in September, 1902,Mr. William Gocher, a local newspaperproprietor, at Sydney's Manly Beach defied thelaw of the time, which permitted surf bathingonly before sunrise and after sunset, by bathingin the surf during the prohibited hours. Hisaction forced the issue on daylight bathing andvirtually founded the zestful pastime and sportof surf bathing as it is known today.

As a result surf bathing grew rapidly inpopularity, and just as rapidly its dangersbecame apparent. Of necessity, small groups of

experienced and regular bathers formed them-selves into life-saving bodies to assist those whocould not swim and those who were not familiarwith the dangers associated with surf bathing.

Eventually on 18th October, 1907, the SurfLife Saving Association was established withheadquarters in Sydney, the total number ofclubs being 13. Since that day, the Associationhas developed into an organisation knownthroughout the world for the many outstandingfeats of bravery among its members. At the timeof writing 223 clubs were operating along thecoastline of Australia with a total membershipof over 21,000.

Over a period of 57 years members of theAssociation have rescued 139,803 people fromdrowning in the surf. This has been achievedwithout any thought of reward or gain; indeed,every member from the youngest recruit to thenational president has to pay a yearly subscrip-tion to help his club.

Because of the strenuous nature of the workmembership of surf life saving clubs in Australiais restricted to men. However, to assist withsocial functions and the raising of financeladies' auxiliaries are elected to most clubs, and

Life savers taking a surf boat out through the breakers at a beach carnival at Dee Why, north of Sydney, NewSouth Wales.

72

by courtesy of J. FitzpatrickA surf boat taking part in the Australian Surf Championship Carnival at Merewether Beach, New South Wales.

their assistance is invaluable.Reference to the annual report of the

National Council of the Surf Life SavingAssociation reveals that each season (fromOctober to March) about 5,000 people arerescued by reel, line and belt equipment—which, incidentally, is an Australian invention.Rescues by surf life saving boats number some200 annually.

While the reel, line and belt equipment is themore generally known method of saving lives,the rescue by boat carries with it the greatestelement of risk, as this method is usually neces-sary when it is impossible for the beltman tomake his way because of high and dangerousseas.

One of the most thrilling surf boat rescues—

that by 'Rastus' Evans—has already beendescribed. The most epic rescue by reel, line andbelt took place on world-famous Bondi Beachon 6th February, 1938, when 300 people weretrapped in a boiling sea through the suddencollapse of a sandbank. Within seconds a massrescue which has never been surpassed was inprogress.

Of this rescue one American observer, Dr.Marshall W. Dyer, said: 'There are no men inthe world like your life savers. This is the greatestlabour of love in the world. I have never seenanything like it.'

Apart from patrolling the beaches each week-end and on all holidays the clubs of the associa-tion hold regular surf carnivals with a view to

Continued on page 75

LIFE-BOAT QUIZCompiled by Grahame Farr with the help of members of theLife-boat Enthusiasts' Society

1—Which life-boat station is farthest from the shore?

2—Where are old life-boat houses now used as (a) a library, and (b] an aquarium?

3—Which station last used horses for launching?

4—Where were the first trials of a tractor for launching and which station first had a tractor on its strength?

5—Can you name the recipient, and the year, of the first R.N.L.I, medals—gold and silver?

6—Can you name the first recipients, and the year, of the first bronze medals?

[Answers page 91]

73

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SURF SAVERS Okeeping their members in condition, maintain-ing interest in the voluntary work, and seekingfinancial assistance towards the maintenance oftheir clubs.

Almost every weekend during the summermonths thousands of people flock to the variousbeaches to watch these contests of skill, courageand endurance. All carnivals are conductedunder strict amateur rules. Competitors pay anentry fee for the privilege of representing theirclub, and only nominal trophies are awarded.

These regular carnivals culminate at the endof the season with the Australian championships,at which representatives from all States andnearly every one of the 223 clubs participate. Insome instances the competitors travel up to2,500 miles at their own expense to bring honourand prestige to their club.

The blue riband event at these carnivals is therescue and resuscitation competition—uponwhich the principles of the association arebased. However, perhaps the most spectacularand colourful is the grand parade and marchpast of the club teams. In this event each club isrepresented by 15 men, who march behind colour-ful banners to the stirring music of a pipe band.

Surf life saving today is not only confined toAustralia; indeed, some of the world's greatestsurfers are to be found in New Zealand andSouth Africa. Similar associations are operatingtoday in Ceylon, England, Channel Islands,South Africa, New Zealand, United States ofAmerica and Hawaii.

During the Olympic year in 1956 the oppor-tunity was taken of inviting representativeteams to Australia from other countries and70,000 people saw them participate in carnivalsat Torquay Beach, Victoria. Subsequently, theInternational Council of Surf Life Saving wasestablished, and has since functioned verysatisfactorily. Ideas are exchanged which leadto the betterment of the movement.

In March, 1961, an International Conventionon Life Saving Techniques was held in Sydney.This convention, spearheaded by the Surf LifeSaving Association of Australia, had the whole-hearted support of all other humanitarianorganisations as well as the medical fraternity.

PARIS MEETINGAt the conclusion of the International Exhi-

bition of Pleasure Boat and Navigation in Parisin January, Admiral Amman, president of theSociete Nationale de Sauvetage en Mer (whichcorresponds to the R.N.L.I.), outlined themodernisation of their fleet. It now consists of92 motor launches, 50 life-boats and 268 infla-table craft. These boats are spread over 271stations.

Somebody'ssure to

spot you,if• •• you have a SARBE BE369aboard, because this new Flotation DistressBeacon automatically transmits sequentiallyon both the civil (VHP) and the military(UHF) aviation distress frequencies.Norway has just become the first nation toimplement WRAC recommendations byrequiring all liferafts and lifeboats to carryaviation-frequency beacons — and Norwayhas placed big orders for the BE369.

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BURNDEPT ELECTRONICS75

THE CENTRAL APPEALS COMMITTEE

THE C.A.C. is hoping to arrange a crosswordpuzzle for inclusion in the Journal. At the timeof going to press plans had not been finalisedbut further details will be given in the July issue.

Many people gave up weekend time inNovember to help launch hundreds of balloonsin a race on behalf of the R.N.L.I. Because ofthe postal strike it has not been possible toobtain from branches information as to theholders of the winning labels. Fuller details will,therefore, be given in the next number.

As this issue of THE LIFE-BOAT went to pressthe C.A.C. was looking forward to the nationalwalk planned for Sunday, 18th April. The aimwas to get 'The Youth of Britain Walking for theLife-boat'.

The C.A.C. is to organise a national sponsoredswim in collaboration with the Amateur Swim-ming Association from which all proceeds willbe given to the R.N.L.I. The swim will takeplace in clubs affiliated to the A.S.A. and isopen to swimmers over seven years old. It isenvisaged that the swim will take placethroughout the summer ending at the end ofDecember.76

by courtesy of Kentish Times Ltd,

Balloons being launched during the large scaleR.N.L.I, competition at the end of last year.

Fund-raising suggestions are welcome. If youhave an idea write to Mr. R. N. Crumbie,chairman of the C.A.C., at 28 Chislehurst Road,Orpington, Kent.

Exmouth CentreThe Exmouth, South Devon, life-boat display

centre took well over £2,000 last year. Mr. C. E.Chown, the honorary secretary, described it asa 'fantastic year'. There are also R.N.L.I.museums at Eastbourne, Sussex, and Whitby,Yorkshire, and display centres at Portpatrick,Wigtownshire, and Dunbar, East Lothian.

Shipowner's TributeMr. Aristhomenis Karageorgis, of Piraeus,

Greece, whose shipping company is Michil A.Karageorgis S.A., recently donated £500 to theR.N.L.I, through the Chilterns branch. Thissupport from a Greek shipowner is most wel-come. Last year the R.N.L.I, gave help to nofewer than 84 vessels from 17 countries overseas,saving 32 lives from them.

L#'

SHIPS' FIGUREHEADS• I found 'Rover's' article about ships'figureheads in the January number of THELIFE-BOAT most interesting but would challengethe suggestion that wood carving in this par-ticular field is a thing of the past. When I wasat this year's International Boat Show I sawfigureheads and plaques carved by J. Whiteheadand N. Caches, woodcarvers, of New Road,Wootton, Isle of Wight.—Mrs. Jean Craven,Robert Street, Brighton.

• Rover's informative article in your Januaryissue was read with great interest but a littlereservation over his assertion that figureheadsarc a thing of the past. Although it's certainlytrue that for some time they have been verymuch the exception rather than the rule we, aswoodcarvers with a principal interest in marinework, are frequently requested to carve them.High among the more notable recent com-missions would rank the figureheads for the SailTraining Association's schooners, Sir \\~instonChurchill and Malcolm Miller, the mermaid ofAmazonian proportions that graces the bowof the luxury motor yacht Romantica, the whalefigurehead of the schooner Golden Cachalot andthe bow decoration for the giant trimaranGreen Lady. The Hudson's Bay Company's.Nonsuch replica must, however, take pride ofplace even though, to be exact, it had no figure-head it must surely be the most lavishly decor-ated craft to sail in British waters this century.

Currently we are working on the figureheadand stern carving for the Sea Cadet Corps' newbrig Royalist and the Canadian brigantinePathfinder. Quite a large proportion of our workgoes abroad and the French three-mastedschooner Artimis, the American-owned Cruz delSur and the Caribbean-based schooner JollyRoger have been fitted with figureheads carvedin our workshop.

As a general observation on current trends itwould appear that the anonymity of the mass

produced fibre-glass hull and the regainingpopularity of the graceful clipper bow has beenresponsible for a renewed interest in bowdecorations for smaller craft. Pride of ownershipand the desire to establish individuality isindeed bringing figureheads back.

Mention of the practice of fastening old

by courtesy of Grahams E. Farr

LIFE-BOAT INNSThe R.N.L.I, is anxious to trace as many life-boat inns,or inn signs depicting life-boats, as possible. The co-operation of readers is therefore requested. At Teign-mouth, Devon, for example, there is the Life-boat Inn(see picture). At Christchurch, Hampshire, there is theShip in Distress showing a life-boat making for awrecked vessel. Behind the picture, however, is anotherstory. The inn was once associated with smugglersand the innkeeper in those far-off days was MotherSellers. Apparently she helped smugglers hide theircontraband and often gave them refuge when revenueofficers were in the district.

77

Mr. J. Whitehead and the mermaid figurehead ofAmazonian proportions carved for the m.y. Romantica,

figureheads to boatshed walls reminded me ofseeing a fine example mounted over the door-way of the life-boat station at Auderville inNorthern France. Possibly it came from a victimof the Alderney Race the station watches over.—JV. Caches, J. Whitehead and JV. Caches, New Road,Wootton, Isle of Wight.

• 'Rover's' article in praise of ships' figure-heads in your last issue reminds me that when Iwas a girl in the Great War a sailing vesselnamed the Trifolium was wrecked at Land's Endin, I think, 1914. She was adorned with a veryfine figurehead and one wonders what became ofit.—Mrs. Sarah Jones, Plymouth.

The Trifolium was driven ashore on 18th March,1914, and the picture (see below] of the bow of thevessel was sent to the R.N.L.I. in 1940 by Mrs. LauraMoss, of Hillcrest Avenue, Truro, Cornwall.

The R.N.L.I, issues three medals—in gold, silver andbronze. The reverse shows three men in a life-boat,one of whom is in the act of rescuing an exhaustedman from the waves. It is inscribed 'Let not the deepswallow me up'. The obverse shows a bust of Lieut.-Col. Sir William Hillary, Bt, founder of the Institution.

LIFE-BOAT MEDALS• Would you please give particulars aboutthe medals awarded by the R.N.L.I, for acts ofbravery.—F. Crane, Portsmouth.

The Institution's standards for awarding medalsare as follows: (a) the gold for an act in which out-standing courage, skill and initiative have been shownor altogether exceptional courage, (b) the silver for an

The figurehead carried by the Trifolium when she cameashore at Land's End in 1914.

by courtesy of Larkin Bros,

act of outstanding merit, (c) the bronze for an act ofconspicuous gallantry and courage. Medals are sus-pended by a bar formed of two dolphins, and the ribbonis blue corded silk. The first gold medal awarded bythe Institution was made on 10th July, 1824, forgallantry in saving life from a Swedish brig which waswrecked off Christchurch, Hampshire, the recipientbeing Captain Charles Howe Fremantle, R.N.

LIFE-BOAT NUMBERS• Retired life-boats are often in the news. Ifrenamed and much altered how can the historyof an ex-life-boat be traced?—Peter Wilkins,The Quay, Poole, Dorset.

The builder's number may be visible on the starboardside of the stem. The official number can usually beseen on the transverse beam.

ROYAL VISITORSThe Duke of Kent, President of the R.N.L.I., visitedthe headquarters of the life-boat service at 42 Gros-venor Gardens, London, on 11th March. During histour of the building the Duke of Kent visited alldepartments and met members of the staff. Earlierhe had discussed the work of the R.N.L.I. withmembers of the Committee of Management.In the photograph (right) the Duke of Kent is picturedwith (left to right) Captain Nigel Dixon, R.N., Secretaryof the R.N.L.I., Lieut.-Commander W. L. G. Dutton,Chief Inspector of Life-boats, and Admiral Sir WilfridWoods, Chairman.

The photograph below shows the Prince of Wales atthe helm of B-3 inflatable craft during a visit to AtlanticCollege, St. Donat's Castle, Glamorganshire, where hewas shown a number of similar experimental boats.He made a 35-minute trip in the Bristol Channel inrough weather.

by courtesy of Press Association and At/antic College.

79

by courtesy of East Anglian Daily Times

Mr. A. W. Hawkes, the author of this article, picturedin his workshop at Waldringfleld, Suffolk. No matterwhat is afoot—agricultural shows, flag days and soon—Mr. Hawkes can be relied upon to go almostanywhere and to tackle almost any fund-raising scheme.

GEORGECRABBE'SBOROUGHby A. W. HawkesTHE Suffolk Aldeburgh ('Aldeburc' of Domes-day)—to which we must add 'on sea' to dis-tinguish it from other Aldeburghs, of slightlydifferent spellings, in Norfolk and Essex—liesright on the coast of the North Sea, four mileseast of the main London to Yarmouth road.

It consists mainly of two streets, each a milelong and parallel to each other, more or less atsea level, which contain the business and shopsof the town. Looking down on this from theinland side is the higher residential area,reached on foot by two long flights of stepsbetween the shops and commanding wide viewsof the open sea. One of these flights is known asthe Town Steps and halfway up stands areminder of the town's ancient water supply inthe shape of an iron pump, cast in 1840 at thenearby foundry of Newson Garrett of Leiston.

For centuries Aldeburgh has waged a losingbattle with the sea, in the course of which severalstreets have disappeared beneath the waves.Between 1767 and 1779 a number of disastersof this sort occurred, one carrying away a wholestreet and 11 houses in a single tide, including

80

the cottage where George Crabbe (1754-1832),the Aldeburgh poet, was born, to which herefers in the following lines:

Till some fierce tide, with more imperious swaySweeps the low hut and all it holds away.

Much the same applies to Slaughden Quaya mile and a half to the south of the borough,arid again Crabbe refers:

Ton is our quay where smaller ships from townTheir various wares for country use bring down.

In times gone by this was a busy port con-taining many warehouses and boatbuildingyards, also the Three Mariners Inn where theboatbuilders quenched their thirst and thesmugglers foregathered. Many a tale is told ofany unfortunate preventive officer who hap-pened to arrive when business was in hand andhad his head pushed down a rabbit hole and astake driven between his legs to keep him quietuntil the contraband was safely conveyed inland.

Today Slaughden contains a few longshore-men's huts, the headquarters of the AldeburghYacht Club and a number of yachts riding attheir moorings in the River Aide, in place of theworking boats which wended their way up thetreacherous tideway to Snape Makings, nowthe home of the Aldeburgh Festival, rebuilt afterthe disastrous fire in 1969.

It is here at Slaughden that the river almostenters the sea, but is turned inland by HavergateIsland, which is virtually a shingle bar severalmiles long—a feature of the east coast riverscaused by the southward tidal drift—and abreeding ground for avocets and numerousother sea birds. Thereafter the river wanderssouth, inside this bar, past Orford where it

by courtesy of Clarke & Son

A Victorian studio picture—'snow' is falling—ofCoxswain James Cable, the Aldeburgh life-boat-man, who once retorted to a pessimistic onlooker:'We don't have to come back—but we have to go out'.

Slaughden, a mile and half south of Aldeburgh,Suffolk, was once a busy port. In the late 1950s, whenthis photograph was taken, the longshoremen therewere advertising their various skills by means ofpainted signs.

Pray for us .

becomes the Ore, eventually meeting the sea atOrfordness.

High upon the hill at the town's approachfrom inland stands the Church of Ss. Peter andPaul with a ring of six bells and a large gilt-faced clock. Immediately inside the main dooris a beautiful beaten copper panel in memoryof the seven life-boatmen who lost their lives inthe 1899 disaster to The Aldeburgh, and in a quietcorner of the churchyard is an awe-inspiringmonument overshadowing the seven crossesraised to these brave men. Inside the churchthere is also a bust of George Crabbe sculpturedby Thurlow of Saxmundham.

Nearer the sea and at the north end of thetown stands the Moot Hall (open to the public),a fine two-storey building of flint and brickapproached by an outside staircase. In the southwall is a recess which originally contained thetown stocks, and on the gable above is a veryfine sun dial bearing the legend 'Horas nonnumero nisi Serenas'. Inside is a veritable museumof many of the borough's treasures with photo-graphs of past Mayors and life-boat coxswainsincluding James Cable (1851-1930), whose bookA Lifeboalman's Days . . . Told by Himself hasrecently been reprinted. The collection ofancient maps includes one which shows the seain 1559 as being 10 times further from the MootHall than it is at the present day!

Pray for us . . .

At the lower end of the main street stands theancient Custom House where George Crabbe'sfather was employed as a collector of salt duesand other customs. Across the street a couple ofpassages between the houses lead to the CragPath, so named from the coraline crag uponwhich the town stands. This path runs the entirelength of the beach for two miles and serves the

82

purpose of a sea-front promenade—but letanyone refer to it as a promenade at their peril!

It is flanked by houses and hotels with manypleasing types of architecture on the landwardside. To seaward, the encroachment of the seahas been halted by a stout concrete wall. At thesouth end of the path stands the new andup-to-date Coastguard station, and a little to thenorth of this are the two look-outs built in thelast century by the pilots; one of these is still inuse as a look-out, the interior walls being coveredwith photographs and newspaper cuttingsabout local life-boats.

In a clearing between the fishermen's huts,the drawn-up boats and the fishing gear, on itslaunching platform stands the life-boat Alfredand Patience Gottwald, a 42-foot beach type boat,\1\ tons, built in 1959.

There has been a life-boat station at Aide-burgh since 1824, indeed Aldeburgh was one of

Pray for us . . .

the first stations opened, and has a fine recordof nearly 500 lives saved. The honorary secretaryof the local branch, Mr. David J. Owen, is alsothe Town Clerk of the ancient borough whosecoat of arms is a replica of the town seal of thecharter granted in 1561 and shows a mediaevalship in full sail with the St. George's Cross onthe foresail and a lion rampant on the mainsail.

Members of the life-boat crew under Cox-swain Reuben Wood are drawn entirely fromthe fishing fraternity and are ready to give agood account of themselves whenever theirservices are needed. Many are the stories toldof the life-boats and their coxswains, not theleast being James Cable who at a launch on aparticularly stormy night was advised by anonlooker not to make the attempt as they wouldnever get back. Retorted James Cable, thecoxswain: 'We don't have to come back—butwe have to go out!'

Aldeburgh also boasts a strong and efficientladies' life-boat guild whose members, besidethe normal functions, provide refreshment forcrew and rescued on the life-boat's return fromservice.

The sailor's medallion reproduced on this page—it was found onthe Suffolk coast—is inscribed 'For God And Our Sailors—PrayFor Us'.

New Year HonoursThe R.N.L.I, received recognition in the NewYear Honours, one award going to an officialat the London headquarters and two to a cox-swain and a second coxswain.

M.B.E.• Mr. John R. Atterton, deputy secretary ofthe R.N.L.I., was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1919 and spent the early part of his lifein Spain. With the advent of the Spanish CivilWar he and his family returned to England andin 1936 he joined the Institution's staff as ajunior clerk. Since then, except for the war yearswhen he served with the Royal Signals, he hasheld several appointments. Mr. Atterton hasvisited many stations and branches and is keenlyinterested in the international side of the work ofthe Institution.

CoxswainHarold J. Hayles.

B.E.M.• Coxswain Harold J. Hayles has beencoxswain of the Yarmouth, I.o.W., life-boatsince 1952, having previously served as secondcoxswain from 1944 and as bowman from 1937.He first joined the crew in 1933.

• Second Coxswain Henry Philcox of theShoreham Harbour life-boat holds the jointappointment of second coxswain and motormechanic, having served as mechanic for 31years. He previously served as assistant mechanicfrom 1936 to 1938 and was appointed secondcoxswain in 1968.

DeathsOne of the R.N.L.I.'s most famous life-boat

mechanics, Mr. Henry W. 'Swank' Davies, ofCromer, died in January. As mechanic, it washis work with the engines which enabled someof the daring manoeuvres to be attempted—and made successful—in the days of CoxswainHenry Blogg who won the Institution's gold

by courtesy of PA

Mr. John R. Atterton, deputy secretary of the R.N.L.I.

medal for bravery three times. Mr. Davies gave44 years' service to the local life-boats.

With the passing a few weeks ago of Mr. JackHawkes, of Ramsgate, the R,N.L.I. has lost oneof the few remaining life-boatmen who couldclaim to have taken part in the evacuation ofDunkirk in 1940. He was among the crew ofthe Ramsgate life-boat when she voyaged into'the jaws of hell' to rescue troops under enemybombardment. On 6th February the ashes ofMr. Hawkes—he was 84—were scattered onthe waters near the long line of surf that marksthe Goodwin Sands.

Mrs. Bella Mattison, the famous Cullercoatsfishwife, who raised more than £8,000 for theR.N.L.I.j died in early January at the age of 92.

Mrs. Bella Mattison.

bycourtesy of Alex Del/ow

She started collecting for the life-boat service in1922. Mrs. Mattison, who left 10 grandchildrenand 21 great-grandchildren, was known nation-ally and internationally for her life-boat workand met most members of the Royal Family.

The death is recorded of Mr. T. Hall, aformer Amble coxswain, who served as boat'sofficer for 16 years. He was 75.

A link with the Aldeburgh life-boat disasterof 7th December, 1899, has been broken by thedeath of Mr. P. H. Thorp. He was the lastsurviving member of the crew associated withthe Aldeburgh life-boat of 1899.

A Nimrod jet aircraft of No. 201 Squadron,83

R.A.F. Strike Command, committed the ashesof the late Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur MurrayLongmore, G.C.B., D.S.O., a former memberof the Committee of Management of theR.N.L.I., to the sea in Alum Bay, I.o.W., on3rd January. Sir Arthur, who was associatedwith the R.N.L.I, for many years, was a pioneerairman with links going back to the very begin-ning of Service flying in this country. He was 85.

taken by Rear Admiral G. P. D. Hall, D.S.C.Rear Admiral Ritchie was associated with thecommittee for five years.

by courtesy of Sunderland Echo

The Rev. V. Roy Brain baptising Sally Jane aboard theSeaham life-boat.

Baptised at SeaIn December Sally Jane, the third child of

Mr. Anthony Warnock, the mechanic of theSeaham life-boat, and Mrs. Kathleen Warnock,was baptised aboard the local life-boat.

With Coxswain Arthur Farrington at thewheel, Mr. Warnock at the engine controls,and the Vicar of St. John's Church, Seaham,the Rev. V. Roy Brain, aboard, the life-boatbore Sally Jane to a point half a mile from shorewhere the boat heaved to for Mr. Brain tobaptise the baby with water from an upturnedship's bell, which was used as a font.

After the ceremony, which was attended bythe child's mother, Mrs. Farrington and Mrs.Cecilia Murley, wife of a crew member, whowere the godparents, the life-boat landed SallyJane and continued on its practice run.

Note: The young lady also received a silverchristening mug. It was presented on behalf ofthe crew by one of their number, Mr. RaymondRiddell.

RETIREMENTRear Admiral G. S. Ritchie, C.B., D.S.C.,

Hydrographer of the Navy, retired in Februaryand his place as ex-officio member of the Com-mittee of Management of the R.N.L.I, is being84

LIFE-BOATWORKERSHONOUREDTHE Royal National Life-boat Institutionannounced in January awards to voluntaryworkers who have devoted their time andenergies to the life-boat service.

Highest award in the list, that of honorary lifegovernor, given only for exceptionally long andvaluable service, is being accorded to AirMarshal Sir Brian Baker, K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O.,M.C., A.F.C., of Howard Place, St. Andrew's, Fife.

Sir Brian, who has supported the R.N.L.I.for more than 50 years, was appointed honorarysecretary of the Institution's St. Andrew'sbranch in 1952 and six years ago was awardedthe Institution's silver badge.

The next highest award, a bar to the Insti-tution's gold badge, has been awarded to Mrs.Peggy Hamley-Rowan of Fulham Road, Lon-don, who has been honorary secretary of theEast Sheen and Barnes branch for 31 years andwho has helped raise increased sums of moneylocally. She was awarded an R.N.L.I, gold badgein 1961.

GOLD BADGESGold badges, awarded to honorary secretaries

of life-boat stations, financial branches andladies' life-boat guilds after 25 years' service, orless in exceptional cases, have been awarded to11 voluntary workers. These include:

Miss V. S. Bennion of Bcxhill-on-Sea, chairman ofthe Bexhill guild for four years out of a total of 22years' service to the R.N.L.I.

Major Norman Dugdalc, M.C., of Roker ParkTerrace, Sunderland, honorary secretary of theSunderland life-boat station for 24 years.

Mrs. Serena Fair, of Dungcness, Romney Marsh,has been a launcher at Dungeness for 51 years—since she was 14 years old—and is now senior life-boatlauncher.

Mr. H. B. Fleet, of North Down Park Road,Margate, for around 20 years has been prominentlyassociated with the work of the Margate branch ofwhich he has been honorary secretary since 1961.

Dr. W. J. Guild, B.SC., PH.D., of Grange Loan,Edinburgh, for more than 30 years has keenlysupported the R.N.L.I. He became a member of theEdinburgh Committee in 1953 and a member of theScottish Life-Boat Council in 1959. He has madeseveral films about the Institution's activities.

Dr. E. Clifton Johnson, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., of HighStreet, Walton-on-Naze, a local branch committeemember and honorary medical adviser since 1936.

Mr. J. S. Ling, of Borrow Road, Oulton Broad,Lowestoft, honorary secretary of the Great Yarmouthand Gorleston life-boat station since 1952. Mr. Linghas a total of 25 years' service with the organisation.

Mrs. J. M. Lucas, of Longbridge Road, Barking,has been honorary secretary of the Barking branchfor 21 years and was previously local 'life-boat week'organiser for two years.

Miss G. L. McCarter, of Lurgan, County Armagh,secretary of the local branch for 22 years and anhonorary worker for several years before that.

Mrs. D. M.'Gonigle, of High Street, Norton,Teesside, a member of the Stockton-on-Tees branchfor more than 40 years, assistant secretary between1933-42 and honorary secretary for 28 years.

Mr. John Sinclair, M.B.E., of Millers Lane, Thurso,Caithness, during a long association with the R.N.L.I.,has been station chairman at Thurso for 21 years.

SILVER BADGESSilver badges—awarded to financial branch

and ladies' guild honorary secretaries after 10years' service and to others in exceptional cases—are being presented to 51 workers in GreatBritain and Ireland. Further awards, includingcommemorative statuettes, have been approvedfor 20 other voluntary workers.

Mrs. M. Appleby-Matthews, Tamworth; Mr. F.Bell-Scott, M.B.E., Birmingham; Miss E. M. Black,Isle of Arran; Mrs. C. Bradley, Rochester; MissM. H. P. A. Cameron, Lundin Links; Mrs. I. D.Campbell, Ardrossan; Mrs. T. Campbell, Kilmar-nock; Mr. J. C. Corin, Coverack; Mrs. M. J.Coughtrie, Glasgow; Mrs. D. E. Davis, Walton andFrinton; Miss L. Ennis-Woods, Howth; Mrs. P. L.Foster, Tadworth; Mr. R. Fraser, Aith; Mrs. M.Goodbody, Limberick; Mrs. E. Grieg, Conisbrough;Mrs. L. Guillemette, Guernsey; Mr. S. Harford,Bushey and Bushey Heath; Mrs. T. Hislop, Doncaster;Mrs. W. A. Innes, Horley; Mrs. P. Irvine, Dublin;Mrs. P. E. Jennens, Solihull; Mrs. C. Emlyn Jones,Cardiff; Mr. J. C. Kennedy, Newquay; Miss E. M.Killick, Bexhill; Mrs. H. F. Lambourne, SuttonColdfield; Miss L. E. Lynes, Bournemouth; Mr.M. C. McAvoy, Caister; Mrs. L. McDermott,Cheltenham; Mrs. A. McKnight, Dun Laoghaire;Mrs. A. McMullan, Howth; Mrs. N. G. Mitchell,Dewsbury; Mrs. R. Pepper, Pulborough; Mrs.G. B. G. Potter, Boxmoor and Hemel Hempstead;Mrs. T. Purdy, Aylsham and District; Miss A. L.Read, Worthing; Mrs. T. L. Richards, Malmesbury;Mrs. L. Rigby, Silloth; Mrs. J. E. Roberts, SouthCaernarvonshire; Mr. H. Morris Roberts, Aberyst-wyth; Mrs. D. L. Simons, Welling; Mrs. F. Simpsons,Leven; Mrs. E. Spiro, Dun Laoghaire; Mr. C. R.Tilson, Leix Co.; Mrs. I. M. Warran, Welling;Mr. R. P. Weeden, Twickenham; MrT. J. Wellingham,Dartford; Mrs. S. W. Whateley, Bude; Miss E.Whitelam, Beverley; Miss G. S. Wilkinson, DurhamCity; Mrs. M. D. Willan, Shaw and Cromptin.

STATUETTESMrs. M. R. Auckland, Scarborough; Mrs. H.

Forcer Evans, Anglesey; Mr. M. Long, Dingle;Mrs. D. M. MacDonald, Watton; Mr. and Mrs.S. E. Maddox, Dungeness; Mrs. T. F. Miles, Cardiff;Mr. G. Pitts, Birmingham; Mr W. F. Smith, Seaham;Mrs. E. C. Stott, Barnsley; Tottenham Rotary Club,Tottenham; Mr. W. F. Cormack, Lockerbie; Mrs.J. C. T. MacRobert, Paisley, Mr. F. Patterson,Anstruther; Mrs. I. Stevenson, Dunbar; Mrs.J. W. M. Wright, Isle of Arran.

BINOCULARSCaptain A. Mackay, Stornoway; Mr. C. A. Perry,

Clacton.

BAROMETERCaptain Anderson, Anstruther; Mr. R. Oxley,

Walton and Frinton; Captain J. Stevens, St. Ives.

CHAIRMAN'S LETTERMr. T. F. Bevan, Lynmouth; Mr. S. F. Collings,

Newquay; Mrs. G. Drewett, Dartford; Mr. R. P.Jenkins, Coulsdon, Kenley and Purley; Mr. H. P.Mathew, Herne Bay; Mrs. Metcalfe, Sidcup;Miss M. G. Newman, Chippeifield; Mr. L. Pengelly,Swansea, Mumbles; Mrs. E. Sykes, Moelfre; MissC. W. Lowsley Williams, Tetbury.

STATUETTE AWARDS-PUBLIC RELATIONS

Miss B. Baxter, BBC Television; Mr. G. B. Bayes,Flamborough; Mr. J. McAnthony, Dublin; Mr.H. L. Prynn, Salcombe.

SHEEP ROAST RECIPEWhen Mrs. Nova Gourlay, ofPortling, Colvend,Kirkcudbrightshire, arranged a sheep roast inaid of the R.N.L.I.—it made £140—thearrangements were as follows: ' We held it atour farm and had a dance in the barn. Myhusband and a friend made an automaticelectrically driven spit and we roasted a 52 Ib.lamb over smokeless fuel donated by the localcoal merchant. The men did all the cooking onthe night and the local butcher boy and aLondon surgeon did the carving. We also had alamb donated and cooked this in the ovenearlier. We provided sausages and onions andalso lamb and mint sauce and bread rolls. Wehad a late licence until 1 o'clock and the barwas set up in the tractor house. The tombola andraffle were supported with many wonderfulgifts from local people. About 200 peoplecame on 12s. tickets'

85

YLA SECTION

INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOWThree hundred and twenty-one new members

enrolled at the Association desk at the Inter-national Boat Show. This was an encouragingstart for the New Year and it was particularlygratifying to note that over 80 per cent of ournew members became covenanted subscribers.The Association is greatly indebted to thevolunteers who worked on the stand throughoutthe show.

BELFAST BOAT SHOWOver 40 new members enrolled at the Belfast

Boat Show in February and we hope that thiswill be the prelude to a larger number of enrol-ments at the Dublin Boat Show in the first weekof March.

POSTAL STRIKEWe are sure that new members will forgive

our inability to despatch membership cardsand copies of the R.N.L.I. Journal. We havealso been unable to despatch notices aboutrenewals of subscription or to issue 1971 mem-

bership cards to those who pay their subscrip-tion by bankers' order. Fortunately for theR.N.L.I. subscriptions by bankers' order havenot been affected by the postal strike, and wewould urge our cash subscribing members tomake use of the bankers' order form on thereverse of the renewal notice.

Apart from the January Journal over 1,000letters are waiting to be posted and we hopethat these will have reached their destinationlong before the April Journal is issued.

MEMBERSHIPAt the end of February the Association

enrolled member No. 6776. Unfortunately theflow of new members during February wasadversely affected by the postal strike. Every

This impressive carnival float—it depicts a 48-foot6-inch class of life-boat—was a big attraction at theend of last year at the Bridgwater, Somerset, carnival.It was entered by Mr. D. B. Frost of the Black Horse Inn,Bridgwater.

by courtesy of Hess Pictures

86

member can help to offset this reverse by recruit-ing at least one new member in March/April.

INSIGNIAHouse flags—The new Association house

flag (8 inch hoist) in gloralite-nylon was muchin demand at the Boat Show. This is a properlysewn flag and displays the new emblematicdesign in which the lettering and beckets on thelife-belt are omitted. We still have a fair stockof the old pattern house flag in the two largesizes—12 inch and 16 inch hoist—but willeventually replace these with the new pattern.

Dinghy bow plates—Orders have been placedfor a supply of bow plates 4 inches X 6 incheswith the Association emblem in colour. Theseplates are made of pliable nitrile material andprovided one of the recommended adhesives isused, they can be affixed to inflatable g.r.p.or wooden dinghies. Bow plates will be availableto full members of the Association at 50p perpair, postage free. Adhesive is not supplied withthe plates as postal regulations do not permitacceptance of this material.

Insignia prices—The Association has beenobliged to revise its price list in order to coverincreased costs. The price list is included in the1971 enrolment form and members are recom-mended to use this form when ordering insignia.

WINTER PROGRAMMESSecretaries of sailing clubs interested in

arranging for a talk on the life-boat service andshowing of films during the 1971/72 winter areinvited to apply to the Association. The currentwinter programme has included talks for theGerrards Cross sailing club, the Royal Westernyacht club of England, the Gravesend yachtclub, the Hornet naval club and the HampshireConstabulary sports and social club.

YACHT CLUBS AND THE R.N.L.I.While we appreciate that club funds are

primarily for the purpose of providing facilitiesfor members, many clubs make an annualdonation to the Institution .which is most grate-ful for this support. There are some new ideasfor clubs interested in raising money for theInstitution and details may be obtained from

c LA SS IFI ED AD VE RT IS EM EN TS

BURGEES AND BADGESBurgees — Flags — Badges — Bannerettes — PVC Stickers— Transfers — 1970 price list sent on request. P & R Pub-licity Ltd., The Broadway, Pitsea, Basildon, Essex.Telephone: Vange 2123.

FUND RAISINGFund raising with 200% profit on outlay! Send stamp forcatalogue of imprinted bali-pens and 20 other quick-sellers. Provincial Supplies, Chesham, Bucks.

HIRE AND CHARTERSHANNON SAILING, SHANNON CRUISING. Finestholiday afloat, brochure and booking form from HollandSupercraft. 36 Strathfield Gardens, Barking, Essex.01-5948258.

HOLIDAYSYachts for charter in Scotland: Brochure from CairnmorYachts, 32 Ravelston Road, Bearsden, Glasgow.

INSURANCEFor all marine insurance contact Toughs (Insurance) Ltd.,the specialists for many years. Competitive rates withexcellent service. Write, call or telephone 01-399 7137,30 Brighton Road, Surbiton, Surrey.

TRAILERSBRITAIN'S BEST VALUE. Dinghy Trailers Stowaway£17. 2501b A Frame 4001b £20, oOOlb £22, 15cwt £45,20cwt £56. Lawrence Trailers, Havant Road, HaylingIsland. Phone 4176.

FOR SALEAdvertising pencils, superb ball pens, combs, brushes,each gold stamped Life-boat name, etc., raise funds,quickly, easily. Bran Tub Toys: samples. NorthernNovelties, Bradford 2 (BD2 3AF).

TOWINGBRACKETS

Approved by car manufacturers and issued withfitting instructions. Also shock absorber,stabiliser and lightweight couplings.

Please save a little for the people whosave a lot—give generously to theR.N.L./.

C. P. WITTER LTD. CHESTER Tel: 0244-41166

87

the Association on application.In this context we should give special mention

to the Granton/Kirkwall race being organisedby the Forth Corinthian yacht club. The courseis Granton, north about Fair Isle to Kirkwall inOrkney, starting at Granton on 2nd September,1971. This club is most generously donating allthe entrance fees for the race to the R.N.L.I.

UPPER THAMESY.L.A. members on the Upper Thames are

invited to support the annual regatta of theTwickenham branch of the R.N.L.I, on Sun-day, 27th June. There will be a Y.L.A. standat the regatta and members interested in theformation of an Upper Thames branch shouldcontact the stand or Mr. J. R. Needham,'Ellon', 123 Mount Park Road, Eastcote,Pinner, Middlesex (Tel. Ruislip 74834).

Will all members please note that the Y.L.A.office is now at 29a Castle Street, Salisbury,Wiltshire (Tel.: Salisbury 6966 (STD 0722).

YLA tow lasted14 hoursON 28th July a Y.L.A. member, Mr. Fordyce,of Bedford, Middledex, on passage in his m.y.Gay Maureen from Holland to Ramsgate, cameto the assistance of m.y. Mocatta off the WestHinder light vessel. Mocatta's engine had seizedup and Gay Maureen towed her into Ramsgatein the teeth of a south westerly force 5 to 6. Wecongratulate Mr. Fordyce on a fine feat ofseamanship in persevering with the tow for 14hours. In spite of the tow rope breaking on twooccasions, Mr. Fordyce did not give up.

Mr. Swanson, the owner of Mocatta, subse-quently sent a donation to the Institution at thesuggestion of our member who refused himselfto accept any payment for the service. Mr.Swanson, who did not give his address, wrote:'As he was flying your Y.L.A. flag, you should bevery proud. I had no radio and the sight of GayMaureen was the most wonderful sight my wifeand children have ever had.' If any memberknows Mocatta's skipper perhaps he would letus know his address so that we can invite Mr.Swanson to enrol as a Y.L.A. member.

Y.L.A. member Captain F. A. Ward, ofChichester, who worked at the InternationalBoat Show as a Y.L.A. recruiting officer, writes:'I wonder how many of us yachtsmen—andwith that I include small-boat owners who gooutside harbour—ever stop to think how luckywe are. Don't we usually take for granted that nomatter what happens at sea, if we need it, helpwill be sent to us? Whatever the weather, solong as one has the means to attract attention,

88

the comforting thought is there that the Coast-guard and the R.N.L.I, will spare no effort tocome to our assistance.

'This was brought home to me a few weeks agowhen I had to deliver Arctic Star—a 32-ft. life-boat conversion—from Wakering to Southwold.There was a strong north west wind blowing butso long as we could keep close inshore theowner, his engineer friend and myself werefairly comfortable.

'We left at noon on 16th November and bymidnight were approaching Southwold whenour motor stopped. Several times we managedto restart it but finally it packed up altogether.We thought at the time we'd picked up a netor buoy rope. There seemed nothing we coulddo but call for help so we sent up a doublerocket. Within a few minutes someone signalledus 'Coastguard informed' and 30 minutes laterSouthwold IRB came out to us. She was too smallto tow us but went back into harbour and calledout the Lowestoft life-boat.

'Despite the heavy seas breaking on Southwoldbar they returned at 2.30 a.m. to tell us helpwas on the way and stood by until their col-leagues arrived and took us in tow. We weremoored up in Lowestoft by 4.45 a.m. on 17thNovember, cold, tired, but safe. The 2 a.m.weather forecast for our area gave wind veeringto north east force 7-8 and we could have beenin real trouble had we not been helped intoharbour when we were.

'On a previous occasion, just after the warand before navigational aids had been replaced,I had to run my ship ashore near Bognor Regisafter we'd struck the Owers bank at low waterSprings. Unknown to us until the next day apipe had been fractured well below the waterline and it was not until water was over thestokehold and engine room plates that anyonerealised what was happening. By then it was toolate. The pumps became choked by coal andashes from under the boilers and, as the ship wasfast filling up, I had no option but to head forthe nearest beach and we grounded about 10p.m.

'The Coastguard at Middleton-on-Sea alertedthe Selsey life-boat and they found us aboutmidnight. The black night, shallow water andheavy seas now worsened by the ebbing tidemade approach to the stranded vessel verydifficult—something I regret to say I didn'tappreciate at the time.

'But, by anchoring to windward she was ableto drop down alongside and, one by one, mycrew including the stewardess were helpedaboard. Weather was too bad to permit enter-ing Littlehampton and the life-boat had to makethe long journey to Newhaven to land my crew.

'The fact that I and my bosun remained onboard and the vessel eventually—three months

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89

and many thousands of pounds later—refloateddoes not detract from the skill and couragesho\vn in approaching Kaida on that stormynight. Had my ship gone down offshore orbroken up I doubt if any of us would be alivenow. Daylight revealed two continuous lines ofanti-invasion traps of tubular steel between usand the shore and no one could have gotthrough them in that storm without being killedor terribly injured.'

The following routine note sent to the Y.L.A.by Mr. P. M. L. Wenham (membership number4447-F) is a good example of lending a hand atsea, an added point in this case being that theskipper had only taken over Greentail early inAugust: 'We had left Dartmouth at noon on26th August bound for Exmouth. Three to fourmiles south east of the entrance a sloop SeaCharm hailed us asking if we would stand bySweet & Low hove to to seaward having lost herrudder while she sailed back to Dartmouth toarrange for a tow. We were having a splendidsail, wind E'ly force 4.

'At 3.15 p.m., as there was no sign of a towcoming out, we passed our kedgc warp instruc-ting that it be made fast to their main anchorwhich had three fathoms of chain and a warpand then to pay out some 15-20 fathoms. Thismade a good spring and after they had downedsail we set course for Dartmouth on a broadreach with our own engine idling so we wouldkeep control should there be any lull in thewind. At 4.45 p.m. we lowered sail abeam ofDartmouth Castle and moved under power witha shortened tow taking Sweet & Low to hermooring on the trots above Kingswear.'

In the October, 1970, issue of THE LIFE-BOAT,Mr. Alasdair Garrett, secretary of the Y.L.A.,described how while sailing from the continentbound for the Solent he gave a tow to a smalldecked fishing vessel off the Brittany coast.Aboard the casualty was the owner's daughterFrancoise Morizur and friend Alain Levcnec.Recently Mr. Garrett was invited to attend thewedding of the couple.

SOME WAYS OF RAISING MONEY

The Public Relations Officer of the R.N.L.I.,Mr. Patrick Howarth gave 'readings from his auto-biography in verse, 'Play Back a Lifetime'' at theGeorge Hotel, Beaconsfield, on 5th February. It wasthe world premiere and the proceeds from the reading—over £50—went towards a radar set for the Valentia,Kerry life-boat.

In forwarding to the R.J\ .L.I. a cheque forover £142. the Droitwich ladies' life-boat guildexplained that the money was collected as a result of asponsored swim by the Droitwich Dolphin SwimmingClub.

So numerous were the requests for a cutting froma beautiful specimen of a busy lizzie plant (dark red),which adorned the reception office counter of theHumberston Fifties holiday camp, that the wife of thehonorary secretary of the Humberstone IRB stationdecided to take cuttings, pot them and offer for sale inaid of station funds. A total of just over £7 was raisedin this way ''before the original plant finally capitulatedand died for the worthy cause'.

90

During the past four years the head barman atthe Pomme d'Or Hotel in St. Helier, Channel Islands,has been raffling fluffy animals for the benefit of thelife-boat. Toy animals are donated by a local toy shop.In the first year Mr. George Harrington, the barmanconcerned, collected in the region of £250. Last yearthe R.^'.L.I. received over £800.

\\'hen the Theatre Royal, Windsor, staged'Aladdin' at Christmas, a character in the pantomimewas 'transformed into collecting for the life-boatservice for the rest of his stage performance'. Collectingboxes were provided for the event.

Mrs. Mary Bunce, of Lloyd Road, Taverharn,Norwich, allowed her painting of Captain Manby'scottage at Gorleston to be raffled in aid of the R.N.L.I.It made over £19 in a Wp raffle. Mrs. Bunce alsopresented another painting to help raise funds for thelife-boat service. It was a picture of the old Longhope,Orkney, life-boat T.G.P. and lOp raffle tickets weresold throughout Orkney.

LIFE-BOAT QUIZ ANSWERS(from page 73)

1—Southend-on-Sea station is near the end of the longest flier in the kingdom, one and one-third of a mile fromthe shore.In the other direction Llandudno probably qualifies for the farthest inland life-boat house. It was builtroughly in the middle of the town to be equidistant from the shores on each side of the Orme peninsula—Ormes Bay or the West Shore.

2 — ( a ) }\'atchet, Somerset (b) At Great Yarmouth the old house is heavily camouflaged with painted seamonsters. At Mevagissey also the old life-boat house in the harbour contains an aquarium.

3—Wells, Norfolk, had a horse team until February, 1936, when the sailing and pulling life-boat wasreplaced by a motor life-boat.

4—Hunstanton, .\orfolk, in both cases. The trials took place there in March, 1920 (after which the tractorwas tried at Heacham and Worthing) and the station was supplied with a tractor in March, 1921.

5 — ( a ) Captain C. W. Fremantle, R.u\., 1824, for his part in a rescue near Christchurch Head, Hants(b) William Rowe and John Freeman, for their part in the rescue of a crew at Halzephron, Mount'sBay, also in 1824. These rescues were effected from the shore, the first medals for services carried out inlife-boats being (a) Lieut. Christopher Jobson, R..\. of the Coastguard, in 1827, for a rescue by Arbroathlife-boat (b) James Fowler and Smith Tindall, ship masters, who assisted in a rescue by Scarboroughlife-boat in 1824.

6—The bronze medal was instituted in 1917 as a means of rewarding whole crews who had shown exceptionaltenacity in long and difficult rescues, but it was, in fact, also awarded to individuals from the same year.On 9th January, 1917, the Cramer life-boat with great difficulty rescued the crew of 16 from the Greeksteamer Pyrin. As they were returning the Swedish steamer Fernebo struck a mine and broke in two.After two prolonged and unsuccessful attempts, by a third launch they saved the 11 survivors. CoxswainHenry Blogg was awarded the gold medal; Second Coxswain William Davies the silver; and those ofthe crew who had gone out three or four times the bronze medal. There were 12—G. Allen, James Allen,Walter Allen, William Allen, H. Balls, C. Cox, G. Cox, T. Kirby, L. Harrison, G. Mayes, Walter Rixand William Rix.

At the blast of Royal NationalLife-boat Institution whistles, teamsof women and schoolgirls drawnfrom around Bournemouth andPoole began furiously knittingblanket squares at sponsored knit-ins held simultaneously at Bealesof Poole and Bealesons ofBournemouth last year. All thefour-inch squares knitted during thevarious sessions were given toShelter, and the money collectedfor the knit-ins—each knitter had torecruit a minimum of 10 sponsors—was received by Commander MaxCunningham on behalf of theR.N.L.I. The three best individualknitters at each session went for-ward to a finale knit-off at Beales ofPoole. The outright winner wasMrs. S. E. Turner, a Swiss memberof the Tangent Club of Bourne-mouth.

7^/\j£js^i7**Js*j7<i>£j£js*j7^j7*j/^js^j

Awards to Coxswains and CrewsTHE following coxswains and members of life-boat crews were awarded certificates of service on their retirement and inaddition those entitled to them, by the Institution's regulations, were awarded an annuity or a retirement allowance and agratuity.

Name

Leo Anthony Clegg, D.S.C., D.A.

Hugh Jones Matthews

Stanley Davies

Charles Thomas Rees

Philip Byrne

William Morris

William Bambra Henry-

John Innes

Duncan McCallum, B.E.M.

Alfred Horace Eustice

S. Cedric P. Staples

Robert Ash

Robert Lee, B.E.M,

Richard Lewis Oilier

John H. Thomas

William John Arthur

John Henry GregoryRichard Kingston Bayes

Albert Elliot Duke (posthumous)

Robert Leng

Ronald Gudmunsen

Christy Bates

Gordon Bellamy

Caradoc Harris (posthumous)Harold Parkinson

Herbert William Timms

Station

Aberdeen

Amble

Angle

Angle

Arranmore

Barmouth

Blyth

Buckie

Campbeltown

Coverack

Coverack

Douglas

Douglas

Dungeness

Dungeness

FalmouthCadgwithFalmouthFlamborough

Flamborough

Flamborough

Fowey

Kilmore

Llandudno

LlandudnoLytham St. Anne's

Margate

Service

Coxswain 8J years.Second coxswain 2 months.Assistant mechanic 10 years.Crew member 4} years.Assistant mechanic 11 years.Crew member 12 years.Second coxswain 13| years.Crew member 22 i years.Coxswain 11 f years.Second coxswain 9£ years.Bowman 4| years.Crew member 10 years.Silver medal 1966.Bronze medal 1941.Motor mechanic 30J years.Crew member J4£ years.Assistant mechanic 20J years.Crew member 10i years.Second coxswain 8J years.Bowman 3^ years.Crew member 10 years.Motor mechanic 34£ years.Assistant mechanic 4J years.Bowman 6 years.Crew member 12 years.Shore helper 21 i years.Second coxswain 6| years.Crew member 11 f years.Shore helper 4 years.Bowman 18 years.Crew member 15 years.Coxswain 20J years.Assistant mechanic 21 years.Crew member 6J years.Crew member 12} years.Shore signalman 24 years.Assistant motor mechanic 1 i years.Crew member 19 years.Motor mechanic 12i years.Motor mechanic 18$ years.Crew member 11 years.Crew member 14 years.Winchman 36 years.Coxswain 4f years.Second coxswain 20 years.Crew member 15 years.Motor mechanic 6$ years.Assistant mechanic 29J years.Bowman lOf years.Crew member 3 years.Bowman 3f years.Crew member 16 J years.Coxswain 10 years.Second coxswain 2 months.Bowman 2J years.Crew member 5J years.Motor mechanic 25f years.Coxswain 11 years.Second coxswain 3 months.Crew member 27 years.Crew member 12i years.

92

Name

Richard Matthew Evans, B.E.M.

John RobinsonGeorge F. D. McBurnie

William George Pinch

Wilfred Cotton

John Batten Drew

John Thomas Worth

Frederick William Kinnin

Edward Cyril Larbalestier, B.E.M.

Frederick George Crutchfield

William Ernest Nineham

Harold Coyde

William West Stephenson

Michael HawkinsE. G. Parker

Alfred William Payne

Bernard Edwin WattsF. E. Watts

John Louis Watts

John Samuel WattsMichael Watts

Neil Stewart, B.E.M.

Kenneth ByersMaurice Hickey

Richard Hickey

Station

Moelfre

NewbigginPadstow

Padstow

Penlee

Penlee

Penlee

Ramsey

St. Helier

Swanage

Swanage

Torbay

Tynemouth

Weston-super-MareWeston-super-Mare

Weston-super-Mare

I Weston-super-MareWeston-super-Mare

Weston-super-Mare

Weston-super-MareWeston-super-Mare

Wick

WorkingtonYoughal

Youghal

Service

Coxswain 15J years.Second coxswain 14£ years.Bowman 9| years.Crew member 9 years.Gold medal 1959.Bar to gold medal 1966.Bronze medal 1943.Crew member 41 years.Second coxswain 7i years.Assistant motor mechanic 8J years.Motor mechanic 9J years.Assistant motor mechanic 23f years.Crew member 1J years.Reserve mechanic 5| years.Crew member 14| years.Shore helper 40 years.Motor mechanic 32 i years.Assistant motor mechanic 4J years.Crew member 10J years.Coxswain 13 years.Second coxswain 1J years.Bowman 6J years.Crew member 23J years.Second coxswain 18|. years.Bowman 1J years.Crew member 13i years.Shore helper 13 years.Coxswain 20 years.Crew member 24 years.Silver medal 1951.Motor mechanic 6f years.Reserve mechanic 6J years.Bowman 8i years.Crew member 3J years.Winchman 40| years.Coxswain 9i years.Second coxswain 7 months.Crew member 7} years.Silver medal 1964.Bowman 7J years.Crew member 15 years.Crew member 13} years.Assistant mechanic 15 years.Crew member 8J years.Coxswain 22} years.Second coxswain 7$ years.Crew member 12 years.Crew member 12 i years.Second coxswain 22} years.Bowman 1 year.Crew member 1 year.Bowman 22 i years.Crew member 1 year.Crew member 14} years.Second assistant mechanic 3 years.Crew member 10} years.Coxswain 31 years.Crew member 7 years.Bronze medal 1942.Crew member 20} years.Assistant motor mechanic 23} years.Crew member 3 years.Winchman 6 years.Coxswain 21 i years.Second coxswain 2 f years.Bowman 1 J years.Bronze medal 1963.

93

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THE LIFE-BOATS «

by courtesy of Keystone Press Agency Ltd.

Henry Cooper, hero of sporting Britain, announced his retirement from boxing after losing his European, British andCommonwealth titles at the Empire Pool, Wembley, on 16th March, 1971, to Joe Bugner. But Henry Cooper

still had time for the R.N.L.I. Here the idol of British boxing is shown with one of the R.N.L.I.'snew collecting boxes just before London flag day.

95

No. 4 Life-boat Area (Eastern England)

CAVE SEARCHOn the evening of 18th June, 1970, the coast-guard told the honorary secretary of the Walmerinshore rescue boat that two people had beencut off by the tide in St. Margaret's bay. At9.30 the IRB crew were summoned. Theylaunched 14 minutes later from the steepshingle beach on which the sea was breaking.It was hazy weather with a north east windforce 4 to 5 giving a short, steep sea.

By 10 o'clock the IRB had covered the fourmiles to St. Margaret's bay where they madecontact with the Coastguard. It was suggestedthat they search along the foot of the cliff towhere there had been a recent fall of earth,some quarter of a mile away. Mr. CyrilWilliams, the helmsman, took the boat closeinshore at slow speed and a careful search wasmade, during which they touched bottom morethan once.

The cliffs at this point are from 250 to 350feet high, with a sheer drop to the sea alter-nating with small shingle beaches, off-lying

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1 The Causeway,Maldon, Essex.Tel: Maldon 3515

rocks and piles of rubble from old cliff falls.The swell was breaking against the cliffscausing a nasty backwash.

The search having proved fruitless, afterdiscussion with the coastguard it was decidedthat the people were probably marooned in oneof the caves. Of these, the most likely was thelargest which was easily distinguished as it hadtwo holes like eye-sockets above the entrance.

Off the cave, the crew blew whistles, flashedthe torch and shouted, but there was noresponse, so Williams decided to beach the boatand search the cave. Accordingly he drove theIRB at half speed on to a patch of shingle at thecave mouth. A few yards from the beach theywere swamped by a big wave over the stern asthe backwash from the cliff struck the bow. TheIRB broached to, spilling all three men into thewater and stopping the engine. However, theygrabbed the life-lines and managed to beachthe boat on a patch of shingle with a chalkoutcrop in the middle, on which the sea wasbreaking.

Mr. Williams told Mr. Taylor, one of thecrew, to search the cave while he and Mr.Leslie Coe, also aboard, tended the boat.Entering the cave, Taylor could see two men ona low ledge, by the light of his now dim torch-light. They were apparently asleep and as heapproached he could see that one man had aknife in his hand. The sea was washing over thechalk floor of the cave as he shook the nearestman, who sprang up brandishing the knife. Itappeared that they were German students andhe tried to explain the danger of the situationand persuade them to come to the boat but theyrefused.

At this point Williams became concerned and,leaving Coe to tend the boat he went into thecave, where he and Taylor were eventually ableto persuade the students to leave. In the mean-time a big sea had broken over the IRB,knocking Coe off his feet so that he came downhalf under the boat, but he managed to scrambleclear.

Having got the survivors and their gear intothe boat, one of the students decided to returnto the cave for something he had left behind andTaylor had to go back for him. At the firstattempt to launch the boat was thrown back onthe beach but next time they got away underoars. Coe was assisting Taylor on board but hefell and was knocked out momentarily.

Offshore, the outboard motor was started butit ran very roughly owing to water having got

96

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97

under the cover and affected the ignition. A fuelline had also parted. At this time they came insight of the Coastguard, who had a batteryoperated searchlight and who were anxiouslyawaiting their reappearance.

During the operations the Walmer life-boathad launched in support of the IRB and shemet her about two miles north of the scene ofthe rescue. The survivors and their gear weretransferred to the life-boat and both boatsreturned to their station in company, arrivingat 11.37 p.m.

The three IRB crew members received thethanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum.

No. 2 Life-boat Area (Scotland)

STRANDED CHILDRENOn 31st August, 1970, a party of holiday-makers from Port Ellen, consisting of twowomen and four young children, were landedon Chuirn island off the south east coast ofIslay, for a picnic. During the day the weatherbecame very bad and the boat which landedthem was unable to take them off. The honorarysecretary knew that the island was uninhabitedwith no shelter, and with the cold rainy weatherand night coming on decided that it wasnecessary to send the life-boat to take them off.

The wind was south west force 5 with a con-fused sea and heavy rain squalls and the tide athalf-ebb when the life-boat arrived off Chuirnisland and closed the small jetty. Using para-chute flares and the searchlight CoxswainDonald McPhee saw that there was too muchrun on the jetty to go alongside at that state oftide without serious risk of damage to the boat.The wind was increasing. He decided to take thelife-boat into a small bay on the north side ofthe small island in the hope that conditionswould improve at slack water and using theloud-hailer, he told the party ashore what he wasgoing to do.

Meanwhile the honorary secretary had beenmaking further inquiries and had learnt that itwould be impossible for the life-boat to get intothe jetty under present conditions. He thereforerecalled the life-boat by radio telephone withinstructions to collect the boarding boat fromPort Askaig. This was done and the life-boatleft again immediately with the boarding boatin tow.

On return to Chuirn island the coxswainanchored close to the small jetty. The rain hadnow stopped but there was still a lot of searunning. The wind was west south west force7 to 8.

Second Coxswain Malcolm Mackay andAssistant Mechanic Archibald Campbell volun-

98

teered to man the boarding boat and the areawas illuminated using parachute flares andsearchlight. The boarding boat was then veereddown on a line and Mackay just managed toreach a low line of rocks to the north of thejetty. He scrambled ashore while Campbellsteadied the boat in the breakers. The bow lineof the boat was made fast to an old derrick onthe jetty and Mackay then went up to the light-house to fetch the women and children whowere sheltering behind it. They had spent a veryunpleasant night in the open and must havebeen very relieved to find help at hand.

Mackay carried the children one at a timeover the rocky and uneven shore to the jetty,where he passed them to Campbell who settledthem down on the bottom boards amidships.When the two women had been helped aboardthe boarding boat she was hauled back along-side the life-boat by the crew. The rescuedparty were taken on board and below decks,where they were wrapped in blankets and givenhot drinks.

It was after 6.30 a.m. when the life-boatfinally left Chuirn island, reaching Port Askaigat 8.10. Here Mrs. Raybold, Miss Avis Mooreand the four children, who all came fromBoxford in Suffolk, were taken to the PortAskaig hotel.

As a result of this service the thanks of theInstitution inscribed on vellum were accordedto Second Coxswain Mackay and AssistantMechanic Campbell. Framed letters of thanks,signed by the Chairman of the R.N.L.I.,Admiral Sir Wilfrid Woods, were sent toCoxswain McPhee, Motor Mechanic WilliamMcEachern, and crew members James Marleyand Lament Campbell.

No. 8 Life-boat Area (North West)

RAFTS FOUNDAT 6 o'clock on the morning of 9th September,1970, the coastguard at Ramsey reported thatthe coaster Moonlight was in trouble five milesnorth of Chicken rock. The Port Erin life-boatMatthew Simpson launched on service a fewminutes later. The wind was south south westforce 8, gusting to force 10 with a very roughsea. Visibility was moderate but becoming poorin the rain squalls.

As soon as he cleared Port Erin bay CoxswainAlfred Maddrell, B.E.M., set course for the lastreported position of the Moonlight but the speedof the life-boat was reduced to six knots becauseof the weather. Having arrived at the positionwithout sighting the vessel, he started to searchto the northward at the suggestion of Ramseycoastguard. Sea conditions were so bad that it

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99

was found prudent to stream the drogue whilerunning before the heavy seas.

At 8 o'clock a Shackleton aircraft from R.A.F.Ballykelly arrived and joined in the search, laterreporting that it had sighted a life-raft about amile and a half to leeward of the life-boat, whichwas now searching to the southward. The life-boat was headed for this raft but on approachingit was found to be empty. At the request of thecoastguard, who wished to check the identityof the raft, it was hoisted aboard with somedifficulty and deflated. The raft, it was con-firmed, belonged to the Moonlight.

At about 11 a.m. the second coxswain, whowas at the wheel, sighted another raft about aquarter of a mile away and turned towards it.The coxswain then took over and as they closedthe raft it was seen that there were two men init and that they were not wearing life-belts.There was some difficulty in securing the raftalongside safely in the heavy seas as the sur-vivors were clearly unable to help themselves,but with great care and skill this was accom-plished successfully. The second coxswain gotover the side on to the scrambling net and wasable to reach the two men who were helpedaboard the life-boat by other members of thecrew.

The two survivors were in poor shape and thecrew had some trouble in getting them into

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100

shelter under the canopy of the life-boat, wherethey were wrapped in blankets and given hotdrinks. Meanwhile, the coxswain sent a messageby radio telephone to say that he had the twomen safely on board and that they had reportedthat the other two members of the crew hadbeen washed away and drowned. In view of thisfact and the condition of the two survivors hedecided to return to Port Erin and requested tobe met by a doctor and an ambulance.

The life-boat arrived back at Port Erin at1 p.m. and the two men, who were the ship'smate, Angus Morrison, and second engineer,Edmund McKenna, were taken to hospital inDouglas where they were treated for severeshock and exposure.

For this timely rescue Coxswain Maddrellwas awarded the bronze medal of the Institutionand the following members of the crew receivedmedal service certificates: Second CoxswainPeter Woodworth, Motor Mechanic DonaldGraham Dobson, Assistant Mechanic WilliamWilfred Cregeen, Acting Bowman HerbertCrebbin, crew members Robert Ernest Shimminand Charles Duncan Cregccn.

No. 10 Life-boat Area (Ireland)

SEARCH FOR FISHERMENAT 5.28 p.m. on 25th November, 1970, flareswere sighted off the Hook Tower, Co. Water-ford. The life-boat Douglas Hyde slipped hermoorings at Dunmore East at 5.37 in a southerlygale with a very rough sea.

At 6.20 the life-boat came up with a rubberraft with three survivors from the fishing boatGlenmalure on board. The boat had been struckby a freak wave which had swept the mast,wheelhouse and nets away. The fourth memberof the crew was swept overboard by the wave.The life-boat searched without success for themissing man for two hours in cooperation withthe fishing boat Anna Maria. She then returnedto her station as one of the three men who hadbeen picked up was suffering from a headinjury. He was landed at Dunmore at 7.15.

The life-boat refuelled and was going to hermoorings when a message was received that themissing fisherman had been sighted clinging tosome net buoys close to the rocks near the HookTower lighthouse. The life-boat went im-mediately and arrangements were made for thelighthouse keeper to flash lights in the positionin which a man had been sighted.

Broken water and heavy seas made con-ditions particularly difficult in the search areaand finally a message was received indicatingthat the man had disappeared. The search wascalled off and the life-boat returned to herstation, arriving at 11.55.

Life-boot launches on Service during the months September,October and November, 1970Aberdeen, AberdeenshireAith, ShetlandAldeburgh, SuffolkAmble, NorthumberlandAngle, PembrokeshireAnstruther, FifeAppledore, North DevonArbroath, AngusArklow, Co. WicklowBarmouth, MerionethshireBarra Island, Outer HebridesBarrow, LancashireBarry Dock, GlamorganshireBeaumaris, AngleseyBembridge, Isle of Wight

Blackpool, LancashireBlyth, NorthumberlandBridlington, Yorkshire

Buckie, BanffshireCalshot, HampshireCampbeltown, ArgyllClacton-on-Sea, EssexClovelly, North DevonCoverack, CornwallCromer, NorfolkDonaghadee, Co. DownDover, KentDunbar, East LothianDungeness, KentDun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin

Dunrose East, Co. WaterfordEastbourne, SussexExmouth, South DevonFalmouth, CornwallFiley, YorkshireFishguard, PembrokeshireFlamborough, YorkshireFleetwood, Lancashire

Fowey, CornwallGalway Bay, Co. Galway

Girvan, AyrshireGreat Yarmouth and Gorleston, NorfolkHarwich, EssexHastings, SussexHolyhead, AngleseyHowth, Co. DublinHoylake, CheshireHumber, Yorkshire

Ilfracombe, North DevonIslay, Inner HebridesKilmore, Co. WaterfordKirkcudbright, KirkcudbrightshireLerwick, ShetlandLlandudno, CaernarvonshireLochinver, SutherlandLonghope, Orkney

September 25th.September 15th.September 12th.September 1st and November 23rd.September 8th and I4th .September 13th.October 25th.November 20th.September 4th and 12th.October 24th.November 5th and 9th.November 1st and 23rd.September 4th and 23rd.October 18th and 23rd.September 2nd, 12th, 13th, October 4th, 23rd, November 5th,

7th, 14th and 17th.October 17th.October l l th .September 8th, 13th, October 18th, 20th (twice), 27th, November1st, 3rd, 20th, 23rd and 26th.September 2nd and 29th.September 10th, 12th, October 24th and 31st.October 29th.September 5th and 10th.September 3rd, 5th, October 25th and November 22nd.November 27th.November 12th.September 1st, 9th and November 22nd.September 24th, October 7th and 25th.October 6th and 11th.September 13th, 14th, October 13th and November 29th.September 10th, 12th, 13th, 17th, October 18th, 24th and Novem-

ber 18th.October 18th and November 25th.September 30th and October 31st.September 28th and November 25th.September 18th.September 8th, 24th, October l l th and November 23rd.September 7th.September 9th, October 25th, November 18th, 20th and 23rd.September 17th, October 17th, 23rd, November 14th, 15th and

23rd.November 20th.September 1st, 5th, 7th, October l l th , 17th, 22nd, 28th, Novem-ber 6th, 13th and 22nd.September 11th.September, 17th, 28th, October 3rd, 13th and 18th.October llth, 20th, November 15th and 18th.September 17th.September 12th, 20th and November 15th.September 12th.September 13th and November 3rd.September 9th, 22nd, 28th, October 2nd, 7th, 26th, November

8th and 21st.September 4th, 5th and November 1st.September 5th and 13th.November 26th.September 13th and November 19th.September 3rd.September 13th.September 4th and 27th.October 16th, 18th and November 3rd.

101

owestoft, Suffolk

Lytham-St. Anne's, LancashireMallaig, Inverness-shireMargate, Kent

Minehead, SomersetMoelfre, AngleseyMumbles, GlamorganshireNew Brighton, CheshireNewhaven, SussexPadstow, CornwallPeel, Isle of ManPeterhead, AberdeenshirePlymouth, South DevonPoole, DorsetPort Erin, Isle of ManPorthdinllaen, CaernarvonshirePwllheli, CaernarvonshireRamsay, Isle of ManRamsgate, KentRedcar, YorkshireRosslare Harbour, Co. WexfordRunswick, YorkshireSt. David's, PembrokeshireSt. Helier, Channel IslesSt. Ives, CornwallSt. Mary's, Scilly IslesSt. Peter Port, GuernseySalcombe, South DevonScarborough, YorkshireSelsey, SussexSheerness, KentShoreham Harbour, SussexSouthend-on-Sea, EssexStornoway, Outer HebridesStromness, OrkneyStronsay, OrkneySunderland, Co. DurhamSwanage, DorsetTeesmouth, Yorkshire

Tenby, PembrokeshireThurso, CaithnessTorbay, South DevonTroon, AyrshireTynemouth, NorthumberlandValentia, Co. KerryWalmer, KentWalton and Frinton, EssexWells, NorfolkWeymouth, DorsetWhitby, YorkshireWick, CaithnessWicklow, Co. WicklowWorkington, CumberlandYarmouth, Isle of WightYoughal, Co. CorkLife-boat 44-001 on passage70-002 at Kirkwall-Scapa

September 7th, l l th , 15th, 26th, October 10th, November 4th,7th and 16th.

November 23rd.September 8th.September 15th, 21st, October 18th, 19th, November 10th and

18th.September 13th.September 15th and November 15th.September 29th and November 15th.September 17th, October 3rd and November 3rd.September 1st, 5th, 7th, October 23rd and November 6th.September 5th, 18th and 20th.September 9th.October 22nd and November 3rd.September 24th and 28th.September 12th.September 9th.October 7th and November 15th.September 3rd.September 1st and October 5th.September 6th, 16th, 20th, October 18th and November 18th.September 1st, 23rd, October l l t h and 14th.November 1st.October l l t h and 26th.September 9th, 27th and November 2nd.October 10th (twice) and 31st.September 20th and October 13th.November 4th and 24th.September 7th, 28th, October 6th and November 15th.September 4th, October 20th and 24th.September 24th, and November 23rd.September 4th and 13th.October 2nd and 25th.September 6th, 13th, October 2nd, November 13th and 15th.September 28th, October 25th, 31st, November 8th and 29th.September 24th, October 20th, 21st and 27th.October 7th.November 4th.November 27th.September 12th (twice), 18th and 19th.September 1st, 7th, 8th, October 4th, 5th, l l th , 13th, 14th and

18th.September 8th, 24th, 26th, 27th, October 18th and 26th.October 1st.September 27th and November 23rd.October 9th.October l l th and 22nd.November 17th.September 1st and October 29th.September 10th (twice) and 12th.September 2nd.September 14th, 22nd, 26th and 27th.September 1st, 13th, 29th, October l l th , November 3rd and 5th.September 21st.September 6th, 12th, October 18th and November 1st.September 13th and November 12th.September 1st, October 23rd and 25th.September 15th.September 3rd.October 14th, 16th, 25th and November 3rd.

102

IRB launches on Service during the months September,October and November, 1970Aberdeen, AberdeenshireAbersoch, CaernarvonshireAberystwyth, CardiganshireAtlantic College, GlamorganshireBanger, Co. DownBarmouth, MerionethshireBeaumaris, Anglesey

Bembridge, Isle of WightBlackpool, LancashireBorth, CardiganshireBridlington, YorkshireBrighton, SussexBroughty Ferry, AngusBude, CornwallBurnham-on-Crouch, EssexClacton-on-Sea, EssexConway, CaernarvonshireCriccieth, CaernarvonshireCrimdon Dene, Co. DurhamCromer, NorfolkCullercoats, NorthumberlandEastbourne, SussexEastney, Hampshire

Eastney, Hampshire (18.005)Exmouth, South DevonFiley, Yorkshire

Flint, FlintshireGreat Yarmouth and Gorleston, NorfolkHartlepool, Co. Durham

Harwich, Essex

Hastings, SussexHelensburgh, DunbartonshireHolyhead, AngleseyHorton and Port Eynon, GlamorganshireHumber Mouth, LincolnshireJersey, Channel IslandsLargs, AyrshireLittlehampton, SussexLittlestone-on-Sea, KentLlandudno, CaernarvonshireLyme Regis, Dorset (17-002)Lymington, HampshireLytham-St, Anne's, LancashireMablethorpe, LincolnshireMargate, KentMinehead, SomersetMoelfre, AngleseyMorecambe, LancashireMudeford, Hampshire

Mumbles, GlamorganshireNewquay, CornwallNew Quay, CardiganshirePlymouth, South Devon (18-01)Poole, Dorset (17-003)Porthcawl, GlamorganshirePort Isaac, Cornwall

September 24th.September 5th and 15th.September 1st, 2nd, November 7th and 18th.September 3rd and 19th.September 30th.September 15th, 19th and October 24th.September 8th, 20th, October 3rd, 4th, 18th (twice) and Novem-

ber 1st.September 1st, 10th, 13th and 27th.October l l th .September 12th and October 10th.September 6th, 20th and October 14th.September 6th and 28th.September l l th, 13th and October 9th.September 18th.September 1stSeptember 13th.September 6th and October 19th.September 4th.September 26th and October 17th.October 18th.September 1st.September 13th, 30th and October 7th.September 12th, 13th (three times), 20th (twice), 26th, October

3rd (twice), 4th and November 26th.September 12th, 20th (twice), October 24th and November 7th.September 16th.September 24th (twice), October 4th, 6th, 7th, l l t h (twice) and

18th.November 3rd.September 7th, 15th, 30th and October 2nd (twice).September 10th, 20th, 26th, October 4th (twice), 13th, 17th and

18th (three times).September 5th, October llth, 17th, 18th, November 15th (twice)

and 18th.September 6th, 21st and 30th.September 12th, 13th, October 4th, 17th, 18th and 19th.September 28th.October llth, 18th and 24th.September 16th and October 17th.October 21st.September 9th, 17th and November 7th.September 3rd, 18th, 24th and October 13th.September 5th, l l th , 13th, October 13th and November 17th.September 12th, 18th, October 4th, 25th and November 17th.September 13th (twice), 26th October, l l th and 25th.September 18th and October 27th.November 15th.September 1st, l l th and 13th.September 11th.September 12th.September 12th and Otcober 18th.September 9th and 20th.September 2nd, 18th, 21st, October 1st, 2nd, 7th, November 10th

and 28th.September 8th, 29th and October 5th.September 1st, 7th (twice), 8th, 10th, 14th and 27th.September 13th.September 16th, October 9th and November llth.September 24th, October 24th, 25th and 26th.September 3rd and 19th.September 4th and 7th.

103

Port St Mary, Isle of ManPort Talbot, GlamorganshireQueensferry, West LothianRamsgate, KentRhyl, FlintshireRye Harbour, SussexSt. Agnes, CornwallSt Ives, CornwallScarborough, YorkshireSelsey, SussexShoreham Harbour, SussexSilloth, CumberlandSkegness, LincolnshireSouthend-on-Sea, Essex

Southwold, SuffolkStonehaven, KincardineTighnabruaich, ArgyllTorbay, South Devon (18.03)Tynemouth, NorthumberlandWalmer, KentWells, NorfolkWest Kirby, CheshireWest Mersea, EssexWeston-super-Mare, SomersetWhitby, YorkshireWhitstable, KentYarmouth, Isle of Wight

September 5th.September 16th, 20th and November 18th.September 5th.September 6th (three times).September l l th , 17th and November 1stSeptember 13th (twice) and 14th (twice).September 1st, 20th and 21st.September 7th and 8th.September 16th, 19th, 23rd, 27th and October 26th.September 6th (twice).September 5th, 13th, 16th, 28th, October 1st, 18th, 25th and 31st.September 13th.September 4th, 16th and 20th.September 2nd, 5th, 8th, 12th, 20th, 26th, 27th, 28th, October

3rd (twice), 4th (twice), 18th, 25th, November 8th (twice),18th, 20th, 21st and 29th.

September 1st (twice), 13th, 15th, 27th and 28th.September 5th and 25th.September 1st.September 4th, 7th, 10th and l l th.September 20th, October 3rd, l l th , 18th and November 8th.September 4th, 17th, 19th, 26th, October 25th and 30th.September 20th.September 14th.September 12th, 13th, 17th, 30th and October 31st.October 18th.September 8th and l l th .September 1st, 12th, October 8th, 18th and November 29th.October 30th.

INDEX TO ADVERTISERSBrookes & Gatehouse Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Henry Browne & Son Ltd 100Burndept Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Castrol Ltd 89Chloride Group Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Coastal Radio Ltd 96Cogswell & Harrison -Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Gardner Engine (Sales) Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside front coverGeneral Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Groves & Guthridge Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Latch & Batchelor Ltd 61Martell Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Back coverNeco Marine Co. Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61William Osborne Ltd. 89Parsons Engineering Co. Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Fetters Ltd 99Players Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside back coverPyrene Co. Ltd 63University Marine Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67C. P. Witter Ltd 87Classifieds 87

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glad to help anybodyin the same boat as ourselves.

A bottle of 3-starMartcll brandy is carriedon every lifeboat inBritish waters for thecomfort of survivors.