THE JOURNAL OF THE RNLI

Volume XLV Number 463 Spring 1978

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THELIFEBOAT

Spring 1978

/^/•Yfi + zifi'f-o Notes of the Quarter, by Patrick Howarth I l l

Lifeboat Services.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 113

Postscript. . .: extracts from an article by Captain Basil Hall, an inspectorXLV of lifeboats at the turn of the century 119

Ajfo'2 Northerly Storm—Spring Tides: a log of the night of January 11 and 12,^ ^ 1978, by Michael Pennell 120

THE RNLI in Ireland, by Lieut.-Colonel Brian Clark, MC, GM .. .. 122

Chairman: Letters 123MAJOR-GENERAL R. H. FARRANT, CB

The Lucky Dip, by Joyce Dunford .. .. .. .. .. . . 125

International Boat Show, by Heather Deane 126

Here and There 128

Painting 'The Lynmouth Lifeboat Service, 1899', by Mark R. Myers, RSMA 129

Managing Editor: Shoreline 130PATRICK HOWARTH

Building a Rother Class Lifeboat: Part VII—Building up 131Editor:JOANDAVIES Lifeboat People 132

Some Ways of Raising Money 133

Headquarters: Book Reviews 139Royal National Life-boat Institution,West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 Awards to Coxswains, Crews and Shore Helpers 1401HZ (Telephone Poole 71133).

Offshore Lifeboat Services, September, October and November 1977 .. 141London Office:Royal National Life-boat Institution, 21 Inshore Lifeboat Services, September, October and November 1977 .. 142Ebury Street, London SW1W OLD(Telephone 01-730 0031). Index to Advertisers 144

COVER PICTURE

One of Weston-super-Mare's two inshorelifeboats is an 18' 6" McLachlan. DesignedbyJ.A. McLachlan ofG. L. Watson and Co.,Glasgow, she is built of glass reinforcedplastic and has a ragged chine. With twininboard petrol engines, her top speed is inexcess of 20 knots. Since going on station inMay 1970 she has launched on service 113times and rescued 58 lives. The photographwas taken by the station honorary treasurer,John White, West Air Photography, Weston-super-Mare.

Editorial: All material submitted forconsideration with a view to publicationin the journal should be addressed to theeditor, THE LIFEBOAT, Royal NationalLife-boat Institution, West Quay Road,Poole, Dorset BH15 1HZ (TelephonePoole 71133). Photographs intended forreturn should be accompanied by astamped and addressed envelope.

Next issues: The summer issue of THELIFEBOAT will appear in July andnews items should be sent by the end ofApril. News Items for the autumn issueshould be sent in by the end of July.

Advertisements: All advertising en-quiries should be addressed to DysonAdvertising Services, PO Box 9, Godal-ming, Surrey (Telephone Godalmiag(04868) 23675).

Subscription: A year's subscription offour issues costs £1.40, includingpostage, but those who are entitled toreceive THE LIFEBOAT free of charge willcontinue to do so. Overseas subscrip-tions depend on the cost of postage tothe country concerned.1

109

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110

NOTES OFTHE QUARTER

by Patrick Howarth

ON CHRISTMAS EVE, Kilmore lifeboatwas capsized twice. One member ofthe crew, Finton Sinnott, lost his life.This sad accident caused the first loss oflife following the capsize of one of theRNLI's lifeboats since the Fraserburghdisaster in January 1970. In contrastwith the Fraserburgh disaster, whenthere was only one survivor, the othersix members of the Kilmore crew were

Lord Killanin, a vice-president of the RNLlin Ireland, with (r.) Coxswain ThomasWalsh and (I.) Acting Motor Mechanic JohnDevereux of Kilmore Quay. For his leader-ship, determination and exceptional couragewhen Kilmore Quay's 37' Oakley lifeboatcapsized and righted herself twice on serviceon Christmas Eve, Coxswain Walsh has beenawarded the silver medal for gallantry; thebronze medal has been awarded to JohnDevereux.

saved. This was largely due to thedetermination, skill and courage of thecoxswain, Thomas Walsh, and othercrew members, and the RNLI madesuitable awards for gallantry which arereported on pages 113 and 114.

The saving of so many members ofthe crew was also due to the fact thatthe lifeboat was a self-righter, and theaccident was in fact the first capsize onservice of one of the RNLI's modernself-righting boats. As will be seen fromthe full account of the service the life-boat righted herself twice and the engineswere started immediately. Kilmore Quaylifeboat, which was built in 1972, is oneof 26 boats of the 37' Oakley self-righting class in the RNLI's fleet. Thistype of lifeboat was designed by RichardOakley, the RNLI's former navalarchitect, and of the many gratifyingletters he received following the accidentone was from Kilmore Quay station.Since 1958, when the first self-rightingOakley lifeboat came into service, life-boats of this class have been launchedon service 1,751 times and rescued 914lives.

In many parts of Britain and Irelandexceptional conditions were experiencedin the two days before Christmas, whena very active depression originatingnear the Azores moved north north eastto the west of Ireland before turningeast. During the period of strongestwind, storm force 10 was recorded overmuch of England and Wales.

Good wishes from the American AmbassadorIN HIS NEW YEAR message to Americancitizens living in Great Britain publishedin The American, Dr Kingland Brewster,the United States Ambassador, gavehis wholehearted support to the bicenten-nial American/British lifeboat appeal:

The turn of the year marks the com-pletion of the first seven months of myAmbassadorship in London—one of themost interesting and rewarding periods ofmy life. During that time I have met avariety of Americans in Britain. I havelearned about various aspects of Americanactivity here.

I am most impressed by what I haveseen. Americans in Britain have gained anenviable reputation in several areas—asbusiness and professional associates, asneighbours and as friends. They havehelped to strengthen further the bondsbetween our two countries.

At this time of the year, when giving isone of the real joys of the festive season,the American community is activelyorganising help for people and institutionsin need. Among the many worthwhileprojects deserving support, I want tocommend in particular the appeal of theAssociation for Rescue at Sea for aWzveney type lifeboat to be given as abicentennial gift to the Royal NationalLife-boat Institution.

A good start has been made toward theprovision of this practical gift to mark thebeginning of the United States thirdcentury as an independent nation, but agood deal more money is needed. Thoseinterested can send their contributions toRNLI, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset.

As we welcome 1978,1 am very pleasedto have this opportunity, in the columnso/The American, to wish a very HappyNew Year to all the members of theAmerican community in Britain.

Many stations damagedThe days before Christmas were only

one of a number of periods of exception-ally severe weather during the pastwinter. The greatest material damageoccurred on January 11 to 12 when nofewer than seven offshore lifeboats wereout of action for a time because ofdamage to shore installations. The mostspectacular damage occurred at Mar-gate, where the pier was wrecked andthe lifeboat house and slipway wereleft isolated. With the help of a heli-copter from the RAF base at Mansionan inspector of lifeboats and membersof the crew were winched down to theboathouse, and in a skilful operationthey succeeded in launching the boat,which is now operating from Ramsgateharbour.

A number of stations in Norfolk werealso severely affected. At Cromer,Sheringham and Wells the boathousedoors were all stove in or otherwisedamaged. At Humber the lifeboatdragged her mooring a mile and therewas severe damage to the road givingaccess to the station at Spurn Point;although, fortunately, the houses of thefull-time crew were not seriouslydamaged, water and electricity were cutoff, causing considerable inconvenienceto the crew members and their familiesuntil mains and power lines could berepaired. At both Aldeburgh andWalmer there was a large build-up ofshingle.covering the slipways.

During these two days no fewer than62 gale warnings were given on televisionand radio.

Storm damage in north west of EnglandEarlier last quarter, during the night

of November 12 and 13, lifeboatstations in the north west of Englandwere particularly badly affected by galesand flooding. The inshore lifeboat houseat Fleetwood was destroyed, andalthough the ILB herself was recoveredthe launching tractor was found buriedin the beach. The ILB house at Lytham-St-Anne's was also flooded when thewindows were stove in by the sea; as aresult of the quick action and hard workof the crew members and supporters,however, the station was operationalagain within hours.

For very good practical reasons theRNLI carries its own insurance, anddamage of the kind suffered during thewinter months must mean a substantialexpenditure running into some thous-ands of pounds.

A well-merited awardThe editorial notes in this number

consist almost exclusively of accounts ofloss and destruction. These are ofcourse, at times, an inevitable part ofthe lifeboat service. I am however gladto end these notes in a more cheerfulvein. All national awards made to thoseconnected with the lifeboat service arewell merited but I hope I may be for-

111

given for singling out the award of theMBE to David Stogdon as one givingme particular delight. Having enjoyedhis friendship for a quarter of a century,since he joined the RNLI about thesame time as I did, I know how richlymerited his award is. When the nextofficial history of the RNLI is written Ifeel sure that appreciable space will beaccorded to the work which DavidStogdon has done in bringing theinshore lifeboat into service and indeveloping it into a lifesaving instru-ment of enormous value. His modestyand charm in executing his duties serveto make the award all the more welcome.

Right Way UpAN EXHIBITION depicting the story of theself-righting lifeboat is to be staged atthe Science Museum, Kensington, fromThursday July 6 until the end of August.It will trace the history of this aspect oflifeboat design from the early days ofLukin and Greathead, at the end of theeighteenth century, through the develop-ments of Palmer, Beeching, Peake andRubie to the modern Oakley offshorelifeboats and on to the Waveney, Arunand the inshore Atlantic 21. The caseagainst self righting, strongly felt atthe end of the last century, will also bereviewed.

As the exhibition will run throughthe end of term and summer holidayperiod, it will not only be of greatinterest to lifeboat people but it willalso make a first class expedition forchildren. It will be open to the publicfrom 1000 to 1800 Mondays to Fridaysand from 1430 to 1800 on Sundays.

New member of C of MJULIAN WATHEN, vice-chairman ofBarclays Bank International, has beenelected to the Committee of Manage-ment. Mr Wathen, who is a fellow ofthe Institute of Bankers, was born inCromer, Norfolk, the home of Britain'smost famous and highly decorated life-boatman, Henry Blogg.

Coming EventsANNUAL GENERAL MEETING and Presenta-tion of Awards, Royal Festival Hall,London, Tuesday, May 16. The mainguest speaker will be Miss ClareFrancis, MBE.

The RNLI will be associated with theBournemouth International LawnTennis Championships to be held nextSeptember. The RNLI will receive 20per cent of the proceeds and seasonticket books will be available to branchesand guilds to sell at discount prices.Full details in the summer LIFEBOAT.

Birmingham branch annual lifeboatdinner and dance will be held at theBotanical Gardens, Edgbaston, on Tues-

Old...

(Above) Denmark: Whenthe old lifeboat fromNymindegab, Jutland, re-turned home to be theprincipal exhibit in the oldlifeboat house, now con-verted into a museum, hercrew were there to meet her.

. . . and new . . ,

(Right) The Netherlands: An Atlantic 21 launches on exercise at the South Holland Institutionstation ofCadzand. Launched down a gutter, her crew paddle until there is enough depth tolower her outboard engines. For a service call the sluice gates would be opened, giving the ILBthe water she would need for a fast launch.

day, October 17. All lifeboat people,and particularly Shoreline members,welcome. Details from RNLI districtoffice, 2 Calthorpe Road, BirminghamB15 1QJ (Tel. 021-454 3009).

Holden House, Holden Road, South-borough, near Tunbridge Wells, Kent:

these beautiful gardens will be opento the public from April 16 to June 4.A souvenir stand will be manned bySouthborough branch throughout.

Lyme Regis Lifeboat Week, July 22to 30. Once again a spectacular pro-gramme is being prepared.

A G MRoyal Festival HallTuesday, May 16

Four of the programme sellers atthe Lifeboat and Mermaid Ballheld by the Central LondonCommittee at the DorchesterHotel last November: (I. to r.)Julia Kerr, Lula Wellard, VanessaBellamy and Jasmine Taylor. Suchwas the advertising support givenby associations, shipping lines, oilcompanies and both the marineand non-marine commercial worldthat over £12,000 was raised fromthis programme alone. In all,nearly £'20,000 was raised for thelifeboat service by an evening verymuch enjoyed by all who attended.

112

Irish Division

CapsizeWEXFORD GARDA informed the honorarysecretary of Kilmore Quay lifeboatstation at 0115 on Saturday, December24, 1977, that four red flares had beensighted off Bannow Bay towards theSaltees. At 0130 maroons were firedby the honorary secretary and CoxswainThomas Walsh, and ten minutes laterKilmore Quay lifeboat, the 37' OakleyLady Murphy, started for the new launchsite to the east of the harbour. At about0150 the lifeboat launched on service.

Although the sea was rough at thelaunch site, there was no trouble launch-ing. The wind was west south west galeto strong gale, force 8 to 9, the searough. The tide was half flood with thestream turning to the east. It was cloudybut there was a moon and visibilitywas moderate.

Once clear of the beach CoxswainWalsh headed south west for about onemile to clear Forlorn Point, and easedback to about half speed because of thebreaking seas. On clearing the pointhe headed west for about two miles andposted lookouts. He then altered courseto the north west towards KeraghRocks. Out in the open sea, althoughthere was a very heavy west south westswell, there were no breaking seas.Nevertheless, speed was still kept at justover half because of the swell; the con-tinuous spray made lookout difficult.Coxswain Walsh maintained this speedfor the rest of the outward journey.

At first there was difficulty in estab-lishing radio contact but at about 0215MF contact was established on 2182 withConingbeg Lightvessel which then actedas a relay throughout. The lightvesselhad been asked by Fishguard Coast-guard to act as a radio link.

As he approached the shore, CoxswainWalsh altered course to the north toclose Keragh Rocks and at about 0350arrived off these rocks and searcheddown towards Bannow Bay and thenback. There was no sign of anything.At about 0400 the honorary secretaryasked Coningbeg Lightvessel to pass amessage to the lifeboat saying that if thecoxswain was satisfied there was nothinghe was to return. Coxswain Walshreplied that he would continue searchingon his way back, ETA 45 minutes to one

hour's time. He then turned south eastfor Kilmore Quay keeping at just underhalf speed, at which the lifeboat rodeeasily to the beam swell.

As the lifeboat neared the shoreCoxswain Walsh noticed the sea con-ditions had worsened. Tidal streams oft"Forlorn Point are strongest at highwater when a race occurs which can runsome three knots at springs. It wasspring tides and high water at KilmoreQuay was at 0450. The stream runs tothe east from about three hours flood tothree hours ebb. It was later reportedby the keeper of Tuskar Rock Light-house and the watchman on ConingbegLightvessel that the seas were the worstthey had seen for some years. Waveheight was estimated at 30 feet atConingbeg and also at Kilmore Quay,where waves were breaking over theharbour wall.

At about 0430, when about one mile,south south west from Forlorn Point,a very high breaking sea hit the lifeboatjust abaft the starboard beam capsizingher to port. When the lifeboat rightedCoxswain Walsh discovered that ActingSecond Coxswain Joseph Maddock wasmissing. Acting Mechanic JohnDevereux restarted both engines withoutany trouble and Coxswain Walsh thenturned to starboard back to the southwest, asking Crew Members DermotCulleton and his brother David touncover and man the searchlight. Twoor three minutes later Joe Maddock washeard shouting to starboard and pickedup in the light of the searchlight.Coxswain Walsh then manoeuvred thelifeboat alongside the man in the waterand he was pulled aboard over thestarboard shoulder by Dermot Culleton,Finton Sinnott, John Devereux and thecoxswain, who himself came up to help.

The port section of the windscreenwas found to be missing, the centre ofthe windscreen shattered and the mastbroken where it entered the tabernacle.Ropes, fenders and other loose gearhad been lost overboard and the droguehad streamed itself. Rather than attemptto recover the drogue Coxswain Walshhad the drogue ropes made fast. JohnDevereux tried the MF radio but wasunable to contact anybody. JoeMaddock was brought aboard andplaced in the forward well and DermotCulleton and Finton Sinnott stayed withhim. Finton Sinnott, who had beenunder the aft shelter at the time of thecapsize, was seen to have a badly cuthead.

Coxswain Walsh then turned backto the east to return to harbour. He wasunsure of his position as harbour andstreet lights were not working and hefound it difficult to judge the distanceoff. He therefore continued to the southeast, at slow speed, for a while and thenturned north to enter harbour. The life-boat had just turned north when asecond exceptionally heavy breaking seahit the lifeboat on her port beam cap-sizing her to starboard.

On righting, there were only ThomasWalsh, John Devereux and EugeneKehoe left on board. John Devereuximmediately started both engines andagain they started without trouble. Thelifeboat was still heading towards theharbour but was being rapidly set downeastward towards St Patrick's Bridge.

David Culleton was in the waterclose by the stern and Coxswain Walshand John Devereux pulled him aboardfirst and then went forward to pull inDermot Culleton, who was hanging onto a grab line on the starboard bow.

Joe Maddock could be seen just to thewest and Coxswain Walsh told DavidCulleton to man the searchlight whilehe turned the lifeboat back towards him.John Devereux then went up to man thesearchlight to allow Dermot and DavidCulleton to go forward to pull JoeMaddock aboard. Coxswain Walsh andJohn Devereux also went to help.

The lifeboat was now setting downtowards the broken water of St Patrick'sBridge and Coxswain Walsh called forthe other three to hold on to JoeMaddock and went back and startedheading the lifeboat slowly west toclear the breakers. The three men haddifficulty in holding Joe Maddock along-side as the lifeboat got under way, butmanaged to keep their grip and a fewminutes later he was brought aboardand again placed in the forward well.He was now suffering badly from shockand exposure.

Coxswain Walsh then continued tosearch the area, looking for FintonSinnott, until he was back abeam theharbour. There was no sign of FintonSinnott in the water and, as CoxswainWalsh was now concerned about thestate of the rest of his crew, he decidedto go back into Kilmore Quay. Ratherthan turn across the weather he stemmedthe seas and tide and allowed the life-boat to crab towards the harbourentrance before turning in.

At 0515 Coxswain Walsh put thelifeboat alongside the quay wall wellup in the harbour and the crew werehelped ashore by those waiting. Thecrew members were seen by DrMcCarthy who treated them all forshock. Dermot Culleton and JoeMaddock were taken by ambulance toWexford County Hospital.

Second Coxswain John Connick andMotor Mechanic William Culleton, whohad not been aboard for the service,volunteered to take the boat out atdaylight with a new crew to search forthe missing man. John Connick had notheard the maroons because of theweather, and by the time someone hadfetched him he had arrived too late togo out in the lifeboat. Liam Culletonwas on weekend leave. He had, in fact,arrived down in time to help launch thelifeboat but had not gone out asAssistant Mechanic John Devereux, hisrelief, was already aboard.

At this time it was thought that theVHF was still working and communica-

113

tions would be possible with DunmorePilots. The honorary secretary anddivisional inspector therefore agreedto this further search. The honorarysecretary had also requested an Armyhelicopter and, after consultation withthe divisional inspector, for RosslareHarbour lifeboat to go out also tosearch from the east.

Kilmore Quay lifeboat left harbourat 0810 to search for the missing man.The weather had moderated, with thewind westerly, strong breeze to neargale, force 6 to 7, but there was still aheavy southerly swell. It was cloudy andthere was moderate visibility. The tidewas now setting to the west.

Second Coxswain John Connickwent out over St Patrick's Bridge andsearched eastward along the shoreline.Shortly after sailing the port shaftbecame fouled and the crew were unableto free the propeller. The search wastherefore continued on one engine.When the lifeboat returned it was foundthat a rope had fouled the port pro-peller. The search continued for two-and-a-half hours. Sadly, however, it wasunsuccessful and the body of FintonSinnott was found by a local farmer atabout 1010, on the shore at Meanstown.At about 1040 the helicopter lowered aman to the lifeboat to inform them thatthey should return to station. The life-boat returned to harbour at 1130 andwas eventually recovered that afternoon.The recarriaging was organised by thedistrict engineer and district surveyor oflifeboats who had arrived at the stationat 0930 that morning.

For this service the silver medal forgallantry has been awarded to CoxswainThomas F. Walsh and the bronze medalto Acting Mechanic John J. Devereux.The thanks of the Institution inscribedon vellum have been accorded toActing Second Coxswain Joseph V.Maddock, Acting Assistant MechanicDermot Culleton and Crew MembersDavid Culleton and Eugene Kehoe. Avellum has been accorded posthumouslyto the late Crew Member Finton M.Sinnott. Letters of thanks signed byMajor-General Ralph Farrant, chair-man of the Institution, have beensent to Second Coxswain John Connick,Motor Mechanic William Culleton andCrew Members Michael Culleton,Richard Barry and John Kehoe.

South Western Division

Snatched from rocksA MAYDAY CALL received from the 17'bermudan sloop Calcutta Princess wasreported by Trevose Head Coastguardto the honorary secretary of Padstowlifeboat station at 1709 on Sunday July17, 1977. The yacht, a quarter of a milesouth west of Dinas Head, was losingher sails, had a rope around the pro-peller of her outboard engine and wasdrifting towards the Head in roughseas. She had a man and a woman on

Padstow: Service toCalcutta Princess,July 17, 1977. >&•

board, and also a dog. The Coastguardhad advised the yacht to try to anchorand had told the Cliff Rescue Teamthat she might come ashore before thelifeboat could reach her.

James and Catherine Macfarlane,Padstow's 48' 6" Oakley lifeboat, waslaunched at 1734 with Coxswain AntonyWarnock in command. The wind waswest south west strong to near gale,force 6 to 7, visibility was about onemile with driving rain, and the tide wasin the fourth hour of flood.

The lifeboat rounded Trevose Headand, about 11 minutes after launching,her crew sighted the casualty about 60yards from the rocks of Dinas Head.She was lying with bows east south eastinto the flood tide which sweeps aroundthis northern end of Constantine Bay at2 to 3 knots. Against the strong west-south-west wind the stream was creatinga heavy confused sea with waves of 15to 20 feet.

Coxswain Tony Warnock took thelifeboat down the yacht's port side,between the casualty and Dinas Head,and the crew threw a heaving line to theman on board. He appeared exhausted,however, and was not able to pull thetow rope aboard fast enough, so that itbecame fouled in the lifeboat's star-board screw. The crew now saw that theyacht's anchor was down but it wasdoubtful whether it would hold.

Second Coxswain Trevor Englandthen secured the free bight of the towrope to the guardrail forward of thescrew and cut the tow rope free fromthe after bollard, while the lifeboatcame round to starboard, bow to bowwith the yacht. With Crew MembersChris Hughes and Peter Poole, hetook down the slack in the heaving line,which the casualty's owner had securedto a cleat on his deck, while CoxswainWarnock put his remaining engine slowastern, in order to pull the yacht clearof danger as quickly as possible.

About 30 yards had been gained whena large wave struck the yacht, pullingout the cleat to which the heaving line

was secured and jamming the littlefinger of Crew Member Chris Hughesbetween the heaving line and a guard-rail stanchion, severing the top third ofhis finger. At about the same momentthe end of the tow rope came clear ofthe lifeboat's propeller.

With the yacht drifting clear ofDinas Head but now moving rapidlytowards Bull Rock, there was no time tolose. From his vantage point on deck,Second Coxswain England could seethat there was not enough sea room toturn to port, so he advised CoxswainWarnock to make a 360 degree turn tostarboard to approach the yacht again.By the time this was completed thecasualty was no more than 25 feet fromBull Rock. Nevertheless, CoxswainWarnock took the lifeboat between therock and the yacht, holding her clearwhile Second Coxswain Englanddropped the nylon tow rope on to herdeck. With both boats ranging up to20 feet the successful passing of the towrope was a difficult feat.

Chris Hughes had been obliged tosit in the wheelhouse because of faint-ness after the loss of the portion of hisfinger. Nevertheless, during this danger-ous phase, he not only declined helpso that operations on deck should not bejeopardised, but also manned the VHPso that Coxswain Warnock could con-centrate completely upon manoeuvringthe lifeboat.

The face of The Bull is sheer, and ithas smaller submerged rocks on itssouth-west and north-east sides. Thesea here was highly confused and it isthought that it was only the backwashof the 20 foot waves which kept thelifeboat a boathook's length from therock face. It was, of course, impossibleto board the yacht, but the ownereventually managed to secure the towrope around his mast.

Coxswain Warnock then went asternand towed the sloop to safety andcalmer water about a quarter of a mileto the south west, where the occupantswere taken on board the lifeboat. It

114

was now 1810 and the lifeboat setcourse for her station with CalcuttaPrincess in tow, while First Aider AlfProsser rendered emergency treatmentto the injured Chris Hughes and FirstAider Arthur May treated the yacht'screw for hypothermia and shock.

A helicopter from HMS Hermes nowapproached with the intention of liftingoff the survivors and the injured lifeboat-man for medical treatment aboard thecarrier. However, it was thought best todefer the transfer until after the sur-vivors had been landed at the slipway,at 1900. The casualties were thenimmediately air-lifted to Hermes, thusreaching hospital facilities much morerapidly than they would have done bythe alternative of ambulance to Truro.

The lifeboat then towed the yachtinto Padstow harbour and secured heralongside the quay at 1950. Permissionwas obtained to land the dog in care ofCrew Member Richard Tummon andthe lifeboat then returned to her station,rehousing by 2045.

For this service the silver medal forgallantry has been awarded to CoxswainAntony W. Warnock and Second/Coxswain/Assistant Mechanic Trevor R.England. The thanks of the Institutioninscribed on vellum have been accordedto Crew Members Christopher Hughes,Arthur May, Alfred Prosser, PeterPoole and Richard Tummon.

Eastern Division

Trapped belowTHE RAMSGATE/CALAIS HOVERCRAFTadvised HM Coastguard Dover Straitsat 0925 on Thursday August 4, 1977,that distress flares had been seen on theeastern edge of the Goodwin Sands,near the East Goodwin Lightvessel

where a cabin cruiser had been sightedaground. An accurate fix was obtainedfrom the Coastguard radar and thehonorary secretary of Walmer wasrequested to launch the lifeboat.Maroons were fired and the relief 41'Beach lifeboat Beryl Tollemache, ontemporary service at Walmer, launchedat 0938.

The weather was foggy, visibilitybeing generally a quarter of a mile,with a south-west wind, force 2. Thesea was calm. High water Dover waspredicted at 1515.

Coxswain/Mechanic Bruce Brown setcourse eastward, passing close to DealBank and Goodwin Fork Buoys toposition the lifeboat for entering theKellett Gut passage; without radar,this channel was navigated on echosounder and compass at reduced speedwith confirmatory radar fixes fromDover Straits Coastguard. East Good-win Buoy was sighted at a range of onecable at 1105 and course was altered tothe south, keeping close to the sandedge where the echo trace confirmedpositions.

At 1130 the 47' cabin cruiser Sharkwas sighted south west of South EastGoodwin Buoy about one cable insidethe drying line, aground but movingon the rising tide. The lifeboat wasdriven easily on to the sand and the fouroccupants, two adults and two smallchildren, transferred to the lifeboatwithout difficulty at 1155. The ownerdid not want to abandon his boat, butwhen Coxswain Brown pointed out thechances of her taking water beforefloating upright and the likelihood ofthe elderly craft having sprung, heagreed to take passage in the lifeboat,with the request that a tow be attempted.In the prevailing calm conditions thecoxswain considered this a practicableproposition.

Lowestoft: On September 17, 1977, Lowestoft's 47' Watson lifeboat Frederick Edward Crickwent to the help of Chycaron; the motor cruiser's engines were out of action and her anchorfouled. Two crew members were put aboard and the lifeboat took her in tow back to Lowestoft.

photograph by courtesy of Michael Richford

Second Coxswain/Assistant MechanicCyril Williams and Crew MemberPatrick Hardman were placed aboardthe casualty and a towline securedaround her windlass. The boat refloatedat 1230 and towing began for Ramsgate,passing East and North East GoodwinBuoys before altering course for GullStream Buoy. During this time SecondCoxswain Williams had started Shark'sengine and, although water was beingtaken into the hull, pumping appearedto be effective.

At 1420, when some 1J miles east ofRamsgate, the after lookout reportedthat the tow was beginning to sheerheavily and appeared to be settlingforward, so Coxswain Brown closedthe casualty to take off his two crew.As he came alongside he called to CrewMember Hardman to jump aboard, butPatrick Hardman indicated that hecould not leave because SecondCoxswain Williams was in difficulties;on going below to fasten the forehatch,which had sprung due to strain on theadjacent windlass mounting, he hadbeen washed forward and one of hislegs was jammed by floating debrisbeneath the sink unit. Patrick Hardmancould not get Cyril Williams out of thecabin—he was too large to be able tohelp him—and the second coxswain hadordered him out of the cabin.

Coxswain Brown took off his life-jacket and jumped aboard the casualtywith Emergency Mechanic RichardEbden while other crew membershelped the distressed Patrick Hardmanon to the lifeboat. While RichardEbden remained on deck helping tosecure the shortened towline and a sternline to pin the casualty alongside, BruceBrown went below and found CyrilWilliams lying in thigh-deep water,his lifejacket inflated and right legtrapped. He crouched beside him,deflated his lifejacket and made asupreme effort to drag him clear. Thefirst attempt failed and although CyrilWilliams was in great pain and veryfirmly telling Bruce Brown to abandonhim, the coxswain exerted all hisstrength, to the point of blacking outbriefly, and both men found themselvesfree in the after end of the cabinby the cockpit hatch. Cyril Williamshad been dragged out of his right sea-boot and had temporarily lost con-sciousness.

Richard Ebden and Bruce Brownquickly passed Cyril Williams on to thelifeboat, followed themselves, and allropes were cleared. Within two minutesthe casualty settled to deck level anddrifted northward. At 1450 CoxswainBrown asked for an ambulance to meetthe lifeboat at Ramsgate and requestedthe Coastguard to broadcast an im-mediate navigation warning in respectof the drifting hulk.

The lifeboat berthed at 1510, thesurvivors were taken ashore and SecondCoxswain Williams was taken to Mar-gate Hospital for X-ray of his bruised

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dnd sprained leg. The lifeboat leftRamsgate at 1610. A second requestto take part in a search in Pegwell Baywas abandoned when it was known thatWalmer ILB was attending and the life-boat was beached for recovery; shewas refuelled and ready for service at1805. The casualty was recovered byfishing boats and taken to Ramsgate.

For this service the bronze medalhas been awarded to Coxswain/Mechanic Bruce G. Brown. Medalservice certificates have been presentedto Second Coxswain/Assistant MechanicCyril Williams, Emergency MechanicsDenis Brophy and Richard G. Ebdenand Crew Members Brian Clark, PatrickHardman and David R. Steytler.

North West Division

Search and rescueA YACHT IN DISTRESS somewhere to thesouth west of South Stack Light wasreported to the honorary secretary ofHolyhead lifeboat station by HM Coast-guard at 0908 on Sunday September 4,1977; her exact position was not known.The yacht, Gika, on passage from Corkto Holyhead, had reported her lastknown position to Angelsey Radio asbeing 210°M 20 miles from South Stackat 0739. She was experiencing heavyweather and sailing under bare poles.A fractured fuel pipe had put theengine out of action and the wind wastoo strong to hoist sail. Porthdinllaenlifeboat had launched at 0808, but at0856 Gika had reported to AngelseyRadio that her position was reckonedto be farther to the north. Her skipperthought he had sighted Skerries Light-house to the north east. However, ashe could not communicate directly withHolyhead Coastguard on VHP it wasthought more likely that he had sightedSouth Stack Lighthouse and that Gikawas suffering from the radio screeningeffect of Holyhead Mountain.

Maroons were fired and at 0937 the52' Barnett relief lifeboat ThomasForehead and Mary Rowse, on tempor-ary duty at Holyhead, launched onservice and set out at full speed tosearch five miles to the south west ofSouth Stack. Porthdinllaen lifeboat wasrecalled.

The sky was overcast with continuousheavy rain reducing visibility to moder-ate to poor. A force 8 gale was blowingfrom the south west and the sea wasvery rough with a heavy swell. It wasjust after low water and the flood tidewas setting north east at about one knot.

Course was set to pass half a mile offNorth Stack and on reaching thisposition, at 1002, Coxswain WilliamJones had to reduce speed to meetstorm force 10 conditions. Once clearof Holy Island, course was altered to225°M and the lifeboat continued atmoderate speed into the very roughbreaking seas, taking solid water overall.

Visibility was down to only half a mile.The search area was reached at about

1035. Two vessels were sighted; onewas Frank M, a small timber-ladencoaster, and the other a large merchant-man on passage. Frank M told thelifeboat that she was searching for thecasualty and had picked up a small echoon radar which she was about toinvestigate. A positive echo on thelifeboat's radar indicated the presenceof a third vessel that was thought toolarge to be Gika. With three ships in thevicinity and no sighting of the casualty,Coxswain Jones thought she might, infact, have sighted the Skerries and nowbe well to the north.

The lifeboat was brought round torun before the storm on a north-north-easterly heading. At 1115 Frank Mreported having lost contact with thesmall radar echo. By now visibility wasdown to about a quarter of a mile andthe wind, still from the south west, wasgusting force 11. At 1130, when thelifeboat was almost abeam of theSkerries, the Coastguard reported thatnothing more was known about thecasualty's position and suggested thatthe lifeboat should now search to thenorth east of the Skerries.

On hearing from the Coastguard, at1200, that an RAF helicopter hadlocated the casualty 13 miles to thesouth west of South Stack, and thatone person had been lifted off but theskipper was remaining with the yacht,Coxswain Jones altered course to 230°Mand set out at full speed to interceptGika. At about 1315 the helicopter wassighted ahead and a message passed tothe lifeboat to steer 250°M. The seaswere estimated to be 35 feet high, thelifeboat was taking solid water con-tinuously over the deck and wheelhouse,and pounding heavily. VHP radio com-munications were becoming intermittentand it was found necessary to transferto MF radio. The helicopter returned tothe lifeboat at 1400 and gave a cor-rected course of 260°M. This course wasmaintained for one hour with the heli-copter visible from time to time.

At 1500, hearing from the Coastguardthat the helicopter had lost contact withthe casualty, Coxswain Jones stoppedthe boat's engines and instructed hiscrew to carry out an all-round search.After about five minutes Gika's mastwas sighted a quarter of a mile to thesouth east. A message was passed tothe Coastguard and the helicopter wasseen to arrive over the yacht.

As the lifeboat slowly closed with thecasualty, the yacht was seen to beheading north west sailing under barepoles, her skipper in the cockpit.Coxswain Jones approached Gika fromastern and attempted to get alongsideon her port side, but, because of theviolent movement of both boats in theheavy seas, without success. The lifeboatwas brought round again and on asecond attempt a tow line was passedsuccessfully. Gika's skipper secured the

line forward and then transferred to thelifeboat. At about 1520 the lifeboatbegan to tow Gika at about 5 knotstowards Holyhead. The helicopter re-turned to base at this time with enginetrouble.

The tow was carried out in extremelyarduous conditions, with Gika fre-quently surfing in the heavy breakingseas. At about 1747, when one mile offNorth Stack, the tow rope becamefouled by the casualty's rudder and shewas towed stern first for about 20minutes until it cleared itself. At 1835the lifeboat and her tow entered Holy-head Harbour and Gika was safelysecured to a mooring in the outerharbour. The lifeboat was rehoused andready for service by 2015.

For this service a bar to his bronzemedal for gallantry has been awardedto Coxswain William J. Jones. Medalservice certificates have been presentedto Second Coxswain Francis Ward,Acting Assistant Mechanic RobertF. Williams, Emergency MechanicMalcolm Burnell and Crew MembersDavid T. Barry, Thomas B. Thomsonand Robert T. Jones.

Eastern Division

Lifeboat and ILBAT 0813 ON WEDNESDAY August 17,1977, HM Coastguard Aldeburgh re-quested the launch of Aldeburgh lifeboatto a yacht firing red flares about half amile east of the lookout. Because of thedifficulties of launching at low water(high water Aldeburgh was predictedat 1421) the honorary secretary con-sulted the coxswain and it was con-sidered that a launch was possible eventhough the wind was easterly strongforce 6 gusting to near gale force 7with heavy breaking seas on the beachand offshore shoal area. Visibility wasmoderate.

Maroons were fired at 0818 and Aide-burgh's 42' Beach lifeboat The Alfredand Patience Gottwald launched butdid not clear the beach and broachedto the south in the heavy onshore seas.While recovery operations were begun,HM Coastguard requested the launch ofHarwich lifeboat and a rescue helicopterfrom RAF Coltishall.

Further red flares were sighted fromthe yacht, which was seen to be driftingtowards the shoals off Orfordness, andthe Coastguard Rescue Equipment teamwas mustered at Orfordness. Amongthose helping with the recovery ofAldeburgh lifeboat were several crewmembers of the newly established in-shore lifeboat and, after consultationwith the honorary secretary on thebeach, it was agreed that an attemptshould be made to launch the ILBalthough conditions were known to be inexcess of normal limitation.

At 0845 the D class ILB was carrieddown the beach and the two mostexperienced crew members, Helmsman

116

,.

Aldeburgh: When, at low water on August17, 1977, the 42' Beach lifeboat The Alfredand Patience Gottwald could not clear thebeach on launching, Aldeburgh''s D class ILBwas launched in an easterly near gale to goto the help of the yacht Spreety.

John Marjoram and Crew MemberDouglas Cook, boarded. Three ILBand a number of lifeboat shore helpersheld the boat until a break in the seasallowed the crew to launch, the firstfew yards being made under oars. Theengine started at the first attempt but asea filled the boat before a clear linecould be found through the surf. Theboat drained quickly and by drivingalong the surf line, riding the seas, andedging eastwards, the ILB cleared theinner shoal area and headed south.

At 0903 she came up with the 24'yacht Spreety, which was manned bythe owner and his young son and waswithout auxiliary power.

By this time the wind was a steadyforce 7, causing severe conditions; inthe shoaling waters the seas wereirregular and breaking heavily.

The helicopter arrived at 0904 andafter the young boy had been takensafely into the ILB he was winched intothe helicopter and flown ashore toAldeburgh, into the care of the branchchairman.

The ILB agreed to stand by thecasualty until she could rendezvouswith Harwich lifeboat or the FelixstoweFerry shoreboat since the River Oreentrance was unfit for the single-handed yachtsman.

In the meantime, recovery of Alde-burgh lifeboat was continuing when, at0915, Coxswain Reuben Wood saw abreak in the seas as a heavy wave liftedthe boat. Ordering all hands to clear thebow, he put both engines full astern andcleared the beach stern first, the cockpitfilling as the boat drove aft. The life-boat then headed south, reached theyacht at 0953 and took her in tow. Withthe ILB in company, the lifeboat towedthe yacht into the River Ore. Afternegotiating the turbulent entrance safely,at 1025, the ILB went on ahead toarrange berthing at Orford Quay, and

•».j- I'

thence up river to Slaughden Quay,Aldeburgh, where she was recovered intothe town at 1105 by the shore party.The lifeboat secured the yacht at 1110and returned seaward to station, beingsafely beached and ready for service at1407.

For this service the bronze medal hasbeen awarded to Helmsman JohnMarjoram and framed letters of thankssigned by Major-General Ralph Farrant,the chairman of the Institution, havebeen presented to Crew MemberDouglas Cook and Coxswain ReubenWood. A letter of thanks signed byJohn Atterton, deputy director of theInstitution, has been sent to the crewand shore-helpers of Aldeburgh lifeboatstation.

South Eastern Division

Belgian sloop agroundLYMINGTON ILB STATION deputy launch-ing authority received a telephonemessage at 2035 on Friday, November

11, 1977, from HM Coastguard Needlessaying that the 42' Belgian sloopColombe had called on her RT to saythat she was aground on the east bankof Lymington River and to ask for help.

The wind was westerly gale to stronggale, force 8 to 9, and the seas were high,but visibility was good. It was onehour before high water. In theseconditions the DLA and Senior Helms-man Christopher Carrington agreedthat the ILB could operate inside theriver only and the launch was authorised.

Subsequently it was learned thatColombe had left Plymouth in themorning and when she met the heavyand worsening weather in the Channeldecided to make for what she thoughtwould be the more sheltered waters ofThe Solent. In fact she met very heavyseas on or near the Shingle Bank and inHurst Narrows. Her engine failed and,as her owner was familiar with Lyming-ton, he decided to come into the riverunder sail. With the gale force wind,however, he failed to round a bend andwas being forced on to the east bank.

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Fortunately the yacht's crew got ananchor out and this, with the risingtide, meant that she was not too hardaground.

The Atlantic 21 ILB launched at2043 manned by Helmsman Carringtonand Crew Members Peter Harvey andRichard Smith. When she reachedColombe, seas were breaking over theyacht, even in the river. It says muchfor the Atlantic 21 and the way she washandled by her crew that she was ableto tow a 42' sloop to a berth in BerthonMarina. The ILB was rehoused andready for service at 2130.

For this service a letter of thankssigned by Captain Nigel Dixon, thedirector of the Institution, has beensent to the deputy launching authority,Andre E. Prove, and to the crew, Helms-man Christopher R. Carrington andCrew Members Peter E. T. Harvey andRichard C. Smith.

Scotland North Division

Cargo shiftedON PASSAGE bound from Archangel tothe Mediterranean, timber ship FredEverard developed a list when her deckcargo shifted and, at 0143 on Monday,September 26, sent out an urgency signalPAN. Her position was 61° 36'N,00° 48'w. The message was picked upand broadcast by Coastguard Lerwickand Wick. A Nimrod aircraft wasdiverted to the area and it was reportedthat Oil Mariner was on her way tostand by: ETA 0700. The weather wassouth east near gale force 7 with poorvisibility and heavy seas. At 0220 thehonorary secretary of Lerwick lifeboatstation was informed of the position.As, however, Fred Everard was 45 milesnorth north east of Muckle Flugga, 110miles north of Lerwick, and at theextreme range for the lifeboat, and asthere were other ships in the vicinityoffering assistance, it was decided tohold the lifeboat until she could be ofmore use.

By 0504 Oil Mariner had the casualtyin sight and at 0611 German vesselHerdentor was also standing by. Thetugs Nordzee and Pacific were on theirway. With her list increased to about30 degrees, Fred Everard set course forLerwick under her own steam. By 1006the two tugs were standing by and OilMariner and Herdentor were released.The weather was southerly gale force 8with a 4 foot swell and 25 foot waves.Visibility was a quarter to half a mile. By1200 Fred Everard, with Nordzee andPacific in attendance, was 11 milesnorth of Muckle Flugga, steering 152°Tto come down the east side of land toLerwick, making 3J to 4 knots.

The slow progress continued all after-noon and at 1922 it was agreed thatLerwick lifeboat should stand by duringthe night passage. At 1940 52' Barnettrelief lifeboat Ramsay Dyce, on tem-porary duty at Lerwick, launched and

set out at full speed to intercept FredEverard. The weather was south eastforce 7 to 8, with rough seas and visi-bility almost nil because of fog and rain.By 2218 the lifeboat was alongside thecasualty and standing by, and now gavecourses and directions for Lerwickduring the night. The wind moderatedand went westerly about 0400.

At 0520 Fred Everard's list began toincrease; at 0533 her master requested atow and at 0540 asked the lifeboat tocome alongside and take off part ofher crew. Coxswain George Leith tookthe lifeboat alongside Fred Everard,now listing to about 50 degrees and by0620, after several attempts, had takenoff the chief engineer's wife and fivemen, leaving the master and six othermembers of the crew on board. Somedamage was sustained to the lifeboatrails and wheelhouse roof as shetouched the ship's side. Lundi Senior,which had been standing by since about0540, got a line on board Fred Everard,but if some cargo had not gone overside, the vessel could have capsized.

Lerwick lifeboat, satisfied that all wasunder control, set out for harbour at0845 and those taken off the timbership were landed at 0915 and taken tothe Mission to Seamen. The lifeboat wasrefuelled and back on station at 1000.Fred Everard was towed to harbour byLundi Senior.

South Eastern Division

Saved boat and threeSHOREHAM HARBOUR DLA was informedby HM Coastguard at 1405 on Wed-nesday July 20, 1977, that a 14' sailingdinghy was half submerged just westof the harbour entrance; one of hercrew of three could be seen in the waterclinging to the bows. The D class ILB

was launched and set off at full speed,reducing to half to one third throttle asshe rounded the west breakwater intothe weather. She reached the dinghy at1416.

The day was overcast with moderatevisibility and the wind was west southwest, strong breeze, force 6, gusting tonear gale, force 7, with a rough sea andheavy swell. The tide was at 5J hoursflood, setting north east.

As the ILB approached, the dinghy,which was only some 30 feet off thewest breakwater in the heavy confusedseas caused by the backwash from thebreakwater, capsized throwing her re-maining two crew members into thewater. One young man was some dis-tance off the dinghy, a girl was clingingto the mast and the other man wasunder the mainsail.

Helmsman Michael Fox skilfullymanoeuvred the ILB close alongside thecapsized dinghy while Crew MembersChristopher Fox and David Wainwrighthauled the girl and the two young mensafely into the ILB. Throughout thisdifficult operation (a photograph ofwhich was published in the winter issueof THE LIFEBOAT) the ILB was shippingwater overall from the backwash of thebreakwater.

Once the three people were safely onboard the ILB returned to ShorehamHarbour where two of the survivorswere transferred to a waiting ambulanceat 1424.

At 1428 the ILB was relaunched totow the capsized dinghy clear of themain channel at the harbour entrance,where she had drifted after weatheringthe west breakwater. She was beachedat 1455 and the ILB recovered and readyfor service at 1530.

For this service the thanks of theInstitution inscribed on vellum havebeen accorded to Helmsman Michael J.

(continued on page 141)

Lerwick: After standing by the listing Fred Everard all night, on her slow progress towardsLerwick through gale force winds, as the list increased, the 52' Barnett relief lifeboat RamsayDyce took off her chief engineer's wife and five of her crew. This photograph was taken by IanMacdonald-Munro, who is a professional diver and also a freelance photographer.

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Postscript...Following the publication in the winter issue of THE LIFEBOAT of a descrip-tion of the work of present-day divisional inspectors of lifeboats, here aresome extracts from an article by the late Captain Basil Hall, RN, aone-time inspector of lifeboats, which was first published in the samejournal 58 years earlier. . . .

IT WAS IN FEBRUARY, 1895, that I firstentered 'the House of the Institution' inorder to submit my name as a candidatefor the vacancy of district inspector oflifeboats, caused by a decision of theCommittee of Management to add anew inspector to the already existingfour. The 'House' was then situated atNo. 14, John Street, Adelphi

I was appointed first to the IrishDistrict, where I remained nearly fiveyears. The first year was marked by oneof the most appalling disasters that hasever overtaken the lifeboats of theInstitution, when, on December 24,1895, two splendid lifeboats, bothstationed at Dun Laoghaire, werewrecked, and the whole of the crew ofthe larger boat drowned, in theirattempt to save life from the Norwegianbarque Palme, stranded in Dublin Bayduring the height of a heavy south-easterly gale.

I was living in Dun Laoghaire myselfat the time, but knew nothing of whathad happened until an overheard wordin the street told me of the disaster.I hastened down to the shore. . . . Latein the night of that Christmas Eve weworked on the beach.... The onlyother lifeboat available was a smallpulling-gig, stationed at Poolbeg, insidethe bar of the Liffey. Nothing morecould be done that night; but at day-break on Christmas morning Iattempted, with the aid of the tug, totow this boat out of the river and roundto the bay; however, the heavy seas onthe bar made this impossible, and aftertwo had broken on board the vesseland found their way into the engineroom, we were reluctantly compelledto give up the attempt. If only a motorlifeboat had been stationed on the IrishCoast in those days! . . .

During the five years I spent inIreland I covered many a long 'Irish'mile by road, as a great number of thestations were at long distances from therailway. The motor car had, indeed,been invented, but had not then beenbrought into use, and I did all my workin that extraordinarily convenientvehicle, a jaunting car. . . .

It was 1899, shortly after the outbreakof the Boer War, that I left Ireland forthe Western District, my stay in whichmust have corresponded almost exactlywith the period of the war. . . . I cele-brated the signing of the psace in aremote village in Wales with my suc-

cessor the night before I turned thedistrict over to him. One of our partyon this occasion was that first-classofficer, and very dear friend of mine,Commander Charles Cunninghame-Graham, who during the first 14 yearsof my service with the Institution wasdeputy chief inspector of lifeboats. Oneof the many duties of the deputy chiefinspector is to visit the coast whenproblems arise which require the de-cision of a superior officer, as, forinstance, the opening of a lifeboatstation in some spot where none hasexisted previously, or the closing of anexisting station. The inspector for thedistrict always accompanies him onthese occasions, and many a delightfuland instructive trip did I have withGraham....

From the West Coast I went toScotland, which is known officially asthe Northern District, as it includes thecounties of Cumberland and Northum-berland. In the latter county I madeacquaintance with one of the best life-boat crews with whom it has been myprivilege to go afloat, consisting entirelyof miners from the famous Camboiscoal mine, which extends for many milesunder the bed of the North Sea....

In 1908 I moved on to the EasternDistrict, and here I realised that, inspite of my 13 years' experience, I stillhad much to learn about the handlingof lifeboats. ... I came to learn that inthis particular branch of the seaman'sart, the sailor, as the man who sails thedeep sea in a ship is called technically,has much, if not everything, to learnfrom the coast fisherman, whose busi-ness is entirely in open boats. . . . Thehardy fishermen of Norfolk and Suffolkare, I suppose, second to no other menin the world in their skill as boatmen.Such skill is doubtless inherited fromtheir Scandinavian forebears, whom somany of them still resemble in type andfeature; but it has been nurtured bygenerations of service to the long, low,outlying sand-banks which fringe thisportion of the coast of England. ...

In 1913 I made my last move, beingappointed to the Southern District, andin the following year I had the goodfortune to realise the ambition of mycareer in the lifeboat service by takingpart in a lifeboat rescue. . . . The storyof the hospital ship Rohilla, wrecked offWhitby . . . need not be repeated here.Nor will I attempt to describe the thrill

I felt as we left the narrow harbour inthe grey dawn of that November day,and headed for the tremendous seaswhich were breaking over the doomedvessel; nor my feelings as we lay along-side her and the 50 survivors—who hadbeen for two days and two nightshuddled together on the bridge, washedby every sea that swept her—droppedone by one into the lifeboat. But I knowthat, as each man, when he reachedsafety, uttered the most heart-felt thanksI have ever heard from the lips of men,I became conscious, perhaps for thefirst time fully, of the real value of thelifeboat service....

Incidentally, this rescue conclusivelyproved two things: the immense valueof oil in smoothing a sea alongside awreck . . . and the inestimable import-ance of the motor lifeboat, for not onlycould no other kind of boat have come44 miles, as this one did, in order toperform the service, but I am preparedto stake my professional reputation onthe statement that, owing to the tor-tuous nature of the passage between therocks, no other than a motor lifeboatcould have safely reached the vesselat all

It is, of course, impossible in the spaceat my disposal to review all the changeswhich have taken place in the lifeboatservice since I joined it; but lookingback over the quarter of a centurywhich has elapsed, one appears to standout more conspicuously than theothers. This has been the gradualincrease in the size of the lifeboats. Forsome 70 years the general policy of theInstitution had been to build boatslight enough and small enough to betransported on a carriage to a spot asnearly opposite the wreck as possible,and there, launching off the beach, toapproach it under oars to leeward. Themodern tendency is to station a largeand powerful boat in an advantageousposition where she can launch into deepwater, and, if possible, cut off thedoomed vessel before she reaches theshore; or, if too late to do that, canapproach to windward, and, droppinganchor at a convenient distance, veerdown to the wreck.... The presentscheme of the Institution to build afleet of motor lifeboats and station themat salient points round the coast, not,if possible, more than 50 miles apart, is

(continued on page 131)

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Northerly Storm — Spring TidesOn the night of January 11 and 12, 1978, storm force winds blowing rightdown the North Sea coinciding with some of the highest tides of the winterresulted in severe flooding and damage down the East Coast of England andin the Thames Estuary. Lifeboat station shore works did not escape and it was

night of vigil for Michael Pennell, at that time inspector of lifeboats forthe Eastern Division, which suffered the main onslaught.

THE LOG FOR THAT WILD NIGHT, kept by

Mike Pennell, DI (£) began when, justafter he had arrived home, he switchedon the radio . . .

Wednesday, January 11

1755 BBC local news: 'Storm forcenortherly winds in the North Seaare expected to cause high tides onthe Lincolnshire and Norfolkcoasts tonight; danger levels maybe reached in low-lying areas.'

Within a quarter of an hour the tele-phone began to ring and reports began tocome in from the coast. First it wasSkegness, the most northerly station inthe division, where the flooding tide wasalready approaching high water . . .

1810 Gorleston Coastguard (CG) RHQ:Skegness lifeboat on service to aGreek ship in the Wash. Lifeboat

now returning to station but it isunlikely that she can be recoveredbecause of water level on seafront.

1830 Skegness station honorary secretary(SHS): Confirms water now abovepromenade level—dangerous forlifeboat to approach; she will lieoff until after high water at 2000.Wind north east strong gale tostorm, force 9 to 10.

As high water progressed down thecoast, so did the danger zone . . .

1837 Gorleston CG: Gorleston lifeboatlaunched to escort local fishingvessel to harbour. Wind northerly,storm force 10.

1840 Wells SHS: Whole town pre-paring for flooding. Beach areaand lifeboat house already in-

Margate: (Left) With thefloor broken up by waves,inside of lifeboat housestands open to the sea.Slipway can be seen on left.photograph by courtesy of

Christopher Fright

(Below) Lifeboat house iso-lated in wild seas as thepier on either side fallsbefore the storm.photograph by courtesy of

The Daily Telegraph

accessible. Will advise when fullsituation is known.

1900 Sheringham SHS and CromerSHS: Both lifeboats off service.Water above promenade atSheringham—no access. Cromerpier awash and dangerous toconsider access.

1915 Gorleston CG Station officer: Redflares reported off Stiffkey, Nor-folk. Because of the weather andlifeboat situation, more definiteinformation being sought beforediversion of Skegness or Gorlestonlifeboats considered.

Apart from the reports coming in,there were outgoing calls to be made asDI(E) checked the situation at all life-boat stations at risk and reported in toCentral Operations/'Information Room atheadquarters, Poole, where the dutyofficer was standing by to mobilise anyback-up help needed . . .

1930 Gorleston CG: Aircraft alreadymaking a search off Yorkshirecoast will divert and drop flares insea area off Stiffkey.

2050 Wells SHS: High water now. Quayarea flooded to depth of some threefeet. Major breach in Beach Roadsea wall feared. Unlikely that acheck of the lifeboat can beobtained until daylight.

2040 Harwich coxswain: Lifeboat re-moved to safer moorings atFelixstowe; will remain aboardthroughout night.

2115 Gorleston CG station officer:General situation report. Confirmaircraft has illuminated area offStiffkey with no result. No furthersightings of flares; report assumedto be false alarm. Anticipateddisposition of lifeboats discussed ifemergency should arise. LowestoftCG lookout evacuated because ofweather.

2130 Southwold 1LB SHS: Boathouseunder surveillance; high tide notexpected to cause serious damage.

2135 Thames CG: General situationreport. No damage reported yet.

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\

CHART FOR 0000 GMT 11.1.1978

We are indebted to the Meteorological Officefor these weather charts and to Jack Arm-strong of Southampton Weather Centre forthe following notes: On the night of January11,112, we experienced one of the reallyviolent storms which occur in these latitudesin winter. This was an instance during which

CHART FOR OOOO GMT 12.1.1978

a relatively warm depression moving fromthe west into Ireland began to engage avery cold Polar outbreak. What appears tobe a fairly innocuous situation early on thellth had, within 18 hours, resulted in aroaring northerly storm. The tidal surge inthe North Sea was the highest for 25 years

and there was very widespread damageGust speeds in excess of 70 knots werecommonplace but the strongest gusts wererecorded on the coasts of North EastEngland where Whitby Coastguard andSt Abb's Head both registered 82 knots.

2230 Gorleston CG and Skegness SHS:Skegness lifeboat now beaching.Tide falling.

2300 Skegness SHS:No damage.

Boat rehoused.

2325 Thames CG: Wind north northeast, force 9. Sheerness lifeboat

launching to take sick man offvessel at Southend anchorage.

2330 Sheringham SHS: Boathouseaccess via promenade impossiblearourid high water. Damage tohouse?'and tractor shed suspected.

2345 Cramer SHS: Boathouse inacces-

Humber: AssistantMechanic RonaldSayers (r.) and CrewMember Sydney Rol-linson tow water bow-ser past spot whereroad to Spurn Pointwas breached. Pilesnow standing some 10to 12 feet proud ofsand were previouslyalmost covered.

photograph bycourtesy of Hull Daily

Mail.

sible; pier badly damaged. Life-boat off service as boathouse doorsfouling launching way. Full reportto follow at daylight.

Thursday, January 12

0145 Divisional inspector of Coastguard:Lowestoft lifeboat launched to'mayday' off Lowestoft. Positionand details of casualty uncertain.Wind north by east violent storm,force 11.

0230 Gorleston CG: Gorleston lifeboatlaunched to help search for sinkingvessel. Caister volunteer lifeboatalso assisting. No radio contactwith vessel since 0142.

0450 Gorleston CG: Search continuing.Nothing found yet. Fixed wingaircraft helping.

0730 Margate SHS: Margate pier col-lapsed in storms. Boathouseisolated and severely damaged.

0800 District surveyor of lifeboats (East),Herbert Larter, at Margate: Askedby DI(E) to report state of Kentlifeboat stations to headquarters atPoole while DI himself set out forNorth Norfolk.

The night's events recorded in this(continued on page 124)

Wells: Roadway to lifeboat house (r.) waswashed away in two places. RAF Wessexhelicopter ferries sandbags to fill breaks.photograph by courtesy of RNLI En-thusiasts Society, Cromer and District

Research Group

121

The RNLI in IrelandDuring the past year Irish lifeboatmen have served with courage and honour. Among other servicesthe Kilmore Quay lifeboat crew experienced the first capsizes of a modern lifeboat; they and thewhole station acquitted themselves with distinction, though it is sad that one of the crew wasdrowned. The Irish district of the RNLI enjoyed another successful year's fund-raising. Thiscoincided with a decade in the service of the Institution by the Irish National Organiser, Lieut.-Golonel Brian Clark, MC GM and he here reviews the "State of the Institution1—on bothsides of the Irish Border

THE LIFEBOAT SERVICE IN IRELAND hasalways been provided by the RoyalNational Life-boat Institution, althoughit is of note that, before the ShipwreckInstitution (as it then was) establishedits first lifeboat station in Arklow in1826, the Ballast Board had disposed anumber of lifeboats round Dublin Bayat the beginning of the century.

During the period 1826 to 1922 thefunction of the RNLI of course em-braced all of Britain and Ireland. TheCharter of the Institution—the pre-servation of life from shipwreck—wasas applicable along the Irish sea-boardas it was across the water.

After the passing of the Irish FreeState Act in 1922, the question arose asto the continuance or otherwise of theInstitution's activities in Southern Ire-land. After correspondence with theIrish Free State Provisional Govern-ment, a deputation from the Committeeof Management met the Minister forHome Affairs in Dublin in October1922. It was stressed that the Institutionwas not approaching the ProvisionalGovernment with any specific requestbut that it wished for an opinion withregard to its continued work in the FreeState. The deputation was informedthat the Provisional Government wouldbe very glad if the Institution wouldcontinue to function as theretofore. In1923, the Irish Free State Governmentconfirmed this attitude, and the repealof the External Relations Act in 1948did nothing to affect the status of theRNLI in the Republic of Ireland.

It is interesting now to note how thevoluntary nature of the RNLI ensuredits survival in the Republic of Irelandto this day, while HM Coastguardnecessarily left the country in 1922,leaving a gap in Irish search and rescuecover which has not yet been filled.

Since 1922 the Committee of Manage-ment has continued to consider Britainand Ireland as an operational entity,while recognising nuances of attitudesand the need, at times, for a differentslant in public relations on each side ofthe Irish Border.

Reverting to 1923, the Irish FreeState Government had at the timesuggested that increased assistance forthe work of the Institution mightreasonably be expected to follow theformation, under the Institution, of anIrish Executive. This suggestion did not

commend itself to the Committee ofManagement of the day, becausemembers took the view that the Institu-tion's Charter laid on that committeealone the duty of maintaining the life-boat stations round the United Kingdomand Ireland, a responsibility which theyshould not delegate. No such executivewas, or has since been, formed. Howeverthe present Irish members of theCommittee of Management, under thechairmanship of Lord Killanin (thePresident of the International OlympicCommittee), started informal meetingswith senior RNLI staff in Ireland in1970. These meetings have ensured thatIrish representatives on the Committeeof Management are professionallybriefed. In their turn, apart from theirindividual duties on the main committeeof Management, the Executive, theSearch and Rescue, Boat and PublicRelations Committees, Irish members,both inside and outside of meetings,guide and assist the writer and theinspector of lifeboats from the wealth oftheir wisdom and with the help of theircontacts.

It is noteworthy that in 1970, thethen (and now) Irish Premier, Mr JackLynch, inaugurated an annual sub-vention to the RNLI in Ireland of£10,000. This sum has now beenincreased to £20,000 per annum. Itspresent level may not be considereddramatic when related to the annualcost of the RNLI's service in theRepublic—about £650,000—but the 'nostrings' principle of the grant is veryimportant. This was established in the

October 1970 letter from the Ministerfor Transport and Power, Mr Lenihan:

'It is my intention that this measure ofassistance should not jeopardise in anyway the independence which the Insti-tution treasures and which is the basis o/the magnificent voluntary service whichit renders'

The activities of the Institution in theRepublic now come under the bene-volent scrutiny of the Minister forTourism and Transport, at present MrPadraig Faulkner, and the Irish Govern-ment continues to rely on the RNLI tofind the lifeboat service, accepting thatthe Institution will use the annual grantin the fullness of its operational ex-perience of more than 150 years oflifesaving.

The lifeboat scene in NorthernIreland is totally unchanged from whatit always has been. The crews of itslifeboat stations serve seafarers, as dotheir fellows in the South and inEngland, Scotland and Wales, with adedication which is often taken forgranted. The fund-raisers often collectmore per head of population than dotheir English counterparts, despite thegradual disappearance of not onlyfavourite street-collecting spots, but alsoof some of the streets themselves; andsituations as described by the Lurganbranch honorary secretary:

'No results of flag day yet. Now Ifreally think our branch has had the lot—everyone on strike, no power and twobombs in the town in the afternoon.

The author with AmyStrath and (/.) MayMcMaster, MBE. MissStrath has only recentlyretired from the positionof assistant nationalorganiser, after 36 yearsof exemplary service inthe Institution's Dublinoffice. Mrs McMasteris assistant organiser inNorthern Ireland.

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Everyone scarpered very quickly afterthat!'

The origins of the lifeboat service inthe Republic of Ireland are thereforeno different from those of the RoyalNational Life-boat Institution as awhole. It is, in fact, a supra-nationalorganisation with international res-ponsibility and reputation. The practi-calities of fund raising, however, have ledto a special identity, 'Irish Lifeboats',but supporters throughout the wholeof Ireland are perfectly well aware thatit is the Royal National Life-boat In-stitution which finds this lifesavingservice around the whole island, therebyproviding, in the Republic, the necessaryarrangements for the rescue of personsin distress at sea around the coast ofIreland, as required by the InternationalConvention for the Safety of Life atSea, to which the Irish Government is asignatory.

This article is based on the ten yearsof experience enjoyed by the writer.During that period Irish fund-raisingrevenue has increased very satisfactorily

from £33,765 (1966) to £197,387 (1977).This is an improvement of 485%, towhich the Government grant and IrishShoreline membership have contributed.Support for the RNLI throughoutIreland is increasing as people moreand more realise that the lifeboatservice is not a State service, that thereare very good reasons why it shouldremain voluntary and that the men whoman the lifeboats on the coast of Ulster,Leinster, Munster, and Connacht arefellow Irishmen who deserve theirsolidarity, their admiration and regularfinancial support.

The administration of both theoperational and organisational sides ofthe Institution in the Republic has itsown peculiar problems. Spares for life-boats have never been subject to importtax and VAT paid is later recovered. Butsuch items still have to be cleared byCustoms and the absence of documenta-tion can cause delay. Fund-raisingsupplies are subject to VAT, but theimportation of all RNLI stores, of anykind, is being simplified as EECRegulations come into full effect. These

problems of importation very soondemanded, some years ago, that flagday supplies be administered from theDublin office, smail as it always hasbeen; the sale of trading items is nowalso handled in this way.

Despite the problems of operating theInstitution's Irish fleet and fund-raisingorganisation across an internationalborder and despite the dire socialproblems of its Northern Irish branches,the affairs of the RNLI throughout thewhole island are prospering. Irish life-boat crews on both sides of the bordercontinue to save lives in a mannerwhich is second to none in voluntary,selfless and courageous service; anexample to Irishmen everywhere.Station and financial branch com-mittees, especially the honorary secre-taries who are the launching authoritiesof the 23 offshore and inshore lifeboats,devote hours of their valuable time intheir two fields of activity.

It is an honour to serve them and,through them one of the oldest and mostrespected charities in the world—theRoyal National Life-boat Institution.

Letters...Local boat

How does one 'sell' the lifeboatservice? Our branch committee atBarrow-in-Furness believes that whereyou have a comparatively isolatedcommunity and a lifeboat station aswell, you 'localise' the boat. There mustbe something in the philosophy for wehave now closed the appeal launchedto pay for new engines, coxswain-operated controls, a new echo sounder,a DF loop and a survey and refit for theBarrow boat Herbert Leigh.

It all began when the committeelearned that inflation had so hit theInstitution that the new building pro-gramme had been set back. It decidedthat the situation might be helped ifBarrow's 46' 9" Watson lifeboat couldbe given life beyond her anticipatedreplacement date of 1980. Donated tothe RNLI in 1951 Herbert Leigh hasbe3n at Barrow ever since and is so muchthought of by her crew and the branchthat it was felt her life was worthprolonging.

The branch committee actuallyaccepted a friendly challenge that itwould not raise the cash. We can nowlook back on a'fantastic 12 months' inwhich we have raised more than £23,000and met the cost of all the work. DesNewton, a native of Barrow, and hiswife Dot, interested fellow entertainerson the Merseyside circuit and raisedalmost £1,000. The Keswick-Barrowcharity walk donated £250, and indivi-

duals and organisations gave moneyfreely. Two big legacies helped.

The secret of success? Contacts,ideas, publicity, public interest and'hard graft'. Added to that we had theincentive of a lifeboat and a seasidecommunity which knows what theRNLI is all about.—T. CLARK, vice-chairman Barrow station branch, 14Durham Street, Barrow-in-Furness,Cumbria.

A fantastic year, indeed, with a fantasticresult—THE EDITOR.

Southend Flag DayI am sure there are Shoreline members

in the Leigh, Westcliff or Southendareas who would like to help the branchduring flag week but do not knowwhom to approach. However, if they

would like to phone me on Southend712104 or call and see me, any offer ofhelp no matter how small would be mostwelcome and we shall be most happy tomeet them. Our flag day this year will beon June 17.—LES NORTON, vice-chairman,appeals committee, Southend-on-Seabranch, 83 Wellington Avenue, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex.

Boat handling in storm force windsFrom comment received on the discussionpublished in the winter issue:. . . I learned more about the work ofrescue from this article than in all theyears which went before.—w. K.MACKENZIE, Leamington Spa.. . . it will have given a splendid insightinto the work to a landsman, and to ayachtsman, like myself, it is a fascinatingstudy of the relationship between boatand skipper.—BARRY CRAWSHAW, Car-noustie.. . . It is worthy of becoming com-pulsory reading for all yachtsmen. . . .Thank God, I have never experienced,and fervently hope I never shall, con-ditions such as these great men speak ofin such matter of fact terms.—w.OREQGOR, Ramble.

Herbert Leigh on trials in the Mersey after her refit at Ocean Fleets yard, Birkenhead.

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New Year HonoursMBE

Lieut.-Commander Peter MacdonaldFulton, RD, RNR. Peter Fulton, who ishonorary inspector (communications)to the RNLI, rendered valuable serviceto the Institution in the establishment ofits mobile training units.

Edgar David Stogdon, superintendentof depot (Isle of Wight), RNLI. DavidStogdon's work has been of exceptionalimportance in the development of in-shore lifeboats.

BEMDonald Ross Jack, motor mechanic,

Anstruther lifeboat, RNLI. DonaldJack has been the motor mechanic atAnstruther since 1950, before which hehad been, first, assistant motor mech-anic, in 1946, and then part timemechanic, 1946 to 1950.

Women of KentThe 'Women of Kent' have decided

to adopt the lifeboat service as theircharity for 1978, and Lady Norton, amember of the Committee of Manage-ment, has been invited to be one ofthree speakers at their luncheon inMay. The theme of the speeches will be'Worse things have happened at sea'.

DisbandmentFor two years the Sewerage Rate

Advisory Group campaigned for theabolition of sewerage rates to propertiesnot connected with main sewers. At thesuccessful conclusion of the campaignthe group was disbanded. After re-funding a large proportion of donationsreceived from members and covering allcosts, a balance of £503 remained; thishas been donated to the RNLI.

Foreign CoinsOur drive to collect foreign coins is

now helped by Lipton Stores who haveagreed to place collecting points forthese coins at each of their 850 stores inEngland and Wales. This promotionwill start on May 1 and continue untilnext November. Please take yourunwanted currency to the nearestLiptons when you visit the store.

(Right) A stained glass window has beendonated to Cullercoats Methodist Church byMrs E. J. Scot! in memory of her brother,John Heddon Scott, lout in the CullercoatsJ93St lifeboat disaster. It was designed andpainted by Geoff R. Ramm and hand madeby Reed Millican and Co., Gateshead.

To improve communicationsfor D class ILBs, Ron Caldi-cott (/.), electronics surveyor/maintenance, and Pete Young,electronics surveyor, have pro-duced a portable, waterproofand unsinkable version of thePye Westminster VHP radio.It is hoped that 25 sets will beassembled this summer, with afurther 20 to follow.

(Left) A knot board for HQ museum, Poole,presented to Captain Nigel Dixon (I.) byArthur Hull comes with the goodwill ofeveryone at ATV Network Studios, BorehamWood. The knots were made by Tom Riley, asecurity officer, the frame by Peter Pincrole,a carpenter in the studios, and the plague byTom Lilley and the staff of the technicalworkshops.

Northerly Storm - SpringTides(from page 121)

abbreviated log preceded a day ofinspection and damage assessment forall coastal staff in the area. The divi-sional inspector of lifeboats for theSouth East, Lieut-Commander MichaelWoodroffe, was diverted to carry out asurvey of Margate boathouse whileMichael Fennel 1 completed the tour ofNorth Norfolk—a tour which ended atGorleston in time to meet the lifeboatcrew returning from a 17-hour search inappalling conditions, only to spend justover an hour on engine repairs with thedistrict engineer, Adrian Whatling, andfleet mechanic, Steven Betson, beforere-launching on a further 18-hourservice to another commercial vessel.

Further checks around the division,which runs from Skegness in the northto Walmer in the south, confirmed aconsiderable list of damage:

Wells: Lifeboat inaccessible; ILB housea total loss.

Walton: Lifeboat removed to backwatermoorings. Pier severely damaged.

Clacton: Lifeboat launched to Brightling-sea moorings after severe damage toboathouse tipping cradle. ILB houseand pier damaged.

C'romer, Wells and Sheringbam: Boat-house doors and electrics damaged ordestroyed.

Aldeburgh and Walmer: Heavy shingledeposits obstructing launching andneeding many hours of work beforeboth stations were fully operational.

Margate boathouse was inspected byDI(SE) and a representative of Lewisand Duvivier, consulting engineers to theRNLI, with the fullest co-operation ofRAF Mansion SAR unit. The next day,January 13, Michael Woodroffe and acrew were winched down to the severelydamaged house to launch ON 888, the46' 9" Watson lifeboat North Foreland(Civil Service No. 11), at 1330—anextremely hazardous operation whichensured the safety of the lifeboat. Allmoveable equipment was salvaged from

the boathouse and a fortnight laterMike Pennell returned with members ofthe crew to retrieve the winch engine; itwas brought down the slipway on rollers,and loaded into a stripped-out ILBwhich was towed to Margate harbour.

While the full brunt of the storm hadbeen felt in the Eastern Division, theNorth Eastern Division had had itstroubles, too, particularly at Humberstation on Spurn Point. Humber'sArun lifeboat had dragged her mooringsand the roadway out to the point hadbeen breached, isolating the full-timecrew and their families in their remotecottages. Electricity, telephone andwater were cut off, and it was some timebefore cables and mains could berepaired; for about a fortnight theonly source of fresh water was fromwater carts. There was damage, too, tothe slipways at both Scarborough andSeaham stations.

Nevertheless, it was a miraculousrecord that despite all the structuraldamage of the storms, not one lifeboatincurred damage.

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The Lucky Dip

EDINBURGH'S PERMANENT LIFEBOAT

SHOP, WHICH HAS NOW BEEN

'IN BUSINESS' FOR TEN YEARS

by Joyce Dunford

A typical busy Saturday afternoon photographed by Jonathan Lasson.

MANY ARE THE WAYS of raising moneyfor the RNLI, but one of the mostunusual is the Edinburgh shop, rightlynamed 'The Lucky Dip', which proudlysailed past a £50,000 profit mark recentlyafter ten years of increasingly pros-perous existence as a full time moneyspinner. In its first year it made over£2,000 and by last year climbed toaround £9,000. How is it possible to setup a shop like this and, in a city wherethere are many similar ventures for othercharities, run it with such enormoussuccess?

The ladies' guild in Edinburgh isresponsible for the operation and MrsPauline Hodge, its honorary secretary,took me to meet Mrs Agnes Braithwaite,the shop convenor, at the tiny premisesthe guild rents in a not very prosperouspart of the city. It is an excellent choice,however, since it is within a mile'sradius of the heart of Edinburgh'sPrinces Street, and includes houseswhere all ages and income groups live.It is impossible to sort out from whichbrackets the givers and the buyerscome—quite often they are the samepeople who give and buy.

Mrs Hodge and Mrs Braithwaite,both great enthusiasts, were happy togive guide lines for others who mightconsider setting up similar shops in theirareas. 'You must have enthusiasm forthe job and a good keen staff,'' is MrsBraithwaite's first maxim. Of her 30helpers, half have been with her sincethe shop was opened in December 1967,which says a lot for her as well as forthem. Most are in the fifties and sixtiesage group, housewives with more sparetime than they once had, or retiredbusiness women. 'We are said to be anation of small shopkeepers' she says,'and certainly people seem to adorecoming here to help."

Helpers work on a two and a half tothree hour shift in teams of three, oneteam for the morning and another inthe afternoon. The shop is open everyday except Sundays—though MrsBraithwaite and four helpers oftengo in on Sundays as well as one dayduring the week to sort out stock whichhas accumulated during that time.

Where does the stock all come from ?'Through word of mouth mostly. Wehave never advertised—only to put in anote in the newspapers at Christmas tothank everyone for their help during theyear. But the news that we need thingsto sell gets round among RNLI members,and our customers and passers-by. Whatwe really love is a house to clear! Wehear of someone who is moving, or hasa relative who has died, and a mass ofarticles of all kinds—clothing and bric-a-brac and kitchen things—can come to usthis way.'

Kitchen needs, they find, are par-ticularly good sellers; articles like oldrefrigerators, gas stoves, vacuumcleaners, and pots and pans sell ex-tremely well. Strangely, children'sclothes are sometimes difficult to movebut there is a lOp rail 'where anythingwhich has hung around too long is put\

How about pricing ? Mrs Braithwaitedoes this with a team of five otherswhen they sort out the clothing aftershop opening hours, grading it accord-ing to condition, fashion and cleanli-ness. Until it became too costly, theysent the clothes to be cleaned but nowthey find that customers prefer to buyan article cheaper and have it cleanedthemselves if they wish. For bric-a-bracthey have the services of a few peoplewho have special knowledge and cangive—free of charge!—advice as to howmuch an article might fetch.

Which led us to talk of 'the thrill ofthe find'. There have been several findsat 'The Lucky Dip'. One well-remem-bered find is a round brooch whichlooked as if it might sell for a few pence,but, on closer inspection, might be ofsome value. This was taken to anEdinburgh jeweller who gives hisservices, and by an extraordinarycoincidence he found that it was onehe had made himself. He gave £40 for it.Another time a charm bracelet washanded in with a very dirty bundle ofclothes, and it was found that everycharm was of 9 carat gold! Silver tea-spoons often turn up and are sent tolocal auction rooms. So it is necessaryto be on the watch for special articlesof this kind.

Mrs Braithwaite does not like to maketoo many rules for her teams of volun-teers, as it is essential to keep a happyspirit going. One rule is that no reduc-tions should be made over the counter,but even that has been bent a littlesometimes. 'There is a healthy com-petitive spirit between rotas. One likesto feel it does better than another, andways of selling have to be left a little tothe individual.''

Another useful hint is to look forparticular markets. Handmade lace issometimes handed in but not much indemand, so the helpers looked forsomeone to whom it might be usefuland discovered a shop where individualclothes were made. They sold some tothe owner for £25. Where clothes arevirtually unsaleable, buttons and zipsare removed and sold separately,woollens going to dealers to be sold bythe pound.

Now for some of the technical detailsof setting up shop. When the shop wasstarted, the office bearers of the guildsigned a deed of covenant to donate theentire profits to the RNLI, so thatincome tax, which has to be paid at thecurrent rate in Edinburgh, can bereclaimed in full by the RNLI at Poole.The shop also has a 50 per cent reductionin rates, as being run for charity. Thelandlords are 'generous and understand-ing people who, when our lease isrenewed every three years, give us veryfavourable increased terms'. The ex-penses are confined to rent, rates,electricity and insurance.

Mrs Braithwaite lists the values ofthe shop as at least five-fold. It makesmoney for the RNLI—witness the£50,000 profit. It provides a place forpeople to unload their unwantedarticles. On the Jack Spratt basis,people can buy things for themselveswhich they otherwise would not beable to afford. Those helping in theshop enjoy doing so, and know thatthey are wanted. Finally, it spreads thename of the RNLI and its work.

No wonder they are proud of theirventure, and only too glad if anyoneelse would like to give them that bestform of flattery—imitation.

125

International Boat ShowEARL'S COURT, LONDON, JANUARY 5 TO 15

RECORDS AGAIN BROKEN AT RNLI STAND

by Heather DeaneAssistant Public Relations Officer, RNLI

Lord Mayor of London, Sir Peter Vanneck,who opened the show, chats to Mrs CharlesHunting Simpson (c.) and Mrs Peter Grace,chairman, Central London Committee. Theladies, manning the souvenir stall, are seen'modelling' the RNLI's popular PVC aprons

Three hard-working supporters each receivea donation for the RNLI, and encouragementfrom Mrs Margaret Thatcher, Leader of theOpposition: Chelsea Pensioners (I. to r.)Frank Elverson, Topper Brown and JoeMarriott, who between them collected morethan £900 at the show.

THE SOUND OF BAGPIPES proclaimed theScottish theme of this year's Inter-national Boat Show and further evidencewas conveyed by the swirling kilts, thelure of highland holidays and quantitiesof Scottish £1 notes in the tills.

The RNLI stand, well situated on themain thoroughfare from the pool, wasthe scene of great activity.

This year, the chief exhibit was SPIDOTfrom Littlestone-on-Sea, described inthe last issue of THE LIFEBOAT, completewith an Atlantic 21. Always on handwere volunteers from lifeboat crews,ready to explain the merits of the self-powered launching trolley and answerquestions from interested onlookers.

There was a visual display unitinstalled by Computer ManagementGroup which enabled newly enrolledShoreline members to see their namesbeing linked into the Onex computersystem, and volunteers, many of them'old hands' by now, broke existingrecords by enrolling over 900 newmembers.

A print entitled 'The LynmouthLifeboat Service to the Forrest Hall,1899', by Mark Myers, was also onpublic display for the first time.

An attractive range of souvenirs wason sale to complete the scene, and if allthis wasn't enough to attract the crowds,Frank, Joe and Topper, three oldfriends from the Royal Chelsea Hospital,drew colourful attention to the stand.Indeed, few passers-by could resist theirpersuasive appeal to put a coin (or a

The presentation o)'public relations statuetteswas made by the Duke of Atholl, seen above(I.) with Mrs Stanley Herbert, who receivedthe statuette awarded posthumously to herhusband, and Peter Hadfield. (Right) Theother two recipients were Richard Evans,ex-coxswain of Moelfre (/.), and Sir AlecRose. (Left) Crew members from Beaumariswere there to honour their neighbour,Richard Evans.

note!) into their collecting boxes, whichfinally resulted in over £900 for RNLIfunds.

Branch and guild members mannedthe souvenir stand and sold lotterytickets while young ladies from the StJames Secretarial College worked on arota basis to sell lottery tickets through-out the duration of the show.

Small wonder that with all these con-certed efforts this year's show brokefinancial records, too, by taking nearly£10,000 from the sale of souvenirs,lottery tickets and donations in collect-ing boxes kindly displayed by otherexhibitors.

The success, however, can be judgedin more than monetary terms. Therewere for instance many visitors to thestand including the United StatesAmbassador, Dr Kingman Brewster,and the Lord Mayor of London, SirPeter Vanneck, who opened the BoatShow. Miss Great Britain, SusanHempel, boosted the sale of lotterytickets and autographed calendars whenshe visited the stand on the first Satur-day and Sunday of the show. MrsMargaret Thatcher bought tea towelsand lottery tickets one afternoon, whileEdward Heath, visiting the following day,renewed acquaintances from previousyears.

Radio 2 and 4 broadcast interviewsfrom the stand with Ken Boardman,honorary secretary of the Littlestone-on-Sea branch, and Lieutenant Alan Tate,operational assistant to the chief ofoperations of the RNLI.

The activity spread to the pool for adiary of presentations. On FridayJanuary 6, a £30,000 cheque from theWolverhampton lifeboat appeal waspresented to the chairman of theInstitution, Major-General Farrant, byMalcolm Timmins, chairman of Wolver-hampton branch. The money will go

126

Three canoeists who, last year, made the first ever canoeexpedition by coastal and inland waters from John O' Groatsto Lands End, present a cheque for £500 to John Lunch, amember of the Committee of Management, at the centrepool. (I. t. r.) John Lunch, Paul Grigg, David Evans andSimon Chivers. The cheque, in the shape of a canoe, ismoney raised as sponsorship on the 1,000-mile trip—a tripwhich earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records.

Midland Bank prepares for pay-in of the Parker Pen four foot long tlflOO chequein the shape of RMS Queen Elizabeth. (/. to r.) James Matter, director, ParkerPen Company, Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Compston, chairman, RNLI Fund RaisingCommittee, Michael Knight, manager Midland Bank (Boat Show) and two ofhis staff.

Discussing the merits of their Atlantic 21and SPIDOT launching trolley with EdwardHeath are two members of Littlestone-on-Sea ILB crew, Charlie Davies and Paul Reed.

Major-General RalphFarrant, chairman,RNLI, accepts chequefor £30,000 to providean Atlantic 21 and boat-house for AbersochfromMalcolm Timmins,chairman, Wolverhamp-ton branch. Looking on:(I. to r.) Councillor TedMitchell, appeal chair-man, Tony Guy, Wolver-hampton branch presi-dent, Barrie McGill,Abersoch crew memberand Bob Proudlock,appeal secretary.

towards an Atlantic 21 and her boat-house at Abersoch.

On the following Monday, AlanHughes of the 18+ Club presented acheque for £2,500 for an ILB to LadyNorton, of the Committee of Manage-ment of the RNLI. The next day acheque for £500 in the shape of a canoewas presented to John Lunch of theCommittee of Management by PaulGrigg, one of the three canoeists whohad taken part in a sponsored canoetrip from John O'Groats to Lands End.This was the first canoe trip of its kindand is to go into the Guinness Book ofRecords.

A day later, Vice-Admiral Sir PeterCompston, chairman of the FundRaising Committee of the RNLI,received a £1,000 cheque from JamesMoller, director of the Parker Pen Com-pany. The four-foot cheque was in theshape of RMS Queen Elizabeth and themoney came from the sale of pensmade from brass recovered from a port-hole of Queen Elizabeth which wasdestroyed by fire in 1972.

Nick Carter, assistant to the chiefranger of the Ancient Order of Foresters,presented a cheque for £5,000 towardsthe Shoreline lifeboat appeal to JohnAtterton, deputy director of the In-stitution, and Mr Atterton later received

a cheque from a contingent of 22Belgians who wished to become Shore-line members. The cheque representedthe joint subscriptions of 40 Belgians.

On January 12 the Duke of Atholl,a deputy chairman of the RNLI, pre-sented statuettes of lifeboatmen foroutstanding services to the Institutionin the field of public relations. Therecipients included Sir Alec Rose,round-the-world yachtsman, andRichard Evans, BEM, former coxswainof the Moelfre lifeboat and the onlyman alive to hold two gold medals forgallantry. Both these gentlemen aremuch in demand as public speakers atRNLI events. Mrs Stanley Herbertreceived a statuette awarded post-humously to her late husband for all thehelp he gave to the RNLI in connectionwith the Midlands Boat Show. FinallyPeter Hadfield, a young photographicstudent, received the award for pro-viding the Institution over a number ofyears with many fine photographs as avoluntary contribution. Fifteen lifeboatcrew members from Beaumaris hadplanned their visit to the Boat Show tocoincide with this presentation, whichwas their special tribute to their'neighbour', Richard Evans.

The Midland Bank has given theRNLI, for many Boat Shows, access to

its well-appointed lounge and bar for thepurpose of providing hospitality toguests, either before or following pre-sentations. Since many guests have oftentravelled a considerable distance toattend the show, this facility is of realbenefit and is greatly appreciated.

Apart from the AGM, which is a moreformal occasion, rarely can such a largecross section of lifeboat crews, voluntaryworkers, supporters, senior officials andmembers of permanent staff cometogether to work for the common cause.Amid the busy atmosphere of crowds,persuasive selling and cheerful goodwillthere are no formalities, no barriers—one cannot help feeling that Sir WilliamHillary would approve.

This year's stand manager was JackChambers—ably assisted by RayKipling. The efficient organisation andthe happy atmosphere which emanatedfrom our stand throughout the showcan be attributed to a great extent tothese two hard-working gentlemen.Sadly, it was Jack's last Boat Show, forafter nearly 50 years of service with theRNLI he retires later this year.

You have set us a fine example tofollow, Jack, and I am sure you will payus a visit next year to see that we con-tinue the good work and break newrecords.

127

Here and There

SUPPORT CONTINUES TO COME in fromAmateur Swimming Association clubsfor our appeal to organise sponsoredswims to raise funds for the RNLI. Tohelp clubs who arrange their pro-grammes well in advance the swim canbe arranged at any time over the nextfive years. For 1978, in England,Scotland and Wales, we have alreadyhad offers from 41 clubs and two clubsare arranging special swimming galas.A similar appeal is being made inIreland.

Many swimming clubs have gener-ously sent donations and we arereceiving the results of sponsored swimsalready held; for instance, £250 fromChurch Stretton ASC and £75 fromWarminster and District ASC.

• * *Bristow Helicopters Ltd., in their

support of North Sea rescue services,have generously donated £750 to payfor air-band radio equipment in boththe Aberdeen and Lerwick lifeboats.

* * *A second recording has been made

by Marske Fishermen's Choir, called

D. W. Pyle, vice-chairman of ChurchStretton branch, re-ceives a cheque for£250 from the spon-sored swimmers ofthe town's AmateurSwimming Club.

'The Shore Fishing Game'. It is avail-able on LP or cassette from AMLEngineers (Teesside) Ltd., LongbeckEstate, Marske-by-the-Sea, Redcar,Cleveland, price £1.99 plus 25p postageand packing. Profits will help towardsan ILB.

* * *In order to complete a collection of

RNLI official first day covers which isused for fund-raising displays, E. N.Smith, honorary treasurer of Littlestone-on-Sea ILB station, would like to buyNo. 1 of the series. Can anyone help?Mr Smith's address is 81 Rolfe Lane,New Romney, Kent.

A newmagazine,available,from theExchange,CF1 6ED.

issue of the Welsh lifeboatLifeboat Wales '78, is nowprice 20p plus 20p postage,Welsh District Office, TheMount Stuart Square, Cardiff

When set the school task of producinga project, Katie Place of Sunbury-on-Thames, chose the RNLI as her subject—and made a fine job of it. Presented

in chapters, beautifully hand writtenand illustrated with great imagination,the book starts with an author's intro-duction. '/ am doing this project on thelifeboat because I think the people arevery brave and have courage to go outin all weathers to save people's lives'writes Katie. '/ will try to find out asmuch as I can on this subject and I willenjoy doing it.' That's the spirit!

* * *Sometimes a story has a particularly

good ending. In 1976 the appealsdepartment of the RNLI organised acompetitive schools project, the twowinners of which were offered a passagefrom the Clyde to Plymouth in HMfrigate Jupiter. One of the winners,Richard Evans of Clevedon, acceptedthe invitation, and after his trip, lastAugust, sent Commander Ted Pritchard,appeals secretary, a copy of the accounthe wrote of his weekend afloat. Fromthis lively, comprehensive document,illustrated with photographs anddiagrams, it is obvious that the rightopportunity had come to the right boy;he had made the very most of theexperience, throwing himself into life onboard, learning everything he could andenjoying it all to the full. It all came toan end too quickly for Richard: 'Mytwo days had gone in a blur of excitementand interest', he wrote. '/ will neverforget HMS Jupiter, the officers and crewwho made a dream come true for me,and a weekend I will always remember'

* * *The photograph of the dedication of

Tenby's new ILB house in the winterissue of THE LIFEBOAT was published bycourtesy of Squibbs' Studios, Tenby.

Taking to the road: (Below, left) Dennis Oates, appeal secretary of East Ham branch, haspainted a lifeboat scene on his Dodge van, which he uses for all branch functions. (Below,right) Jeffery Dyson, a signaller in Rhyl crew (r), with the help of Bill Rathbone (I.) paintedlifeboats all round his Morris convertible—Rhyl's Har-Lil taking pride of place on theoffside; Mr Dyson won second prize in Prestatyn carnival last year with his car, which hedrives around Rhyl in the course of his work every day—photograph by courtesy of RhylJournal and Advertiser. (Right) Before Len Vaughan, a Barmouth crew member (I.) and hisnavigator John Morris-Jones of Dyffryn set out on the 200-mile Castrol International Rallythrough Wales last October, they resprayed their Morris in lifeboat colours and painted anRNLI flag on the bonnet: all sorts of people and firms sponsored them in aid of the lifeboatservice, and, completing the course, they raised over {.450.

128

Painting

'The Lynmouth LifeboatService 1899'

WHICH FOLLOWED THE 'OVERLAND LAUNCH'

by Mark R. Myers, RSMA

MY INTEREST IN PAINTING an incidentfrom the famous Lynmouth lifeboatservice to Forrest Hall goes back to thetime when I was boatswain in the littlesquare-rigged replica of Nonsuch ketch.We were on passage from Falmouth toBristol in February, 1970, when, aswe approached Breaksea Lightship atmidnight, a fierce easterly gale sprang upand blew us back towards Lundy,pelted by snow and spray. All that nightand the next day we lay hove-to, ridingthe seas gamely enough but wonderingwhere we should fetch up should thegale continue. Although the wind thenhowled from a different quarter, thiswas the same situation which faced thecrew of Forrest Hall after she brokeaway from her tug on the afternoon ofJanuary 12, 1899; and the same appal-ling weather lashed the men of Lyn-mouth, too, as they decided to launchtheir 34' lifeboat Louisa. It was plainlyimpossible to use their tiny harbour,and so the famous 'overland launch'began.

The story of that service, andespecially the long trek over the moorsto Porlock, is too well known to berepeated here. Suffice it to say that Ichose the lesser known part—the laboursof Louisa's crew out in the bay—as thesubject for my picture.

My first task was to find out exactlywhat happened, and how the boat, shipand coast had looked at the time.The best factual account I found was

The RNLI appeal print, illustrated above,measures 29\" X 25J" overall with an imagesize of 22\" x /Sf" and is printed in alimitededtion of 850 at £48 each, individuallysigned by Mark Myers and stamped by theFine Arts Trade Guild. Of these, 25 will be'remarque' prints where the artist willaccompany his signature with a pencil sketchin the margin, costing an extra £20. Whenall prints are sold a draw, with all purchasersparticipating, will take place. The winnerwill receive a free water colour painting ofhis own boat or any marine subject by MarkMyers. Full information from ManuscriptLtd., RNLI appeal, PO Box No. I , Liskeard,Cornwall, PL 14 4LG.

that by Tom Bevan and Coxswain G. S.Richards, published in THE LIFEBOAT in1933, but other sources added moreinformation about Forrest Hall, and hertug Jane Joliffe, Louisa, the weather onthat day, and so forth.

I had plenty of information onForrest Hall but no photograph untileventually I traced one to a museum.Then I found another photograph ofone of her fleet mates taken in 1898which provided the necessary indicationas to how she was painted and minorchanges in rigging detail at the time shefetched up in Porlock Bay.

Finding a reliable picture of the life-boat proved even more difficult. I knewthat she was a 34' self-righter with7' 6" beam, pulling ten oars and builtby Woolfe at Shadwell in 1887.Then, just before completing the picture,I came across a rare old photograph ofLouisa.

The final task before painting was apleasant one: to get out into PorlockBay and study and sketch the scene ofaction. I drove from Lynmouth toPorlock, retracing the lifeboat's over-

land route before arranging a trip inlocal lobster fisherman Paul Lawrence'sboat. I had just learned from onesource that Forrest Hall's anchors hadfinally held just past the five fathomline off Hurtstone Point, so armedwith old charts and pilotbooks andPaul's special knowledge of the bay wefound the site and sketched and photo-graphed it thoroughly.

Back at home, it was time to use allthe information I had collected bystarting to paint. First came sky, withits racing, lowering clouds just touchedby the pale morning sunlight. Thenthe sea, thundering past the crippledship and piling up on the grim rocks ofthe Hurtstone. Finally came Louisa andher tired crew and the gaunt, greyshape of Forrest Hall, straining at hercables.

And then, with the last detail paintedand checked, I sat back and hoped thatI had done those men of Lynmouthjustice. They deserved a memorialgrander than of painted canvas, andthis they have, in the living fame oftheir achievement.

The artist's sketch chart of Porlock Bay, showing Louisa's track.

129

ShorelineSection

AN ALL-TIME RECORD was chalked up inJanuary by Shoreline at the LondonBoat Show RNLI stand. During the11 days of the show 907 new memberssigned on: 25 life governors, 80 gover-nors, 306 family members and 496ordinary full members. This is a 200increase over last year, an achievementwhich certainly would not have beenpossible without my band of honoraryworkers who gave up their time to help.All credit must go to them for theirenthusiasm—and with that goes thegreat appreciation of Shoreline for theirefforts.

The most encouraging feature of thisvery good start to 1978 is the popularityof the new family membership. Whileon this subject, we hope to have instock, in the very near future, anorakbadges for our younger members;details will be circulated as soon aspossible.

I t is also interesting to note that theoverall value from covenanted sub-scriptions made at the Boat Show thisyear will bring in £1,500 per year fromtax concessions, once again proving howimportant it is to ask 'new recruits' tosign the covenant part of our member-ship form.

This year, for the first time, we had avisual display unit in use on the BoatShow stand. It was lent to us free ofcharge by CMG and enabled my staff toinsert new members as they were

enrolled straight on to the computer.We were also able to deal with queriesfrom existing members as they aroseand, I am pleased to say, as a result ofthis facility several increased theirsubscriptions and signed the deed ofcovenant.

* * *It has been my practice in the past

few issues to give details of the activitiesof some of our Shoreline members inthe campaign to raise funds towards ournew lifeboat and, therefore, continuingin the same vein, before Christmas threeof our members, Annette Cox, CeliaIvamy and Roger Smith, part of theDorset Brass Quire, went out carolsinging and raised £26.43 for our funds.There are eight members in the fullgroup but unfortunately they could notall get time off. Well done and manythanks to the three of you.

Another group who support us arethe members of the Deep Sea FishingSection of the Moortown Social Club inLeeds. At a recent charity concertorganised at the club a cheque for£104.14 to boost the Shoreline fundwas presented to our area organiser,Harry Weston. Our appreciation to youal l ; keep up the good work.

* * *On a different note, as you are aware,

we are always looking for ways bywhich Shoreline members can benefitfrom their membership when purchasingequipment. We are pleased to announcethat RFD Mills Equipment Ltd, 88Cattershall Lane, Godalming, Surrey(Tel. Godalming 4122), are prepared tooffer 10 per cent discount on the Hay-ward Safety Harness. Price for theadult orange nylon webbing model is£15.95 and for the child's nylon webbingmodel is £10.50. If you are interested inpurchasing these items would you pleasewrite to RFD direct quoting your mem-bership number.

* * *News of our Shoreline lifeboat is

Earls Court: Peter Holness (r) shows MrsMargaret Thatcher Shorelines CMG visualdisplay computer link on the RNLI stantl.On that day it was being operated by LindaPowell of Shoreline office.

that we have now passed the £100,000mark and the fund is sti l l growingsteadily. I hope soon to be able to giveyou a definite location of our boat andsome idea of when launching will takeplace. Well done to you all, but pleasetry to keep the 'recruitment' in fullswing. Let us try to pass the magicalfigure of 50.000 members this year.

We started the year off with a bangat the Boat Show and 1 am certain that,with your help as in the past, anythingis possible.

* * *As the boating season is fast approach-

ing may I take this opportunity ofwishing you all good weather, enjoyableand safe sailing in 1978.—PETER HOLNESS,membership secretary, RNLI, West QuayRoad, Poole, Dorset, BHJ5 1HZ (Tel.Poole 71133).

To: SHORELINE, RNLI, WEST QUAY, POOLE, DORSET, BH1I should like to be a part of such a worthwhile voluntary cause bj

and joining the Institution as:

A Life Member and Life Governor: minimum donation £60,including journal

A Member and Governor: minimum annual subscription £10,including journal

A Full Member: minimum annual subscription £3,including journal

Family Membership: minimum annual subscription £5, includingjournal

SHORELINE LIFEBOAT

Total subscription

NAMEADDRESS

5 1HZ.' becoming a

SlwI eiDalSigi

'dinecloseelalim

SHORELINE member of the lif

Below are the variousitems you are entitled towear or fly as a memberof SHORELINEMember's tie (Terylene) £2.00Lady's brooch £0.50Metal car badge £2.50Tie tack £1.008* hoist Hag £1.5012" hoist Hag £2.25Dinghy burgee £1.50

Insignia payment

Giro number is 294 7056P Of cheque j cash for £ . . . .

sboat service

130

Building a Rother Class Lifeboat

PART VII: BUILDING UP

THE VAST OPEN SPACES of the hullinterior gradually disappear as workcontinues at William Osborne's yard onthe internal structure of the 37' 6"Rother class lifeboat which will beRNLB Shoreline.

In the winter issue there was aphotograph of work beginning on thefoundations of the engine room. Figs.1 and 2 show how this work is pro-gressing. At the bottom of Fig. 1 canbe seen the floors in the wing compart-ments which carry the engine roomtank top; they are of 12 mm ply, with\\" square mahogany fillets at theirtop edges—note the large air ventilationholes. Fig. 2 shows the work completed.The tank tops between each pair ofengine bearers in fact form the top ofthe double bottom, watertight in twohalves, port and starboard. All steelwork, after fitting, has to be taken outagain and galvanised before it is finallyfixed in place.

Figs. 3 and 4 show further stages inwork to the after well. In Fig. 4 can be

seen the beams which carry the aftercockpit deck. Two are solid mahoganyand the remainder are formed by 12 mmply floors with 1J" mahogany filletseither side. Note once again the largeventilation holes necessary if the woodenhull is to remain in good heart and freefrom dry rot. In the winter issuemention was made of the laminatedpad built up to strengthen the hullwhere holes would have to be cut forthe cockpit deck relieving trunks;these rectangular trunks can now beseen in place, three each side.

While work on the wooden structurecontinues at William Osborne's, in aformer Fleet Air Arm hangar at the oldFord Airfield, a few miles away, G. H.Cunningham are constructing thealuminium shelter. When finished, itwill be subjected to an x-ray examina-tion, which would pick up any fault inthe welded joints, as well as a visualexamination by an RNLI hull overseer,before being brought to Littlehampton.

(To be continued)

Engine room. Fig. 1 (above) Tank top hasbeen fitted between starboard engine bearers,forming top of starboard watertight doublebottom, and plywood floors (pierced withventilation holes) have been fitted in wingcompartments. Fig. 2 (below) Work iscomplete.

After cockpit well: Fig. 3 (left) Beams and, Fig. 4 (right) side decks are fitted. Straight runback of after end of cartings, inboard of side decks, will take sliding wheelhouse doors. Allspaces under beams will be filled with shaped, buoyant polyurethane blocks.

Postscript...(from page 119)

the final fruition of this modern policy.I recall a conversation I had withCunninghame-Graham in the early daysof my lifeboat career, when he said,'It is not small boats, as at present,stationed in the bights, but large onesin the horns of the bays which thefuture will see'.. ..

The perfect inspector of lifeboatsshould be a man of many parts. Firstand foremost, he must, of course, be aseaman; but he must add some know-ledge of the art of the boatbuilder inorder adequately to report on the stateof the boats he inspects, and on any

necessary repairs to them; of the wheel-wright, for he must examine the lifeboatcarriages, and be sure of their conditionfor transporting the boat over roughand uneven ground; of the builder, inorder to examine and report on anydefect in the lifeboat houses; of the civilengineer, that he may do the same forthe slipways; of the marine engineer,when he is inspecting a steam lifeboat;of the motor mechanic, for motor life-boats; of the accountant, as he has toexamine the branch accounts, and seethat they are properly kept; of theorator, for he must on occasion speakin public on behalf of the Institution;and lastly, a little of the writer's craftmust be thrown on the heap, if his re-ports are to be lucid.. . .

The life of an inspector of lifeboatsis in many ways an arduous one ... butthere are many compensatory advant-ages . . . he makes many friends, someof whom he keeps for life. Of these nonestands out more conspicuously in mymemory than the various coxswains oflifeboats whom I have met round thecoast. The pick of a picked body of men,they combine the simplicity of characterof the fisherman with the moral qualitieswhich go to make leaders of men. Wasit not on just such that the great choicefell in Galilee of old?. .

Captain Hall was writing at the beginning of1920. Types of boat, details of administrationmay change, but the life and traditions of theservice are surely ageless.—THE EDITOR

131

Lifeboat PeopleAFTER THE SERVICE on December 1 of StPeter Port lifeboat to Natali, whichtransports Guernsey shellfish to San-tander, the vessel's owners, MariscosDel Cantabrico, entertained all mem-bers of the station's crew and theirwives, together with representatives ofother organisations which had helpedwhen the boat was in distress, to dinnerat Cobo Bay Hotel. During the eveningPeter Wright, agent for Natali, presenteda cheque for £150 to Jurat B. G.Blampied, chairman of the branch.

* * *On rare occasions the YW Dayboat

Class awards a special seamanshiptrophy for an outstanding feat of boathandling. Last year, at its nationalchampionship at Brixham, the awardwas made to Chris Hughes, who,despite injury sustained to his hand onservice in Padstow lifeboat (see page

114), not only competed in the racing,even in heavy weather, but finished acreditable eighteenth overall.

* * *One of the new magistrates recently

appointed to Scarborough bench isVictor R. Goodson, who, since an ILBwent on station at Filey in 1966, hasbeen a member of her crew.

Further down the coast, JohnCrossland, motor mechanic of Flam-borough lifeboat, has been elected toFlamborough Parish Council.

* * *A presentation was made to Mrs M.

Saunders when, last autumn, she retiredas treasurer of Blyth ladies' guild aftermore than 40 years service to Blythstation. Mrs Saunders, held in greatesteem and affection by all who workedalongside her, still remains an activecommittee member.

* * *It is with deep regret that we announce

the following deaths:June

Robert Young, coxswain of Cloughey-Portavogie lifeboat from 1936 to 1949and bowman from 1932 to 1935. Hewas awarded the silver medal in 1939.July

Mrs J. Reid, who was vice-chairmanof Peterhead station branch andpresident, until 1974, of Peterhead

Hayling Island crew members, ^MHhelpers and supporters at work onthe crocodile float they entered inHayling Island's 1977 carnival.It took second prize in its class.

ladies' guild. She was awarded a silverbadge in 1960, a statuette in 1965 anda gold badge in 1977.October

Ted Herring, who had worked forthe lifeboat service for about 30 years,first as a lifeboat week collector andthen as a founder member and honorarybox secretary of Portsdown branch. Healso served on The Hampshire Rose andEastney appeal committees.December

George Tart, coxswain of Dungenesslifeboat from 1947 to 1965 and bowmanat the No. 2 station from 1926 to 1939.He was awarded the bronze medal in1956, and the thanks of the Institutioninscribed on vellum in 1962.January

William Freeman, the sole survivorof the 1939 St Ives lifeboat disaster.February

George Povah, assistant motormechanic of Rhyl lifeboat from 1939to 1965, since which time he remainedone of the station's most loyal andrespected supporters. He was awardedthe thanks of the Institution inscribedon vellum in 1962.

Edward Verrill, coxswain of Whitbypulling lifeboat from 1952 to 1958 andsecond coxswain from 1946 to 1952.

To mark the retirement of John Owen, who had been honorary secretary of Rhylfor 25 years following 22 years previous service, Rhyl motor mechanic, PeterAdams, named the model 48' 6" Solent lifeboat he had made John M. Owen andput it on display on the promenade for lifeboat day. (I. to r.) John Owen, PeterAdams, Michaela Adams and Mrs Elsie Owen.

photograph by courtesy of Rhyl Journal and Advertiser

Presentation of North Sunderland station branch's 150th anniversary vellum was made lastNovember by the Duke of Northumberland (r. of vellum) at a gathering of crew, branch andguild members at Hamburgh Castle Hotel, Seahouses. The vellum was received by CoxswainRobert Douglas (I. of vellum).

photograph by courtesy of George Skipper Photography, Alnwick.

A move to Tunbridge Wells last year meantretirement from Orpington branch forNorman Crumble who had been its chairmansince its foundation in 1949 and who is alsoa member of the Fund Raising Committee.On behalf of the branch Ivor Stanbrooke,Mpfor Orpington, (r.), together with his wife,presented an inscribed shield to Norman andJanet Crumbie (I.).

photograph by courtesy ofOrpington Times

132

(Some

Time and time again comes the newsthat a branch or guild has passed all itsprevious achievements. There is Swanseawhich, with special efforts for Jubileeyear, raised a record of £3,214. Then,at Lymington, the branch and guildreached £6,152, a 60 per cent increaseon last year; it included the moneyraised to pay for the propellers for thenew Yarmouth lifeboat ('We providedthe propellers', said branch treasurer RexReddrop at their AGM, 'and all theyhad to do was to put a lifeboat on thefront and they were away!'). At Cotting-ham, a small ladies' guild achieved£1,400 and is out to increase thatamount in the coming year. At anothersmall inland town, Driffield ladies' guild

Ploughing matches with vintage tractors was the idea of Gordon Bell, honorary secretary ofKilrea branch, Northern Ireland. The first, held in 1976, raised £.104, but unfortunately heavyrain in 1977 meant very few spectators so that, in spite of the efforts of members of the UlsterTraction Engine Club, only £50 was raised. Jim Scott, of Moneymore, is seen on his way towinning the trail plough class in 1977.

photography by courtesy of Stephen Armstrong

raised £2,000 with its flag day, cheeseand wine party, fashion show, coffeemorning and secondhand sales. Yetanother small branch, Parbold inLancashire, raised £1,763; to the moneyraised by their own efforts was addedan unexpected bequest of £1,000 by thewill of the late Henry Sullivan, a localman who had served in the Royal Navy.

Neil Anderson, a 13-year-old SeaCadet, helped Lowestoft ladies' guild toreach its 1977 target of £5,000. Hestarted his work for lifeboats two yearsago with sales from his back garden.Their success led to a more ambitiousidea; he hired the hall used by SeaCadets to stage a public fete and, helpedby his family, raised £135. Anotherindividual effort was made by a com-mittee member; she donated to guild

Margaret Mitchell, wife of a Fleet branchcommittee member, leaves raising money toher cat, Perdita. Instead of selling Perdita'skittens, Mrs Mitchell asks new owners tomake a donation to the RNLI.

photograph by courtesy of AldershotWeekend News

An original cartoon by Mac of the Daily Mail was one of the lots atTruro branch's celebrity auction at New Tregye Hotel, CarnonDowns, last September, Some 200 letters written to famous peopleresulted in 84 buttons for auction. A catalogue gave the donor andhistory of each button and lots were put under the hammer byauctioneer Tim Hamilton. Cufflinks from President Sadat went for£40; a button from the Empress of Iran for £38; a pug button fromthe Duchess of Windsor for £.51 and two buttons from the uniform ofthe late Duke of Windsor reached £68.

photograph by courtesy of Robert Roskrow

St David's ladies' guild held an aide tyme music hall at WarpoolCourt Hotel on February 1, attended by about 200 people, most ofthem in splendid period costume. A glittering evening of song, danceand mirth was under the chairmanship of Brian Harris of Tregydd,and during the interval a buffet supper was served at the candle-littables by guild members. There were raffles and competitions for thebest dressed lady and gentleman, won by Miss E. Beynon andB. Blandrespectively. The pianists throughout the entertainment were RuthDavies Hendre, Ruth Barker and Emlys Murrow. At the end of ahappy evening £200 had been raised for the RNLI.

133

An RNLI stall at Cheltenhamcharities gala market in theTown Hall last Septemberraised £72.87. Members ofCheltenham branch, with theirimpressive stall and back-cloth, (I. tor.) Dennis Hughes,Brian Lilley (chairman), Pam

. Proctor (honorary secretary),Councillor Peter Skinner andJim Tidmarsh,photograph by courtesy of

Gloucestershire Chronicle

Every Christmas and Easterfor ten years SouthportMummers Group (with StGeorge, the King of Egypt,Beelzebub and all the others)has toured the hostelries ofSouth Lancashire with itsancient traditional plays tocollect money for the lifeboats—taking well over £100 ineach of the recent years. Theoriginal squire, MalcolmHowarth, has just retired,Mick Rimmer being electedin his place.

Wolverhampton branch mem-bers did a roaring trade intop hats (and could have solda great many more) at theirthird annual nearly new shoplast autumn. In a fortnight£2,070 was added to branchfunds. (I. to r.) Joan Timmins,Greta Proudlock, HeatherWhyte and Shirley Newell.photograph by courtesy ofWolverhampton Express and

Star

funds a proportion of the profits on thesale of three tons of home-made marma-lade made in just over a year. Since itsformation 16 years ago Lowestoft guildhas raised over £34,000.

Willesden and District branch wasformed last June with a committee of

11 Shoreline members. Membershipsoon increased to 18 and a late entrywas made into the Borough of Brent'sSeptember three-day annual show inRoundwood Park. The stall, manned ona rota system, raised over £400 after allexpenses had been paid and enrolled11 new Shoreline members.

Thirteen-year-old David Morgan ofScarborough became the youngestperson to swim the Channel when hecompleted the marathon in 11 hours 10minutes last July. The people of Scar-borough had raised £2,500 to financethe venture and, at David's request, the£1,500 which remained unused wasgiven to Scarborough lifeboat. Greatcourage, great generosity.

Twenty-one members of Uttoxeterladies' guild took part in a recent'talent' project. The target for eachparticipant was to turn £1 into £5.Such was the enthusiasm (carol singing,nearly new sale, home-made bread,marmalade and lemon curd, slimmers'lunch, home printing, tea cosies, coffeemornings were just some of the meansemployed) that the final total came to£331.49, an average of more than £15each.

Ainsty Factoring Co., a firm ofbuilders and plumbers merchants basedin Malton, North Yorkshire, usuallysend their customers a gift at Christmas:a pen or diary or calendar. Last Christ-mas they decided to donate the moneyinstead to the RNLI, telling theircustomers what they were doing andinviting them, if they wished, to add theirown contribution. As a result a donationof £250 was made to the lifeboats.

During last season's cruises toMadeira and the Canary Islands, passen-gers on board two Fred Olsen liners,Blenheim and Black Watch, donatedthe generous sum of £3,000 to charity,and Fred Olsen Lines have presented itto the RNLI to be used for inshorelifeboats.

In the winter 1976/77 issue ofTHE LIFEBOAT it was reported thatsolo transatlantic yachtsman DavidSandeman had signed 500 envelopesbearing the lip Jersey stamp com-memorating America's bicentenary andhad taken them with him across theAtlantic. Franked both in Jersey andRhode Island, they were given to Jerseyladies' guild by David's father, Brian G.Sandeman. They have now all beendisposed of and the total profit for theRNLI is £2,416.99.

As a result of tremendous enthusiam and hard work Broadstairsladies' guild realised over £600 at their last autumn fayre. ChairmanMrs L. S. Cobb is seen with her committee and two guild membersbehind a stall laden with handwork. Branch and guild together raised£3,438 last year.

photograph by courtesy of East Kent Times

Pamela Black presents £75 collected by 12 children to Captain I. C.Bayliss, Methil harbour master and chairman of Buckhaven andMethil branch. The other helpers were Susan McGarrity, AnnWilliamson, Fiona Thomson, Gillian Carter, Kevin Carter, BrianRussell, Dawn McPhail, Ian Carry, Paul McGarrity, Nicola Sommer-ville and Hilary Scott, photograph by courtesy of East Fife Mail

134

(Left) The local lifeboat entry forthe cavalcade which opened Alder-ney Week 1977. Mrs N. J. Allenleads the RNLI team in Alderney,which, with an island populationof about 1,750, has contributed£4,340 to Guernsey branch fundsover the past three years.

(Below) A guess-the-weight competition run by Ley ton-stone branch at a hospital fete last summer raised £30for the lifeboat service. 'Struggling'' to lift the bag (itweighed 6\ Ib) are two branch members, W. H. A.Peterken (I.) and A. Titmus, each with his lifeboat model,a Watson and a Solent respectively.photograph by courtesy of London and Essex Guardian

Newspapers

Over the past five years young peoplefrom Godalming have raised £560 forthe RNLI. Members of the WilfredNoyce Youth Centre, who have raised£100, are adopting Eastbourne lifeboatfor their fund-raising efforts.

Macduff ladies' guild funds receiveda new year boost with the presentationof a cheque for £205.15 raised from adarts tournament in Macduff TownHall last November; the total alsoincludes £60 from the Plough Hotelwhich handled the catering during thetournament finals. The cheque waspresented to the guild president, MrsMay West, by fisherman Percy Wattwho, with Bill West and George Slater,organised the event.

(Above) At Penlee autumn fay re,Nick and Sue Leslie, twindaughters of Dr D. W. L. Leslie,chairman of the branch, kept up abrisk trade in Shoreline member-ship and raffle tickets. Dr Lesliegives up all his spare time to theRNLI and his double garage is sofull of souvenirs and Christmascards that there is no room forcars!

photograph by courtesy ofS. Bennetts

Upon hearing that a little lad of sevensuffering from leukaemia had made thestudy of lifeboats his main interest, JackGroves arranged for him to visitWilliam Osborne's yard at Littlehamp-ton and to go aboard Joy and JohnWade, the new Yarmouth, Isle ofWight, lifeboat. On coming ashore andseeing one of the Yarmouth appeal carstickers, the boy asked if he could sellsome, and eventually he raised nearly£6.50 in this way. Most of the stickerswere sold to doctors and nurses at thehospital he visits.

At 10 p.m. on Friday September 2,1977,16 players from the Queen's Head,Marlborough, started a 24-hour dartsmarathon. By 10 p.m. the following

Sallash and District branchman RNLJ souvenir stands atvarious regal las and fetes duringthe summer, and are here seenat Saltash Regatta. Souvenirsand cards are also sold beforeChristmas at a local shop. Witha small committee of six, thebranch raised £1,300 last year.

Last autumn Jeff Needham (r.), a memberof the Fund Raising Committee, presented aplaque to Ron Ride, a member of the RiverThames branch and also of Shoreline, whohas raised more than £1,400 on his premisesin three years.

photograph by courtesy of Leslie Collier

night 557 games of 501 had been playedand no fewer than 2,020 treble 20sscored. Most supporters had sponsoredthe players for the number of gamesplayed, but two men, including thelicensee, offered a penny for everytreble 20 scored. Together with a raffle(all prizes given by the players), thesale of RNLI souvenirs and other collec-tions, £760 was raised. During themarathon visitors included the Mayor ofMarlborough, Councillor Mrs LilianRoss.

Ivybridge and District branch, whichincludes Cornwood, Harford, Erming-ton, Ugborough and Modbury, wasformed in 1975 and raised £1,007 in itsfirst year. The branch aims at strikinga happy balance between fund raisingand enjoyment for the maximumnumber of people; as well as street andhouse-to-house collections, its activitieshave included a grand challenge cricketmatch at Cornwood against the RoyalWestern Yacht Club, a ploughman'ssupper and RNLI films at Ivybridge, awine and cheese garden party atErmington and an open day at Harford.

In appreciation of help given by theRNLI in keeping a watchful eye overthe races they organised in 1977, theUnited Kingdom Offshore BoatingAssociation sent a donation of £50 tothe Yarmouth lifeboat appeal.

The 16 members of Roundhay ladies'coffee group take it in turn to hold acoffee morning, each putting 25p in thebox whether they attend or not. Pre-serves, biscuits and cakes are also sold.In 1975 and 1976 they donated £100 toLeeds ladies' guild luncheon club, butin 1977, Jubilee Year, they increasedtheir lifeboat donation to £170.

The newly formed Spalding andDistrict branch held a cheese and wineevening last November as the culmina-tion of the pick-a-date competition ithad been running. During the evening asealed envelope containing three win-ning dates chosen by HRH The Duke ofKent, president of the RNLI, was

135

Vivien Nicholson ceremoniously knocks overthe pile of pennies collected for the lifeboatservice in 1977 at the Jolly Sailor Inn,Selby. The pennies added up to £.189, and it isthe third year running that such a pile hasbeen built.

Mrs Hale, 84 years old and almost blind,nevertheless made this lovely crochet bed-spread of 360 separate squares. Raffled at asmall function it raised £50 for Ware branch.With Mrs Hale is Pop David, aged 87, a

founder member of the branch with 19 yearsservice to his credit.

(Right) Between July and October last yearBeccles and District branch pirate ship'raided' holidaymakers on the NorfolkBroads with collecting boxes and raised(.550.11; this year she will be outwardbound in March. Her crew are: skipper R.Stroud, branch chairman; engineer, C.Martin, vice-chairman; bowman, D. Ling;hands, I. Riches and A. Link.

Susan Last, who organises Brightlingsealifeboat collection, also 'organises' herparents, Jean and Ernest Last! Mrs Last isdisabled but in her Batricar decorated withposters and armed with souvenirs for sale,she raised £70. Ernest Last dressed his boatoverall, slung a 3ft lifeboat collecting box inhis rigging and collected about £20 round themoorings. In all about £380 was raised.

After the AGM of Newport, Shropshire,branch, the honorary treasurer, A. D.Arnold, handed a cheque for £1,000 to GlynWilliams, DOS (Wales). Also in the pictureare Or A. R. Snead, branch chairman, andMrs Y. M. Jones, honorary secretary.

opened. There was also a photographicexhibition of Edwardian and Victorianlife in North Norfolk, with pictures ofearly lifeboats and rescues, provided byP. Stibbons of Cromer. The emphasis ofthe evening was on making friendsrather than money, but both aims wereachieved: more than 160 people attendedand the profit was over £150.

Sailing evenings organised throughoutthe winter by Horsham branch not onlybrought in funds but also valuableoffers of help for future events. Thevery varied programme started with atalk and films on the RNLI presented bySydney Gillingham, ADOS (SE), andCoxswain Kenneth Voice of Shoreham.

Ten-year-old Emma Harris and herfriends, who call themselves The FoxClub, raised £10 for Weybridge branchwith puppet performances at friends'houses. They built the puppet theatrethemselves and also made the puppets,painted the scenery and wrote their ownversion of Cinderella to perform.

Michael Vick, publican of the BullHotel, Nettlebed, agreed to part withhis ten-year-old beard on conditionthat his customers raised £100 for theRNLI. One pound shares were sold andwhen the £100-mark was passed lastNovember, local barber Roger Smithset to work. In the end £165 was raisedfor Henley-on-Thames branch.

In a spur-of-the-moment sponsoredcheese roll eating contest at WhitstableYacht Club, four men raised more than£21 for the lifeboat service. RichardRoscoe managed to consume 12 rollsand Barry Bishop nine, with no illeffects!

Hendy-Lennox of Bournemouth havedonated £225 to the Yarmouth lifeboatappeal; it was raised as the result of aswop-shop and auction of nauticalitems at the firm's Lansdowne show-rooms.

During last summer £225 was collected forthe RNLI aboard British Rail ferry ss Ceas-area. Assistant barman Gordon Green, whois a member of Walmer lifeboat crew,watched by stewardess Irene, Grassland (I.)and shop attendant Jeanette Nye, extractsthe RNLI flag from the remains of the glasscarboy used for contributions from passengersand crew.

(Left) Burton-on-Trent branchraised £177 at its 1977 wineand cheese party, the fourth tobe held at the home of Mr andMrs F. R. Kerry. Behind the'groaning board', the Kerryfamily (I.) with Mr and MrsE. A Cooper, joint honorarysecretaries of the branch, andMr and Mrs K. R. Brown, thechairman and his wife.

136

Berkhamsted and District branchhave been given over £150 by Mr Fee,steward of the local golf club; £70 froma raffle and £88 from his lifeboatcollecting box. To augment his total, MrFee hires ties to members wanting togo into the dining room where, accord-ing to club rules, ties must be worn.

Over the past three years the WykeHykers of Yorkshire have raised £480for the RNLI by sponsored hikes. Thelatest cheque, for £100, presented byBarry Carlisle, their honorary secretary,was received on behalf of the RNLI byTim Carter, who regularly gives lectureson behalf of the lifeboat service andwhose photographs are well known toTHE LIFEBOAT readers.

North Chingford branch's annualsponsored walk around ConnaughtWaters, Epping Forest, raised £575 lastSeptember. Eleven-year-old ColleenGarnham walked 20 laps, about 10miles, raising over £80, most of whichwas contributed by members of theRoyal Epping Forest Golf Club. Anumber of senior citizens were sponsoredfor about £20 each by their colleagues,and patrons of the Queen ElizabethPublic House gave substantial support.

Another sponsored walk, undertakenby Engineering Cadets of HackneyTechnical College (Poplar Centre) raised£525.30. All the cadets will shortly begoing to sea and many have joinedShoreline.

A friend of a Sale branch committeemember travels extensively by LandRover. He often gives help to othermotorists in trouble either providing atow or some mechanical help. Whengiven money for 'a drink' he donates itto Sale branch and now carries a life-boat collecting box in a prominentposition in his Land Rover.

Narbeth and District branch sent£1,000 to lifeboat funds last year. Itsseventh annual fork supper, held atQueens Hall, was a great success; about400 people attended and among theguests were Ivor Crockford, ex-cox-

swain of Tenby lifeboat, and GlynWilliams, DOS (Wales). A darts tourna-ment at the Cross Hands Inn, Martletwy,raised £75.60

Although the British-flag vessel ssGlobtik Tokyo never comes to the UK,several of her crew, including her master,have had cause to be grateful to theRNLI when on the British coast inother vessels. At a Saturday nightentertainment in the crew's bar, a can ofNewcastle Brown Ale, highly prized ina vessel having only foreign lager, wasauctioned for the lifeboat fund andwas sold for £15. Other donations werecollected during the evening and acheque for £52 sent to the RNLI. Themaster has now asked for a lifeboatcollecting box which can be kept onboard.

Last summer Portsmouth DockyardAngling Club raised £125 for theYarmouth lifeboat appeal by a fishingcompetition and social evening.

With help from friends who soldtickets (hand-printed in the school artdepartment) Jeremy Deering organised arock concert at Shrewsbury School lastautumn, when a packed audienceenjoyed the amazing sounds producedby three local groups, 'Dixie Chicken','Baseball' and 'Slender Thread', all ofwhom played for lower fees than usual.The evening resulted in a grand total of£70 towards lifeboat funds.

Janet Hone of Welwyn, aged 13,collects autographs of famous people.Each time she gets a new autograph herfather puts 5p in her RNLI collectingbox, and friends and relatives to whomshe shows her collection make contribu-tions as well. So far she has collectedabout £8.

Northwich branch raised over £84 byorganising a sponsored paddle on theRiver Weaver, undertaken by localschoolchildren.

Totton and District branch has raised£815 for the Yarmouth, Isle of Wight,appeal thus paying for the electricwinch aboard Joy and John Wade,Yarmouth's new Arun lifeboat. The

branch, formed in December 1974, hadundertaken a sponsored walk lastMarch at the Deerleap Enclosure,Colbury, in the New Forest; the 150people taking part had been undeterredby a thunderstorm.

Despite a heavy thunderstorm, side-shows and stalls at Ramsbottom branchsummer fete were well supported;music was provided by the local SilverBand and children from a local studiogave a dancing display. By the end ofthe afternoon £350 had been raised forthe lifeboat service.

Over the past few years Worthingbranch has organised a sponsored walkfor the RNLI from Worthing YachtClub to Angmering and back, a distanceof about 16 miles. Each year theamount raised has increased and thewalk on April 24, 1977, produced arecord sum of £1,300.

As a result of its annual dance lastNovember, Pembroke Licensed Victual-lers Association was able to hand to theInstitution a cheque amounting to almost£1,200.

The wives at RAF Coltishall run athrift shop at which any goods such ascloths or toys no longer needed can besold; ten per cent of the profits go tocharity. Recently Pat Meek, the chair-man, presented a cheque for £75 toMike Pennell, inspector of lifeboats,Eastern Division.

Building up stocks . . .

To augment their supply of goods forsale in aid of the lifeboat service,Wilmslow branch, Manchester, hasdevised a postcard to be slipped throughthe letter boxes of houses known to besold but from which the family has notyet moved:

'We have noticed that you are likelyto be moving in the near future, andwould be most grateful for any items youdo not want which might be suitable forour various jumble/white elephant/bookand music sales. If so would you kindlytelephone Wilmslow 22789, so that wecan arrange collection.'

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137

144 pages Many of\the most stirring tales of 'the men who never turn back'—the crews of the R.N.L.I.—are included from the very beginningof the service to today. So, too, are the stories of rescue and heroics byothers including the helicopter crews who risk their lives over thestormy seas.

The author is Commander Eric Middleton, V.R.D., R.N.V.R., aformer lifeboat inspector, whose respect for the sea and the menwho rescue those in danger upon it is reflected in these thrillingtales he relates so vividly.

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138

REVIEWS• Howard Biggs, in his book TheSound of Maroons (Terence Dalton,Suffolk, £5.80) has researched diligentlyto produce such a fine history of theKent and Sussex lifeboat stations from1802 to 1977.

Much more than a reference book,however, the story also provides awonderful glimpse of seafaring over thepast 175 years.

The book is very well produced, withnumerous photographs, illustrationsand drawings and Mr Biggs hasrecounted many of the hundreds ofrescues effected by the Kent and Sussexlifeboats. Often they were spectacular,such as the classic service of theRamsgate lifeboat, Bradford, in 1881,when Coxswain Charles Fish wasawarded the gold medal for gallantryfor his skill and determination inrescuing 12 men from the barqueIndian Chief after being 'out in thatfurious and bitter gale for 26 hours'. InJanuary 1952 North Foreland went outfrom Margate in what her coxswainlater described as 'one of the worsttrips we ever had' to pluck twoexhausted men from their five-hourordeal in the rigging of a sunken barge.

There is a chapter on the notoriousGoodwin Sands and another paystribute to the war-time service of life-boatmen, especially at Dunkirk.

The volume of shipping among thesandbanks and reefs of the Channelcoast has always created particularhazards and nowhere have lifeboatsserved with greater distinction. How-ever, this story is typical of lifeboatstations all round our coast. Mr Biggswrites knowledgeably and with pridenot only of lifeboats and crews but alsobranches and guilds who give theirsupport through fund raising. As thehonorary secretary of the Broadstairsbranch of the RNLI, and the holder ofthe gold badge, no one is more qualifiedto do so.—H.D.

• A new three-volume directorycovering some 30,000 merchant shipsfrom all over the world, is now in courseof production: Talbot-Booth's Mer-chant Ships edited and illustrated byLieut.-Commander E. C. Talbot-Booth, RD, RNR, director of the ShipsRecognition Corps, and published byMarinart/Kogan Page, 116A PentonvilleRoad, London, Nl 9JN. The first

volume (£12), already published, con"tains notes on ship recognition andprofile drawings with brief technicaldetails of some 3,500 individual shipsor classes of ship, covering vessels withengines and bridges amidships andthree-quarter aft. The index namesabout 8,500 ships in all. Volumes 2 and3 will follow at about nine-monthintervals. The publishers plan to issueregular supplements to all three volumesto keep the work up to date.—J.D.

• Aimed perhaps more particularly atthe younger reader but exciting enoughfor all tastes, in Saved from the Sea(Beaver Books, 50p) John Davies hascollected a wide variety of rescue storieswhich range from that of Grace Darlingto the fight to save the submarinevehicle Pisces III which, to mix ametaphor, might be described as anautical cliff-hanger.

The incredible Mr Winstanley, builderof the first Eddystone lighthouse, mustenliven any book in which he appearsand his tragic end one stormy nightwhen his pagoda-like structure wasswept away, taking him and the light-house keepers to their deaths, was inkeeping with his amazing life.

Perhaps, in stories of the sea, thoseof the men who died are more grippingthan those of the rescued. Certainlyone may find both admiration and pityfor those lost in lifeboat disasters, suchas that of St Ives in Cornwall, which isgraphically described.—E.W.M.

0 As a tribute to the men who haveserved the Lifeboat Institution inOrkney over all the years since the firstlifeboat was established at Stromness in1867, the Orkney Natural HistorySociety has published an illustratedbooklet containing brief histories ofOrkney lifeboat stations past andpresent: Stromness, Longhope, Stron-say and Kirkwall. The booklet, price25p plus 8p packing and postage, isavailable from the Society at theMuseum, 52 Alfred Street, Stromness,Orkney.—J.D.

• The reader of Electronic Navigationfor Small Craft by Dag Pike (AdlardColes, £10) will be continuouslyreminded that the author has been aninspector of lifeboats. Anyone who has

experienced poor visibility at sea willfeel the yearning for reliable aids tonavigation in small craft. He will alsosense the caution with which the infor-mation from these aids must be usedwhen the elements are screaming foran answer.

This book of 149 pages of text,including photographs and numerousdiagrams, covers all the navigationequipment which small boat operatorsmay fit, or may wish to fit, givenadequate stowage space and a healthybank balance. While aimed at theyachtsman, it encompasses all craft upto the size of our largest lifeboats.

Essentially this volume is a collectionof information which is available fromother scattered sources, collected forthose who may never get around toscanning technical and operationmanuals but screened by a practicalseaman and navigator who is aware ofthe limitations of the equipment. DagPike makes it clear that in heavyweather the operator may not bephysically capable of plotting theinformation from his instruments, andanyway the bearing may be severaldegrees in error. He then points out howto deal with the situation.

As a seaman deeply involved withtraining, I find the book most useful. Itis a guide to the bewildering array ofdials, neon indicators, and print-outsavailable to today's small boat navi-gator, which goes beyond the manu-facturers' manuals.—L.J.V.

• The language of the sea is a livinglanguage, keeping pace with advancingmarine technology and the present dayexpansion of interest in yacht racing andcruising. Such words as 'cavitation','starcut spinnaker', 'electrolysis' and'Cunningham hole' quietly slip intoplace beside old familiar terms like'amidships', 'baggy wrinkle', 'rhumbline' or 'limber hole'. In compiling AGlossary of Modern Sailing Terms(George Allen and Unwin, £2.50) JohnRousmaniere has confined his attentionalmost entirely to terms in active use inthe sailing vocabulary of the mid-1970sand has thus produced a valuablecomplement to dictionaries of moretraditional seamen's terms.

Introducing the glossary, Bill Robin-son, editor of the American magazineYachting, talks of nautical language asa practical tool of communication; andit is an essential tool alike to those whogo to sea and those who would under-stand the lore of seafaring.—J.D.

• Anyone who has followed suchbrave endeavours as the attempts tosave the disabled Flying Enterprise in1952 (or the recent attempts to refloatthe oil rig stranded on Guernsey) willfind Salvage from the Sea by Com-mander Gerald Forsberg (Routledgeand Kegan Paul, £4.95) hard to putdown. It is both authoritative and veryamusing reading.—J.D.

139

Awardsto Coxswains, Crewsand Shore Helpers

The following coxswains, members of lifeboat crews andshore helpers were awarded certificates of service on theirretirement and, in addition, those entitled to them by theInstitution's regulations, were awarded an annuity,gratuity or pension.

ArbroathD. E. CargillG. Milne

BallycottonB. LynchM. L. Walsh

BridlingtonR. D. Cranswick

BuckieD. G. A. Budge

Cloughey-PortavogieG. H. Calvert

Bowman 16 years.Second Coxswain 10i yearsCrew Member 11 years.

Assistant Mechanic 28 i years.Coxswain 27 yearsSecond coxswain 10 yearsBronze medal 1943.

Assistant Mechanic 10 yearsCrew Member 1 year.

Second Coxswain Mechanic 3J yearsFleet Mechanic 3i yearsReserve Mechanic 3i years.

Motor Mechanic 5f yearsSecond Coxswain 5i yearsCrew Member 4 years.

Courtmacsherry HarbourP. Keohane Coxswain 2 years

Second Coxswain 21 yearsCrew Member 1 year.

DonaghadeeS. Nelson

DungenessA. F. Clements

A. J. Oilier

Dun LaoghaireC. H. Blackmore

FileyR. P. Hunter

FishguardD. R. E. Williams

GirvanW. McCreath

HolyheadF. Ward

LlandudnoD. Heritage

K. Latham

Assistant Mechanic 25 yearsCrew Member 17 years.

Motor Mechanic 2i yearsSecond Coxswain Mechanic 2i yearsCrew Member 6 years.Crew Member 29 years.

Assistant Mechanic 211 yearsMotor Mechanic 6 yearsCrew Member 8 years.

Crew Member 10J years.

Assistant Mechanic 22J yearsCrew Member 2 years.

Second Coxswain 17f yearsBowman 4i years.

Second Coxswain 7f yearsCrew Member 12 yearsBronze Medal 1966.

Assistant Mechanic 6i yearsCrew Member 18 years.Crew Member 13 yearsShore Helper 2 years.

MargateB. R. Richards

A. J. Scott

NewbigginC. Hancox

NewhavenJ. A. Message

E. A. Moore

F. H. Vacher

PenleeP. N. Wallis

Port ErinH. Crebbin

RamseyA. E. Garrett

F. H. Kinnin

RhylW. T. Hunt

RunswickH. Armstrong

St DavidsD. Rowlands

St Mary'sG. W. Symons

SwanageE. Dorey

The Lizard-CadgwithW. Harris

D. V. Step

The MumblesW. H. Davies

TynemouthR. Rutherford

K. Smith

Second Coxswain 6i yearsCrew Member 24i years.Assistant Mechanic 16i yearsCrew Member 23 years.

Motor Mechanic 25 years.

Assistant Mechanic 9 yearsCrew Member 8 years.Coxswain 15 yearsSecond Coxswain 7 yearsBowman 8 years.Motor Mechanic 14 yearsAssistant Mechanic 17J years.

Bowman 6 yearsCrew Member 20 years.

Crew Member 30 years.

Assistant Mechanic 6| yearsCrew Member 10 years.Second Coxswain 3 yearsCrew Member 27 years.

Motor Mechanic 13 yearsCoxswain Mechanic 9 yearsCoxswain 4 yearsSecond Coxswain 2 yearsCrew Member 11 yearsShore Helper 4 years.

Acting Coxswain 3f yearsSecond Coxswain 5 yearsBowman 3i yearsCrew Member 5 years.

Head Launcher 14 yearsShore Helper 20 years.

Crew Member 20 yearsShore Helper 3 years.

Assistant Mechanic 14i yearsCrew Member 1 year.

Crew Member 15 yearsCrew Member (The Lizard) 19 years.Assistant Mechanic 16 yearsAssistant Mechanic (The Lizard) 2 yearsCrew Member 4 years.

Second Coxswain 194 yearsBowman 5 yearsCrew Member 11 years.

Assistant Mechanic 10 yearsCrew Member 14 years.Crew Member 23 years.

When you have finished with your copy ofTHE LIFEBOAT

PLEASE PASS IT ON...to a friend, library, club, school, waiting room...it may bring the lifeboat service new friends andhelpers...

140

Lifeboat Services(from page 118)

Fox. Vellum service certificates havebeen presented to Crew MembersChristopher E. Fox and DavidWainwright.

Western Division

On the barTHE SERVICE BY FWLLHELi lifeboat andCriccieth ILB to the yacht Zircon duringthe early hours of September 1, 1977,was reported in the winter 1977/78 issueof THE LIFEBOAT. Zircon, with fourpeople on board, had run aground insidethe bar of Porthmadog Estuary in afresh to strong south-westerly wind; thetide was at half spring ebb. WhilePwllheli lifeboat stood by, helpingwhenever possible with her searchlight,Criccieth ILB successfully negotiatedthe rough water over the bar and, takingone adult and one child each time, madetwo trips up the difficult channel to landthem at Ynys Cyngar just south ofPorthmadog. During both of thesepassages the ILB crew had frequentlyto go over the side to drag the boat, withthe survivors and a considerable amountof water on board, over and around thesandbanks.

For this service the thanks of theInstitution inscribed on vellum havebeen accorded to the crew of CricciethILB, Helmsman James Owen andCrew Members Kenneth Roberts andRobert D. Williams.

Services by OffshoreLifeboats, September,October and November,1977Aberdeen, AberdeenshireOctober 1Amble, NorthumberlandSeptember 5 and October 4Appledore, North DevonSeptember 4, 16 and 17Arranmore, Co. DonegalSeptember 17 and October 12Bannouth, GwyneddSeptember 2 and October 8Barry Dock, South GlamorganSeptember 4 and October 13Blyth, NorthumberlandNovember 13Bridlington, HumbersideSeptember 6Calshot, HampshireSeptember 4, 12, 29, October 4, 12 andNovember 8Campbeltown, ArgyllshireSeptember 8, 28 and October 16Clacton-on-Sea, EssexSeptember 23, November 7 and 15Cloughey-Portavogie, Co. DownNovember 27

Clovelly, North DevonOctober 22Courtmacsherry Harbour, Co. CorkOctober 8Cromer, NorfolkSeptember 9, October 17 and November 14Donaghadee, Co. DownOctober 22Dover, KentSeptember 23, October 10 and November2 (twice)Dunbar, East LothianNovember 21Dungeness, KentOctober 6Dun Laoghaire, Co. DublinSeptember 5Dunmore East, Co. WaterfordNovember 14Eastbourne, East SussexOctober 13Eyemouth, BerwickshireNovember 4Falmouth, CornwallSeptember 14, October 13, 26, 31,November 14 and 28Filey, North YorkshireNovember 24Fishguard, DyfedOctober 4 and 9Fleetwood, LancashireOctober 9Galway Bay, Co. GalwayNovember 19 and 27Great Yarmouth and Gorleston, NorfolkSeptember 24, October 13, 17, November1 and 10Hartlepool, ClevelandSeptember 3, 15, November 3 and 27Harwich, EssexSeptember 17, November 2, 26 and 30Hastings, East SussexSeptember 2, 9 and October 24Holyhead, GwyneddSeptember 4, November 7 and 30Howth, Co. DublinSeptember 25Hoylake, MerseysideSeptember 9 (twice) and 10Humber, HumbersideSeptember 20, 24, October 7, 8 12, 14(twice), 17, 23 and November 14 (twice)Lerwick, ShetlandSeptember 2, 26, November 8 and 12Llandudno, GwyneddSeptember 28 and October 30Lochinver, SutherlandSeptember 18Longhope, OrkneySeptember 28Lowestoft, SuffolkSeptember 17, October 4, 13, 18 and 30Mallaig, Inverness-shireSeptember 3, 13 and 15Margate, KentOctober 11, 31, November 8 and 29Moelfre, GwyneddNovember 6Newbiggin, NorthumberlandSeptember 4 and October 27Newhaven, East SussexSeptember 4, 30, October 1, 6, 20 andNovember 4Penlee, CornwallSeptember 10, 16 and 23Poole, DorsetSeptember 10 (twice), October 1, 30 andNovember 27Port Erin, Isle of ManSeptember 14Porthdinllaen, GwyneddSeptember 3, 4 and October 17Portpatrick, WigtownshireSeptember 11

Portrush, Co. AntrimOctober 22Port St Mary, Isle of ManNovember 27Pwllheli, GwyneddSeptember 1Ramsey, Isle of ManSeptember 17 and November 9Ramsgate, KentSeptember 17, 18 and November 11Redcar, ClevelandNovember 4Rhyl, ClwydSeptember 25 and October 19Rosslare Harbour, Co. WexfordOctober 3, November 6 and 16Runswick, ClevelandSeptember 29 (twice), October 25 and 30St Helier, JerseySeptember 3, 23, 24 and October 15St Ives, CornwallOctober 15 (twice), 19, November 14, 16,17 and 18St Mary's, Isles of ScillyOctober 7St Peter Port, GuernseySeptember 18, 24, 26 (twice), October 14,24 and November 11Salcombe, South DevonOctober 11, 12 and 15Seaham, Co. DurhamSeptember 24 and October 13Selsey, West SussexSeptember 1, 6 and November 30Sennen Cove, CornwallNovember 16Sheerness, KentSeptember 15, 16, October 4, 10, 17,November, 12, 13 and 27Sheringham, NorfolkOctober 25Shoreham Harbour, West SussexSeptember 25, November 19 and 27Skegness, LincolnshireSeptember 6Stornoway, Ross-shireNovember 7Stromness, OrkneySeptember 28, October 27 and 28Sunderland, Tyne and WearNovember 13Swanage, DorsetSeptember 2, 17 (twice), October 16,November 13 and 20Teesmouth, ClevelandNovember 27Tenby, DyfedOctober 2 and November 1 (twice)Torbay, South DevonOctober 2, 22 (twice) and November 11Troon, AyrshireSeptember 7, 30, October 19 andNovember 4Tynemouth, Tyne and WearNovember 16Valentia, Co. KerrySeptember 26 and October 14Walmer, KentOctober 4Walton and Frinton, EssexSeptember 30Wells, NorfolkNovember 11Weymouth, DorsetSeptember 1 and November 13Whitby, North YorkshireSeptember 4 and 13Wick, CaithnessSeptember 24 and 29Wicklow, Co. WicklowOctober 14 and 23Workington, CumbriaSeptember 6 and November 8

141

Yarmouth, Isle of WightSeptember 19, October 31, November 11and 19Youghal, Co. CorkSeptember 17On passageON 910 September 4 (twice)ON 912 November 27 (twice)ON 980 November 24ON 994 November 26

Services by InshoreLifeboats, September,October and November,1977Aberdovey, GwyneddSeptember 3, 19 and October 9Abersoch, GwyneddSeptember 9, 10, 23, October 16 andNovember 26Aldeburgh, SuffolkOctober 23Amble, NorthumberlandSeptember 15Appledore, North DevonSeptember 4 and 16Atlantic College, South GlamorganSeptember 1, 28 (twice) and October 1Bangor, Co. DownOctober 22Barmouth, GwyneddSeptember 19 (twice)Barrow, CumbriaSeptember 11Beaumaris, GwyneddSeptember 28, October 8 and 15Bembridge, Isle of WightSeptember 12Blackpool, LancashireSeptember 4, 18, October 14 and 15Berth, DyfedSeptember 3 and October 9Bridlington, HumbersideSeptember 10, 11 (twice), October 9 and 14Broughty Ferry, AngusSeptember 11Burnham-on-Crouch, EssexSeptember 13Burry Port, DyfedSeptember 4 and 25Clacton-on-Sea, EssexSeptember 2, October 21 and November 13Conwy, GwyneddSeptember 1Criccieth, GwyneddSeptember 1, 2 (3 times) and 26Cullercoats, Tyne and WearSeptember 1, 4 (twice), October 8 and 26Eastbourne, East SussexSeptember 16 and November 26Eastney (B.530), HampshireSeptember 17 (twice), 25, 26 (twice), 30,October 2, 8, 16, 30, November 5, 12(3 times) and 13

Eastney (D.184), HampshireSeptember 3, 4, 10, 15, 25 (3 times), 26and October 1Exmouth, South DevonSeptember 3, 17 and October 1Filey, North YorkshireSeptember 4 and 5Fleetwood, LancashireOctober 15Flint, ClwydNovember 1, 4 and 14Great Yarmouth and Gorleston, NorfolkSeptember 12, 24, October 4 andNovember 4Hartlepool, ClevelandSeptember 11, October 14 and 15Harwich, EssexNovember 13 and 14Hastings, East SussexOctober 15Hayling Island, HampshireSeptember 6, 8, 18, October 6, 8, 23,November 6, 13, 23 and 26Helensburgh, DunbartonshireSeptember 19, 26, 28 and October 30(twice)Holyhead, GwyneddSeptember 26Horton and Port Eynon, West GlamorganSeptember 8 and 18Howth, Co. DublinSeptember 20 and 25Humber Mouth (Cleethorpes), HumbersideSeptember 11Largs, AyrshireSeptember 7, 9, 30, October 13, 18, 27,29, November 1 and 12Littlehampton, West SussexSeptember 3 (twice), 9, 18, 25 (3 times),28, October 11, 16 (twice) and 23Littlestone-on-Sea, KentSeptember 4, 25, October 23 and 24Llandudno, GwyneddSeptember 1, 9, 10 (3 times), October 3and November 1Lyme Regis, DorsetSeptember 25, 29 and October 24Lymington, HampshireOctober 29 and November 11Margate, KentSeptember 10Minehead, SomersetSeptember 11Moelfre, GwyneddSeptember 2 and 11Morecambe, LancashireSeptember 13 and 18 (twice)Mudeford, DorsetSeptember 13, 25, 26 and November 11New Brighton, MerseysideSeptember 10Newquay, CornwallSeptember 2 (twice), 9, 11 and October 15North Sunderland, NorthumberlandSeptember 14Oban, ArgyllshireSeptember 4, 7, 11, October 1 and 29Peel, Isle of ManOctober 22 and November 27 (twice)

Poole, DorsetSeptember 15, October 24, 30 andNovember 8Porthcawl, Mid-GlamorganOctober 2Port Isaac, CornwallOctober 9Pwllheli, GwyneddSeptember 14Queensferry, West LothianSeptember 3Ramsgate, KentSeptember 4 (twice), 9, 10, 16, 25 andOctober 20Redcar, ClevelandOctober 23Rhyl, ClwydSeptember 3Rye Harbour, East SussexSeptember 9 and 18 (3 times)St Agnes, CornwallSeptember 1 and 17St Bees, CumbriaSeptember 6St Catherines, JerseySeptember 12St Ives, CornwallSeptember 4, 18 and 30Selsey, West SussexSeptember 6, 17, 28 and October 26Sheerness, KentSeptember 24, October 1, 9, 23, 24, 26 and27Shoreham Harbour, West SussexSeptember 3, 16, 19, 25 (twice) and 28Silloth, CumbriaSeptember 7Skegness, LincolnshireSeptember 2Southend-on-Sea, Essex (B.527)September 10, 15, 24 (twice), 28, October 1(3 times), 4 (twice) and 8Southwold, SuffolkSeptember 11, October 28 and November18Tenby, DyfedSeptember 7 (twice), 9 and 12Torbay, South DevonOctober 1 (twice) and 4Tynemouth, Tyne and WearSeptember 11 and 30Walmer, KentSeptember 1, 21 and October 9 (twice)Wells, NorfolkSeptember 24 and October 23West Kirby, MerseysideSeptember 4 (twice), 17, 21 and November11West Mersea,' EssexSeptember 12, November 6, 14, 20 and 21Weston-Super-Mare, Avon (D.170)September 3Whitby, North YorkshireSeptember 4, 11 and 14Whitstable, KentSeptember 1, 6, 25, October 1 and 15Withernsea, HumbersideSeptember 4 and 10

SERVICES AND LIVES SAVED BY OFFSHORE AND INSHORE LIFEBOATSJanuary 1, 1977 to December 31,1977: Services 2,666; lives saved 1,071

THE STATION FLEET(as at 31/12/77)

134 offshore lifeboats 126 Inshore lifeboats operating In the summer50 Inshore lifeboats operating In the winter

LIVES RESCUED 103,201

from the Institution's foundation in 1824 to December 31, 1977

142

Something special ?Wright away sir!

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143

Index to Advertisers

Birds Eye FoodsCogswell & Harrison Ltd.Leslie CreaseyEvett Sailwear Ltd.Functional ClothingGlanvill Enthoven & Co Ltd.Heritage PublicationsDavid Jolly (Tiller Master)Maritime Book Society (Readers Union)Mermaid Marine Engines Ltd.Neco Marine LtdPeeks of BournemouthR. E. Prior & CoV. WebsterC. P. Witter LtdR. Wright & Son (Marine Engineers) Ltd.

Inside Back Cover110

.. 138138

Inside Front Cover110138

.. 137Outside Back Cover

.. 143

.. 143

.. 144

.. 110

.. 144

.. 137

.. 143

TEDDY BEARS PICNIC

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

V. WEBSTER (DEPT LB)BRINELL WAY

HARFREYS INDUSTRIAL ESTATEGREAT YARMOUTHNORFOLK NR31 OLU

Classified AdvertisementsEntries under ACCOMMODATION areoffered at the special rate or £6.00 for upto 50 words, including address and phonenumber. Additional words at 20p per word,minimum ten words. Other Classificationsare at 20p per word minimum ten words.All Classifieds are subject to pre-paymentand cheque or PO must accompany order.

ACCOMMODATIONABERDOVEY / TYWYN. Self-cateringcedarwood chalets for hire. All mod cons.Sleep 4/6. Tranquil setting near sandybeaches and unspoilt wooded countryside.Ideal for fishing, sailing, golfing, mountainwalks, ornithology and Talyllyn Railway.Contact: Norma and Mike Short, HappyValley Leisure Homes, Erwporther, Tywyn,Gwynedd. Tel: Tywyn (0654) 710175.

BRIXHAM, TORBAY. Really comfort-able self-catering holiday apartments. TV,fridges, modern facilities for 2-6 persons.Magnificent position overlooking outerharbour, public slipway and Torbay Life-boat. Resident proprietors associated withTorbay Life-boat. Stamp please forbrochure: G. A. Smith, "Harbour Lights",69 Berry Head Road. Telephone 4816.

Six lakeside bungalows, each with boat.Conventional construction, 3/4 bedrooms,sleep 6/8, equipped kitchen/dining room,sitting room with fire, sun parlour, storageheating. Suit country lovers, fishermen,sportsmen with dogs, sailors and parentswith aquatic offspring. Details: DesmondWatt Smyth, Mountshannon, Co. Clare.

PORT ISAAC, CORNWALL. OverlookingPort Isaac Bay, Family Guest House.Bed & Breakfast, evening meal optional.Proprietress: Mrs K. M. Castle, TelephonePort Isaac 383 (STD Code 020888).

FUND RAISINGAdvertising pencils, superb ballpens, combs,diaries, each gold stamped Lifeboat name,etc., raise funds, quickly easily. Bran TubToys: samples from Northern Novelties,Bradford BD1 SHE.14th CENTURY ART STUDIOS LTDmake gold blocked bookmarks and keyfobsin genuine leather featuring RNLI insignia,over-printed with local names to suit.11 Muswell Hill, London N10 3TH.Tel: 01-979 8828.

INSURANCEFrom the RNLI's home town of Poole,Incorporated Insurance Brokers, keenlyinterested in Marine Craft Insurance,would welcome the opportunity of advisingmembers on the insurance of their boats.For a very prompt and personal service andfor keen quotations, please contact:GEOFFREY BERE, FCII, 19 WEDG-WOOD DRIVE, POOLE, BH14 8ES.Telephone: 0202-730591.FOR ALL INSURANCE, Phone, Call orWrite J. A. Harrison (Brokers) Ltd,'Security House', 160-161 BromsgroveStreet, Birmingham B5 6NY. Telephone:021-692 1245 (10 lines). For keenest rates,service and security.

Shoreline Members can obtain reducedInsurance Premiums. Let us offer you aquotation consistent with economy, security

and prompt claims service. Houseman sInsurance Brokers, 46 Windsor Road,Slough, Berks. Slough 25496 (4 lines).Northern Ireland Yacht and Small CraftOwners. Quotations and cover available.Advice given freely by interested InsuranceBrokers. Enquiries welcomed from Shore-line Members. W. D. Dick & Co, 9 TheSquare, Ballyclare, Co. Antrim. Telephone:Ballyclare 2499.

HOLIDAYSA Sailing Holiday? Charter a 4-berth'Fairey Fisherman' motor-sailer and cruisethe Solent. From £100 per week. Or learnto sail, navigate, etc, in our skippered new30 foot yacht. Ring or write for brochure:Jane's Yacht Charter Ltd, 17 GlendowerPlace, London SW7. Tel: 01-584 1246.

LIFEBOATS, SAILING BARGESAND YACHTS IN

MINIATURERetirements, Presentations and Trophies.Fully detailed replicas of individual boats,with crews, mounted on realistic sea basesin perspex showcase. Each a tiny gemproviding a truly 'live', unique miniature.Details: Brian H. Williams, Marine ModelArtist, 20 Bridgefield, Farnham, Surrey(02513) 6652.

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

TROPHIESRACE SETS—MAINSAILS—DINGHIES—CUPS. W. & E. Astin, 7 Westerly LaneShelley, Huddersfield. Kirkburton 2368.

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144

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BOOK SOCIETYand make your choice from the best books - at big discounts off publishers' prices

Weekend sailor or ocean-going mariner, would-be boat-owner orarmchair traveller, whatever your interest in ships and the water,the Maritime Book Society has a book for you.

Step-by-step guides to the construction, maintenance andrepair of boats of all types; sailing, power boating and water

.sports; weather forecasting, navigation and equipment; canals

To : Maritime Book Society, PO Box 6, Newton Abbot. Devon\1 would like to join the M A R I T I M E BOOK SOCIETY

Please supply the3 introductory books numbers I I

at the special introductory price of £1 (including postage andpacking; and I will pay upon receipt for any books I choose(Allow up to 21 days for delivery} If I keep the introductorybooks I will automatically become a member and agree topurchase at least 4 books (in addition to the introductory offer )during a year's membership and may resign thereafter. If I amnot satisfied with the introductory books I may return themwithin 10 days and oiue nothing

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ISEND NO MONEY

and inland waterways; the seashore; marine painting; mari-time history and warfare: these are just some of the subjectscovered in a wealth of practical and information books. TheMaritime Book Society also tells the stories of great ships,sailors and explorers - from the Vikings to present-dayadventurers like Robin Knox-Johnston.

As a member, you become entitled to take advantage of thehundreds of quality book bargains that Readers Union has onoffer at any one time Reference and reading books cover theArts, Crafts, Gardening, the Countryside, history, travel andbiography. Publishers' Editions

The Maritime Book Society offers publishers' own editions at adiscount of up to 25% off the publisher's price and sometimeseven more!

Maritime Book Society.Brunei Houw, Newton Abbot. Reg in EngUnd No 843946