Volume XLVII Number 477

The

LifeboatJournal of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution Autumn 1981 25p

The Captaintakes his hat off

totheRNLL

THELIFEBOAT

Autumn 1981

Contents «?—«.<*-*. *»Lifeboat Services 221

Portrush: pulling and sailing to fast afloat Arun, by Joan Davies 227

477 Experimental floating stretchers 231

Hyannis, Massachusetts, to Rockland, Maine, by M. G. K. Pennell 232

Chairman:THE DUKE OF ATHOLL Around the Coast 234

Director and Secretary: Stephen Whittle, coxswain of Dunmore East lifeboat, by Ray Kipling 236REAR ADMIRAL W. J. GRAHAM, CB MNI

Here and There 238

Building the Fast Slipway Lifeboat—Part V: behind the scenes 239

Books 240

Obituaries 241Editor:JOAN DAVIES Letters 242

Headquarters: Shoreline 243Royal National Lifeboat Institution,West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 Some Ways of Raising Money 2441HZ (Telephone Poole 71133).Telex: 41328.

Lifeboat Services, March, April and May 1981 248London Office:Royal National Lifeboat Institution,202 Lambeth Road, London SE1 7JW Index to Advertisers 252(Telephone 01-928 4236).

COVER PICTURE

Sunset watch for the Margate lifeboatman, amemorial to nine men who lost their lives inthe early morning of December 2, 1897, whenMargate town surf boat Friend of All Nationscapsized on her way to help the ship PersianEmpire of West Hartlepool. A strong galewas blowing from the north north east andthere were very heavy seas accompanied byrain and snow. The nine men were: CoxswainWilliam Philpott Cook, Snr, Crew MembersHenry Richard Brockman, Robert ErnestCook, William Philpott Cook, Jnr, EdwardRobert Crunden, John Benjamin Dike, Wil-liam Richard Gill and George Robert WilliamLadd, and Charles E. Troughton, superinten-dent of Margate Ambulance Corps. Thephotograph was taken by Frank Mathews.

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

Next issue: the winter issue of THELIFEBOAT will appear in January andnews items should be sent by the end ofOctober. News items for the springissue should be sent in by the end ofJanuary.

Advertisements: All advertisingenquiries should be addressed toDyson Advertising Services, PO Box9, Godalming, Surrey (TelephoneGodalming (04868) 23675).

Subscription: A year's subscription offour issues costs £1.40, including post-age, but those who are entitled toreceive THE LIFEBOAT free' of chargewill continue to do so. Overseas sub-scriptions depend on the cost of postageto the country concerned. Write toRNLI, West Quay Road, Poole, DorsetBH15 1HZ.

Printers: The Friary Press, Grove Trad-ing Estate, Dorchester, Dorset.

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218

NOTES OFTHE QUARTER

TO MARK the Royal Wedding in July atelegram of congratulations was sent toHRH The Prince of Wales on behalf ofthe RNLI by its chairman, the Duke ofAtholl:

'The Committee of Management, life-boat crews, voluntary workers and staff ofthe Royal National Lifeboat Institutionsend loyal greetings and best wishes on theoccasion of your wedding.'

In reply came the following gracioustelegram:

' The Prince and Princess of Wales sendyou their most heartfelt thanks for yourextremely kind message.'

In commemoration of the wedding anappeal to raise £100,000 towards a newlifeboat for Wales has been launched.£16,000 has already been promised andthe Lord Mayor of Cardiff, CouncillorRonald F. Watkiss, has shown his sup-port by agreeing to be president of theappeal committee; the committee ischaired by Raymond Cory, a memberof the Committee of Management. Theappeal aims to reach every town coun-cil, business organisation, sporting andsailing club in Wales to help reach thetarget.

New York Rowing RaceGenerous sponsorship has made it

possible for an RNLI team to competein the International Lifeboat Races inNew York for the third year running,and the team from Newquay, Cornwall,

j^m-fm. •,'.. -t. —

(Above) The last of theRNLfs pulling lifeboats,Robert and Ellen Robson,goes afloat again at Whitby:During lifeboat day demon-strations the combined ages ofher 12-man crew came to 742years.

(Right) New York HarborFestival 1982: A team of New-quay, Cornwall, lifeboatmenlead the way in the first heatof the International LifeboatRaces on Independence Day,July 4.

won the race and retained the trophywhich an RNLI team from Teesbay wonlast year. The Newquay team was flownto New York by Pan Am and crewmembers raised funds locally to providetheir own blazers, trousers and tracksuits.

In the first heat of the races, orga-nised by the Maritime Association ofthe Port of New York and rowed onJuly 4, Independence Day, the RNLIcrew beat two American teams andwent on to beat a crew from a DutchNATO ship in the final race. At theprize presentation in the New YorkPlayboy Club the lifeboatmen receivedindividual cups presented by the Metro-politan Government of Tokyo. TheRNLI men presented the race organis-ers with a model of a traditional New-quay rowing gig.

* * *The American branch of the Institu-

tion, which is based in London, hasbeen honoured by United States

ANNUAL MEETINGS 1982South Bank, London, Tuesday May 11

Annual General Meeting of Governors: 11.30 am in the NationalFilm Theatre, adjacent to Royal Festival Hall.

Annual Presentation of Awards: 3.00 pm in the main auditorium,Royal Festival Hall.

Further details will be circulated with the winter edition o/THE LIFEBOAT.

Ambassador John J. Louis, Jnr, whohas accepted an invitation to becomepresident of the branch.

Pulling boatsFormer crew members of the last

pulling lifeboat in service with theRNLI, Robert and Ellen Robson ofWhitby, re-lived the days of oar poweron August 1 when they rowed the life-boat in Whitby Harbour as part of thelifeboat day demonstrations. The com-bined ages of the 12-man crew came to742 years and former lifeboat inspectorCdr Leslie Hill went out with them. Thefollowing day the present Whitby life-boat crew rowed the lifeboat fromWhitby to Robin Hood's Bay and spon-sorship money already collected haspassed the four figure mark.

The crew of Aberystwyth lifeboat res-cued the occupants of a broken downmotorboat on August 12 when theywere out in a replica of an old-fashionedpulling lifeboat. The replica had beenbuilt to raise money for the RNLI andthe crew were at sea practising for asponsored row when they found themotorboat in trouble. They towed hersafely back into Aberystwyth.

Chilean lifeboatIt was reported in the last edition of

THE LIFEBOAT, that an ex-RNLI lifeboat,ON 860, had been sold to the ChileanLifeboat Society. She was re-namedValparaiso III at a very happy ceremonyat Valparaiso on June 20 when thebonds between the Botes Salvavidas de

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Valparaiso and the RNLI, described bythe Chilean organisation as 'our spir-itual mother', were stressed.

Loss at seaThe Department of Trade has just

published its statistical analysis of Uni-ted Kingdom shipping casualties andaccidents'at sea for 1979, and it is goodto see that the figures for merchantshipping were lower than for the pre-vious year. The number of vessels lostfell to ten, well below the annual aver-age for the past ten years and showing amarked reduction in gross tonnage ofmerchant vessels lost compared with1978. The total number of lives lost waswell down, too; 126 compared with 170in 1978.

The statistics for fishing vessels, onthe other hand, show that losses overthe period 1975 to 1979 were higherthan in the two previous correspondingperiods.

The publication Casualties to Vesselsand Accidents to Men—Vessels Reg-istered in the United Kingdom—Returnsfor 1979 is available from Her Majesty'sStationery Office, price £4.

Tiger moth rescueLowestoft lifeboatmen carried out an

unusual rescue as they were preparingfor a demonstration on lifeboat day. Alarge tiger moth was seen fluttering onthe water in the yacht basin. The life-boatmen scooped it out and put it in thelifeboat cabin where it dried out and itwas eventually able to fly away. A Nor-wich couple read of the rescue and senta £2 cheque to the station 'on behalf ofthe moth'.

Lowestoft lifeboat day raised £2,283,beating the previous year's total by over£100.

The Mayor of Poole, CouncillorPeter Coles, has chosen the lifeboatservice as the charity for his year ofoffice, giving it his personal, and \very active support. He is seen herewith the Mayoress, Mrs Coles, at abuffet dance at Poole Arts Centrelast July during which Kim Ather-den won the title of Miss Poole in abeauty contest; the evening raised£1,000 for the RNLI. A few weekslater Councillor Coles started asponsored mini-marathon on Can-ford Heath, organised in aid of thelifeboat service by InternationalStores.

Cof MRichard Barclay, senior local director

of Barclay's Bank, Southampton dis-trict, John Clay, deputy chairman ofHambros Bank and director of theBank of England, John Cox, seniorgeneral manager of Midland Bank andchairman of Access, Wilson Ervin,group managing director of NorthernIreland's Northern Bank Ltd, and LordStanley of Alderley, a tenant farmer ofNew College, Oxford, have all beenvoted new members of the RNLFsCommittee of Management.

Mr Barclay is also director of theNational Provident Institution (a life in-surance company), Barclaytrust Inter-national Ltd, Barclays Bank FinanceCompany (Jersey) Ltd and BarclaysBank Finance Company (Guernsey)Ltd. Dinghy sailing is among hisrecreations.

Both Mr Clay, who is a member ofthe Royal Thames Yacht Club, and MrCox, who is a fellow of the Institute ofBankers, enjoy sailing.

Mr Ervin is chairman of the BelfastRNLI branch, governor of the Royal

Lifeboats on station are usually solitary craft, but every now and again circumstances brings agroup of them together. On the night of June 4 and 5, five lifeboats gathered in BrixhamHarbour. Torbay's own Arun, Edward Bridges (Civil Service No. 37), was preparing to go forsurvey and her relief, the Arun Sir Max Aitken, had arrived to replace her temporarily on station;the new Arun Robert Edgar had come for the night while on trials; the 46ft 9in Watson NorthForeland (Civil Service No. 11) had called in on passage from Angle to Poole; and Torbay's 18ftdin McLachlan was, of course, on station. A few days later the photograph below was taken ofnew and old lifeboats at Poole depot: (I. to r.) Robert Edgar, back at Poole before going to herstation, Si Mary's, Scilly Islands; Calshot's 40ft Keith Nelson Ernest William and ElizabethEllen Hinde, on trials after survey; North Foreland, arrived at Poole ready to be hauled out;three old lifeboats waiting to be sold out of the service, the 46ft Watsons The Good Hope andJessie Lumb and the 42ft Beach lifeboat The Alfred and Patience Gottwald; and the 41ft WatsonSusan Ashley waiting to be taken by road to the National Lifeboat Museum at Bristol. There wasstill another lifeboat, a McLachlan, on the quay but out of sight.

Belfast Academical Institution, vice-president of the Royal Ulster Agricul-tural Society and a past president of theInstitute of Bankers in Ireland.

Lord Stanley of Alderley is a retiredcaptain of the Coldstream Guards; hefarms both in Oxfordshire and inAnglesey and is president of HolyheadRNLI branch. Sailing is also one of hispastimes.

Birthday HonoursIn the Birthday Honours List:

The Most Noble Hugh Algernon,Duke of Northumberland, KG TD, wasappointed to be a Knight Grand Crossof the Royal Victorian Order., TheDuke of Northumberland is the Treas-urer and also a vice-president of theRNLI.

Frederick William Brooks wasawarded the MBE for services to thecommunity in Hampshire. Among hisother work for the community, MrBrooks has been president of HaylingIsland financial branch since 1980, afterserving as chairman for ten years; he isalso chairman of Hayling Island stationbranch.

David James Cox, coxswain of Wellslifeboat, was awarded the BEM. MrCox joined Wells lifeboat crew in 1943and was appointed coxswain in 1960;he was awarded the thanks of theInstitution inscribed on vellum in 1964and 1973 and the silver medal in 1979.

Changes of addressThe Welsh District Office vacated its

premises at The Exchange, MountStuart Square, Cardiff, at the end ofJune and moved to: Aberdare House,Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff. The tele-phone numbers remain the same as be-fore: Cardiff (0222) 31831 and 29005.From September the storage and dis-tribution of fund-raising stores, pre-viously undertaken by the Barry Dockstore, were also transferred to Aber-dare House.

The North London District Office va-cated its premises at 553a High RoadWembley, at the end of September, thelease having expired, and moved to: 10-12 St Albans Road, Barnet, Hertford-shire. The telephone number had notbeen allocated at the time of going topress.

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West Division

Broken rudderTHE HONORARY SECRETARY of Moelfrelifeboat station was informed by Holy-head Coastguard at 0845 on SundaySeptember 21, 1980, that the yacht JulyMorn had reported that she was in diffi-culties, her rudder broken, 100 yards offLlanddona Beach in Red Wharf Bay.Maroons were fired at 0850 and thenminutes later Moelfre's 37ft 6in Rotherlifeboat Horace Clarkson launched onservice under the command of Cox-swain William Roberts.

The wind was north easterly, galeforce 8, and the sea was rough with amedium to heavy swell. It was half anhour after high water and the ebbstream was setting westerly at abouthalf a knot. Visibility was poor, lessthan 500 yards for most of the service.

After launching, Coxswain WillRoberts set course south east by southand headed towards Red Wharf Bay.Despite repeated attempts, no directradio communication was establishedbetween the lifeboat and the yacht,although Holyhead Coastguard, viaAnglesey Coastguard mobile and Pen-mon lookout, was able to communicatewith both boats. Using the Coastguardto relay messages, the lifeboat asked theyacht for her position and the depth ofwater in her vicinity. July Morn gaveher position as two miles off Red WharfBay and the depth of water as. 35 feet.Shortly after, at 0922, the lifeboatpicked the yacht up on her radar, at halfa mile range, and then, a few minuteslater, July Morn was sighted a quarterof a mile away.

As the lifeboat approached, the yachtwas seen to be a 33ft ketch. She wasalmost a mile west by south of CaregOnnen Quarry, her bows pointing east.Apparently she had hit a sandbankabout half a mile off Trwyn DwlbanHead, damaging her rudder, and shehad then headed east across Red WharfBay, using her engine and the windto steer. Waves were breaking overthe yacht and she was barely undercontrol.

Coxswain Roberts decided to try totow July Morn rather than take off hercrew, a man and a woman, who wereexhausted. The gale was still blowing

from the north east, but in the shallowwater near the yacht the seas werebroken and confused and about 12 feethigh.

After approaching the casualty, at0930, Coxswain Roberts decided to putSecond Coxswain John Thomas aboard.The lifeboat came up astern of the yachtand with skilful seamanship CoxswainRoberts managed to put her bowagainst the yacht long enough for thesecond coxswain to jump aboard, takinga towline with him. The lifeboat thendrew off seaward and took station offJuly Morn's port bow.

On board the yacht Second CoxswainThomas made the towline fast, passingit through a fairlead forward. CoxswainRoberts then headed east towardsPuffin Sound and the shelter of theMenai Straits. The fairlead, however,had .sharp edges and frayed the towrope. Despite the use of a towing sleeveand towels from the yacht, the tow ropeparted 11 times in the 3'/2 miles from thestart of the tow until the two boats final-ly passed through Puffin Sound. It tookthree hours to cover this distance duringwhich time Second Coxswain Thomaswas constantly exposed to the full forceof the sea; several times he was nearlyswept overboard. Each time the towparted a high degree of seamanship wasdemanded in manoeuvring the lifeboatto pass it again. For the final difficult legthrough Puffin Sound CoxswainRoberts ordered a second line to bepassed, a decision which was to provevital because the main tow parted yetagain in those confined waters.

During the course of the morning thesun had appeared and visibility im-

proved dramatically although the galecontinued unabated and the sea did notlessen until the shelter of Menai Straitswas reached.

No further problems were experi-enced down the straits and the yachtwas left at her moorings near MenaiBridge. Having satisfied himself thather crew needed no more help, Cox-swain Roberts, at 1335, put his lifeboaton moorings at Beaumaris. Moelfre life-boat returned to station the next day,arriving at 1115, having rescued twochildren being blown out to sea in aninflatable dinghy on the way.

For this service framed letters ofthanks signed by the Duke of Atholl,chairman of the Institution, were pre-sented to Coxswain William J. Robertsand Second Coxswain John M. Thomas.A letter of appreciation signed by RearAdmiral W. J. Graham, director of theInstitution, was sent to Motor MechanicEvan O. Jones.

South Western Division

Gale searchA 999 CALL was received by HartlandCoastguard at 2125 on Saturday April25 from the owner and skipper of the55ft auxiliary ketch Springtide. He toldthem that the yacht had been moored inan exposed position in Ilfracombe Har-bour; preparing to move her to a posi-tion more sheltered from the force 8 to9 northerly gale, he had jumped ashoreto let go the mooring lines; the yachthad been blown clear of the quay and he

ANNUAL AWARDS1980

The Maud Smith Award for the mostoutstanding act of lifesaving during 1980has been made to Coxswain/ MechanicMalcolm Macdonald of Stornoway forthe rescue of 29 men from the trawlerJunella on September 29. In a strongsoutherly gale and heavy breaking seasCoxswain Macdonald took the lifeboatalongside the fishing vessel, which hadrun aground among dangerous rocks,and held her there for 40 minutes whileJunella's crew were hauled to safetyfrom a pilot ladder. It was a black nightand the operation- was made mostdangerous by the rise and fall of the life-boat in breaking seas and heavy swell.Altogether the lifeboat was at sea formore than eight hours. For this serviceCoxswain Macdonald was awarded thesilver medal.

The Ralph Glister Award for the mostmeritorious service carried out in 1980by the crew of a lifeboat under 10metres in length has been made toHelmsman Frank Dunster and Crew

Members Trevor Pearce and GrahamWickham of Hayling Island. On De-cember 14 they rescued four men in asouth-westerly gale, a very rough seaand poor visibility in driving spray andpouring rain; their yacht's rudder hadbroken off a lee shore. After two unsuc-cessful attempts to take the Atlantic 21rigid inflatable lifeboat alongside- theyacht, Fitz Flyer, in huge seas, two ofthe crew were taken off on the third runin; it took four more attempts to snatcha third man. A further run in wasneeded to take off the yacht's skipper.For this service Helmsman Frank Dun-ster was awarded the bronze medaland Crew Members Trevor Pearce andGraham Wickham were awarded thethanks of the Institution inscribed onvellum.

The James Michael Bower Fund awardsfor 1980 have been made to Coxswain/Mechanic Malcolm Macdonald ofStornoway, Coxswain/Mechanic CharlesBowry of Sheerness, Coxswain/Mech-anic Ian Johnson of Troon, and Cox-swain/Mechanic Kenneth Voice ofShoreham Harbour, who each receivedthe silver medal.

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Launch into south-westerly strong gale, force9, Sunday March 22: Three progressivephotographs of Eastbourne lifeboat, the 37ft6in Rather Duke of Kent, taken by 16-year-old Matthew Hancock as (left) she launcheddown her slipway into (below) very heavybreaking seas and (right) cleared out to sea.Duke of Kent, under the command of Cox-swain/Mechanic Ronald Wheeler, launched at1215 to help search for two people swept intothe sea at Cooden. A man and a boy had beentrying to strengthen sea defences at the back oftheir garden when they were engulfed by awave and carried out by the undertow. At1338 a message was received that the man hadmanaged to clamber ashore but that the boyhad been drowned; his body was recoveredfrom the surf by coastguards. The lifeboat re-turned to station, was safely recovered despitethe very rough conditions and was once moreready for service at 1615.

had been unable to get back on boardher. The yacht, with three people onboard, a 20-year-old man, a girl of 16and a boy of 12, had then steamed outto sea to ride out the gale. The ownerwas confident that the young man onboard had the experience and ability tohandle the boat, but he asked theCoastguard to establish radio contactwith the yacht to find out her intentions.

Radio contact was never established.At 2150 the owner was told that theyacht was not replying to radio calls butshe could be seen by a Coastguardauxiliary.

At 2205 the Coastguard telephonedthe honorary secretary of Ilfracombelifeboat station, but he was ill in bed. Atthe same time, however, the deputylaunching authority arrived at the pierhaving seen the Coastguard Landroverpass. Seeing the yacht offshore he im-mediately arranged for the crew to becalled by runner.

At 2220 the yacht disappeared fromthe sight of those watching on the pier.She had run ashore at Capstone Point inthe vicinity of Forty Steps. The DLAwas asked to launched the lifeboat andmaroons were fired immediately. Thecrew and shore helpers were alreadyassembled and the lifeboat, the 37ftOakley Lloyds II, was hauled out of herboathouse at 2222.

Heard Lane Slipway, down whichIlfracombe lifeboat is normally laun-ched, could not be used because it wasundergoing structural alterations as partof harbour works. The lifeboat wastherefore taken on her carriage to theold slipway at the Brittania Hotel whichwas being used temporarily during thisperiod. Despite having difficulty innegotiation parked vehicles along theroad to the slipway and having to over-come a broken towing-hitch, causedwhen the tractor and carriage jack-knifed on a bank of soft sand which hadbuilt up at the foot of the slipway, thelifeboat was launched on service at2252. It was half an hour after highwater.

When the lifeboat steamed clear ofthe harbour pier she met very roughseas thrown up by the gale blowing from

the north north east; it was gusting tostrong gale force 9. Coxswain DavidClemence ordered every man to attachhimself to the boat by his lifeline. Fiveminutes after launching the lifeboat wason the scene and, with an RAF Whirl-wind helicopter from Chivenor, sear-ching the sea and rocks around Cap-stone Point.

The helicopter could not lower a manon to the stranded ketch because of theheight of her mast and rigging, and asthe yacht had been carried over a largerock, she was inaccessible from thelifeboat.

A girl was recovered by the helicop-ter from the sea slightly west of thecasualty at 2320; she was injured and sowas flown ashore to an ambulance. At2347 the helicopter returned to base torefuel while the lifeboat continued tosearch the area to the west of the casual-ty as the tide was now setting down theBristol Channel.

It was learned at 0020 on SundayApril 26 that the girl survivor had saidthat a gas bottle had exploded aboardthe yacht when about half a mile offshore. The three people on board haddonned lifejackets and then jumpedoverboard.

The crew of the lifeboat endured con-siderable discomfort during the search.The cockpit was often swamped by seas

coming aboard and Coxswain Clemencewas almost washed from the wheel onseveral occasions. Great concentrationwas needed to take the lifeboat acrossthe breaking seas while searching veryclose in to the very rocky lee shore.

Despite the efforts of the lifeboatcrew, the helicopter crew (back takingpart in the search by 0038) two Coast-guard cliff rescue companies searchingthe foreshore and two Fire Brigadeunits providing additional lighting,neither the young man nor the boy fromthe yacht was found. The search con-tinued until 0240, when the lifeboat re-turned to harbour. She arrived at 0315and was recovered, rehoused, refuelledand ready for service at 0435.

For this service a framed letter ofthanks signed by the Duke of Atholl,chairman of the Institution, was pre-sented to Coxswain David W. G.Clemence.

Ireland Division

Standing into dangerA MOTOR CRUISER, Temple Queen, un-sure of her position in a dangerous areajust north of the entrance to StrangfordLough was reported to Portaferry life-boat station by Belfast Coastguard at

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1900 on Sunday May 17. It was a fairevening but a strong breeze, force 6,was blowing from the south and the seaswere rough.

Portaferry's Mark IV Zodiac inflat-able lifeboat was launched at 1910manned by Helmsman J. DesmondRogers and Crew Members O. JohnMurray and William Reid. When, tenminutes later, the motor cruiser wasreached it was found that her crew wereexhausted and that she was standinginto danger. Giving command of thelifeboat to Crew Member Murray,Helmsman Rogers himself boardedTemple Queen and piloted her in to Por-taferry, escorted by the lifeboat. Thetwo boats arrived alongside the quay at1935.

The lifeboat was rehoused and onceagain ready for service at 1945.

For this service a letter of apprecia-tion signed by Rear Admiral W. J.Graham, director of the Institution, wassent to Helmsman J. Desmond Rogers.

Needles. Yarmouth's 52ft Arun lifeboatJoy and John Wade slipped her moor-ings at 1305 under the command ofCoxswain David Kennett.

A gale, gusting up to force 8, wasblowing from the south west, with inter-mittent rain, and the sea was choppy;high water was at 1532. It was laterlearned that the motor cruiser Schesa-plana had been on passage from Pooleto the Solent. She was crossing theShingles Bank when, while turning, shemet three large waves and capsized.

The helicopter arrived overhead at1316, recovered a man and woman fromthe water and flew them to Haslar Hos-pital; it was then confirmed that therehad been four people on board.

"Meanwhile Yarmouth lifeboat hadarrived on scene. She found that amember of MY Pippiri's crew, Mr F.Northgraves of Fareham, had gone overthe side and, clinging to the stern of themotor yacht, was supporting one ofSchesaplana's crew, a woman. Judging

South Eastern Division

Capsized motor cruiserTHE DUTY COASTGUARD on watch in thelookout of Solent MRSC on the springbankholiday Monday, May 25, re-ported at 1256 that a vessel had capsizedin the vicinity of the Shingles BankElbow Buoy at the western approachesto the Solent; two people were thenspotted in the water. An RN helicopterfrom HMS Daedalus, Lee-on-Solent, wasimmediately scrambled, the honorarysecretary of Yarmouth, Isle of Wight,lifeboat station was informed and a PANbroadcast made to attract the attentionof yachts in the area. One yacht withoutradio saw the capsized boat and turnedto try to help; unable to do so, she madered smoke to attract attention.

Pippin II, a fast cabin cruiser fromYarmouth, responded to the broadcastand set out at 30 knots at 1301, followedshortly afterwards by the dredger ArcoTyne which was working just outsidethe Bridge reef, running west from the

it inadvisable for the Arun to approach,Coxswain Kennett ordered away the Yclass inflatable dinghy carried on boardto recover both people. The dinghy waslaunched and, manned by Crew Mem-bers Mark Rushton and Clive Smith,successfully picked up the woman andMr Northgraves and transferred themto the lifeboat; in the gale force windsand rough water it was a difficult opera-tion. The woman was then taken belowand given first aid.

One man was still missing and for thesearch which followed Coxswain Ken-nett acted as 'on scene commander',except for a short break when thewoman, whose condition began to givecause for concern, was landed at Yar-mouth to be taken to hospital by ambu-lance; during that period Arco Tyne co-ordinated the surface search. By nowthe helicopter had returned and a num-ber of other boats had joined thesearch; they included Lymington'sAtlantic 21 rigid inflatable lifeboat, MYPippiri II, the Needles pilot launch,Lepe Red rescue boat, FV Rowella andseveral yachts, among them Riga and

Siriolla. A search pattern was made andthe search was continued until 1600 but,although wreckage was found fromSchesaplana, there was no sign of themissing man.

The lifeboat was back on her moor-ing, ready for service at 1620.

Sadly, the woman who had beenrescued by the helicopter later died.

For this service a letter of apprecia-tion signed by Rear Admiral W. J.Graham, director of the Institution, wassent to Mr F. Northgraves. A lettersigned by Cdr Bruce Cairns, chief ofoperations, expressing appreciation toCrew Members Mark Rushton andClive Smith was sent to Yarmouthstation honorary secretary, Mr D. B.Huff am.

Scotland (South) Division

Flooding tideA PARTY of four wildfowlers, caravan-ning at Burnfoot on the Nith Estuary,on the north side of the Solway Firth,set off shooting at about 0730 on Mon-day January 19. It was about two hoursafter low water. Two of the party set offacross the sandbanks which were driedat the time while the other two menstayed on shore.

At 0900 the two men on shore real-ised that the tide was flooding fast andthat their two colleagues on the sand-banks would soon be cut off. They triedto attract their attention by firing theirguns in the air, but without success.

By 0930 one of the wildfowlers out inthe estuary was seen to be up to hiswaist in water; the other, further away,was still on a sandbank showing abovethe water. One of the men on shore,Stephen Latham of Melton Mowbray,ran to a cottage near the caravan andcalled Ramsey Coastguard by tele-phone. Then he inflated a very smallinflatable dinghy—little more than atoy, but the only boat available—andset out towards the wildfowler in thedeeper water. He was prevented fromreaching this man, however, by themoderate to fresh west-north-westerlybreeze which, in the squalls of rain,gusted up to gale force, and by thestrong flooding tide which was setting tothe north. Wind and tide eventually sethim towards the second man.

At 1030, while Mr Latham was tryingto get this man aboard, the dinghy cap-sized so that both men were now in thewater but both were able to keep a holdon the dinghy. Meanwhile a Sea Kinghelicopter had been scrambled fromRN Prestwick. She was overhead at1055 and within minutes had winchedthese two men to safety.

The remaining man, last seen withthe water up to his waist, had by thistime disappeared. The helicopter con-tinued to search and at 1250 the honor-ary secretary of Silloth lifeboat stationwas informed that a man was missing inNith Estuary. Silloth's Atlantic 21 rigid

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Cliff rescue: Just as Torbay lifeboat crew, together with the honorarysecretary, were embarking on the 54ft Arun lifeboat Edward Bridges(Civil Service No. 37), at 1445 on Sunday May 24, for exercise and totake part in the annual Blessing of the Sea at Brixham, a message camethat someone had fallen from Berry Head cliffs, three miles from thestation. The lifeboat slipped her moorings almost immediately, under

the command of Coxswain Arthur Curnow and had reached BerryHead by 1500. It was found that an 11-year-old boy had slipped 50ftdown a 180ft cliff and, with head and arm injuries, was trapped on aledge. Ambulance men were with him but, as it was impossible to lifthim up the cliff, it was decided to lower him to the lifeboat. The Y'classinflatable dinghy was launched with Crew Member Derek Rundle as

inflatable lifeboat was launched at 1310under the command of Helmsman ColinAkitt and made for Borron Point at themouth of the River Nith. Keeping incontact with Drumore Coastguardmobile, she searched up the channel to-wards Glencaple.

Just after 1330 the body of the mis-sing wildfowler was found and recov-ered by the helicopter. The lifeboat wasreleased at 1350 and she was once againrehoused and ready for service at 1435.

For this service a letter of apprecia-tion signed by Rear Admiral W. J. Gra-ham, director of the Institution, wassent to Stephen E. Latham.

North East Division

Search in surfA REPORT that Runswick Bay Yacht Clubsafety boat had capsized on the east sideof the bay came to Staithes and Runs-wick lifeboat station from HM Coast-guard at 1444 on Sunday June 21.Although it was a fine day with onlylight variable winds, there was a heavyswell which was breaking inshore.Members of the lifeboat crew werealready at the boathouse and the Atlan-tic 21 rigid inflatable lifeboat waslaunched in four minutes manned byHelmsman Iain Baxter and CrewMembers Sean Baxter and MartinHopkinson.

The lifeboat reached the area of thecasualty at 1500 and, going in through

the heavy surf, saw the club boat beingwashed ashore. A little while later twomen who had struggled to safetythrough the surf were also seen on thebeach, but it was thought that theremight be other people still in the water.The lifeboat continued the search in theheavy surf, therefore, until the Coast-guard mobile was able to confirm thatthere had only been the two crew in theclub boat and no one else was missing.The Atlantic 21 then returned to stationand she was once again rehoused andready for service at 1547.

For this service a letter signed by CdrBruce Cairns, chief of operations, ex-pressing the Institution's appreciationto the lifeboat crew, was sent to-Mr J.C. James, Staithes and Runswick sta-tion honorary secretary. Runswick BayYacht Club makes a considerable con-tribution to local branch funds eachyear.

Eastern Division

Racing dinghiesON AN OVERCAST Sunday morning, May3, dinghies from several sailing clubson the River Blackwater had startedracing when they were overtaken bydeteriorating weather; soon after 1100the strong westerly breeze was alreadygusting up to near gale, force 7, with aforecast of worse to come.

While heading up river on a routine

patrol, Bradwell Coastguard boat(CGB) saw, at 1120, several dinghiescapsize. Most were soon righted bytheir crews, only one needing help; theCGB recovered the two dinghy sailors,righted their boat and took her in towfor Stone. Within minutes, however,more dinghies had capsized, so theCGB anchored the dinghy she had intow and went to help club rescue boatswhile Bradwell Coastguard requestedlifeboat assistance.

West Mersea Atlantic 21 rigid inflat-able lifeboat had just arrived back onstation from exercise during which shehad already been helping a club rescueboat with capsized dinghies. CrewMember Simon Broadhurst had in factgone overboard to help dinghy sailors inthe water with their boat.

The Atlantic 21 set off again im-mediately manned by Helmsman JamesClarke and Crew Members LeonardBroadhurst and Charles R. Taylor. Shejoined the other rescue boats helping toright capsized dinghies and tow them toshelter with their crews. Some dinghysailors were taken off lee shores and thelifeboat helped check that those peoplewho had had to abandon their boatswere safe.

By 1150 the Police launch Alert II wason her way from Brightlingsea at fullspeed to help. By 1220 it was still notpossible for the clubs to confirm thateveryone was accounted for because ofthe number of boats now abandonedwhose crews were ashore in differentplaces. So Thames Coastguard re-

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helmsman; Crew Members John Ashford, Brian Gaunter and DerekWinning were taken ashore together with a bucket stretcher (itself ontrial) and an Ashford first aid pack. The best ledge from which toembark the boy was 35ft above the sea, but the motion of the inflatabledinghy was too lively for her to receive the boy safely; so CoxswainCurnow nosed the lifeboat's bow in to the face of the ledge and, while

crew members held her off adjacent rocks with boathooks, the boy waslowered on board and taken to Torquay Harbour at full speed. Firstintimation that the boy was in trouble had come from a young man,Nicholas Berry, who had risked his own life climbing the cliffs to raisethe alarm.

photographs by courtesy of Mr A. Hall

quested that an RAF helicopter fromMansion should scramble to make ageneral search of the Blackwater. Start-ing at Sales Point in the river estuary,the helicopter 'hopped' from one boatto another, cross checking the descrip-tion of apparently abandoned boatswith the CGB and the lifeboat.

At 1251 it was reported that one 505dinghy and one GP14 dinghy, each witha crew of two, were unaccounted for.Within minutes the lifeboat was able toconfirm that she had the missing GP14in tow and that the crew of the 505 hadbeen rescued.

By 1300 the helicopter had checkedall craft within the river and reportedthat all appeared in hand except for aspeedboat with two people on boardwhich had broken down north of OseaIsland. By the time the CGB reachedher, however, her engine had been re-paired and she was making her way toMaldon.

On returning to Bradwell marina,towing abandoned boats, the CGB andAlert II learned of a small swampedpram dinghy which had drifted out ofthe creek. They checked round themoorings and found that the pram hadoverturned while alongside a yachtunloading. A woman and a boy hadalready boarded the yacht; a manhad been thrown into the water but hadbeen hauled safely aboard the yacht.

After taking the GP14 to Stone andlanding her crew, the lifeboat helpedanother capsized dinghy in LawlingCreek. By then her fuel was running

low so she returned to station, arrivingat 1345. By 1400 the Police, Coastguardand club boats had all returned to theirstations.

For this service a letter signed by CdrBruce Cairns, chief of operations, ex-pressing the Institution's appreciationto the lifeboat crew, was sent to Lt-CdrMaurice W. Bond, West Mersea stationhonorary secretary.

South Western Division

Dinghy and catamaranA TELEPHONE MESSAGE from HM CoaSt-guard at 1410 on Saturday March 28 in-formed Mudeford lifeboat station that asailing dinghy had capsized on Mude-ford sand bar; her mast was broken andshe was in difficulties. A moderatebreeze, force 4, was blowing from thesouth west and the sea was choppy.Within minutes Mudeford's Mark IVZodiac inflatable lifeboat had beenlaunched with Helmsman David Sweet-man and Crew Member John Sutton asher crew.

The lifeboat reached the capsizeddinghy at 1420 and helped her crew oftwo cut away the damaged rigging. Theboat was then taken in tow back toMudeford, arriving at 1455. By 1500 thelifeboat was rehoused and once againready for service.

A few weeks later, on Thursday April30, Mudeford's D class inflatable life-boat launched at 1315, manned byHelmsman Brian Stride and Crew

Members Paul Walker and Dale Par-ker, to go to the help of a catamaran,being sailed single handed, which hadcapsized off Southbourne. A freshbreeze, force 5, was blowing from thewest and the sea was choppy; the tidewas ebbing.

When the lifeboat reached the cata-maran at 1329 Crew Member Parkertransferred to the upturned boat andhelped to right her. The catamaranstarted to sail back but had soon cap-sized again; her helmsman was thentaken on board the lifeboat. CrewMember Parker boarded the catamaranand righted her once more, this timetaking the sails down and making allfast. Then the lifeboat towed her backto the beach where her owner had atrailer. The lifeboat returned to stationat 1410 and was rehoused and onceagain ready for service at 1428.

Scotland (North) Division

Two fishing vesselsA MOTOR FISHING VESSEL sinking offSarclett Head on her way back fromfishing grounds was reported to thehonorary secretary of Wick lifeboatstation at 0135 on Thursday May 21 byHM Coastguard. The lifeboat crew wereassembled and Wick's 48ft 6in OakleyPrincess Marina launched at 0145 underthe command of Coxswain DonaldMcKay. A gentle to moderate breeze,force 3i to 4, was blowing from the south

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east, the sea was slight but it was a hazynight and visibility was poor. It wasalmost high water.

While the lifeboat was on her way tothe stricken fishing boat, five milessouth of Wick, the Coastguard receivedradio messages from MFV Restless Waveand MFV Maid of Honour saying thatthey were also steaming for the lastknown position of the casualty.

When, at about 0220, the lifeboatarrived off Sarclett Head she sightedflares which guided her to a liferaft inwhich were the four crew of MFVAndreas, which had now sunk. The fourmen and the liferaft were taken onboard the lifeboat, which returned tostation and landed the survivors at WickHarbour at 0310.

A fortnight later, on Thursday June4, the fishing vessel Scottish Maid onpassage from Wick to Kirkwall wentashore half a mile south of Noss HeadLight; there were three men on board.It was a fine night with variable lightbreezes, a slight sea and good visibility.A message came to the honorary sec-retary from the Coastguard at 0035 andat 0050 Princess Marina launched, onceagain under the command of CoxswainMcKay. It was high water.

At 0105 Coxswain McKay was in-formed by radio that Scottish Maid'screw were in a liferaft astern of theirboat. Five minutes later the lifeboatreached the stranded vessel and the bestmeans of approach was planned, takinginto account the rocky coastline. Themaster was asked to join his crew in theliferaft, which was then taken alongsidethe lifeboat. The three fishermen weretaken on board and with the liferaft intow Princess Marina returned tostation. She arrived at 0145 and wasrehoused and ready for service at 0200.

West Division

Two callsA SURF BOARD sailor, sitting on his boardtrying without success to paddle back toshore against an offshore breeze was re-ported to the deputy launching author-ity of Ramsey lifeboat station by HMCoastguard at 1530 on Friday June 5.The Coastguard had been unable to finda shore boat which could help.

Ramsey's 37ft Oakley James BallRitchie launched at 1544 under the com-mand of Coxswain Lawrence Gawneand headed for the surf board, IVz milessouth east of the station. It was a fineafternoon with a gentle to moderatesouth-westerly breeze and a slight sea.The tide had been ebbing for an hourand a half. The man, by this time ex-hausted, was taken on board the life-boat at 1556 and put ashore at Ramseyat 1604. He was taken 'home by theCoastguard.

On Saturday June 13, at 0420, redflares were sighted east of the station byRamsey Coastguard. It was an overcastmorning with a gale force 8 blowing

from the south. The sea was rough andit was an hour after low water.

James Ball Ritchie launched at 0439under the command of CoxswainGawne and reached the auxiliary yachtShaula at 0455. As the lifeboat camewithin hailing distance she was told thatthe yacht could not make any progressin the southerly gale and her propellerwas fouled; there were three men onboard. A tow rope was passed andthe lifeboat towed the yacht into moresheltered waters to wait the tide intoRamsey Harbour; she was safelyberthed in harbour at 0600.

The lifeboat remained moored afloatin harbour for the time being as therewere other yachts still sheltering fromthe gale in Ramsey Bay, but she wasonce again rehoused by 0815.

West Division

Broken in twoA MESSAGE from HM Coastguard was re-ceived by New Brighton lifeboat stationat 1438 on Saturday July 11 to say that amotorboat, Mary, was in trouble offNew Brighton bathing pool; she wastaking in water.

The lifeboat crew were already at theboathouse making ready for the dedica-tion ceremony the next week of theirnew Atlantic 21 rigid inflatable lifeboat.Maroons were fired at 1440 and the life-boat was launched from Portland Slip at1445 under the command of HelmsmanIan Campbell; with him were CrewMembers Anthony Jones, MichaelJones and Robert Robertson.

It was a fine afternoon, but a freshbreeze, force 5, was blowing from thewest north west and the sea was veryrough. It was just after low water.

The lifeboat first made for the posi-tion she had been given off the bathingpool, where there were a number ofpleasure boats. Seeing one boat with afishing party on board which appearedto be lying low by the stern, HelmsmanCampbell went alongside, but it was notthis vessel which needed help.

At this point, Helmsman Campbelldecided that Mary must be further outto sea and further to the west, so he setoff in that direction at full speed. Whileon the way, he received informationfrom the coastguard that Mary, a 30ftex-ship's lifeboat, was lying betweenAskew Spit and Little Burbo Bank, sixmiles north north west, and she wasbeing pounded by heavy surf; therewere two people on board.

The Atlantic 21 found Mary at 1522.The owner's wife was taken on boardthe lifeboat and an attempt made to towthe casualty into calmer water. Very lit-tle headway could be made, however,as the boat was still taking water andher pumps could not clear it. HelmsmanCampbell decided that Mary shoulddrop anchor and the owner be takenoff. On the way back to station a re-quest was made for an ambulance.

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THE LIFEBOATplease pass it on.

After landing the two people at 1605,the lifeboat returned to Mary with theidea of taking her in tow again, but shehad taken in much more water and itwas decided to leave her and return tostation. The Atlantic 21 was back at theslip at 1705 and was washed down, re-fuelled and ready for service at 1745. Bynow Mary, which had been on passagefrom the Isle of Man to Birkenhead,was under water with only her mastvisible and she was later found to havebroken in two.

For this service, a letter signed by CdrBruce Cairns, chief of operations, ex-pressing appreciation to Helmsman IanM. Campbell and his crew was sent tothe station Honorary Secretary, Cap-tain J. A. Billington.

Eastern Division

Two dogsTWO CERTIFICATES OF MERIT have beenawarded by the Royal Society for thePrevention of Cruelty to Animals tolifeboatmen of Great Yarmouth andGorleston; one to the crew of the 44ftWaveney lifeboat Barham who rescueda dog on August 31, 1980, and one tothe crew of the Atlantic 21 rigid inflat-able lifeboat who launched to helpanother dog on January 4, 1981.

Barham was out on exercise on Sun-day morning, August 31, when a mes-sage was received from the Coastguardthat a dog was in the water near theLinks Hotel, two miles south west of thepier heads, and a man was trying toswim out to rescue it. A moderate tofresh breeze was blowing from northnorth east and the sea was very rough.The lifeboat made for the position andsighted the dog about 50 yards offshore.To reach him Coxswain Richard Haw-kins had to manoeuvre between groyneswith less than four feet of water underthe boat. Then Second CoxswainMichael Brown, wearing his lifejacketand secured with a line, went over theside and recovered the dog. The owner,who had made his own way back to theshore, collected his dog from the life-boat station and made a contribution tobranch funds. After this service a num-ber of other dog lovers also came up tothe lifeboat pen to make appreciativedonations.

On Sunday January 4 the Coastguardsighted a dog in the river about aquarter of a mile from the harbourmouth; once again, the owner wastrying to rescue it. The afternoon wasovercast and wintry, with a fresh tostrong breeze blowing from the north

continued on page 248

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PortrushPULLING AND SAILING

TOFAST AFLOAT ARUN

By Joan Davies

AT NOON on Sunday March 1, 1981, anew Arun class lifeboat was placed onservice at Portrush lifeboat station, andyet another page was turned in a storyof lifesaving on the north coast of Ire-land which began in 1860. That was theyear in which Portrush, a station whichtogether with Donaghadee, Campbel-town and Port Patrick guards the estu-ary of the Clyde and the northernapproach to the Irish Sea, was firstestablished by the RNLI. The newArun, 52ft overall with a beam of 17ft6in, has powerful twin diesel engines tohelp her in her work of lifesaving. Thefirst Portrush lifeboat, Laura, Countessof Antrim, was 30ft long with a 7ftbeam, pulling ten oars; her setting wasdescribed thus in the November 1875edition of THE LIFEBOAT:

'Portrush is a small town and harbourat the north-east extremity of the bay, ofwhich Inishowen Head is the north-westextremity, and into which the waters ofLough Foyle flow . . .

'The town is built on a small promon-tory inclining to the northward. To thewest side of it is the small harbour, partlynatural, but rendered safe by a break-water, and thus made available for arefuge harbour for coasters and a point ofdeparture for steamers for Scotch andother ports.

'To the eastward of the town is a widesandy bay with a fair anchorage, which isto a slight extent sheltered from the northby islands to seaward of it. To a slightextent on/v, however, and vessels anchor-ing there with the wind in other directions,which they may do in safety, and caught inthat position with a northerly gale, oftenfind themselves in great peril either offoundering at their anchors, or draggingor parting their anchors . . .'

'The lifeboat has a/so her work on thewestern or harbour side. Vessels which,making for the harbour in stormy weatheror by night, fall to leeward of it andamong the rocks, or vessels which fail toweather the point of the promontory calledRamore Head, and other like instances,may at any time necessitate the Porlrushboatmen doing their utmost to save lifewith this boat . . .'

'The nearest large town from Portrushis Coleraine and some few miles to theeastward is the famous Giant's Causeway.The coast scenery generally is wild andgrand, while in the before-mentioned bay,to the east of For/rush, are some beautifullittle bits of quieter scenery—sand, rock,and island . . .'

The beauty and the grandeur are stillthere for all to see—and the dangers ofthis lovely coast are still there, too, withoff lying rocks and shoals, overfalls andtidal eddies waiting for the unwise orthe unfortunate. Motor fishing vessel oryacht may have replaced brigantine andschooner, but Portrush lifeboatmen oftoday will tell you, just as their fore-bears would have done, that on thatpart of the coast the wind is at its worstwhen it blows from the west north west:then it is blowing straight off the Atlan-tic with a long ocean fetch to pile seasup in the bay. Big seas can curl rightinto the harbour mouth and in anonshore gale it must have been no meanfeat to launch a pulling lifeboat evenwithin the harbour.

When entering or leaving Portrushstrong winds from the west could bedisastrous, even for steam ships. OnDecember 15, 1883, ss Skelligs of Glas-gow, bound for Liverpool was leavingharbour when she failed to answer her

Produced from a por-tion of H.\ Chart \o.279$ with the sanction ofthe Controller HM .Sta-tionery Office and theHydrographer of theNavy.

Ramore Head and Portrush from the air. Theold lifeboathouse can be clearly seen on theeast side of the harbour.

photograph by courtesy ofBKS, Coleraine

helm and was driven on to the sand 50yards south west of the south pier; thelifeboat John Whitaker (1876 to 1889)took hawsers from the vessel to the pierpreventing her from going broadside onto the sand and enabling her to get offwhen the tide rose. On April 13, 1909,ss Hamilton of Stranraer, bound fromMaryport to Portrush with a cargo ofcoal, was about to enter harbour in astrong westerly gale when she wascaught by tide and sea and driven on torocks; the lifeboat Hopwood (1902 to1924) rescued four of her crew, the re-maining three being saved by coast-guards with lines from the shore.

The Skerries RoadsMany early lifeboat services were

to vessels which had sought shelteranchoring to the south of the Skerriesonly to find themselves in a perilousposition when gales went round to thenorth west. Then the lifeboat wouldhave been hauled on her carriage to belaunched off the sandy beach 'as nearlyas may be under the lee of the wreck',and, with the sand being soft and deep,it is recorded that both horses and menwere often 'severely taxed'.

There were hazards in plenty for ves-sels of the last century, trading undersail. But if the dangers are reflected inthe reports of lifeboat services, so is thewarm humanity of the people of Port-rush: On October 3, 1873, the wind wasfrom the north west and the brigantineAmanda of Coleraine was dragging heranchors towards a dangerous lee shorein a heavy gale:

'This was a truly noble service, andtested to the utmost the endurance of thelifeboat's crew . . . at one time it seemedthat the effort would fail, as the boat hadto drop down under the lee of an island.The crew, however, again returned to theattack: and, after two hours' hard rowingwith difficulty got on board the distressedvessel, and eventually safely landed allhands, to the great joy of a large crowd ofthe inhabitants of Portrush . . . .

March 2, 1891: a gale from west tonorth west and the schooner EllenMyvanwy of Beaumaris, bound from

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Runcorn for Ramelton, Co. Donegal,with a cargo of salt anchored in Sker-ries Roads and showing signs of dis-tress. All through that day and the nextthe lifeboat Robert and Agnes Blair(34ft self-righter, 1889 to 1902) tried togo to her aid but was time and againdriven back ashore by the severity ofthe gale, until . . .

'. . . 4pm when the boat went off splen-didly, her crew toiling manfully at theoars. As soon as practicable sail was setand in half-an-hour the vessel was reachedand her crew of three men taken off. Aftertacking in the bay under sail the boat ranin beautifully to the shore, being greetedwith great cheering by the people on theland.'

For this service silver medals wereawarded to Captain Frederick Watt andCoxswain John Hopkins.

Those are just two random examples.From 1864 for more than a quarter of acentury the honorary secretary was theReverend J. Simpson and perhaps itwas he who has been able to convey sovividly to us, over the years, the im-mediate, lively concern of the commun-ity. But the same warm spirit is stillabroad today. Whatever time of day ornight the maroons are fired, the inhabit-ants of Portrush come down to the har-bour, just as they have always done, toshare in the anxiety and the joy of thelifeboat people.

Grandfather, father, sonLifeboat and town have always been

closely knit. Indeed, Samuel Cunning-ham, who was coxswain from 1946 to1963, was the Town Clerk, succeedinghis father in that office in 1953. Fromfather to son. In just the same way thelifeboat families themselves have passedon their commitment from one genera-tion to another.

James 'Jimmy' Stewart, who becamecoxswain in 1974, is the grandson ofJohn Stewart, coxswain from 1912 to1916. Jimmy first joined the crew in1949; he served as bowman from 1959to 1963 and second coxswain from 1964-1974 before taking over as coxswain. Inhis grandfather's day, as in the years be-fore, practically all the lifeboatmenwere fishermen. Nowadays a variety of

occupation is represented and Jimmy isthe only fisherman in the crew.

Crew Member Louis Craig is thegrandson of Thomas Patton, coxswainfrom 1901 to 1912 and then from 1916 to1932. It was Thomas Patton who sawthrough one of the most fundamentalchanges at Portrush, because he wascoxswain of both the station's last pull-ing and sailing boat Hopwood and of itsfirst motor lifeboat, T.B.B.H., a 45ftWatson cabin lifeboat, which came onstation in 1924; although a motor life-boat, she still carried auxiliary sails andoars.

Robert 'Bobbie' McMullan wassecond coxswain from 1940 to 1963 andthen coxswain from 1964 to 1974; hisson, another Robert McMullan, is acrew member in the present lifeboat,and Bobbie's grandson, yet anotherRobert, is waiting to join the crew.

Grandfather, father and son. Thathas also been the pattern for the motormechanics of Portrush for the past 57years. Karl Chambers became the sta-tion's first motor mechanic whenT.B.B.H. came on station in 1924 and,except for one or two years during thewar, he remained the motor mechanicuntil 1947; Gilbert Chambers served asassistant mechanic with his father, Karl,for two years before the war and thentook over from him as motor mechanicin 1947, serving as second coxswain/mechanic from 1975 until his death in1978; the mantle then fell on Gilbert'sson, Derek Karl . . . Karl was themotor mechanic in Thomas Patton'screw which, in 1924, brought homeT.B.B.H.; Gilbert was the motormechanic in Robert McMullan senior'screw which, in 1949, brought home Por-trush's next lifeboat, the 46ft 9in Wat-son Lady Scott (Civil Service No. 4),and Derek was the motor mechanic inJimmy Stewart's crew which this yearbrought home the new Arun.

The record of the Knox family ismuch the same, with a tradition of ser-vice spanning nearly half a century. Wil-liam R. Knox first joined the reservecrew in 1932 and went on to becomestation honorary secretary in 1938. Thewar took him away from home but hiswife, the late Mrs W. R. Knox, filled his

Hopwood (7902 to 1924),a 35ft Liverpool, wasPortrush's last pulling andsailing lifeboat. Formercoxswain Thomas Pattonis at her helm.

photograph by courtesyof 'Coleraine Chronicle'

place; she is one of the few women tohave contributed to the lifeboat servicein this way. In 1945, William Knox re-turned from the war to continue as hon-orary secretary until 1974; he wasawarded the gold badge in 1967 andhonorary life governorship of the In-stitution in 1974. When William retiredit was his son, Joe, who took over theoffice, the responsibilities of which hadbeen part of the background of his lifeas long as he could remember. He andhis brothers were used to helping quick-ly and efficiently with any tasks allottedto them; Portrush lifeboatmen live closedown by the harbour and, during thewar, when a call came, Joe and hisbrothers used to act as runners for theirmother, knocking up the crew.

It goes even deeper than that. Somelifeboat people seem to have a sixthsense which tells them when a shout islikely to come. As a small boy, Joeshared a room with his two brothers.One night he roused from sleep and,still only half awake, started to dress.

'What are you doing?' one of hisbrothers asked, seeing Joe pulling onhis socks.

'The lifeboat's needed.' Joe replied.Just at that moment the telephone

rang. Their father answered the calland, as he hurried past the boys' roomhe looked in.

'The lifeboat's needed,' he said.-

The ladiesNo one will ever know the magnitude

of the support given year in, year out,by the wives and families of lifeboat-men; all that can be said for sure is thatit is beyond all praise. Portrush is one ofthe many lifeboat stations where thatquiet continuous background help is ex-tended to embrace active fund raising inaid of the lifeboat. It all began oneevening early in 1977 with a discussionbetween Noel Black, now second cox-swain, and his wife Maureen after theyhad seen, while on holiday, a souvenirstall at a Scottish boathouse. Could it bedone at Portrush? Why not?

Roberta Knox, Joe's wife, called ameeting of crew members' wives and itwas decided to make a start by sellingsouvenirs at the boathouse every sum-mer weekend and on weekday eveningsin July and August. They were away.

Officers of the guild are RobertaKnox, Fay Scott, the wife of CrewMember John Scott, Maureen Blackand Winifred Lee, the wife of William'Billy' Lee, deputy launching authorityand former bowman. Eight other mem-bers include Margaret McMullan, wifeof Crew Member Robert McMullan.and Betty McQuilken, the wife of CrewMember Albert McQuilken.

Portrush is a holiday resort and rightfrom the start the stall at the boathouseproved popular with the visitors; evenin the first year £250 was raised. Sincethen it has gone from strength tostrength. Fay Scott, the honorarytreasurer, makes out one big order to bedelivered in one load and the souvenirs

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The 46ft 9in Watson lifeboat Lady Scott (CivilService No. 4) launches from the boathouse.She was on station from 1949 to 1981.

photograph by courtesy ofColin Watson

Bobbie McMullan (I.), coxswain from 1964to 1974, with the present coxswain. JimmyStewart.

^photograph by courtesy of L'Atelier

are stored at the Scott's house, oppositethe boathouse. The McQuilkens livejust opposite the boathouse, too. BettyMcQuilken looks after the stall everyafternoon and she and Fay are able tokeep a weather eye on events and callup other helpers at any time it looks asthough it would be worth while 'open-ing up'. They find that visitors, realisingthat the stallholders are lifeboatmen'swives, are most interested to stop andtalk; one customer turned out to be thedaughter of a man rescued by lifeboatafter the car ferry Princess Victoria hadsunk on passage from Stranraer toLame in 1953.

It is all very personal, very friendly.The same people come back year afteryear. Sometimes they leave an order tobe posted on later. More often than notthey say, 'Keep the change', and if theydo not want to buy anything, they put adonation in the lifeboat box. In 1980£1,400 was taken on the stall eventhough the boathouse had to be shut fora while.

Even the houses of Portrush seem tohave their own lifeboat traditions.Whenever the lifeboat is called out. FayScott puts on a pan of soup, warming upready for the returning crew members—and the people who lived in the housebefore did exactly the same thing.

Silver medallist Samuel Cunningham, cox-swain of Portrush lifeboat from 1946 to 1963.

photograph by courtesy of the'Daily Mail'

Other fund-raising projects followedthe sale of souvenirs. One jumble salewas planned, but so many goods werecollected that two sales had to be heldand the total profit was £150. A springfair is arranged each year during Easterweek, when the town will be full of visi-tors. Joe Knox himself organises flagdays (Portrush has two, one in July andone in August) and the wives are mostappreciative of their menfolk's help, onwhich they can always rely in all theirenterprises. 'They are marvellous', isthe general verdict.

Strong support comes from othersources as well. The local golf club, forinstance, arranges an annual tourna-ment in aid of Portrush station branch,for which Ulster Bank has providedprizes. Each year a substantial cheque ishanded to the branch.

ThanksgivingOne annual event in which everyone

takes part, and which is regarded as thecrown of the year, is the LifeboatChurch Service. An ecumenical occa-sion, it is held in a different church eachtime: Presbyterian, Church of Ireland,Roman Catholic. The church is deco-rated with lifeboat flags and perhapsthere is a model lifeboat on display;branch and guild members are waitingoutside the church with crew membersto welcome the arriving congregation;one lesson is read by a crew memberand one by the station's 'neighbour',Vice-Admiral Sir Arthur Hezlet, a vice-

president of the Institution and chair-man of the Search and Rescue Commit-tee; the hymns are hymns of the sea.

In 1980 the service was held at St Pat-rick's one summer afternoon. Singingwas led by a male voice choir andsoloists and a wonderful sermon waspreached by Father Hugh Murphy, aformer Royal Naval chaplain and pre-viously a member of Belfast branchcommittee. It was a truly memorableoccasion. Later, everyone who had con-tributed to the service was entertainedto supper.

The children of St Patrick's ChurchSchool had played their part, too, tak-ing lifeboats as the subject for a paintingproject. Every child who entered for aposter competition organised throughthe parent-teacher association by MrsPatricia McNally was given a lifeboatpencil—and they do not forget!

Now Patricia's husband, John McNal-ly, together with John Campbell, runsthe Harbour Bar which itself organisesregular draws in aid of Portrush branchand sells lifeboat calendars. The Har-bour Bar, right down on the quay, is theaccepted meeting place for lifeboatmenand sailing people, and it is not unusualto find a group of the crew there. In-deed they say that one Christmas Evewhen a call came, there being the nu-cleus of a crew in the bar, the launchwas so quick the coastguards couldn'tbelieve it!

ServiceFor Portrush, as for so many other

lifeboat stations, the saving of life hasnot been achieved without loss. On themorning of November 1, 1889, Robertand Agnes Blair, newly placed on sta-tion, was out searching for a schooner;she was thought to be in trouble in theSkerries Roads in a north-westerly galebut in fact had succeeded in getting outto sea. Unable to return to Portrush,the lifeboat ran for Bush Strand . . .

'When close in, the sail was lowered, themast taken down and most of the oars gotout, the port side pulling and the starboardbacking so as to bring the boat stern tosea, when an exceptionally heavy seastruck her on the port quarter and cap-sized her . . . all the crew being thrownout with the exception of one man . . .'

The boat righted, was capsized asecond time and righted again, beingdriven towards the beach. Althoughmost of the crew managed to reach landsafely, three men were tragically lost.

By the 1930s, the majority of serviceswere to motor fishing vessels, driftinginto danger with broken down enginesor fouled propellers. Nowadays thereare calls to yachts or dinghies as well asto fishing boats, to bathers, skin diversor people cut off by the tide. Every nowand again, however, when the call outcomes it is still to go to the help of amerchant ship.

On October 19, 1935, violent wester-ly gales were blowing when, at about0200, a collier moored alongside the

229

quay at Portrush broke adrift and wentaground near the lifeboat slipway. Thelifeboat crew was assembled and stoodby until 1030 when, because it wasfeared the collier might damage herslipway, the 45ft Watson T.B.B.H. waslaunched, continuing to stand by until,at 2145 that evening, a message camefrom the Coastguard that a vessel wasashore at Port Ballintrae. down thecoast to the east. No trace was everfound of a vessel in distress, but afterT.B.B.H. had passed the Skerries shewas hit by a big sea which struck CrewMember John Fleming full in the chest,carrying him overboard. Tremendousseas were running and it was dark andraining, but nevertheless, due to thepresence of mind and splendid seaman-ship of Coxswain James Martin (cox-swain from 1932 to 1936), the prompt-ness with which Motor Mechanic KarlChambers carried out his orders and thecoolness and discipline of the crew,which included two brothers of the manoverboard, John Fleming was foundand rescued. The thanks of the Institu-tion inscribed on vellum were accordedto Coxswain James Martin and MotorMechanic Karl Chambers and a framedletter of thanks was presented to CrewMember James Fleming who, at the riskof going overboard himself, got a roperound his brother.

It was October again when, in 1961,Portrush lifeboat, the 46ft 9in WatsonLady Scott (Civil Service No. 4), wascalled out in the early hours of the 22ndto go to the help of Greek motor vesselArgo Delos, ashore on Inishtrahull Is-land 24 miles to the north west. In anorth-easterly gale, with very little searoom among the rocks and in confusedseas which carried the lifeboat 15 feetup and down alongside the casualty,Coxswain Samuel Cunningham broughtLady Scott in several times to take off14 of Argo Delos's crew before a ropefouled his propeller. The 14 men weretransferred to HMS Leopard, which wasstanding by. Lady Scott cleared herpropeller and then she also stood bywhile 15 more of the casualty's crewwere lifted off by helicopter.

Every member of the lifeboat crew-was presented with an engraved silvertankard by the captain, officers andship's company of HMS Leopard, whosecaptain wrote in his report:

'The handling, ski/1 and bravery of thecrew of this lifeboat were of the highestorder and earned the admiration of all onboard Leopard.'

The silver medal for gallantry wasawarded to Coxswain Samuel Cunning-ham and the bronze medal to SecondCoxswain Robert McMullan, who hadbeen on the foredeck, slippery with oilfrom the casualty's damaged hull,throughout the operation. The thanksof the Institution inscribed on vellumwere awarded to Motor Mechanic Gil-bert Chambers, Assistant Mechanic K.McMullan, Bowman James Stewart andCrew Members J. King and R. McKay.

The 52ft Arun lifeboat Richard Evans at her naming. In background. Galway's 52ft Burnettlifeboat Frank Spiller Locke. photographs by courtesy of Colin Watson

Four years later, on November 1,1965, a message came at 0916 that fivemen had been lost overboard from theNorwegian frigate Bergen, twenty milesnorth west of Portrush. A storm, force10, was blowing from the north westand frequent squalls reduced visibility.It was two hours before high water andthe conditions at the harbour entrancewere described as 'appalling'. It wasthe worst weather any one can remem-ber. Nevertheless, Coxswain RobertMcMullan decided to try to take thelifeboat out. The crew unanimouslyvolunteered to go with him and theywere joined by Noble Ruddock, the dis-trict engineer for Ireland from Court-macsherry who was on duty in the area.

Lady Scott was launched and Cox-swain McMullan succeeded in takingher safely through the high breakingseas at the harbour mouth and out todeeper water; people who were watch-ing said that several times the lifeboatappeared to leave the water and dropbodily into the trough of the sea.Although the search continued all dayuntil darkness fell, nothing could befound of the five Norwegians. Wind andsea were too bad to return to Portrush,so Lady Scott made for Greencastle,Donegal, at the entrance of LoughFoyle. For this service the thanks of theInstitution inscribed on vellum wereaccorded to Coxswain Robert McMul-lan, Second Coxswain James Stewart,Bowman William Lee, Motor MechanicGilbert Chambers, Assistant MechanicFrederick Williams, Crew Member T.O'Neill and Noble Ruddock, district en-gineer of lifeboats (Ireland).

Fast afloatThe first service of Portrush's new

52ft Arun lifeboat was to a Danish car-go vessel. The Arun, like her predeces-sor Lady Scott, is the gift of the CivilService and Post Office LifeboatFund—the 39th lifeboat these mostloyal friends have donated to the In-stitution. She has been named after themost famous living lifeboatman, former

After the ceremony: Vice-Admiral Sir ArthurHez/et talks with Richard Evans, former cox-swain of Moelfre lifeboat, and CoxswainJimmy Stewart of Portrush.

Coxswain Richard Evans of Moelfre,holder of two gold medals.

Richard Evans (Civil Service No. 39)came to Portrush in February this year,calling at Moelfre on the way. For thelast stages of her delivery trip, fromHowth to Campbeltown for exercisewith the Arun Walter and MargaretCouper and on to Portrush, she wasjoined by Admiral Hezlet and the lateCommodore Peter Kavanagh, Directorof the Irish Navy and an Irish memberof the Committee of Management. Shereceived a great welcome from the peo-ple of Portrush. Lady Scott (Civil Ser-vice No. 4) came out to meet her andthere was a welcoming banner rightacross the front of the Harbour Bar.The next day a telegram of good wishesarrived from Mr Humphrey Atkins,then Secretary of State for NorthernIreland. She had come home.

It was just a couple of days later, onFriday February 27 while RichardEvans was still occupied with crewtraining before going on station, thatthe Danish cargo vessel Erria ranaground on the Donegal coast in southeasterly gales. Richard Evans slippedher moorings at 2230 under the com-mand of Coxswain Jimmy Stewartassisted by Tony Course, divisional in-spector of lifeboats (Ireland). Reachingthe casualty three quarters of an hourlater, she stood by while three of the

230

Danish crew were taken ashore bybreeches buoy. Then, as the captain andchief engineer had elected to remain onboard Erria, Richard Evans put intoGreencastle for the rest of the night sothat she would be nearby should thesituation deteriorate. The two remain-ing Danes were finally taken off thenext day by Foyle pilot boat.

Richard Evans (Civil Service No. 39)was placed on station on March 1 andon Saturday June 27 lifeboat peoplecame from all over Northern Ireland tobe present at her naming ceremony. Itwas an ideal day, with brilliant sun-shine. Galway lifeboat, the 52ft BarnettFrank Spiller Locke, on passage, wasthere in support and among the specialguests were Miss Connie Henry, honor-ary secretary of the Civil Service andPost Office Lifeboat Fund and, ofcourse, former Coxswain RichardEvans with his wife, Nancy, and theirthree sons.

Sir Ronald Radford. chairman of the

Civil Service and Post Office LifeboatFund, accompanied by Lady Radford,was there to present the lifeboat to theInstitution. The Arun was received byAdmiral Hezlet who in turn handed herinto the care of Portrush branch, onwhose behalf she was accepted by thehonorary secretary, Joe Knox. A ser-vice of dedication followed in which theReverend Winston Graham, the Re-verend M. Roycroft. and Father JohnHurson all took part.

The service ended. Lady Hezlet step-ped on to the dais and named RichardEvans (Civil Service No. 39), pressing abutton to break over the Arun's bow'the wine of the country', a bottle of Irishwhiskey presented for the naming cere-mony by Bushmills, a venerable distil-lery founded in 1608. After a vote ofthanks the lifeboat slipped—perhapsthe most moving moment of all.

It "has been a wonderful afternoon,and, writing later. Miss Henry said sheonly wished more of the people who

had contributed to the boat could havebeen there. But the celebrations werenot yet over. Richard and Nancy Evanswere guests of honour at the crewdinner held that evening when Richardwas presented with an inscribed clockby Coxswain Jimmy Stewart and Nancywith a piece of Irish cut glass byWinifred Lee, chairman of the guild.

When at sea as a young man, RichardEvans had visited many Irish Ports; inthe speech which he gave after the din-ner he said that now there would alwaysbe a litt le bit of Wales in Ireland.Richard has many times received stand-ing ovations, but the warmth of the onewith which he was honoured by the life-boat people of Portrush is something hewill surely never forget—just as Port-rush lifeboat people will never forget hiswords when, at the end of the namingceremony in the afternoon, before call-ing for three cheers for the lifeboat andcrew he said: 'Take good care of theRichard Evans for me'.

Experimentalfloating stretchers

TRIALS ARE AT PRESENT in progress ontwo different possible answers to thesame problem: how best to achieve astretcher which wil l float. While flota-tion is obviously a desirable extra safe-guard in any marine situation, there arealso many occasions when it would havethe particular advantage of greatly in-creasing the chances of recovering abadly injured person either from thewater or from rocks with as li t t le furtheraggravation to the in jury as possible.

One of the experimental stretchers,called the all purpose stretcher (see Figs2 and3), was designed by Brian Powell,a senior fire officer of Cumbria FireBrigade. It is manufactured by MFCSurvival Ltd. Intended primarily formountain rescue work, this stretchercan be carried in a comparatively smallpack. The rigid base is made up of glassreinforced plastic panels which are lock-ed in position by light alloy box sectiontubing with spring locking clips. Oncethe base has been set up a carefullyshaped 'collar' is inflated so that, formarine use, the stretcher becomes asmall inflatable catamaran. With an in-flatable mattress and a vee-shaped

cushion for a casualty's neck, the allpurpose stretcher provides valuableshock absorption and some insulationfrom the cold; a zip-up fly sheet linedwith heat-reflecting foil further reducesheat loss from the casualty. A first aiderattendant from the lifeboat crew, sittingastride the stretcher, can easily slide acasualty from the water into the stretch-er. Should the stretcher be capsized, an

Fig 1 (above): Crew Member John Ashforddemonstrates his modified floating basket.stretcher.

photograph by courtesy of Nigel Coulton

Figs 2 and 3 fbelow): The a/I purpose inflat-able stretcher on trials alongside the new Arunlifeboat Robert Edgar.

attendant in the water can easily right it;and there is a big enough air pocketunder the stretcher when it is upside-down for the casualty to be able tobreath.

The second experimental stretcher isa development by Crew Member JohnAshford of Torbay. who is also anambulance man, of the basket stretcher(seen in use on service in photographson pages 224 and 225). To the basicstretcher, in which a number of rounddrainage holes have been cut, has beenadded a flotation jacket made from amodified lifejacket. The jacket isattached to the stretcher by two snaphooks on each shoulder strap and clipson each end of an adjustable crossstrap. So. in effect, the casualty is se-cured in a lifejacket which has a fu l llength rigid extension to give protectionfrom further in ju ry while the man orwoman is being got aboard a lifeboat.At whatever angle the stretcher entersthe sea the casualty will float with hishead above water (see Fig 1).

Both stretchers are undergoing eval-uation trials on the coast, with particu-lar attention being given to such vitaldetails as the lifting attachments. Theideas are there; now they are being fol-lowed through to see what they have tooffer to the work of rescue at sea.

231

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THE OPPORTUNITY to visit overseas life-boat organisations is usually limited tothe four-yearly International LifeboatConference; to be invited, and spon-'sored privately, to spend a week in theUnited States for what was to prove avaluable two-way conversation on life-saving at sea was indeed a rare and ex-citing proposition.

In June, 1980, correspondence be-tween Cdr Mike Badham, RN (Retd),now living in Maine, USA, and myself'began with the familiar questions:'What is the RNLI?' 'How does it work?'and 'What is the function of HM Coast-guard?'; not that Cdr Badham wastotally uninformed—he had sailed anex-RNLI lifeboat to the United Statesin 1960—but he wanted to be broughtup to date in an effort to help solve alocal New England problem involvingserious loss of life at sea by the fishing

community. In particular he wanted toknow more about the Institution's smal-ler lifeboats such as the rigid inflatableAtlantic 21. A number of letters wereexchanged and when Cdr Badhamvisited this country privately in theautumn the problems of the NewEngland coast became clearer.

From a search and rescue point ofview, the Maine coastline is frightening.From one end to the other as the crowflies it is about 300 miles, but with hun-dreds of deep inlets the actual coastlineis more like 3,500 miles and there aremany small islands lying off (see chart,north). The United States Coast Guard,a government service, has establishedfour lifeboat stations along this coast,with helicopters at Cape Cod, but itcannot provide individual local coverfor the many small and scattered fishingcommunities of Maine. It is a vast prob-lem in a vast and often lonely terrain.

Unfortunately the distances involvedare inevitably sometimes too great for aquick response to local incidents and

• after a series of fatalities in 1980, onesmall area, East Casco Bay, took theinitiative by establishing Maine's firstvoluntary lifeboat organisation. It wasan enterprise which has the full co-

1 operation of the Coast Guard and thesupport of the area's Congressman, andat present it takes the form of co-operative self help. When informationof an overdue fishing vessel is received,

Mike Pennell joined the Institution as anassistant inspector of lifeboats in May 1973, totake over as divisional inspector of lifeboats(East) that November. In 1978 he wasappointed executive assistant to the director,but he will soon be returning to the coast asdivisional inspector (South East).

232

other local boats put to sea as an organi-sed unit to complement the work of theUS Coast Guard lifeboats orhelicopters.

As we all well know, however, avoluntary lifesaving organisation costsmoney, and there is no state aid avail-able as yet for East Casco Bay. CdrBadham and the small group of othersupporters of the idea have been puttingforward their propositions with untiringenergy, but it is uphill work. In an effortto give further publicity to the voluntaryapproach, Cdr Badham suggested an in-formal visit to the United States by amember of the RNLI who could speakwith fishermen and extol the virtues(and problems) of the proven systemwhich has worked so well in Great Brit-ain and Ireland for more than 150 years.

One of the originators of the Mainelifesaving enterprise, already engagedin lecturing on cold water survival, isRobert Pratt, a marine biologist at theDarling Center in Walpole, and in lateFebruary this year he was authorised tooffer to the RNLI a return air passageto Boston, funded by the University ofMaine.

Having been sadly misinformed as tothe likely dress requirement in a NewEngland spring, and greatly concernedlest the RNLI films in my overloadedsuitcase should be rendered sterile byHeathrow Airport x-ray machines, Imade my first trans-Atlantic flight onMarch 8. Nor was my time in the airwasted; in flight I confirmed a fellowpassenger as a Shoreline life governor.

Thus encouraged, I landed in Boston.Cdr Badham was there to meet me and,after driving south to Hyannis, Mas-sachusetts (see chart, south), a pleasant-ly informal first evening was spent in thecompany of a most gracious elderlylady, a family friend, who knew Eng-land well from wartime days.

Day two started with a visit to theKennedy Memorial before attendingthe Hyannis Fishermen's Workshop onCape Cod. This colourful gathering wasa cross between boat show and tradefair and I was able to sound out opinionfrom fishermen, coast guards and thosecommercially promoting safety at sea.

As with most conferences, much in-teresting discussion took place out ofhours and by 'lights out' at the HyannisMotel I began to realise that fishermen

and their safety problems are similareach side of the Atlantic. I learned thatgreater emphasis is placed on survivalsuits in New England than in the oldcountry, because of the low watertemperature, but that there is lessemphasis on flares at present, perhapsbecause both land and sea are muchmore sparsely populated than they areover here. Radios are in common use,but the greater distances fished off theAmerican shore have encouraged theuse of pocket emergency position in-dicator radio beacons for locating survi-vors in the water.

Day three was a slight anticlimax be-cause the planned discussion forum, re-lating to a recent fishing vessel loss, hadto be curtailed for legal reasons. It did,however, give me the chance to showthe RNLI films I had brought with me.The technical film on Atlantic 21s, bor-rowed from Cowes base, caused muchinterest, as did the recently introduced'Making of a Crew'. The day ended withan interesting six-hour drive northwardthrough pine forests to the Casco Bayarea home of my co-host. Bob Pratt.Needless to say, 'the man who spokefunny' caused Bob's young family someamusement.

Houses in this part of New Englandare all built of wood. Both timber andland are relatively cheap and, awayfrom the towns, most householders owna considerable amount of land which iseither pine forest or open ground offairly poor quality. Planning permissionand building control seem to beunknown!

The following day was spent on a visitto the US Coast Guard station at South-west Harbor, where I was entertainedto a wardroom lunch by the group com-mander. Each Coast Guard stationoperates as a self-contained unit withworkshops and a full maintenance staff.All facilities for the 41ft and 44ft classesof lifeboat are available at the nearestcommercial yard on a similar basis tothat employed by the RNLI. The com-munications centre at the base is of ahigh calibre as it has facility to link intonational services defence nets, if re-quired. Considerable interest wasshown by the crews in the fact that theRNLI is still building Waveney life-boats, the 44ft class first introducedfrom the USA in 1964, and the deputy

US Coast Guard 44ft and 4]ftlifeboats as stationed on theNew England coast.

group commander provided me withtwo drawings of modifications they hadmade to the hull and rudder which hethought might be useful to the RNLI.

During the afternoon time was againspent driving around the coast where Iwas shown the degree of isolation ofsome of the small fishing communities.By early evening we were returningdown the coast to the home of myEnglish host where I was to spend thenight in splendid isolation in my owncaravan, only yards from the water'sedge. Any thoughts of an early night,however, were soon dispelled by thearrival of six house guests, all interestedin discussing lifesaving by the RNLI andhow any good ideas could be incor-porated into a voluntary system in thatpart of the USA.

On Friday I had the opportunity ofvisiting Bob Waddell, the father of twoyoung fishermen lost at sea in 1980 andthe instigator of the only voluntary life-saving organisation on the Maine coast.Mr Waddell was a model of one of ourown station honorary secretaries, de-voting much of his time to arrangingtraining for local fishermen in searchpatterns and survival at sea, and to cam-paigning for the carriage of the rightequipment to alert the authorities,should a boat be in distress. It was amost heartening visit, and Bob's dedica-tion following great personal and familyloss should be a considerable en-couragement to others.

During the day I was also taken to visitapprentice workshops at Bath, Maine(see chart, north), where traditionalshipbuilding has been revived; a num-ber of very old vessels are being re-paired and replicas of past designs con-structed using traditional tools andmethods. Unfortunately, time did notallow as much detailed inspection of thismost interesting industry as I wouldhave wished.

Driving north east to Rockland onSaturday to attend the Maine Fisher-men's Forum we encountered snow forthe first time. Before the day was over,however, the weather had returned tomore normal spring temperatures. Theforum had attracted some 700 to 800fishermen and their families and it tookplace in three or four conference rooms,each with its own programme of lec-tures, discussion or films. The contentvaried from fishing methods and newgear to search and rescue, governmentlegislation and other general topics.

I was privileged to sit with the localCongressman during luncheon and hewas interested to learn that I had beenable to undertake the visit since hisname had featured in earlier corres-pondence regarding the need for addi-tional search and rescue facilities on thecoast. I had an encouragingly large andinterested audience for my film sessionand, when sitting with Coast Guardofficers and fishermen on a discussionpanel, a number of probing questions

continued on page 242

233

\K - >•s A. '

The Duke of Ken!. President of the Institution, visited Whitby,Staithes, Redcar and Teesmoulh lifeboat stations on Wednesday July22. Travelling in a helicopter of the Queen's Flight, he arrived atWhi/bv Abliev where he was received b\ the Marquis of Normanbv,Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire and a member of the Committeeof Management, who accompanied him throughout his visit, togetherwith Rear Admiral W. J. Graham, director of the RNLI, Cdr BruceCairns, chief of operations, and Ll Alan Tale, divisional inspector oflifeboats (North East). After going afloat in Whitby's 44ft Waveneylifeboat The White Rose of Yorkshire (right), escorted by the D classinflatable lifeboat, the Duke of Kent flew north to Staithes where hewatched a demonstration launch and crash net recovery of the Atlantic21 lifeboat. After visiting Redcar he went on to Teesmouth to embarkin the 47ft Watson Sarah Jane and James Season for an exercise off themouth of the River Tees in which Redcar's 37ft Oakley and D classlifeboats, and Harllepool's 44ft Waveney and Atlantic 21 lifeboats alltook part. At each station the Duke of Kent met members of the crewand branch and other lifeboat people; in the photograph above he isseen being greeted by Staithes guild members in traditional bonnets.

photograph by courtesy of 'Whitby Gazette' AROUND THE COASTWhile St Mary's new Arun was at Poole before sail-ing for the Scilly Islands she was visited by herdonor, Mrs Esme Edgar, who in a small private cere-mony named the lifeboat Robert Edgar. CoxswainMatthew Lethbridge and some of his crew were thereto meet Mrs Edgar, together with Mr R. Ward, chair-man of St Mary's branch, and Captain T. A. Buck-ley, the honorary secretary. After the naming Cox-swain Lethbridge led three cheers for Mrs Edgar andthen showed her over the boat; she was abso/titelvdelighted with all she saw. The handing over anddedication ceremonv which took place in the pres-ence of the Duchess of Kent at St Mary's on Septem-ber 15, will be reported in the next issue of THELIFEBOAT. photograph by courtesy of

•Bournemouth Evening Echo'

A LARGE CROWD gathered at Selsey onApril 25 for the handing over and dedi-cation of the station's new D class life-boat which is the gift of Selsey LionsClub. The lifeboat was presented by MrA. E. Ryan, president of Selsey Lions,to Desmond Cockayne, honorarysecretary of Selsey branch, who re-ceived her on behalf of the Institution.She was named Sealion by Lavinia,Duchess of Norfolk, president of thebranch. A service of dedication fol-lowed led by the Reverend C. Champ-neys Burnham, the Reverend F. R.Dowson and Father Campbell Price;then Sealion was launched for a demon-stration together with the station's 48ft6in Oakley lifeboat Charles Henrv.

The Royal Yachting Association Sea-manship Foundation is offering anannual award for a particularly out-standing act of seamanship. Recom-mendations for the award, to beconsidered each October, must be madeby someone who witnessed the incidentand should be endorsed and substanti-ated by a yacht club, by HM Coastguardor by an RNLI station. Informationfrom RYA Seamanship Foundation,Victoria Way, Woking, Surrey.

Three weeks after the visit of the Duke of Kentto the north east, Hartlepoois lifeboats, the44ft Waveney The Scout and the At/antic 21Guide Friendship III. and Teesmouth life-boat, the 47ft Watson Sarah Jane and JamesSeason, were once again giving a demonstra-tion exercise together with a Sea King helicop-ter from RAF Boulmer. This time it was atHartlepool as part of the annual lifeboat har-bour fete on August 16. During the day£5,000 was raised for the lifeboats.

photograph by courtesy ofReflected Images, Hartlepool

The handing over ceremony and service of dedication of the HaylingIsland Atlantic 21 lifeboat Aldershot took place at Hayling Islandstation on Saturday July 4. Aldershot branch, a bequest from MrsD. M. Chartres and a gift from Cramer all contributed to the cost ofthe lifeboat. About a hundred guests were there to see Lt-Cdr J. J.Town-Clear, chairman of Aldershot branch, hand over the lifeboat toLt-Cdr J. Lunch, a member of the Committee of Management andpresident of Hayling Island station branch. The service.of dedicationwas conducted by the Reverend Nigel O'Connor, vicar of HaylingIs/and and Soulhsea Salvation Army Band provided the music.

photograph by courtesy of 'The News". Portsmouth

After her naming and a service of dedication on Sunday July 19, NewBrighton's new Atlantic 21 rigid inflatable lifeboat is towed across thebeach ready for launching. She is one of the Atlantics generouslyprovided by Fred Olsen Lines and named after two of its vessels,Blenheim and Black Watch. The service of dedication was conductedby-ihe Reverend H. Baguley, vicar of St James New Brighton andchaplain of the lifeboat station, assisted by the Reverend P. O'Brien,parish priest of SS Peter and Paul and the Reverend K. Nicholson,minister of Si Andrews. Singing was led by the choir of Si James andmusic provided by Merseyside Police Band.

photograph by courtesy of Jeff Morris

The re-opening of Penarth lifeboat station and the handing over of thenew D class lifeboat took place on the Esplanade on Saturday August8. Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Compston, a deputy chairman of the Com-mittee of Management, first received the security of tenure and the keysof the boalhouse from the Deputy Mavor of the Vale of Glamorgan,Council/or Mrs Susan Thomas, and then the lifeboat from her donor,Guy Pain (right, front). To raise the money. Guy Pain, although adiabetic, had successfully completed a 550-mile sponsored walk fromMinehead to Poo/e. The lifeboat station and lifeboat were dedicated bythe Assistant Bishop of Llandaff, The Right Reverend David Reece,assisted bv Bishop Daniel Mul/ins, the Reverend Hilary Col/ins andthe Reverend John Gar/and.

photograph by courtesy of the "Western Mail and Echo"

Mudeford's new lifeboathouse, funded almost entirely by the branchwith strong local support, was opened on Sunday June 28 by Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Compston, a deputy chairman of the Institution.The ceremony followed the dedication of a Zodiac Mk IV inflatablelifeboat which is on extended evaluation trials at Mudeford. The life-boat has been funded by a special appeal organised by the CentralLondon Committee and Mrs Richard Saunders, chairman of the CLC,handed her over to Admiral Compston. The service of dedication wasled by the Reverend Basil H. T. Trevor-Morgan, vicar of Christ-church, assisted bv clergy representing other local churches.

photograph by courtesy of George Armit

At a ceremony at Silloth on Sunday June 7, County CouncillorJ. Ormond Holliday, vice-president of Silloth branch, opened thestation's new tractor house and then Silloth's new Atlantic 21 rigidinflatable lifeboat, principally funded by a bequest of Mrs M. E. A.Gregory-Armstrong, was officially handed over to Donald K.Redford, a member of the Committee of Management, who receivedher on behalf of the Institution. Before the Atlantic was launched togive a demonstration afloat she was named Amelia Gregory Arm-strong by Mrs Cyril North.

photograph by courtesy of Cumbrian Newspapers

In Guildhall Square, Portsmouth, on Saturday April 25 the then LordMayor of the City of Portsmouth, Councillor Miss M. W. Sutcliffe,presented to Sir Alec Rose, Freeman of the City of Portsmouth andpresident of Portsmouth (Langstone Harbour) station branch, acheque for £18,000 from the Lord Mayor's SOS appeal to fund a newAtlantic 21 rigid inflatable lifeboat for the station. The result of theappeal was divided between the RNLl and the Salvation Armv, whichwas also presented with a cheque. A service of dedication for the newlifeboat was conducted jointly by the Provost of Portsmouth and chap-lain to the City Council, the Very Reverend Michael Noll, and theSalvation Army Corps Officer, Portsmouth, and honorary chaplainRNLI, Major Ewart B. Griffin. Music was by the band of the Salva-tion Army, Portsmouth.

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Stephen WhittleCOXSWAIN OF DUNMORE EAST LIFEBOAT

by Ray KiplingPublic Relations Officer, RNLI

DUNMORE EAST is a fishing port at themouth of Waterford Harbour in south-eastern Ireland, just off the busy ship-ping lanes leading from the AtlanticOcean up St George's Channel and intothe Irish Sea. The shore sweeps down toHook Head on the opposite side of theriver estuary and a dangerous tidal racethere has given Dunmore more than itsshare of shipwrecks. After a heavy rain-fall, fresh water pours down the riverand pushes under the sea and at hightide with a southerly gale huge wavescurl up, threatening to pull small boatsunderneath them and drive larger oneson to the rocks.

The lifeboat records tell their ownstory. Since the station was establishedin 1884 Dunmore East lifeboats havelaunched 209 times, rescuing 203 peo-ple. The previous coxswain, Patrick'Billy' Power, was awarded four bronzemedals while the present coxswain,Stephen Whittle, holds a silver and twobronze medals.

As a boy, Stephen had gone fishingwith his uncles. Money was scarce andfish helped to supplement the family in-come. With no sophisticated equipmentto find the fish, vital knowledge ofsandy patches, shingle and rocks waspassed down by the older men. Theboys would get up very early to put infour hours' fishing before school andthen be back in their boats for anothersix hours after school. The lifeboat helda fascination for them and Stephenremembers, when he was twelve, stand-ing on the cliff tops watching the life-boat escort to safety a steamer whichhad run out of coal; her crew werebreaking up hatch boards to burn in herboilers.

Stephen left Dunmore to join theMerchant Navy and spent six years as a'deep sea man'. Like most merchantsailors, he has dozens of stories from all

over the world and he vividly remem-bers sailing up African rivers, deep intothe jungle, to pick up cargoes of pro-duce from local tribes. Returning toDunmore, he took up fishing again andjoined the lifeboat crew in 1959 as oneof its most experienced seamen.

By 1964 Stephen had been appointedsecond coxswain and in March he wonhis first medal. The Dutch coaster JanBrons ran aground in a south-westerlygale on Ardnamult Head, a mile north-east of the harbour. The lifeboat, withher boarding boat in tow, quicklyreached the ship but Coxswain BillyPower realised he could not get along-side. An attempt was made to use theboarding boat but the seas were toorough. The rocket line was fired and thebreeches buoy gear rigged but becauseof the violent motion of the lifeboat itwas decided to use the boarding boat tokeep the veering lines spread out.Stephen Whittle and John Power, theassistant mechanic, volunteered to manthe boarding boat which was positionedhalfway between the lifeboat and theship. The crew of the freighter wereforeign and did not understand how touse the breeches buoy, so the first man,instead of sitting in it, put it around hisshoulders.

'When he got down into the surf he wasspun around several times,' StephenWhittle recalls. 'He was just on his lastgasp when he got to us. We would havelost him that morning if there had been noboarding boat: he would have just drop-ped over and gone. We had a job to gethim in. It's not easy to pull a fellow into anordinary boat.'

Luckily, the first man was able to ex-plain to the rest of the crew how to usethe breeches buoy and five more weresuccessfully pulled to the boarding boatas she and the lifeboat were pitched and

tossed in the backwash of surf from thecliffs. Bronze medals for seamanshipand courage were awarded to CoxswainPatrick 'Billy' Power, Second CoxswainStephen Whittle and Assistant Mech-anic John Power.

The most difficult service Stephencan remember was in November 1970,when he had been coxswain for fouryears:

'That was a really vicious night. Wedamaged the lifeboat just driving into thesea, not by hitting the rocks, even thoughshe was a good boat. It wasn't just anordinary sea. It was really violent, withcross seas coming out of nowhere. I heardthat a boat was about to drive on to HookHead and I didn't hesitate. I came over tothe harbour, went down aboard one of theboats, told the pilot station on RT, drop-ped the receiver and got away. We evenwent short-handed that night, taking ayoung lad to fill in the gap. He had beenfishing all day and part of the night but wetook him anyway. When we were on theway out the situation was getting so des-perate that I said to the lads, "I'm going toturn sharp at the Hook. Hold on." At thatparticular moment we got a jolt from a seaand we fell sideways into it. We didn'trealise at the time but we had damaged thebilge keel on the boat. As she toppleddown and put her shoulder into the sea,she locked the air between the bilge keeland the hull and bent part of the bilge keelover. We didn't put out the drogue for thesimple reason that we would have losttime. We actually ran half a mile oh onesea that night, which, without the drogue,was a bit frightening because we couldhave tipped over.'

James Bates, coxswain of Kilmorelifeboat, was skipper of the fishing boat,Glenmalure, and when the fishermensaw the lifeboat's blue flashing lightthey fired three flares to give their posi-tion. Glenmalure was only about 50yards from the rocks and the crew hadtaken to their liferaft. The danger nowwas that trailing ropes and nets couldfoul the lifeboat's propellers and therewas no room to go in around the boat topick the men up while heading out tosea again, into the weather. Stephenhad to go in head to the shore using onlyone engine; that way, if one propellerwas fouled the other would still be freeand the second engine, in reserve, couldbe brought into use. The lifeboat camealongside the liferaft and had snatchedtwo men off before a sea swept the raftaway. Quickly coming astern, the life-boat chased the raft and the third manwas saved.

Another fisherman had been sweptaway and the lifeboat searched for twohours, but without success. Shortly afterthe survivors were landed a messagewas received that a man had been spot-ted. Another search was made but no-thing was found.

Stephen Whittle was awarded the sil-ver medal for this rescue.

The photograph of Coxswain Stephen Whittleat the head of the page was taken by PeterHadfield. In the background is DunmoreEast Harbour with the 44ft Waveney lifeboatSt Patrick at her moorings.

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7 reckon that was the worst service thatanybody in Dunmore has been out on.There were really crazy seas that night. Wewouldn't like to see them again, even inthe new boat.'

The new boat is a 44ft Waveney, StPatrick, which was paid for by a specialappeal in Ireland and sent to DunmoreEast in 1975. Previously, the station hadWatson and Barnett class lifeboatswhich gave a maximum speed of 8 to 9knots and the idea of a change to atotally different, faster boat was treatedwith caution.

'A few of the lads said it would not do atall. They couldn't get used to a boat likethat. They thought she was so unstable atlow speed. It is only when you get the hangof what a high-powered boat, like aWaveney, is capable of doing, and the wayshe can run ahead of the seas, that yousuddenly change your mind. It is big stepfrom the old lifeboats. If you see a bigfollowing sea, you can go ahead on oneengine and astern on the other and actual-ly turn to look right into the sea, whichyou didn't have a hope of doing in the oldboats. The old ones sit there and just bearthe brunt of it.'

The increased speed of the Waveneychanged the pattern of services at Dun-more and the lifeboat now receives callsto casualties much further out than be-fore. The crew are more comfortablewith more shelter.

'In the old boats you perished alivewhen you were wet, with the oilskinsround your throat. When you get soakednow you can go below and get drieddown. You can have a hot drink, whichwas practically impossible in the old boat.You had a primus, which was put in a

- bucket and you lit it and hoped for thebest. If it capsized you dumped the bucketand primus stove all over the side; it wasthe only safe thing to do. Today we havean electric geyser.'

The type of casualty is changing, too,for there are now more yachts makingthe crossing from Land's End to Ire-land. One problem is that yachtsmenare worried that the lifeboat, comingalongside, will damage their boat. Withskilful handling this can be avoided but,as the lifeboat rolls towards the yacht'stop rail, the concern is quite under-standable. Another difficulty is theanxiety of parents about their children.They often ask for them to be taken offwhen they might be better left on boardwhile the lifeboat escorts the yacht tosafety. Dunmore lifeboat gets her shareof calls to the inexperienced and fool-ish, like the man who set off down theWaterford River in a dinghy in thick fogand capsized at the harbour entrance.She also, on occasion, has been calledout to help very competent yachtsmencaught out in extreme weather, as, forexample, during the 1979 Fastnet Race.Stephen was on leave at the time of theFastnet storm, but his second coxswain,John Murphy, took the lifeboat to seafor over 16 hours, rescuing eight peo-ple, saving one yacht and escortingthree others to safety.

One characteristic which pervadesStephen's stories is a wry sense ofhumour. He was awarded the thanks ofthe Institution inscribed on vellum forthe rescue of the crew of the motor ves-sel Michael on January 13, 1975.Michael's engines had broken down andshe was drifting towards the shore. Shewas rolling too heavily for the lifeboatto go alongside so her crew abandonedship and got into the liferaft, but theydid not cast off. As Stephen said,

'Shouting is not much good when it'sblowing a force 11.'

The problem aboard the liferaft, thelifeboat crew discovered later, was thatthe men had nothing with which to cutthe painter; eventually they used a pairof nail scissors to hack through therope, the liferaft drifted free and theywere picked up by the lifeboat. Stephenrecounts with great verve the tale of thenail scissors and tells how the rescuedcaptain dried out rolls of foreign noteson radiators, but he fails to mention theappalling weather conditions and wavesof up to 20 feet.

Many of Dunmore East crew arefishermen, or used to fish but now workon shore. On July 9, 1976, two localboys went out fishing in an 18ft openboat which was driven on to rocks at thebase of 100-foot cliffs, right in the areaof lobster pots and salmon nets. Oneboy was clinging to his boat and even-tually, using parachute flares andsearchlights and helped by directionsshouted by people on the cliff, the life-boat spotted him. The rescue couldhardly have been more difficult. Thelifeboat's unprotected propellers wereespecially vulnerable because of thenets and pots and the only narrow pas-sage was through shallow water strewnwith large boulders. To make mattersworse, the lifeboat was stern to sea and

if a wave picked her up she could surfright into the rocks. The crew werelined up on the bows of the lifeboat andthrew the boy a lifebuoy. He grabbedthe ring and was quickly hauled to thelifeboat. As soon as he was safe the life-boat, now only 20 feet from the rocks,immediately went astern. A six-hoursearch was carried out for the secondlad but he had already been swept awayand drowned.

Stephen was awarded a bar to hisbronze medal for this service but, evenmore important to him, the rescue hadbeen a real team effort with lookouts inthe bows advising him just how far hewas from the rocks. Stephen, in com-mon with all lifeboat coxswains, regardshis crew as the best in the service:

7 have great respect for the lads. With-out them you cannot carry on. When theyare with you for a few years, they soonknow what you are going to do without theneed to put it over to them directly. Youtake it for granted they are going to do theright thing for you, without being told.'

His satisfaction is that of all cox-swains and crews:

'If you know you have really savedthem, that those lads were doomed to dieand that there was no other choice forthem, it is one good deed you have done.It is the actual saving and putting them onthe quay. I don't know whether the manabove is there to guide you, but there iscertainly someone keeping an eye on youand telling you those fellows are out there- and if you don't do the right thing, youwill be in the drink with them.'

As a true seaman, Stephen knowsthat, even with years of experience andthe best equipment available, there isnever room for arrogance or com-placency:

' You always think that you are going tomaster the sea, but no, you must alwaysrespect it: it is always the mighty one.'

Six men were rescued by breeches buoy from the Dutch coaster Jan Brons which ran aground onArdnamult Head in south-westerly gales on March I I , 1964. Stephen Whittle, then secondcoxswain, and Assistant Mechanic John Power volunteered to man the boarding boat which waspositioned between the lifeboat and the cargo vessel to keep the veering lines spread out. Bothmen and Coxswain Patrick Power were awarded the bronze medal.

• -

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Here and ThereA YACHT RACE which never finished be-cause there was not enough wind hasbrought five krugerrands, with a valueof over £1,000, for the RNLI. Peter deSavary, chairman of the British syndi-cate entering the yacht Victory in the1983 America's Cup, challenged theAustralian yacht Apollo to the race dur-ing Cowes Week and put up £10.000 ofkrugerrands as the stake. There was notenough wind to finish the race withinthe time limit, so the stake money couldnot be claimed by either team. Peter deSavary therefore decided to give thekrugerrands to the RNLI, St John'sAmbulance, Royal Burnham YachtClub cadets, and the crew of Victorv.The five RNLI krugerrands were pre-sented to Burnham-on-Crouch branchon Sunday, August 30.

The 46ft Watson lifeboat Jesse Lumb.which has just finished 42 years' service,is to become a permanent exhibit at theImperial War Museum's collection atDuxford Airfield, Cambridgeshire.Jesse Liimb, built in 1939, was stationedat Bembridge on the Isle of Wight until1970 when she entered the RNLI's re-lief fleet. During her time at Bembridgeshe launched 294 times, saving 280lives; 15 of these services were tocasualties during World War II.

A local publican at Duxford. BillSawkins, wil l be delighted to see JesseLumb ending her days so near to him.He was once rescued by this very life-boat and has been a keen supporter ofthe RNLI ever since.

Dr Nora Allen, who donated the 37ftOakley lifeboat The Doctors to theRNLI in 1965 in memory of her fatherand brothers, celebrated her 100thbirthday this summer. The Doctors isstationed at Anstruther and among theother presents Dr Allan received on herbirthday was a photograph of the life-boat signed by all her crew.

Another long standing lifeboat sup-porter to reach her centenary is MrsA. E. Fakes of Hemsby. Great Yar-mouth. She is the daughter of SkipperWilliam 'Wilks' Larner who, a legend inhis own lifetime, was known as theFisher King of Yarmouth. After being amember of Winterton Company ofBeachmen for many years, Wilks be-came second coxswain of Wintertonlifeboat in 1898. He retired in 1906 be-cause of ill health after spending fiveJanuary days and nights trying to help astranded steamer.

Lifeboat 'shouts' can come at anytime; just before a naming ceremony,during a Christmas party—even (seeright) during a wedding. On May 22 thisyear St Peter Port crew and their wivesheld a dinner party to mark the retire-ments of Captain H. L. Wolley as hon-orarv secretarv of the station branch

Troon lifeboat, the 44ft Waveney Connel Elizabeth Cargill, leaving Portpulrick in deterioratingweather one Julv morning. She had called in on passage to Holyhead for engine overhaul.

photograph by courtesy of Mr T. G. Watson

and John Petit as coxswain and to showtheir appreciation for the many yearsservice these two men had given to theRNLI. Soup had just been served whena call came; a yacht was in trouble. Thecrew rushed down to the harbour, went

With the help of Post Office Tele-phone engineers and landowners,some thousands of metres ofunderground cable have been laidto ins/al an emergency telephoneon the popular but isolated Cock-lawburn Beach, two miles south ofBerwick-upon-Tweed. The tele-phone was inaugurated in earlyJulv by Dr Doug/as McDonald,chairman of the branch. With himare Chris Pike, honorary treasurer.Inspector Peter Barella, SectionOfficer George Wood, HM Coast-guard. Sergeant James Walker andBewlev Bainbridge, honorarysecretarv.

and towed in the distressed yacht—andthen returned to dinner.

Captain John Petit has taken overfrom Captain Wolley both as harbourmaster and as station honorarysecretarv.

Wedding of the Coxswain's Daughterby

One of the Guests

Saturday dawned clear and brightWhen Belinda Marsh was wed.'Twill be all right today my lass,'Her dad. the coxswain, said.But as the bride walked from the houseAnother chap called Llew,From up at Durlston, fired maroonsTo summon up the crew.Arriving at the boathouseAll 'togged up' in their best,Plus white carnation button-holes.They graphically expressedTheir views on all cliff climbers,of dinghy sailors, too.Of divers, and all other 'stiffs'Who haven't got a clue!'OKfor'ard. OK aft. KNOCKOUT!'And down the slipThe Rother sped for Peveril LedgeOn yet another trip.'Twas getting on for five pmThe rescue was complete:The rescued 'sorted'; Rother housed;So crew went up High Street,Back to the reception

To join in with the funFor 'Toast the Bride' and speecheshad only just begun.Smiling, all rose to their feet.Their cup of happiness complete.Then suddenly that chap called LlewWho, through a window, had a view -Saw with unbelieving eyeA boat on fire! He raised the cry'MUSTER ALL OF YOU!'Down with glasses; out the door;Through the town; along the shore -To the Rother once again.This time into Swanage Bay,Each with an anxious heart.But a passing yacht had reached her.Men safely off the craft .Silent, they watched her burn and sink.A hazard then no more -'OK lads,' sang out coxswain.And they turned towards the shore.By this time, as you will have guessed.The bride and groom, toasted, and blessed.Had gone upon their way.But Belinda has a special placeIn the hearts of Swanage crew,As the coxswain's lass who marr ied'Twixt rescue 'one' and 'two'!

IMI.

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Building the Fast SlipwayLifeboat

PART V: BEHIND THE SCENES

ABOVE AND BELOW DECKS, the first pro-totype of the fast slipway lifeboat (FSB)is gradually taking shape in FaireyMarine's yard at Cowes. With some ofthe work progress is obvious; other jobsinvolve perhaps weeks of 'behind thescenes' work by craftsmen of severaldifferent trades as each component ofthe boat, each system, each fitting isgradually put in place. The work mustbe dovetailed together and comply witha planned programme so that each jobcan be tackled in the right order and atthe time when it can be done best andmost easily.

Take the engines. Before they wereput in place the stern gear, propellersand rudders were fitted. Then craneslifted the twin General Motors 8V-71marine diesels straight into position inthe engine room and they were aligned.Exact alignment of each engine with theshaft which will transmit its power tothe propeller's thrust is of the utmostimportance and it is scrutinised by theRNLI overseers who maintain a con-tinuous survey of all the work on theboat as it progresses.

The port engine can be seen in placein Figure 1. Each engine weighs 1.669tons (1,700 kg) and is carried by foreand aft bearers made of fabricated Tsection mild steel. All fuel tanks hadalready been built in. The twin mainfuel tanks, holding 510 gallons of dieseloil between them, are under the wheel-house and there is a reserve tank, hold-ing 102 gallons, between the enginebearers at the forward end of the engineroom.

Now the engineers are at work in theengine room, in the tiller flat and in thewheelhouse, fitting the associated sys-tems to the engines, the steering gear,the engine controls, the instrumenta-tion, the cabin heating, the demistingsystem, the window washing system, thewave subduing system . . . and so itgoes on . . . .

One recent job which, visually, took

the FSB a noticeable step forward wasthe fitting of the after cabin superstruc-ture (see Figs 2 and 3). Prefabricated ofaluminium alloy, it was lifted on boardand gently lowered into position bycrane, fitted to the deck and finallyrivetted in place to give a completelywatertight joint.

Once the superstructures are in placethe boatbuilders, followed by the join-ers and the electricians, can begin fittingout the wheelhouse, forecabin and aftercabin. First, there is the insulation to befitted to the boat's side and all roundthe three cabins and the engine room;then work can begin on the electrics.So, enter the electricians . . . .

Switchboards, distribution boardsand junction boxes will all have beenprepared in advance on workbenchesaway from the boat. Now they are putin place and the boat's wiring and thefixing of switches, plugs and light fit-tings can all go ahead.

Meanwhile, the joiners are at workon the furniture for the cabins. In theforecabin there will be bench seats foreight survivors with lockers under, apyrotechnics and general store lockerand a minute 'galley'. Platers havealready put in the companionways andalso the coxswain's instrument consolein the wheelhouse (Fig 4). Now, for the

wheelhouse, joiners will be constructingthe chart table, benches to carry theradios and the engine gauges, book-racks and stowages for essential equip-ment. In the after cabin there will be awooden bench seat for survivors downboth sides, and once again each willhave a locker underneath.

Many of the hull and the majority ofmachinery and electrical items for theFSB are purchased and supplied by theRNLI through its depot organisation.There is regular liaison between thebuilding yard and the RNLI's drawingoffice in Poole and all the work is car-ried out in conjunction with RNLI offi-cials to ensure the highest standards inall respects in the finished boat.

(to be continued)

Fig 4: Coxswain's instrument console in placeat forward end of wheelhouse ready to receivesteering wheel and instruments (left) andradar display unit (right). Seats for coxswainand navigator will be fitted aft of the consolein the lower part of which can be- seen the foolrests.

Fig 1: Port engine has beenlowered into place in engineroom by crane.

' -

Figs 2 and 3 (below): Aftercabin superstructure, made ofaluminium alloy, is also liftedon board by crane and gentlylowered into position.

239

Books . . .• Sailing Years, an autobiography byK. Adlard Coles (Granada Publishing,£9.95) is .fascinating reading becausealongside the tales of this well-knownsailor there emerges the story of thedevelopment of sailing and racingoffshore. I also appreciated the candourwith which the author, splendid seamanthat he is, nevertheless relates his earlymistakes; one learns from one's ownmistakes but it is less painful to learnfrom those of others! Yachtsmen havealways been a very generous race.

When reading the book, which Ifound hard to put down, it is inevitablethat a sailor will compare his ownexperiences with those recounted,although few of us can go back to thosereally early days we read about andwhich so fire the imagination.—E.J.

• Determined that the long absencesfrom home inevitable in the life of anineteenth-century merchant seamanshould not estrange him from his youngchildren, Captain Robert Thomas, mas-ter of the iron sailing ship Merioneth,set himself the task of writing down allthe main events of his life for his eldestdaughter, Catherine Bruce. It was 1883and his 'dear Brusey' was but five yearsold.

'// has often come to mind to give you ashort history of my life, for as I am so littlewith you, you will know but little of mypast life . . .'

It took Captain Thomas the fivemonths of a voyage out of PenarthRoads to San Francisco to complete his'diary' and this very human, but in noway condescending, document was fol-lowed by many letters both to Bruseyand to his second daughter, Cecilia.There is something both deeplytouching and reassuring when a fathercan bridge the distance, perhaps fromthe other side of the world, to teachsuch little girls the meaning of nauticalterms and to tell them about the coun-tries he visited, about the state of thesea, about how icebergs are formed orabout the origin of the Gulf Stream;about loading ship . . . about, in fact,whatever formed a part of his life:

'My dear child perhaps it will be well forme to tell you something aboutquarantine . . .'

'Now you must know that to lose a rud-der is indeed a sad thing for nothing canbe done with a ship without a rudder . . . "

'My darling children, I am now in whatwe call the "doldrums", just between thetwo trade winds . . . "

'Isuppose my little girl don't know whata log is so I must try and explain . . . "

'My little girl must know being such anold sailor that the way we talk at sea are byflags . . .'

Captain Thomas's love and persever-

ance were well rewarded; no father anddaughter could ever have been closerthan he and his darling Brusey. Shecrossed the world to be with him in hislast illness and she kept and treasuredall his letters and other papers. Theywere handed down to her nephew, Reg-inald Froom and it is on these writingsthat Aled Eames has based his bookShip Master: the Life and Letters of Cap-tain Robert Thomas of Llandwrog andLiverpool, 1843-1903 (Gwynedd ArchivesService, price £2.95). Here, mostly inhis own words, is a record of the experi-ences of a Victorian seaman, sailing inslate schooners, in the salt fish trade ofNewfoundland and finally as master offull-rigged ships in the Cape Horn andFar East trades. A book that is good toread.—J.D.

• During the nineteenth and earlytwentieth centuries the ships of theRoyal Navy were transformed from thecreaking wood and rigging type of Nel-son's day to the forerunners of today'ssleek battleships, and they reigned su-preme on the oceans. In his book RuleBritannia—The Victorian and Edwar-dian Navy (Routledge and Kegan Paul,£8.95), Peter Padfield explores the wayof life in the navy during this time ofchange, telling how legends were made,of battles that were won and lost, andhow the men lived and amused them-selves, often letting the sailors tell thestories in their own words, using ex-tracts from their diaries.—s.c.

• Schoonerman by Captain RichardEngland (Hollis and Carter, £8.95) isthe personal account of the master/owner of the last fully-rigged merchantschooner to trade under sail around ourcoasts. It brings together in a most read-able form both a factual account of thedecline in the schooner trade and an in-sight into the dogged determination of afamily devoted to sail and the sea to ex-tract a living for themselves and theircrews against insuperable odds.

Mention is made of a number ofRNLI rescues, but alas there was noopportunity for such assistance to beavailable to Nellie Bywater when atChristmastide 1951 she was caught inthe same gale as Flying Enterprise, withtragic consequences. One cannot helpbut be moved by the graphic and com-pelling reading which is well supportedby photographs, plans and a good glos-sary for those who find it hard to differ-entiate between a catstopper and abulldog grip.—R.M.S.P.

• Three new booklets each concen-trating on a particular part of the coasthave recently been published.

Jeff Morris and Dave Hendy haveadded to their collection of local stationhistories by recording Eastbourne'sstory from 1822 to the present day. TheStory of the Eastbourne Lifeboats,

generously illustrated with old and up-to-date photographs, faithfully recordsthe active lives of the 11 lifeboats thathave been stationed at Eastbourne overthe past 160 years. Both this and Gor-don R. Zeller's The Story of the 'Bolton'Lifeboats at Kessingland are printed byJeff Morris and generously sold in aid ofthe RNLI, each price 75p plus 25p post-age and packing. The Story of the East-bourne Lifeboats is available from MrD. Huggett, c/o The Lifeboat Museum,Grand Parade, Eastbourne, East Sus-sex; The Story of the 'Bolton' Lifeboatsis available from the author at 227Longfield Road, Bolton, LancashireBL3 3SY.

Generosity in fund raising explainsthe title of Gordon Zeller's bookletwhich gives an intriguing history of howthe people of inland Bolton organisedthemselves into raising money for 'oneor more lifeboats'. The unlikely link be-tween the people of Bolton and the tinySuffolk village of Kessingland wasforged when their first lifeboat was sta-tioned there in 1870. In 1893 a second'Bolton' lifeboat replaced the first atKessingland and with the help of somecontemporary photographs the authordescribes the design of these two pullingand sailing lifeboats and relates their31 services at this station.

Grahame Farr has produced the sixthin his most valuable series of papers onlifeboat history. His story of The Lin-colnshire Coast Shipwreck Association1827-1864 records the activities of theindependent organisation that ran sevenlifeboat stations in the county beforethe RNLI took over in 1864. Thirty-nine services were rendered by theassociation's lifeboats during its historyand a brief description is given of eachof these. The booklet is available, price60p, from Graham Farr, 98 CombeAvenue, Portishead, Bristol BS20 9JX;money should be sent with orders, please.—E.w.-w.

• The Ship, a series of ten books rep-resenting an authoritative short historyof ship development, has been pub-lished by Her Majesty's StationeryOffice in conjunction with the NationalMaritime Museum, Greenwich. Thelast three volumes, now in print, are:Rafts, Boats and Ships from PrehistoricTimes to the Medieval Era, by SeanMcGrail; Tiller and Whipstaff, the De-velopment of the Sailing Ship 1400-1700,by Alan McGowan; and The Revolutionin Merchant Shipping 1950-1980, byEwan Corlett. Like the others, thesethree volumes are available, price £2.95each, through booksellers, Governmentbookshops and the National MaritimeMuseum. Clearly written and ably illus-trated, they trace the development ofthe ship from raft and sailing to themodern fleet of today.

The last volume, written by EwanCorlett, is a most interesting descriptionof the advance in ship design this cen-tury from the Blue Ribbon liners of the

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North Atlantic to the container ship andmodern car ferry. Those of us who stillthink of the simple propeller and thetriple expansion steam engine as beingthe basic propulsion are in for a rudeshock. Constant speed diesels develop-ing 50,000 shaft horse power, variablepitch propellers and bow thrusters havetransformed ship handling techniques.Anyone interested in the sea will findthese volumes fascinating reading.—E.F.P.

• Next year's almanacs are comingout. Reed's Nautical Almanac 1982(Thomas Reed Publications Ltd) has awaterproof cover, bolder print and isimproved in many other ways, includingtidal predictions of high and low water.At £8.95 this must represent for thesame size of book the usual good value.

Channel West and Solent: A NauticalAlmanac for Yachtsmen (ChannelPress, £7.95) has expanded its coverageand, as intended, presents in easy forminformation on tides and all aspects of

particular interest to yachtsmen. Thesearch and rescue section, in keepingwith the almanac itself, covers bothsides of the English Channel west ofNewhaven to Fecamp.—E.J.

• Advanced Sailboat Cruising(Nautical, £9.95) pools the considerableexperience of three seamen of longstanding to offer guidance to cruisingyachtsmen who would like to undertakelonger passages than average or whowould like to be able to embark withconfidence on short passages undermore arduous conditions than theymight previously have considered pos-sible. It is written for the skipper whorealises that if his cruising is to be enjoy-able it must be well planned on a basisof sound knowledge.

The first part, concerned with choiceof boat, is written by Colin Mudie, anaval architect and a seaman of un-usually wide experience who explainsclearly the effects of different designcharacteristics on a yacht's perform-

ance. Colin Mudie is one of those peo-ple who generously put their wisdom atthe disposal of the RNLI by acting as amember of its Technical ConsultativeCommittee.

Geoff Hales, a trans-ocean sailor, de-votes his section of the book to 'a bettercruising style', concentrating on equip-ment, seamanship and navigation, whileMichael Handford, a former director ofCranfield Sails and a specialist on sailsfor long distance passage making, dis-cusses the yacht's rig.—J.D.

• Just out is a new edition of Brown'sPocket-Book for Seamen compiled byGerald Forsberg, QBE FNI, MasterMariner, and published by Brown, Sonand Ferguson (£10). It will be of par-ticular interest to professional seamenof all sorts. It would also certainly makea good present to a young man keen toimprove his way of life at sea or to any-body wishing to have facts, figures, tips,wrinkles and a note of particular refer-ence books readily available.—E.J.

ObituariesReigate and Redhill branch has suf-

fered the loss of its president and bothvice-presidents in less than a year: CdrJ. D. Walters, RN, was chairman duringthe 1939 to 1945 war and was subse-quently president. George A. Hodg-kins, a vice-president and for a shorttime president of the branch, donatedto the RNLI a D class inflatable lifeboatwhich was stationed at Humbermouthfor some years and also, with a gener-ous gift, substantially defrayed the cost

of establishing an Atlantic 21 station atBrighton. The second vice-presidentwas Joseph F. Winter, QBE, who, afterworking in the RNLI South East Dis-trict office from 1954 to 1968, gave un-stinted voluntary service to the branch.

It is also with deep regret that we re-port the following deaths.May

Mrs R. G. Phillips, vice-president ofTynemouth guild since 1972, after serv-ing as chairman from 1952. Mrs Phillipswas awarded the silver badge in 1965and the gold badge in 1972. In 1967 she

Fourteenth RNLI national lotteryTHE RNU was lucky to have 'two' well-known personalities at the draw of thefourteenth national lottery of July 21.Before an audience of AmericanBranch committee members, repre-sentatives of Hilbourne Junior Guildand staff members from Barclays Inter-national, impressionist Janet Brownpulled out the winning tickets from thedrum, and then 'Margaret Thatcher'made an impromptu speech and spoke

Fourteenth RNLI national lottery draw: asJanet Brown pulls out each winning ticketJoyce Pearce of the Appeals Departmentmakes an immediate record of name andnumber.

of her many lifeboat friends in Flambor-ough, Bridlington and Scarborough.The draw was supervised by Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Compston, a deputychairman of the RNLI, and Cdr TedPritchard, appeals secretary. The lot-tery raised more than £28,000 and theprize winners were:

£1,000: J. A. Looker, Wolverhampton, WestMidlands.£500: K. G. James, Alton, Hampshire.£250: Mrs A. R. Wright, Fareham, Hamp-shire.£25: B. D. Faunce, Sevenoaks, Kent; N.Gooch, Tunbridge Wells, Kent; Mrs J. Sher-wood, Southwold, Suffolk; Barry Stemp,Bognor Regis, Sussex; D. Elliott, LondonEC2; Gillian Bricknall, Cowdenbeath, Fife;N. A. Davies, Weybridge, Surrey; A. C.Wilkins, Birmingham; J. P. Dodd, Preston,Lancashire; R. Downes, Bristol, Avon.

The draw for the fifteenth nationallottery will be on October 30.

Miss Brown also drew the winningticket for an American branch raffle,the prize being a cruise on the P and Oliner Canberra, generously donated bythe cruise line; it was won by MrsRogers of Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

attended the reception and cocktailparty given by Princess Marina to markthe Princess's 25 years as President ofthe RNLI.July

George Lamey, coxswain of Clovellylifeboat from 1935 to 1955, having pre-viously served as a crew member from1919 to 1929, as bowman from 1929 to1932 and as second coxswain from 1932to 1935. Mr Lamey was awarded thebronze medal in 1954. In recent yearshe has collected almost £12,000 for theRNLI.

Arthur Liddon, coxswain/mechanicof Dover lifeboat from 1967 to 1979,having previously served as a crewmember from 1950 to 1952, as assistantmechanic from 1952 to 1966 and assecond coxswain from 1966 to 1967. MrLiddon was awarded the silver medal in1975 and was accorded the thanks of theInstitution inscribed on vellum in 1977.

William James Gould, coxswain ofPwllheli lifeboat from 1943 to 1960,having previously served as a crewmember from 1918 to 1934, as bowmanfrom 1934 to 1937 and as second cox-swain from 1937 to 1942.August

Joe Clark, president of Hakin Pointbranch. Mr Clark had been a most dedi-cated and active member of the branchfrom the time of its formation in 1974.

Leonard Rowland Stedman, vice-chairman of Farnham, Surrey, branchsince 1975 before which he had givenmany years of very active support.

At the request of Mrs Sylvia Windle,gifts amounting to £513.74 in memoryof her husband, the late Gordon Windleformer North Sea Ferries manager forBelgium, were donated to the RNLI.Captain Wally Patch, master of MV Nor-wave, received the cheque on behalf ofthe Institution.

241

Letters...Lottery—win and share

This morning I had numerous bills inthe first post and was wondering how topay them when I opened your letter ofJuly 21 notifying me of my tremendousluck in winning £1,000 in the RNLInational lottery. I thank you very muchfor your cheque and for your prompt-ness. The draw was on July 21 and myprize was delivered to me first post onJuly 22. Well done.

As an old age pensioner this win, myfirst ever, will come in very useful.Being ex-RN (4'/2 years war service) Ifull understand the vagaries of the seafrom calm to really great storms, andtherefore appreciate the hazards andgreat risks undertaken by the RNLI; soI am enclosing a cheque for £30 which Idonate to the RNLI . . . Again I saythank you very much.—j. A. LOOKER,Wolverhampton.

Many thanks for your letter of July 21with the cheque for my lottery prize.Definitely my lucky day since I rarelywin anything in such events.

I enclose herewith my cheque for £50as a donation to help the good work andperhaps you would credit this to theAlton band of helpers to boost theirefforts.—K. G. JAMES, Alton, Hants.

Thank you, Mr Looker and Mr James,for so generously sharing your goodfortune with the lifeboat service.

MemorialA committee of the Burrow Resi-

dents Association, Rosslare, has de-cided to erect a suitable memorial to 11brave lifeboatmen from the little hamletwho performed deeds of outstandingheroism over the four days, February 20to 23, 1914, in the Wexford No. 1 sta-

tion lifeboat James Stevens No. 15 at thewreck of the schooner Mexico onKeeragh Rocks.

Although decorated by the King ofNorway and awarded RNLI medals, thelocal people were too poor to com-memorate these lifeboatmen at home.Now we have collected £1,500 of the£3,500 necessary to do them honour,and we are raffling a scale model ofErskine Childers' Asgard II, now atraining vessel for Irish sailors, to helpthe fund. The memorial will consist of alimestone column surmounted by thebronze head of a lifeboatman to repre-sent all the brave men of the service.—w. i. MURPHY, organiser, Drimagh,Rosslare, Co. Wexford.

On February 20, 1914, the Norwegianschooner Mexico, bound from SouthAmerica to Liverpool with a cargo ofmahogany logs, was driven ashore bygales on South Keeragh Island. Fethardlifeboat was launched but capsized, nineof her crew of 14 being drowned. The re-maining five gained the island from wherethey helped eight of the crew of Mexico toget ashore. Despite efforts by Kilmore,Dunmore East and Wexford lifeboats, itwas impossible to reach the castaway menuntil, on February 23, two men were res-cued by Dunmore East lifeboat and ten byWexford. One man died on the island.Among medals awarded, Edward Wick-ham, coxswain of Wexford lifeboat, re-ceived a bar to his silver medal, and silvermedals were awarded to Crew MembersJames Wickham and William Duggan,two men who put off from Wexford life-boat in a punt veered down to save themen on South Keeragh Island.—EDITOR.

Great great . . .I am enclosing a cheque (£1) for you

that my friends and I collected. Wemade it by getting a badge collectionand letting people have a look. They

could also buy biscuits, drinks andsweets. We chose to give the money toyou because my great great grandfatherwas a lifeboat coxswain and he wasawarded the RNLI gold medal for brav-ery and skill. He was Coxswain Owen ofHolyhead lifeboat.

My friends are Robert Kelly, NathanSpencer, Stephen Osmotherly, DarenPickles and Richard Duncan. I hope themoney helps to save a life; we all thinkyou are very brave.—ANTHONYOSMOTHERLEY, 5 Hollin Crescent, Leeds.

Coxswain William Owen was awardedthe gold medal and each of the other tenmembers of his crew the silver medal forthe service on February 22, 1908, to theLiverpool steamer ss Harold. The steamlifeboat Duke of Northumberland wentout in a whole gale. She found Haroldanchored not far from the shore close tothe rocks between the headlands known asthe North and South Stacks. A terrible seawas running and it was only after twohours of the most skilful and hazardousmanoeuvring by Coxswain Owen that thelifeboat was able to get close enough to thesteamer for ropes to be thrown and thesteamer's crew of nine to be hauled onboard. The lifeboat herself was in greatdanger of being flung against the steamerand destroyed.—EDITOR.

HMS CaptainI just wanted to say 'thank you' for

publishing my letter about HMS Captain(THE LIFEBOAT, Spring 1981). I have-hadso many letters from readers, all ofthem giving information and anecdotesabout relatives who were involved,either in Captain herself or who were inother ships of the line when the tragedyoccurred.

The 'scroll' about which I enquiredoriginally would appear to be in allprobability a press cutting from a maga-zine or newspaper of September, 1870,which my grandmother had framed.

Again very many thanks to you andto the readers who wrote to me. I seemto have made many new friends!—EMMELINE HARDY, Pollards, 9 DurlstonRoad, Swanage, Dorset.

Hyannis to Rocklandfrom page 233

were asked regarding the operation of avoluntary lifeboat service outside Gov-ernment control. The predominantlyshore based role of HM Coastguard wasa fact which many of the audience foundhard to understand.

Since the forum was not a trade show,as at Hyannis, various commercial in-terests had established individual tradedisplays in their hotel rooms; it isapparently a feature of this annualevent that after conference hours every-one tours the hotels and samples thehospitality offered by each firm.

The evening culminated in a dinnerand dance and I was glad that the fol-lowing day was spent visiting my host'sfamily on the journey south to BostonAirport for the return flight to England.

One aspect of the visit which took metotally by surprise was the effort madeby my English host, wearing his journal-ist's hat, to trace for me various Pennellnamesakes around the small settlementof Pennellville, Maine. Americans seemto place far more importance on lineagethan do we, and I was rather embarras-sed by my own lack of knowledge.Thankfully my distant ancestors wereshipbuilders in the eighteenth century,which at least implied a natural descent.

The week was an experience I shallnot forget and the hospitality over-whelming—more than seven dayswould require a full fitness trainingprogramme. My suits spent eight daysunworn and I was all but forbidden towear a tie—thank goodness for the'woolly pully'!

I hope that the many formal and in-formal discussions in which I was in-

volved will eventually lead to a moreactive voluntary lifesaving organisationon the New England Coast, but moneyand many more dedicated men will beneeded. The most surprising thing tolearn was that most of the rural firebrigades in existence in the UnitedStates already operate in a manner verysimilar to the average RNLI stationbranch, with fund-raising events aug-menting the locally levied rates, whichfund the operational unit, yet few peo-ple had considered equating this orga-nisation with marine search and rescueor a lifeboat fleet.

One last impression of the visit, muchof which was spent 'on the road': thecleanliness and cheerful service at allthe roadside cafes and restaurants. As aDI shortly returning to the coast, Ifound this aspect of American life parti-cularly pleasing; I hope that I may findthe like when travelling in the UK!

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ShorelineSection

THE COMPETITION for the Renault STLcar is still progressing well. The drawwill be made at the Motor Fair at EarlsCourt on October 28 and the lucky win-ner will be published in the next issue ofTHE LIFEBOAT. Your response has beenmost encouraging, particularly becauseit has helped us to continue our upwardgrowth despite the difficult times inwhich we live. The next peak to bescaled, 100,000 members, is now withinour sights, but there is still a hard climbahead. Only with your help can thismagic figure be reached—and passed;we are confident that, as always, thathelp will be forthcoming.

Shoreline is just what it says: supportfrom the shore for the lifeboat crews atsea. In effect, each Shoreline memberreaches out a hand to the lifeboatmanwho is reaching out to grasp the hand inthe water. And about 1,000 people arerescued from the sea each year becausethe lifeboatman is there to grasp thathand. Many people help the RNLI inmany different ways, but the particularvalue of Shoreline's financial support isthat, through subscription, it provides aregular and growing source of incomeon which the Institution can count whenplanning for the future.

As it was announced in the last jour-nal, for the first time since the schemewas introduced in 1969, membershipsubscriptions will increase on Novem-ber 1, 1981: the annual subscription fora member will rise from £3 to £5 and forfamily membership from £5 to £7.50. Itwas thought that the new rates would begenerally regarded as reasonable. Hereis the response of one member:

7 would say the changes are more thanreasonable, they are very small. At presentI am paying £3 under a deed of covenant—would you please release me from thatcontract and replace it with a new deed ofcovenant for £15 . . .'

Welcome, to a new governor!Of course, if a subscription is coven-

anted, the income it brings to the life-boat service is considerably increasedwithout extra cost to the subscriber; weare only too pleased to send informa-tion about the way covenants work andhow they can be entered into to thosepeople who would like to make theirhelp even more effective in this way.

Shoreline has only grown as it has be-cause of the personal support of you, itsmembers. It is your enthusiasm whichhas carried the day when friends, neigh-bours and relatives have been consider-ing adding their weight to the line. Weknow that you will continue to give your

own support and to encourage others tojoin you.

* * *

Mrs Nora Neill has been collectingGreen Shield stamps for Shoreline forsome years. This year alone she hasalready sent us £650 raised in this way.If anyone has odd stamps or books tuck-ed away they would be a welcome boostto the campaign; so please send any youcan spare to Mrs Neill, 95 Fitzroy Ave-nue, Harborne, Birmingham B17 8RG.

* * *While Shoreline is essentially an indi-

vidual approach to lifeboat support, insix areas around the country Shorelinemembers have formed clubs so thatpeople with mutual interest in the life-boat service can meet together and en-joy each other's society. Regular clubmeetings are arranged and a list of theclubs is given below together with somenotes about their activities and thename and address of each honorarysecretary. New members are alwaysmade most welcome:Portsmouth, Shoreline Club No 1:Meets every fourth Wednesday in themonth, except in July and August, atthe Tudor Sailing Club, Eastern Road,Portsmouth. Information from RayDoran, 5 The Close, Cosham. Tel.Cosham 374300.Southampton, Shoreline Club No 2:Meets every third Thursday in themonth, at 8 pm, at the Golf Pavilion,Golf Course Road, Southampton. In-formation from John Davies, 88 Kings-way, Hiltingbury, Chandlers Ford,Hampshire. Future events include:October 15, talk, 'Flying with 609Squadron'. November 19, talk, 'RoyalNaval Reserve'. December 17, Amer-ican supper and films. January 21, 1982,AGM and films.Southend-on-Sea, Shoreline Club No. 3:Meets every second Wednesday in themonth at T.E.A.C., 111 Eastern Espla-nade, Southend-on-Sea. Informationfrom Mr M. A. Holland, 83 Walsing-ham Road, Southend-on-Sea, Essex.Tel. 0702 68794.Milton Keynes, Shoreline Club No. 4:Meets every second Wednesday in themonth at the Wolverton Park SportsAssociation Club House, directly be-hind Wolverton station. Informationfrom Denis J. Horgan, 172 BradwellCommon Boulevard, Milton Keynes,Buckinghamshire. Tel. 0908 674900.

Leeds, Shoreline Club No. 5: Meets ev-ery first Tuesday in the month, at 7.45pm, at the Victoria Hotel. Informationfrom Ian Moses, Park House, HarehillsPark, 92 Coldcotes Avenue, Harehills,Leeds, West Yorkshire. Tel. Leeds.654274.Basildon, Shoreline Club No. 6: Meetsevery second Thursday in the month, at8 pm, at St Martin's Church Hall, TownCentre, Basildon. Information from thehonorary treasurer, Mrs Searle, 16Lampit Hill, Corringham, Essex. Tel.Stanford-Le-Hope 74592.

* * *There are several commercial offers

from which Shoreline members canbenefit. We have special arrangementswith the following three organisations:

Fred Olsen Lines are offering fourspecial holidays to our members andtheir families:1. A week's holiday at the Hotel Pre-

luna, Malta, from Sunday December6 to Sunday December 13, 1981.Price £177 per person.

2. A weekend coach tour of the Dutchbulb fields, April 1982. Price about£90 to £100 per person.

3. Two weeks tour of Canada, flying toVancouver, June 1982. Price about£650 per person.

4. A week's cruise on the River Rhinein luxurious vessels. September andOctober 1982. Price £230 per person.

I can assure you, you will be given avery good time and the accommodationwill be first class. If you are interestedinformation can be obtained from MrD. Cooper, Travel Time, 1 HanoverStreet, London, W1R SAP. Tel. 01-4081886.

Mercantile Credit offers special rateson all loans to our members. Informa-tion from Mercantile Credit Co., Ltd.,PO Box No. 75, Elizabethan House,Great Queen Street, London, WC2B5DP. Tel. 01-242 1234.

Aegis Insurance offers special ratesand advice on all insurances to ourmembers. Information from Aegis In-surance Group Ltd., Aegis House, Cas-tle Hill, Maidenhead, Berkshire. Tel.0628 23484.

Remember, if you support any ofthese enterprises you are not only get-ting a good deal yourself but the RNLIalso benefits considerably.—PETER HOL-NESS, membership secretary, RNLI,West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset, BH151HZ.

To: The Director, RNLI, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 1HZ.I enclose subscription to join Shoreline as an:

Name

Address

Over 106,

Annual MemberAnnual Family MembershipAnnual Member and GovernorLife member and GovernorSend me details of how I can help with a

£5.00 (minimum) D£7.50 (minimum) D£15.00 (minimum) D£150.00 (minimum) D -Legacy. D

500 people would have been lost without the lifeboat service.

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iti

Two teams of 16 rowers took turns to achieve a 24-hour sponsored row in Plymouth Sound.They came from the Plymouth School of Maritime Studies and organised the strenuous eventthemselves under the guidance of the school's head, Captain T. C. Nelson. Their efforts in this32ft cutter brought in £1,300. photograph by courtesy of 'Western Morning News'

(Some

Lt E. Gough, the RNLI's staff officer(Communications), sent the messageUniform Whisky One (UW1) to theBoys' Brigade at Aigburth, Liverpool,after they had raised £36 by mountinga display about the sea, doing figuremarching dressed as sailors, playinggames and singing songs and finallyperforming a mime in costume ofJonah and the Whale. Earlier in theyear Ernie Gough had advised the boysabout signal flags to be used in a dis-play. His final signal to them—UW1—translated read: 'Thank you very muchfor your co-operation. I wish you apleasant voyage'.

Wyboston Sailing Club, St Neots,Cambridge, organised its twelfth spon-sored sail for the RNLI on June 20.Over £10,000 had already been raised inprevious years and this year some£1,500 was amassed for the lifeboats.Competitors sailed 453.1 sponsoredmiles and the winners, 'Rank Optimists'of Welwyn Garden City SC, covered41.4 miles in the allotted ten hours.BAC Stevenage, the team who pre-sented a paddle as the booby prize forthe race, found that they got it backwhen their boat finished last.

The children at Weston All Saints'Junior School, Bath, gave a concert inMay with the theme of a VictorianNight Out. Suitably dressed up theysang and danced their way to raising £37for the RNLI.

Petersfield branch held a cocktail par-ty at Sheet House, the home of MajorGeneral Sir Humphry and Lady Tolle-mache, on June 6. A great many peoplecontributed to the success of the even-ing, which raised £1,150 for the life-boats, and particular thanks were givento the Sheet Guides who had helped inmany ways.

Dunstable branch has raised £5,000since it was re-formed in 1978 throughbonfire parties, barbecues, flag daysand cheese and wine evenings. In June abarbecue and country evening broughtin £620. Icknield Wayfarers Folk Groupprovided music and entertainment, andthere was also a disco for the energetic.Branch chairman, Dr John Clark, andhis vice-president, Mike Press, spentmuch of the time grilling steaks, whilevast quantities of strawberries andcream added to everyone's enjoymentof the evening.

If the circumference of the BewlBridge Reservoir on the borders ofKent and Sussex is 17 miles and if 145sponsored walkers complete this dis-tance, what is the sum of money theyraised for the RNLI? Answer: over£1,000 thanks to the efforts of Cran-brook, Wadhurst and Tenterdenbranches who organised the event at theinstigation of Mrs Audrey Reading. JoeMartin, coxswain of Hastings lifeboat,started the walk officially, needless tosay in pouring rain.

So far Mr Rowson, husband ofWainfleet guild secretary, has made£150 for the lifeboats by making andselling very attractive solitaire games.They are proving so popular throughoutLincolnshire that he is still working hardat them.

In addition to the magnificent£300,000 gift from the FreemasonsUnited Grand Lodge of England earlierthis year, the RNLI still receivesgenerous support from individuallodges. Brother A. Gow, WorshipfulMaster of Tracery Lodge No. 4719, is ashoreline member and he arranged for£72 raised by a raffle at his ladies' even-ing to be sent to the lifeboats. Earlier inthe year the lodge was able to forward£20 to the Port of Liverpool and Districtbranch of the RNLI.

Mrs Ann Williams, a member ofMoelfre ladies' guild, gave a demon-stration of flower arranging at the localcommunity centre in April. The numer-ous guests were served with coffee andbiscuits which brought in £51.50 and afurther £18.00 was raised when MrsWilliams kindly donated the flowersand arrangements for raffle prizes.

Tiverton branch not only raisesmoney by street and house-to-housecollections and cheese and wine parties;it has been very successful in selling oldnewspapers and especially in sellingwindfall apples to the local cider fac-tory, which this year brought in £120.Other windfalls for the branch weredonations from the Ladies LicencedVictuallers, the Women's Institute andthe Scouts.

At the garden fete and disco held atthe home of Mr and Mrs R. Haszard ofChapel Leasowe, Milford, Staffordbranch was lent free of charge a mobilegenerator by Bowmaker Plant for thelighting and power supply; £249.40 wasraised at this function. A dance washeld a month later making £119 andduring the branch's flag week a total of£1,091.23 was collected.

A very successful coffee morning orga-nised by Mrs S. Hill of Tonbridgebranch and held at the home of Mr andMrs H. Veall, Gonerils Farm, Five OakGreen, raised an impressive £280.02.

244

There was no way of mistaking for which cause this^ Brightonsponsored walk was organised. A scaled-down replica of a pull-ing lifeboat was hauled along the route by some of the walkers.Their long, hard pull brought a haul in sponsorship of over£1,100.

Coming from as far afield as Ireland and Humberside, 116 entries made thethird Great Tweed Raft Race a huge crowd puller with 15,000 people liningthe river bank. There were two categories: fancy dress rafts and speedsters, allof which had to complete a seven-mile course from Kelso to Carham. Thewinner of the fancy dress section was a remarkable one-tenth scale model ofHMS Cossack, a 1936 destroyer (above). The famous Hercules the bear was aspecial guest on the day and Liberal Party leader David Steel started the race.The whole massive occasion was organised by Round Tables in the Bordersand was sponsored by Matthew Gloag and Son Ltd, makers of FamousGrouse whisky. A staggering £4,250 was eventually handed to the RNL1 as aresult. photograph by courtesy of Tweeddale Press Group

I I

I'll

Despite force 8 gales which made their stock difficult to keep onthetable, the ladies of Ramsey's, IsleofMan, lifeboat guild made£90"at their street fair stall of souvenirs. Many people wereattracted towards them by the Viking boat Odin's Raven justbehind the stand. A few days before the ladies had raised over£600 at their coffee morning. photograph by courtesy of

Don Wilkinson

Oban ladies' guild organised its first raft race on May 23. Although it was achilly Saturday, a large crowd turned out to watch and about £2,500 wasraised in sponsorship and other contributions. First place went to—but, ofcourse!—First Plaice, entered by Golden Seafood Produce.

photograph by courtesy of 'The Oban Times'

Hazlewood Castle, Tadcaster, thehome of the Carmelite Friars, waskindly lent in July for a Glyndebourne-style evening of musical entertainmentunder the patronage of the Marquis ofNormanby, a member of the Commit-tee of Management. Vice-Admiral SirPeter Compston, a deputy chairman ofthe Institution, and Lady Compstonattended this 'Summer Evening' organi-sed by Stephen Wood of Leeds and hisfriends. A wind octet drawn from theEnglish Northern Philharmonia per-formed a serenade. During the intervalthe 200 guests were given a picnic din-ner on the lawns and in the orangery. Aremarkable £2,000 was raised for theRNLI as a result.

An appreciable amount of moneycomes in each year from people whoregularly collect for the lifeboats. MrA. Lemar of the Bull Hotel, Abergele,has sent in two cheques already thisyear for the proceeds of collections andraffles, both, strangely enough, comingto £31. Mrs J. MacFie keeps a collectingbox on the counter at Polegate Fisher-ies; her most recent cheque was for £15.

Disc jockey Paul Kay of the BisquitClub of Selsey survived a 12-hour non-stop marathon road show during whichhe played 673 records and raised over£300. A number of Selsey's lifeboatcrew put in an appearance during theshow including Coxswain Mike Grant;the honorary secretary, Des Cockaynewas also present. Racing driver DerekBell, fresh from his victory at the 24-hour race at Le Mans, also made anappearance. Paul Kay hopes to raise£3,000 by the end of the holiday season.

Bexhill-on-Sea branch sent £8,000 toheadquarters at the end of last year andamong many sources that made up thissum were: £536.80 from Bexhill SailingClub, which has supported the RNLIfor many years, £13 being from theclub's younger members' carol singing;£63.60 as the proceeds of a fashion showheld at Cooden Beach Hotel; £45 froma tournament held at Highwoods GolfClub; and £47.30 from committee mem-ber Mrs Lawrence who makes and sellspeg dolls. The branch has also made agreat deal of money out of souvenirsales at various events.

Plymouth Barbershop Singers verykindly performed at Wembury Peninsu-la branch's recent ball, which raised£77.

As a 'thank you' for generous gifts ofused stamps to help the lifeboat, New-port, Isle of Wight, branch arranged aspecial evening for three Brownie packson June 24. Mr G. H. Baker, the branchpublicity officer, gave a talk on thework of the RNLI illustrated with slidesand Cdr David Webb, chairman ofBembridge lifeboat guild, answered themany questions asked. The Brownieshad come armed with another large giftof used stamps, with a promise of moreto come; they also made an on-the-spotcollection of £11.48 for the lifeboats.

The High Level Ranters played themusic at a barn dance held at Mr andMrs John Moor's Glebe Farm, Whit-burn. The evening was a great successboth socially and financially with a totaltake of £1,500. Mrs Joyce Dixon ischairman of Whitburn ladies' guild, theevent organisers who provided a

245

An auspicious star! for Nottingham's flag day when the Lord Mayorand Lady Mayoress. Councillor and Mrs John Arnold, are the firsttwo to buv a flag. On the left is Colin Westland-Garnett, chairman ofthe flag day committee, with Mrs Phyl Westland-Garnett, and on thefar right William Loxton. Total takings for the day were over £1.300.

photograph by courtesy of 'Nottingham Evening Post"

A profitable partnership (for the lifeboats) was entered into whenEsher branch joined forces with a local smallholder to sell fruit andvegetables as well as RNLI souvenirs at Esher Fair. The entire profit ofover £100 went to the local branch.

On Great Yarmouth and Gorleston flag day.July 15, Danny La Rue, then appearing in hissummer show at Great Yarmouth, came to themarket place lifeboat stall and signed photo-graphs of himself, which he donated, and alsolifeboat cards. In little more than an hour hehad added nearly £50 to the funds. In all,£244 was taken on the souvenir stall.

photograph by courtesy ofGreat Yarmouth Press Agency

// lakes a bit of will power to give up vourdaily bag of crisps at school during Lent butRobert Crumble, aged six, decided this wouldbe his sacrifice for his school's Lenten collec-tion. The money not spent on crisps he do-nated to the RNLI and here he is seen handingover a sum of nearlv £4 to the director. RearAdmiral W. J. Graham, outside the Londonoffice in Lambeth.

ploughman's supper for the 560 guests.Les Brown won the top raffle prize, aportable television, and immediatelyhanded it back to be auctioned. At thisfunction Bill Ayton, past president ofSeaburn Rotary Club, handed over£250, part of the proceeds from a Swim'80 competition.

The town hall at Airdrie was packedwith 850 people when the local lifeboatbranch celebrated its golden jubilee.The occasion, compered by theReverend James Currie, was a Fiddlers'Rally when Ayr and Prestwick Strath-spey and Reel Society performeda wide variety of musical pieces. Theconvenor of the Scottish LifeboatCouncil. Sir Charles McGrigor, waspresent with Lady McGrigor and duringthe evening he presented Airdriebranch with a certificate to mark its 50years of fund raising for the lifeboats.Six-year-old Wendy Anderson had pre-viously won a competition for the de-sign of the cover of the programme andwas a special guest for the evening,which itself raised £1,617.

Carlisle branch has shown how thetried and trusted fund-raising methodsare still very profitable. Its house-to-house collection this year produced£3,769, an increase of £580 over theprevious collection. Throughout thewhole of 1980 the branch brought in£7,390.

Maybe Geoffrey Cox's house guestswere not very pleased when an outsiderwon the British Open Golf Cham-pionship at Sandwich this year, but theRNLI did all right. Geoffrey Cox is anardent supporter of Walmer lifeboatand his guests who were staying for thechampionship decided to guess thename of the winner at £5 a time. No onegot it right so Walmer lifeboat took thewinnings—£60. A week earlier, at themining village of Aylesham, Kent, child-ren from the junior school collected£100 for Walmer prior to a visit to thelifeboat station.

For a change, the endurance of Second Cox-swain Peter Leith of Lerwick is being testedother than by hours spent at sea in bad condi-tions. Here he is seen on the station's openday during an eight-hour non-stop sponsoredorgan playing for which he raised £2,100.Standing beside him is Captain Mitchell ofBristow Helicopters who landed his helicopteralongside the lifeboat and opened it to thepublic.

During their week of fund raising forthe RNLI, customers and staff of theBlue Anchor, Byfleet, gave themselvesthe opportunity to behave badly whenthey dressed up as St Trinian's pupils.£411 was raised throughout the week.

In appreciation of an enjoyable in-structional cruise two Bristol Universitystudents, Brenda and Chris Romans,presented a woolly kangaroo to RRSChallenger, Research Vessel Services.Rather than keep the kangaroo at sea,the ship's officers decided to raffle it attheir main base in Barry and £30 wasraised for the RNLI.

Mr and Mrs John Cooke of BreretonPark Farm, Huxley, Cheshire, kindlylent their farm for a disco supper orga-nised by Christleton branch, and JohnCooke's generosity was rewarded bywinning first prize in the raffle—aDufor Wing sailboard kindly supplied atcost by Chester Sailboard Centre. Theparty, which took place in a beautifullydecorated marquee, altogether raised£1,050 for the lifeboat service.

246

Port Talbot lifeboatmen were invitedto an evening in the Rose and Crown,Briton Ferry, West Glamorgan, on theoccasion of the smashing of a gallonwhisky bottle full of money collected ontheir behalf. Thanks to hosts Frank andShirley Clarke and Bells Whisky Ltd,the food and drinks were free and,thanks to the pub's regulars, £184 was inthe bottle.

Used stamps collected in bulk can beturned into money for the lifeboats. Aclass of six to seven year olds know thisat Malvern Link Infants School and be-tween September 1980 and July 1981they collected (and counted) 61,055stamps.

A Victorian Evening staged in the vil-lage of Kilmacolm raised £800 for theRNLI. Both the concert performers andthe audience wore clothes from the lastcentury and the occasion was acclaimeda great success.

Mr M. N. Cowlin was 50 recently anddecided to ask friends and relations whowere going to give him a present to givea donation to the lifeboats instead.Everyone's generosity led to a chequefor £155 going to the RNLI.

Lifeboat week in Angmering fol-lowed soon after the sad deaths of boththe branch's chairman, Mrs Nell King,in April and the honorary secretary,Miss Frances Ramshaw, in May. Thecommunity was able to show its appre-ciation of these two ladies' services byincreasing the annual contribution from£167 to £242.

Raising the Titanic, or at least raisingthe subject of the Titanic disaster, isMiss Eva Hart's special way of raisingmoney for the RNLI. She is one of thefew people to survive the notorious inci-dent and because of current public in-terest in the possibility of raising thewreck from the seabed, she is in hot de-mand as a speaker to various organi-sations. She does not charge a fee butasks that donations go to the lifeboats.Her first cheque to head office was for£50.

Brede in Sussex only has a populationof about 1,500, but when Rye and Win-chelsea branch held a coffee morning atthis small village it managed to raise£258. The branch is also a very success-ful seller of RNLI lottery tickets and ex-pects to bring in some £50 in this wayeach draw.

When Petts Wood branch gave aspring luncheon in the garden of itschairman, Michael Reynolds, it invitedbranch officers and crew members fromHastings and Dover, to both of whichstations a donation was made. The £537raised included £156 in Shoreline sub-scriptions; one life governor and onemember.

Six friends of Child-wall(Liverpool) branch raised£140 for the RNLI by meansof a sponsored climb, lakingpart in the Spring Bank Holi-day Welsh Three Thousands.They climbed all 14 peaks ofthe course, each more than3,000 feet high, from Snow-don to Foel Fras. The climb-ers: (back row, I. to r.) PeterBeckett, Don Williams andLes George, (front row)Stephen Brown, Andrew Wil-liams and Doug Brown.

Not only does the lifeboat box in thehairdressing salon of Michael James ofGillingham, Kent, do very well indeed,but Mr James, a keen fisherman, takesanother box with him on his fishing tripsand passes it around when the 'catch' isbeing weighed. After the last fishingtrip there was £19.79'/2 in the box—so itmust have been a good 'catch'.

Bristol ladies' guild raised more than£4,500 at its summer ball. Held at thehome of Mr and Mrs Michael Kent atChew Magna, it was a splendid eveningin every way. Even the weather wasgood!

Saturday June 20 was Family Fundayfor Wolverhampton branch, when agarden fete was held at the home of itspresident, Tony Guy. More than £2,000was raised from numerous attractions,ranging from a football wheel whichraised £4.15 to a raffle for Martell bran-dy which brought in almost £1,000.

Kent Schoolboy Scramble Club heldits first two-day charity meeting atLydd-on-Sea, Romney Marsh, on July11 and 12 and raised the magnificentsum of £625 for Dungeness lifeboat sta-tion. More than 120 members, all underthe age of 18, took part in the motor-cycle scrambling.

Flares were lit to illuminate a bar-becue held at Boverton House byLlantwit Major ladies' lifeboat guild.Over 150 people were there to enjoy askittle alley, hoop-la and disco whichwere just some of the attractions. £600was the profit from the evening.

Joan and Margaret Collings of Cam-berley branch held their sixth annualgarden party in June, and by laying ontea and organising stalls selling cakes,white elephant items and RNLI souve-nirs, raised an impressive £425. TheMayor of Surrey Heath, Councillor MrsJoy Reid, was guest of honour. In thesame month 70 people from Camberleywalked a 3'/2 mile course which hap-pened to take in a grand total of 11 pubson the route. With suitable refreshmentat each, they completed the course andraised £750 as a result.

Dr Fergus McKenna visited Skye in the springto give ten different talks about the RNLI todifferent audiences on the Island. Thus en-couraged, Skye branch held an open day atTalisker House which made £450. In front ofTalisker House, with Preshal Mhor in thebackground, stand (I. to r.) Laurie Burton,whose idea sparked off the open day, Mr andMrs Mark Wathen, who kindly allowed theevent to take place at their house, CaptainDarby George, chairman of the branch, andthe musically equipped Vice-Admiral SirRoderick Macdonald.

Going, going, gone. A bottle full of coins andnotes for the lifeboats comes under the ham-mer at the Lord Burleigh, Victoria, London.Landlord Fred Bright (r.) is a keen supporterof the RNLI who always has a giant bottlefilling up. The man with the hammer is PaulHeiney of BBC TVs 'That's Life', himself aShoreline member, and on his left is SuzanneKnapp, secretary of the Central LondonCommittee. This bottle contained £118.25.

247

Lifeboat Servicesfrom page 226

and rough seas. At the request of theCoastguard, Great Yarmouth and Gor-leston's Atlantic 21 was launched withHelmsman Colin Staples in command.However, when the lifeboat arrived onscene the man had succeeded in res-cuing his dog and both were safely onland.

Lifeboat Services,March, April andMay, 1981Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire54ft Arun: April 14D class inflatable: April 7 and 13Aberdovey, GwyneddRelief Atlantic 21: May 3Abersoch, GwyneddAtlantic 21: April 19 (twice)Aberystwyth, DyfedRelief D class inflatable: March 1D class inflatable: April 13 and 14Aldeburgh, SuffolkRelief 42ft Watson: March 2742ft Beach: May 25D class inflatable: April 20 and May 25Amble, NorthumberlandD class inflatable: May 10Angle, DyfedRelief 46ft 9in Watson: April 24 and May 13Appledore, North Devon47ft Watson: May 14Atlantic 21: April 5, May 10 and 14Arbroath, AngusD class inflatable: May 10Arklow, Co. Wicklow42ft Watson: April 6Arran (Lamlash), ButeshireD class inflatable: April 24, May 17 and 24Arranmore, Co. Donegal52ft Barnett: March 13, 14, 22 and April 22Atlantic College (St Donat's Castle), SouthGlamorganAtlantic 21: April 18Relief Atlantic 21: May 19 and 24Ballycotton, Co. Cork52ft Barnett: April 26Baltimore, Co. Cork47ft Watson: March 24 and May 14Barmouth, GwyneddRelief D class inflatable: May 10Barra Island, Inverness-shire52ft Barnett: March 9, April 26 and 28Barrow, CumbriaD class inflatable: May 16Barry Dock, South Glamorgan52ft Arun: April 6 and 19Beaumaris, GwyneddAtlantic 21: May 6 and 8Bembridge, Isle of Wight48ft din Solent: April 8 and 28D class inflatable: April 8, 28 and May 27Berwick-upon-Tweed, NorthumberlandAtlantic 21: May 15 and 16Blackpool, LancashireD class inflatables: March 31, April 12, 21(twice), 22 and May 31Relief D class inflatable: April 15,21 (twice)and 22Borth, DyfedD class inflatable: April 17, 19, 23 and May21Bridlington, Humberside37ft Oakley: April 24D class inflatable: May 27

Brighton, East SussexRelief Atlantic 21: March 11, 30, April 16,19 and May 9Broughty Ferry, AngusD class inflatable: March 3Buckie, Banffshire47ft Watson: May 23Bude, CornwallD class inflatable: April 19 and 20Burnham-on-Crouch, EssexD class inflatable: April 29, May 2 and 23Burry Port, DyfedD class inflatable: April 11, 30, May 24 and28Calshot, HampshireRelief 46ft 9in Watson: March 8, April 26,May 3, 16 (twice) and 25Campbeltown, Argyllshire52ft Arun: May 23 (twice)Cardigan, DyfedD class inflatable: May 24Clacton-on-Sea, EssexD class inflatable: May 9 and 12Clovelly, North Devon70ft Clyde: March 1, 18, April 1, 20, 26, 27,May 10 and 25Conwy, GwyneddD class inflatable: March 1 and May 2Criccieth, GwyneddRelief D class inflatable: April 13 and 19Cromer, NorfolkD class inflatable: May 1 and 24Cullercoats, Tyne and WearD class inflatable: April 12Donaghadee, Co. DownRelief 44ft Waveney: March 17 and April 1244ft Waveney: May 3 and 22Douglas, Isle of Man46ft 9in Watson: March 19 and May 31Dover, KentRelief 44ft Waveney: March 13, April 15 and1750ft Thames: May 25Dungeness, Kent37ft 6in Rather: April 15, May 1, 3 and 9Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin44ft Waveney: March 10, 23 and 29Dunmore East, Co. Waterford44ft Waveney: March 21, April 19, 25 andMay 19Eastbourne, East Sussex37ft 6in Rather: March 18, 19, 22, May 16and 20D class inflatable: April 21 and May 4Exmouth, South DevonD class inflatable: April 10 and May 3Eyemouth, BerwickshireRelief 47ft Watson: May 13Falmouth, Cornwall52ft Arun: April 4, 18, 20 and May 1618ft 6in McLachlan: March 1, 3, April 5, 8,16 and 17Filey, North Yorkshire37ft Oakley: March 29D class inflatable: April 30Flamborough, Humberside35ft 6in Liverpool: May 1, 9, 28 and 31Fleetwood, LancashireRelief 46ft 9in Watson: April 6 and 10D class inflatable: March 7, 8, April 5, 6, 13,26, May 3 and 13Flint, ClwydD class inflatable: May 13 and 31Fowey, Cornwall46ft Watson: May 10Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire48ft din Solent: May 1Galway Bay, Co. GalwayRelief 52ft Barnett: March 1, 9, 25, April 5,9, 19,25, May 6, 17 and 31Great Yarmouth and Gorleston, Norfolk44ft Waveney: March 21 (twice), April 7, 19,25 and May 13Atlantic 21: March 12, 21 (twice), April 1, 5,

12 (twice), 19, 26, May 3, 13, 24, 25 and 30Hartlepool, Cleveland44ft Waveney: April 3 and May 13Atlantic 21: April 27, May 3, 8, 13 (twice),17 and 18Harwich, Essex44ft Waveney: May 28Atlantic 21: April 17 and May 3Hastings, East Sussex37ft Oakley: May 3D class inflatable: March 4, April 5, 19, May19 and 27Hayling Island, HampshireAtlantic 21: March 7, 8 (twice), April 17 and20Helensburgh, DumbartonshireAtlantic 21: March 1, 28, April 21, May 2, 7,9, 20 and 31Holy head, Gwynedd52ft Arun: April 1, 14 and 26D class inflatable: April 30 and May 3(twice)Howth, Co. DublinRelief 46ft 9in Watson: May 26Humber, HumbersideRelief 52ft Arun: March 7, 29, April 25, 27(twice), May 2 and 5Hunstanton, NorfolkD class inflatable: April 23, May 3 and 25Ilfracombe, North Devon37ft Oakley: April 22 and 25Relief 37ft Oakley: May 1Islay, Argyllshire50ft Thames: May 14, 20 and 28Kinghorn, FifeD class inflatable: May 3Kirkcudbright, KirkcudbrightshireRelief 37ft Oakley: March 637ft Oakley: April 18, May 13 and 27*Kirkwall, Orkney70ft Clyde: May 18Largs, AyrshireAtlantic 21: March 8, April 4, 12 (twice) 16,19, 24 (twice) and May 20Lerwick, Shetland52ft Arun: March 27, April 15 (twice), May10 and 30

Littlehampton, West SussexAtlantic 21: March 10, April 4, 10, 17(twice), 19, 26 and May 4 (twice)Littlestone-on-Sea, KentAtlantic 21: April 12, 14 (twice), 19, May 1,25 and 30Llandudno (Orme's Head), GwyneddD class inflatable: March 23, May 3, 6, 10,23 (three times), 24 (three times) and 28Lochinver, Sutherland52ft Barnett: March 27Lowestoft, Suffolk47ft Watson: April 16, 20, 25 and May 19Lyme Regis, DorsetAtlantic 21: May 4 and 9Lymington, HampshireAtlantic 21: March 1, April 18, 29, May 3(seven times), 18 and 27Lytham-St Anne's, Lancashire46ft 9in Watson: April 21 and May 31Relief D class inflatable: May 31Mablethorpe, LincolnshireD class inflatable: April 23 and May 3Mallaig, Inverness-shireRelief 52ft Barnett: May 17Margate, KentRelief 37ft Oakley: April 9 and 1837ft oin Rather: May 24D class inflatable: May 14, 17 and 23Minehead, SomersetD class inflatable: April 5, 19 and 29Atlantic 21: April 5, 22, 29 and May 22Moelfre, Gwynedd37ft 6in Rather: April 2 and May 2Montrose, Angus48ft 6in Solent: May 15

248

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Morecambe, LancashireD class inflatable: March 8 (twice), April 22,May 12, 28 and 30Mudeford, DorsetRelief D class inflatable: March 8, 16 and 28D class inflatable: March 28, April 14, 30,May 2 (twice), 16 and 18The Mumbles, West Glamorgan47ft Watson: March 5 and 28 (twice)D. class inflatable: March 28, April 14, 16,24 and May 24New biggin, NorthumberlandAtlantic 21: April 23New Brighton, MerseysideAtlantic 21: March 8, 9, May 1, 22 and 31Newcastle, Co. Down37ft Oakley: May 2Newhaven, East Sussex44ft Waveney: April 18, 26, May 3, 10, 27and 31Newquay, CornwallD class inflatable: March 20, April 19, 28,May 6, 7 and 14New Quay, DyfedD class inflatable: April 17 and 19Oban, Argyllshire42ft Watson: April 18 and 2518ft 6in McLachlan: April 18 (twice) and 25Peel, Isle of ManAtlantic 21: April 19, 21 and May 10(twice)Penarth, South GlamorganD class inflatable: April 2, 6, 10, 20, 23,May 20, 25, 27 and 31Penlee, Cornwall47ft Watson: April 13Plymouth, South Devon44ft Waveney: April 30 and May 2118ft 6in McLachlan: March 23, April 8, 11,May 9 and 25Poole, Dorset44ft Waveney: March 24, April 16, 18, May2, 3 (twice), 24 and 30Dell Quay Dory: March 2, 23 (twice) and 30Relief D class inflatable: March 27, April 16,18, 19, May 2, 3 and 7Portaferry, Co. DownD class inflatable: May 17Port Erin, Isle of Man37ft 6in Rather: May 10Porthcawl, Mid GlamorganD class inflatable: May 4 (twice) and 9Porthdinllaen, Gwynedd47ft Watson: April 15, 18, 25 and May 9Port Isaac, CornwallD class inflatable: April 15 and May 29Portrush, Co. Antrim52ft Arun: May 4 and 8Portsmouth (Langstone Harbour),HampshireAtlantic 21: March 3, 16, April 19, 28, May3, 22 and 30D class inflatable: March 16, April 18, 28,May 3 (three times) and 30Port St Mary, Isle of Man54ft Arun: March 3, April 20, 30 and May17D class inflatable: April 4Port Talbot (Aberavon Beach), WestGlamorgan

D class inflatable: May 8Pwllheli, Gwynedd37ft Oakley: April 13Queensferry, West LothianAtlantic 21: March 8 and 28Ramsey, Isle of Man37ft Oakley: March 3 and May 27Red Bay, Co. AntrimD class inflatable: April 19Redcar, Cleveland37ft Oakley: March 24Rosslare Harbour, Co. Wexford48ft 6in Solent: April 8 and May 31Rye Harbour, East SussexD class inflatable: April 12, May 3 and 24St Agnes, CornwallD class inflatable: April 4, 12, 18 and 19Relief D class inflatable: May 14St Bees, CumbriaD class inflatable: April 14, 15, May 10 and14St David's, Dyfed47ft Watson: May 5St Helier, Channel Islands44ft Waveney: March 31Relief 44ft Waveney: April 17 and May 25St Ives, Cornwall37ft Oakley: March 22, May 16 and 20D class inflatable: April 25 and May 27St Peter Port, Channel Islands52ft Arun: April 24, May 2, 13, 20 and 22Salcombe, South Devon47ft Watson: March 17, 22 and 29Relief 46ft 9in Watson: April 24Scarborough, North Yorkshire37ft Oakley: March 22 (twice)D class inflatable: May 3Selsey, West Sussex48ft 6in Oakley: May 29D class inflatable: April 17 and May 2(twice)Sennen Cove, Cornwall37ft 6in Rather: May 3Sheringham, Norfolk37ft Oakley: April 16Relief 37ft Oakley: May 1Shoreham Harbour, West Sussex42ft Watson: April 4 and May 3D class inflatable: April 5, 6 and 17 (twice)Silloth, CumbriaAtlantic 21: April 4 and May 3Skegness, Lincolnshire37ft Oakley: March 14 and May 25Southend-on-Sea, EssexAtlantic 21: March 21, 26, 27, April 15, 20,23 (twice), 25, May 5, 16 (twice), 17, 19, 22(three times) and 24D class inflatable: March 10, April 13, 14,21, 23 and May 27Southwold, SuffolkAtlantic 21: April 25, May 3 (twice)Relief Atlantic 21: May 25Staithes and Runswick, North YorkshireAtlantic 21: March 11, April 18, 24 and May23Stonehaven, KincardineshireD class inflatable: May 15Stornoway (Lewis), Ross-shire48ft 6in Solent: April 19 and May 14Stranraer, Wigtownshire

D class inflatable: April 8Sunderland, Tyne and Wear47ft Watson: April 5 and 17D class inflatable: April 21 and May 16Swanage, Dorset37ft 6in Rather: April 23, May 24 and 25Teesmouth, Cleveland47ft Watson: March 12 and May 13 (twice)Tenby, Dyfed46ft 9in Watson: May 9 and 16D class inflatable: April 20 and May 23Thurso, Caithness48ft 6in Solent: April 27, May 19 and 27Tighnabruaich, ArgyllshireD class inflatable: April 13, 17 and May 10Torbay, South Devon54ft Arun: March 17, 31, May 3 and 24(twice)Relief 52ft Arun: May 26 and 2718ft 6in McLachlan: April 17, 19, May 1 and30Tramore, Co. WaterfordD class inflatable: April 14, 19, May 9 and19Trearddur Bay, GwyneddD class inflatable: April 1, 14, 15 and May 4Troon, Ayrshire44ft Waveney: March 8, 21 and May 12Relief 44ft Waveney: April 16, May 20 and22Tynemouth, Tyne and Wear52ft Arun: March 7, April 21 and May 9D class inflatable: March 7, 8, May 2 and 14Walmer, Kent37ft 6in Rather: April 15 and May 31D class inflatable: April 3, 5, 10, 15, May 1,15 and 16Walton and Frinton, Essex48ft 6in Oakley: March 1, April 17 and 20Wells, NorfolkD class inflatable: May 10 (twice)West Kirby, MerseysideD class inflatable: May 13 and 31West Mersea, EssexAtlantic 21: March 14, 21, 27, April 15, 17,May 3 (five times) and 17Weston-super-Mare, Avon18ft 6in McLachlan: April 17 and 18D class inflatable: April 17, 18 and May 7Weymouth, Dorset54ft Arun: March 22, April 10, 19, 20 andMay 2Whitby, North Yorkshire44ft Waveney: March 22, May 1 and 26Atlantic 21: April 8 and May 6Whitstable, KentRelief Atlantic 21: April 19Atlantic 21: May 16Wick, Caithness48ft 6in Oakley: May 21Wicklow, Co. Wicklow42ft Watson: May 18Withernsea, HumbersideD class inflatable: May 6Workington, Cumbria46ft 9in Watson: March 2, 3 and 31Yarmouth, Isle of Wight52ft Arun: April 13, 26, 29, May 3 (fourtimes), 23, 25 and 28 (twice)

SERVICES AND LIVES RESCUED BY THE RNLI'S LIFEBOATSJanuary 1, 1981, to July 31, 1981: Services: 1,401; lives saved 489

THE STATION FLEET(as at 31/7/81)

259 lifeboats, of which one Atlantic 21, four 18ft 6in McLachlanand 68 D class inflatable lifeboats operate in summer only

LIVES RESCUED 107,045from the Institution's foundation in 1824 to July 31, 1981, including shoreboat services

251

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Classified Advertisements£5.50 per single column centimetre (minimumcharge £16.50).NB: The minimum space of 3cm takes about45 words at 15 words per cm.ALL CLASSIFIEDS MUST BE PRE-PAID.

BOOKSSUPPORT THE RNLI by ordering a copy of'Lifeboat: In Danger's Hour' by PatrickHowarth. Superbly illustrated in colour andblack and white. Ideal Christmas present forRNLI enthusiasts. £7.95 including postage.Send cheque with name and address to:Familybooks, Fisherwick Place, Belfast BT16DX.

NEW! MARITIME HERITAGE. The storyof Britain's preserved and historic vesselsand where to see them. Produced in co-operation with the Maritime Trust. 64 pages,55 historic and new photographs. 34 ships.Price £2.50. Also, 'Sailing Fishermen in OldPhotographs' (£1.95), 'Steam Fishermen inOld Photographs' (£2.50), 'Provident andthe Story of Brixham Smacks' (£1.95), TheDriftermen' (£3.75), 'The Trawlermen'

MARITIME ENGLAND

Lifeboat supporters will be welcome to visit RNLI headoffice and depot during

LIFEBOAT OPEN DAYS - POOLE HEADQUARTERS

Thursday, Friday and Saturday July 22 to 24,1982

Further details will be given in the next issue ofTHE LIFEBOAT.

(£3.75) and other books for ship lovers. Sendfor our free catalogue. Tops'l Books, 13Wise's Firs, Sulhamstead, Berks. RG7 4EH.

MEDITERRANEAN VIA CANALSEXPERIENCED River and Canal Pilot (44crossings) offers information and advice orwill undertake delivery. Write: Capt. Ward,4 Graydon Avenue, Chichester PO19 2RF.Phone: 0243 784700.

WANTEDFOR LIFEBOAT FUND RAISING. Row-ing boat or gig, 18ft, four thwarts, fine lines.Replies to Mike Crockford, Tenby LifeboatCrew Association, Sheerwater, The Har-bour, Tenby, Dyfed. Tel: Tenby 3179.

PAINTINGSLIFEBOAT OIL PAINTINGS on canvas36" x 28". £65.00 post paid. Arun, Watson.Waveney, Oakley, etc, by well-known

Lifeboat artist John Lee. Storm and rescuesituations a speciality. Ideal for retirementpresentations or Lifeboat Fund raffles.Satisfaction guaranteed; Send s.a.e. to 9Esplanade, Weymouth, Dorset. Tel: (0305)785960.

MODELS AND KITSUNCANNILY ACCURATE MINIATUREMODELS AND WALL PLAQUES OF

YACHTS, SAILING BARGES, LIFEBOATSAND OTHER VESSELS

THE GIFT OR PRESENTATIONWITH A DIFFERENCE!

COMMISSIONED by Maritime Museums,collectors Yachts Owners and Clubs.RNLI Lifeboats a speciality for enthusiastsand crew retirements.

DETAILS AND PRICES: BRIAN H.WILLIAMS Marine Model Artist. "WestRock", The Cleave, Kingsand, Near Tor-point, Cornwall PL10 INF. (Tel:0752-822638).

For every carpurchased throughthis advertisement,

well give £20to the R.NJJ.

Being Ford main dealers we have a whole range of excitingnew Ford models for you to choose from and you need have nowarranty or servicing worries either because any Ford dealer inany part of the country is fully able to carry out the work.

So buy, lease or contract hire your new Ford, throughBrew Bros, and help save lives. Contact John McGough on01-373 3333 or write to him at:-

Bi*EW for1330LDBROMPTONRD.

LONDONSW7 MAIN DEALER

HOW YOU CAN HELPTHE LIFEBOATMEN

J O I N your local branch or guild

J O I N Shoreline, the membershipscheme

H E L P on flag days

B U Y RNLI gifts and souvenirs

SELL lottery tickets

GI V E a coffee morning

C O L L E C T used stamps or foreigncoins

For further information write to:APPEALS SECRETARY,ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION,WEST QUAY ROAD,POOLE, DORSET, BH15 1HZ.

When you have read your copy of THE LIFEBOAT, pleasepass it on

252

Sailing loan interestrates reduced for

Shoreline membersNow, as a Shoreline member, you're in a privilegedposition when it comes to financing your sailing.

Shoreline Sailing Loans are available to membersfrom Mercantile Credit at special interest rates below thosecharged on their standard marine loans. One of them canprovide the cash you need to buy a boat, to refit, or even formajor annual expenses like insurance. Then you can spreadthe cost over regular instalments and so sail on a budget.

Help the R.N.LI. as you help yourself p—^^c -1 i - n • i • ¥ - » i - i i i i B To' M r. 1

FREEPOSTWE PROMISE

ASPEEDY ANSWER

Shoreline Sailing Loans will provide a valuablesource of revenue for the R. N.L.I., as well as saving youmoney. Each loan granted will provide a donation to theInstitution, without the deduction of promotion,administration or other costs.

Non-members can apply for loans and join Shorelinesimultaneously, and have their first year's membership paidfor them. Mercantile Credit, will make a £5 donation toShoreline for each advance made to non-members,entitling them to family membership for one year.

You can pick up a Shoreline Sailing Loan leaflet atyour local branch of Mercantile Credit (see your telephonedirectory for the address). Written quotations are available

on request.

To: Mr. L. Fraser, Mercantile Credit Company Limited,FREEPOST, P.O. Box 75, London WC2B 5XA.(No stamp required).Name

Address,149/OCT

I wish to borrow £_ .(please state amount if known)I AM/*AM NOT a member of Shoreline (*Delete as applicable).

I Mercantile Credit

ON FILM PROCESSING

AND HELP THE

LifeboatsKodacolorANDOTHER GOOD MAKES ACCEPTED

ft Normally 48 hours in Laboratoryft Prices include VAT at 15%. No extra

charge for post and packing.ft Credit for unprintable negatives.ft Money refunded if you are not

completely satisfied.Pack your films in a stout envelope, complete thecoupon opposite, enclose cheque/PO payable to'Lifeline Film Service' and post to:

LIFELINE FILM SERVICEFREEPOST P.O. BOX 304LONDON E17 3JP

LIFELINE FILM SERVICE PRICES

12 EXPOSURES £1.9924 EXPOSURES £2.9936 EXPOSURES £3.99

Offer applies to U.K. only

NOTE: We accept films on the basis that their value doesnot exceed the cost of the material.

CUSTOMER SERVICE 01 -520 8351

| NAME ....

I ADDRESS

I

THIS IS YOUR RETURN LABEL. PLEASE USE BLOCK LETTERS.

Times changebut Mar tell never varies

/v

^^tJA

Martell. The supreme cognac^^ ^ •

Martell cognac is guaranteed to have been distilled exclusively froma selection of the best wines grown in the Cognac district of France.

^— ny~Y ̂1/15,