THE LIFEBOAT. - Microsoft · 2017. 1. 5. · Miss Mari Corelle ais a Life-boa. Speakert . In it obituars y notic of Mises Marie Corelli, the novelist who die, odn 21st April, 1924,

THE LIFEBOAT.The Journal of the Royal National Life-boat Institution.

Voi,. XXVI.-No. 283.] FEBRUARY, 1925. [PBICE

Notes and News.By GEORGE F. SHEE, M.A., Secretary of the Institution.

1924 will be remembered as one of thewettest years on record. But it wasnot a year of storms, although it endedwith great gales all round the coast.

with its account of the very fine ser-vice of the Newhaven Life-boat, success-fully carried out, without loss of life,although the Boat herself was very

It was, in fact, a year much calmer badly damaged. That incident isanother signal tribute to the design,material and construction of the Instita-

than the average. It is such years,perhaps, even more than the yearswhen there are violent storms, which jtion's fleet, to the meticulous carethrow into relief the dangers of our j which is given to every detail, and acoasts and the need of an ever vigilant j justification, if any were needed, ofLife-boat Service. j the Institution's rule that in everything

In spite of the absence of severe j concerned with the Boats themselvesweather there were no fewer than 227launches of the Life-boats on service,leading to the rescue of 349 lives. TheInstitution also gave rewards for therescue of 105 lives by shore-boats andin other ways. That makes a total of454 lives rescued from shipwreck roundour coasts, in this year of calm weather,an average of nine lives every week!The total from the foundation of theInstitution up to the end of 1924 is59,998, including a number of cases ofrescues by shore-boats, and in otherways, for which the rewards were notactually made until 1925. The 60,000figure was actually passed on the first

" Only the best will do."The Christmas Gales.

The year went out in a fury. Of the227 launches during the year, twenty-nine took place during the last elevendays of the year, and no fewer than tenof these on 27th December. Theselaunches were all round the coast fromSwanage to Stornoway. Twenty-ninelives were rescued during these elevendays.

TheThe End of the Centenary.Centenary celebrations, which

opened in London with the CentenaryMeeting at the Mansion House on4th March, the Institution's birthday,

day of the year, when the Tenby Motor concluded ^th a Thanksgiving ServiceLife-boat rescued ten men from thejin London on 14th December, which issteam-trawler Arctic Prince of Shields, j described elsewhere in this issue. There

No Loss of Life. , still remained, however, two importantIf we take into account, besides these I Centenary functions to be held. The

227 launches on service, the practice j first was a four days' Fair at Birming-launches which took place, it meansthat 12,000 Life-boatmen were out inthe Boats of the Institution during the

ham, which was opened on the first day,February 3rd, byH.R.H. Prince Henry,the object of it being to raise £10,000 for

year. But not a life was lost. It is a j a " City of Birmingham " Motor Life-great tribute to the quality of the Boats j boat. The second is the London Cen-of the Institution, and to the skill anddiscipline of Coxswains and Crews.In this connexion I would draw specialattention to the Chief Inspector's articlein this issue on " Super-Construction,"

tenary Bazaar, which will be held at theHyde Park Hotel, on the 3rd and 4thMarch. It will be opened on the firstday by the Duchess of Norfolk, one ofthe Vice-Patrons of the Ladies' Life-

THE LIFEBOAT. [FEBRUARY,1925.

boat Guild, and on the second day by man put it very happily that the menAdmiral of the Fleet Sir Doveton | at Camp Hill will feel now that, when aSturdee, Bt. j gale is raging, they have an added

interest in and a very human link withA Gift from Prison. the work of the Life-boatmen in the

At the end of last year Sir Godfrey i grand adventure of saving human lifeBaring, Bt., the Chairman of the Com- '• on our storm-beaten shores. If youmittee of Management, lectured on the i think well you would perhaps find theLife-boat Service to an audience of about I means to acquaint the men with the200 convicts in Camp Hill Prison, in the j terms of this letter."Isle of Wight. They were all among the '' Gifts from Crews.worst criminals in the country. Not one There are two names to be added toof them had had less than six previous | the growing list of Life-boat Crewsconvictions for some serious crime. Sir i which have made gifts to the Institution.Godfrey Baring has now received from'; On20th May, 1924, the Cambois Life-them, through the Governor, a cheque boat helped to save the s.s. Solhaug offor nine shillings for the Life-boat '• Haugesund, when she stranded on theService. In sending it the Governor, Crablaw Rocks, at the same timewrote : I rescuing her crew of twenty-eight. Oat

" By good behaviour they are able to | of the sum received from the owners forearn the small sum of Is. 6d. per week, helping to salve the vessel the Life-boatwhich they can spend on a very few Crew have given £20 to the Institution,luxuries, but they have gladly forgone On 12th June, 1924, the Fraserburghsome of these to subscribe to the Life- Motor Life-boat helped the steam traw-boat Association which does such splen- ier Pdaqos of Granton, and out of thet * t 1 ~rf -11 I ' l l i l l . • ' _ _ _ . . . - - _ .did work. If you will kindly accept thesubscription {and it is, perhaps, uniquein prison history) the men will feel whena gale is raging that they have an addedinterest by helping, in even such a smallway, the glorious work of the Life-boatsthat may be going on at that moment.The amount is small, but I know youwill understand the spirit in which it isgiven."

In reply to the Governor's letter Iwrote:—" I find it rather difficult toexpress in adequate language my sense

salvage which they received the Crewhave sent the Institution £5 12s.

On 27th December, 1924, the SwanageLife-boat was launched to the help ofthe s.s. Daltington, which was reportedto be in distress, but when nearing herthe Life-boat found that she no longerneeded help. The weather was verysevere, and it was an arduous service.In recognition of this the Committee in-creased the monetary reward given to thecrew. This increase they have returned,as a donation to the funds of the Branch,

of the value of this gift to the Institu- as they " were actuated only by a sensetion. I understand that the men at Of duty and not in anticipation of a

-r-r-Ti i i i i i i . * * _ . . •*-Camp Hill are only able to earn the pecuniary reward."small sum of Is. 6rf. per week by verygood behaviour and hard work, and I A Tribute from an American.that they naturally like to spend this I As recorded in the last issue, one ofmoney on the few luxuries which are j the fortnightly dinners of the Authors'open to them. This being so, it is j Club, at the beginning of 1924, was heldproof of a very fine generosity of in honour of the Institution, when I hadcharacter that they should have col- the privilege of presiding, and thelected 9s. among them as a free giftto the Life-boat cause. It does equal j

principal guest was Sir Godfrey Baring,3t., the Chairman of the Committee

credit to the Life-boat Service (and to the [ of Management. In December themanner in which Sir Godfrey placed thatService before them) and to the goodinstincts which these men have, and

Honorary Secretary of the Club receivedthe following letter from a friend inNew York City :—

which I believe it is part of the aim of I "I am going to ask a kindness of you :Camp Hill to maintain and develop.You have in your letter to the Chair-

to cash the enclosed draft for six pounds,and to send the proceeds to the Royal

FEBBUABY, 1925.] THENational Life-boat InstitutionEngland. I was deeply impressed withthe account of the splendidand self-sacrifice of tie men oflish Life-boat Service, as published inone of your London newspapers on theoccasion of an Authors' Club Mondaynight dinner. I am enclosing the clip-ping, although somewhat tatteredworn, to -refresh your memory.modest gift has been long delayed, butit may not be inopportune to send it atthis Christmastide of the year."

Armistice Memorial Service at Redcar.An original and very beautiful tribute

was paid at Redcar, on 12th November,to the sailors and fishermen whotheir lives in the War. All theof the town ceased, and several thousands

conducted by the Vicar of Redcar, atwhich a wreath was dedicated to thedead. The Life-boat was then launched,andandsame moment a flare was lighted in the

the wreath was taken out toplaced on the water. At

Boat and rockets were fired infrom the shore.Miss Marie Corelli as a. Life-boat Speaker.

In its obituary notice of Miss MarieCorelli, the novelist, who died on 21stApril, 1924, the Yorkshire Herald recallsthat she was a popular speaker as wellas writer, and that one of hersuccessful speeches was on behalfthe Life-boat Service ia Leedsyears ago. " The crowd overflowed theTown Hall, and the enthusiasm waseuch that people pressed forward toshake her hand, and some women wentso far as to press the edges of her dressagainst their lips—a thing which occurredwhen Dickens paid a visit to York.The Lord Mayor of Leeds,refused to support the Life-boat meetingbecause it was held on a Sunday.was Miss Corelli's comment, ' ifMayor had been wrecked on a Sunday, hewould not have thought it irreligious forthe life-boat men to risk their lives incoming to his rescue !' "

"Life Buoys"Members of the Ladies'

Guild will be very much1 to hear that their example has been

LIFEBOAT. 3of

with.roismEng-ed in

followed in Sweden. Mr. Isakson,Chairman of the Life-boat Committeeof the Swedish League, who was one ofthe representatives of the SwedishGovernment at the International Con-

n the f erence in London in July, wrote lastndayelip-andMy

, butit at

car.ibutember,> lostvitiessandsenade

wasir, ato theched,o sea

then thesalute

eafcer.\lf 'namei 21stecalls

773 wellmost

tlf ofsomed the

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E thely, heus forves in

-boat•estedbeen

November : "I am also pleased to tellyou, that, in addition to the ' SvenskaSallskapet for Raddning af Skepps-brutne ' and to the Life-boat Committeeof the Swedish Shipping League, a LadySociety, called the Stockholm ' Life Buoy '(Stockholm Lifboj) has just been con-stituted over here, the ' Chairwoman 'being Mrs. Elin Ericson, wife of Commo-dore Hans Ericson, previously ourMinister of Marine and now ManagingDirector of the ' Svea ' S.S. Co. (owningnearly 100 steamers), the ' Vice-Chair-woman ' being my wife, and one of themost active members in the propagandabeing Countess Willaraovitz-Moellen-dorf, who is addressing the greatpublic in lectures on life-saving."

I have since heard from Mr. Isaksonthat on 24th January the ten ladiesof the Council of the " Life Buoy " helda dance, cabaret and theatrical per-formance at the Grand Hotel, Stock-holm, at which the Crown Prince andCrown Princess were present. TheCouncil had hoped to have a copy ofone of the Institution's films to showon this evening, but it could not be gotready in time. Instead of this copiesof the Centenary Number of The Life-boat and of the November, 1924, number,with the account of our Centenarycelebrations, were sent, at Mr. Isakson'srequest, to be presented to the GrownPrince and Princess and the officers ofthe " Life Buoy." The film will be sentlater, to be used by the Council of the" Life Buoy " at its lectures.

Norway, like Sweden, has been follow-ing our example in the same way. Twoyears ago the Secretary of its Life-boatService, Captain Ottar Vogt, was overhere inspecting not only our Life-boatsbut our arrangements for Life-boatDays, and was supplied with specimensof our collecting-boxes and badges.

It has always been the policy of theInstitution to place its inventions andexperience in life-saving at the disposalof other countries, and it will beremembered that, at the International

THE LIFEBOAT. [FEBRUARY, 1925.

Life-boat Conference, Admiral Le Bris,of the French Life-boat Society, paid atribute to the "liberal spirit" in whichthis had been done. It is an equalpleasure to us to be able to give otherLife-boat Services the benefit of ourexperience in that other and mostimportant side of the Institution'sorganization—the raising of funds.

Tbe Latvian Life-boat Service.In the article, in the last issue of The

Lifeboat, on the " International Con-ference on the World's Life-boat Ser-vice," it was stated that the LatvianLife-boat Society, which was foundedat the end of 1923, to take over thestations on the Latvian coast formerlymaintained by the Imperial RussianSociety, was a voluntary organization.This is not entirely correct. " Funds,"so I am informed, " were supplied bymembership fees, donations, Governmentsupport, and taxes specially leaned onships entering Latvian ports."

"Life-boat Stores Unlimited."Two years ago a paragraph appeared

in The Lifeboat under this heading, andthe paragraph itself contained a letterfrom a native of the Gold Coast, Mr.V. J. Santo, asking for one of the Institu-tion's catalogues, and stating that herequired for his stores samples of suchthings as " clothes, beads, buttons, silk,thread, whistles for scout-boys andbottles of lovender." In spite of theInstitution's denial, the idea seems topersist in West Africa that we are a

wholesale firm for the supply of generalstores, for a Mr. A. A. Cudjol wiote, somemonths ago, from the Roman CatholicMission School at Obmassie, asking forour " general illustrated catalongue oftogether with price list onenations sampleect." We are still wondering what" onenations " are.

The replies to these mistaken inquirersare, however, having their effect in WestAfrica, for in December of last year,another letter came from the Gold Coast,this time from Mr. J. A. Quanoah, sayingthat in a newspaper he had come acrossthe Institution's name and address as" the best dealers in Life-boat Servicein the City of London," and asking us tosend him by return " complete cost forsubscription to enable me to subscribeto same." " Nobody," so the letter wenton, " has ever subscribed same before,neither has come across your name andaddress in any newspaper than myself."

Mr. Quanoah has been sent the " com-plete cost for subscription." He isevidently very proud to be first in thefield—and rightly so—and we lookforward to welcoming him, shortly, asour first Gold Coast subscriber.

This idea prevailing in West Africathat the Institution is in business seemsto have some currency even nearer home.If not, why, when we rang up a largeLondon shop some time ago, and gavethe name of the Institution, were we putthrough immediately, and withoutfurther inquiry, to the 'wholesale fishdepartment ?

Centenary Thanksgiving Service in London.THE Centenary Celebrations which beganin London with the Centenary Meetingat the Mansion House on 4th March,1924, concluded on 14th December witha solemn Thanksgiving Service at theCentral Hall, Westminster, which waskindly lent to the Institution for theoccasion by the Trustees. The Prince ofWales, our President, and the PrincessLouise,, Duchess of Argyll, President ofthe Ladies' Life-boat Guild, were bothpresent.

The service was conducted by theRight Rev. W. W. Perrin, D.D., Bishopof Willesden. The Rev. W. Scott

Lidgett, D.D., Moderator of the FederalCouncil of the Free Churches, and theRev. A. A. Green, of the HampsteadSynagogue, also took part; and on theplatform, supporting the Bishop, werethe Rev. H. D. L. Viener, C.B.E., M.A.,K.H.C., Chaplain-in-Chief of the RoyalAir Force, the Rev. W. L. Robertson,General Secretary of the PresbyterianChurch of England, Sir Godfrey Baring,Bt., Chairman of the Committee oiManagement, and the Hon. GeorgeColville, Deputy Chairman.

Although the Roman Catholic Churchdoes not see its way to participate in

FEBRUARY, 1925.] THE LIFEBOAT.

such joint services, Cardinal Bourne,the Archbishop of Westminster, arrangedthat references should be made to thework of the Life-boat Service at West-minster Cathedral on the same day, both!at High Mass and at the Evening Service.;

The musical part of the service wasconducted by Mr. Arthur Meale,F.R.C.O., Organist and Director of

the Institution, the first time for therescue, in 1916, of 110 men from thetransport Empress Queen, and thesecond time, in 1919, for rescuing thecrew of an American steamer, theWakulla, of Los Angeles; by RobertBurgon, ex-Coxswain of Berwick-on-Tweed, who holds the Silver Medal forthe rescue, in 1913, of eleven lives from

THE CENTENARY THANKSGIVING SERVICE.

In the front row of the platform, from left to right, are :—Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt. (Chairmanof the Committee of Management), the ROT. W. L. Robertson (General Secretary of the Preibr*terian Church of England), the Rev. H. D. L. Viener (Chaplain.io-Chief of the Royal Air Force),Dr. Scott Lidfett (Moderator of the Federal Council of the Free Churchei), the Bishop ofWilleiden, the Rev. A. A. Green (of the Hampitead Synagogue), and the Hon. George Colville

(Deputy-Chairman of the Committee of Management).

Music of the Central Hall, Westminster,and the singing was led by the CentralHall (Westminster) Choral Society.

Many distinguished and representativemen and women accepted invitations toattend the Service.

The Life-boat Service.The Life-boat Service itself was repre-

sented by seven Life-boat men fromEngland, Scotland, Ireland and Wales—England by John Holbrook, ex-Coxswainiof Bembridge, Isle of Wight, who hastwice been awarded the Silver Medal of

a Swedish barque; by John Bensley,one of the Coxswains of Gorleston;and by George Newman, SecondCoxswain of Worthing; Scotland byWalter Fairbairn, Coxswain of Dunbarand Skateraw, who holds the SilverMedal for the rescue, in 1905, of sixlives from the steamer King Ja Ja, ofSwansea; Ireland by Daniel Murphy,Coxswain of Kingstown; Wales byJohn H. Williams, Coxswain of Tenby.

The Life-boat Service was also repre-sented by the following members of theCommittee of Management: Sir John

THE LIFEBOAT. [FEBRUARY,1925.

Gumming, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., Major SirMaurice Cameron, K.C.M.G., Sir Wood-burn Kirby, Brigadier-General Noel M.Lake, C.B., and Engineer Rear-AdmiralCharles Rudd ; by Lady Baring, Chair-man of the London Women's Committee,and the Lady Cynthia Colville, LadyWhite and Mrs. Abington, members ofthe Committee ; by General Sir F. R.Wingate, Bt., K.C.B., Vice-President ofthe Dunbar and Skateraw Branch, MissAlice Marshall, Hon. Secretary of theOxford and District Branch, and anHonorary Life-Governor of the Institu-tion, and Mr. William Bertram, J.P.,Hon. Secretary of the Dunbar andSkateraw Branch, and an HonoraryLife-Governor of the Institution ; andby Mr. George F. Shee, M.A. (Secretaryof the Institution), and Captain HowardF. J. Rowley, C.B.E., R.N. (Chief In-spector of Life-boats).

H.M. Forces.

The Navy was represented by theRight Hon. W. C. Bridgeman, M.P.,First Lord of the Admiralty, CaptainH. P. Douglas, R.N., Hydrographer ofthe Admiralty, and a contingent of theRoyal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

The Army by Major-General the LordRuthven, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., theGeneral Officer Commanding the LondonDistrict, and by an Officer and twentyof other ranks of the Coldstream Guards.

The Royal Air Force by Wing-Com-mander Allen, and members of itsMeteorological Office.

The Board of Trade.

The Board of Trade was representedby Captain Aplin, R.N., Deputy In-spector-General of Coast Guard.

Foreign Countries.

Foreign countries were represented bythe Norwegian Minister, the Belgian andLatvian Consuls-General, the NavalAttaches of France, Japan, the UnitedStates, Sweden, Italy, Greece and Chile.

The House of Commons.

The House of Commons was repre-sented by the Right Hon. C. W. Bower-man, M.P. for Deptford, and Mr. PercyGates, M.P. for North Kensington.

The London Boroughs.The municipal life of London was !

represented by the Mayors of West- ] •minster, Acton, Chelsea, Islington, Lam-beth, Southwark, Wandsworth, Shore- iditch, Greenwich, Stepney, Maryleboneand Fulham, and the Chairmen of theUrban District Councils of Chiswick,Finchley, Hanwell, Leyton, Bushey,Mortlake, Chingford, Beckenham andSouthall-Norwood.

Lloyd's, Trinity House, and the Portof London.

Lloyd's was represented by Mr. E. E.Adams, its Chairman, and a number ofits members.

Trinity House by Captain Sir HerbertActon Blake, K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., theDeputy Master.

The Port of London Authority sentrepresentatives.

The Merchant Service and MarineCharities.

The Merchant Service was representedby members of the Imperial MerchantService Guild, the National Sailors andFiremen's Union, the ShipwreckedMariners' Society, King George's Fundfor Sailors, and the British and ForeignSailors' Society ; by an officer and fortyboys from the training ship Stork, anofficer and fifty boys from the trainingship Exmouth, and an officer and twelveboys from the Prince of Wales' SeaTraining Hostel of the British andForeign Sailors' Society.

Sea Scouts and Sea Guides.The Sea Scouts were represented by

Rear-Admiral Bertram Thesiger, C.B.,C.M.G., Chief Sea Scout Commissioner,and a detachment of a hundred SeaScouts.

The Sea Guides by Dame KatherineFurse, G.B.E., Chief Commissioner forSea Guides, four Commissioners, and adetachment of fifty Sea Guides.

Among others who were present werethe Rev. H. Costley White, M.A., Head-master of Westminster School, and aparty of boys from the School.

The Service.Before the service began, Mr. Meale

gave a recital on the grand organ, whichincluded his dramatic tone poem, " In

FEBRUARY, 1925.] THE LIFEBOAT.Peril on the Sea," with its three parts, response to the growing calls which sympathy"Calm Sea," "Portents of Coming I makes upon a good people; a reliance notQA« ~, " „ ^ « nn, a -i ' T> » upon otate enterprise, out upon private andStorm, and The Sailor S Prayer. 1^nevolent endeavour. This new sense of the

in opening the bervice, the Bishop of i sacredness and the -worth of human life, how-Willesden said :— i ever humble and however hitherto unthought

of, became at last part, we may trust, of thepermanent endowment of our race.

" And all this work of sympathy, a sense of

" God is everywhere ; He knows allour shortcomings. We are gathered _ aii vuia wurK m a BBIlse OIhere to-day to ofiei our thanksgiving to social obligation and a realization of theHim for all that has been done in the preciousness of human life, followed in the wakehundred years and to pray for the °,f. and though it was not created, was at least

*' * , _ . - ' - * ' (1PC>npnAn V»\7 +.1-10 Tolii-M/vi-iCj T"*vi?i*j-a] /-if -frVin

continuance of His blessing upon THE deepened by the religious revival of theeighteenth century, the effects of which lasted

ROYAL NATIONAL LlFE-BOAT INSTITU- j on throughout the nineteenth century with allTION. I ask you to take your part in the I its activities of thought and enterprise. WeService, and to join in the responses." aj* h

uere' therefore, in the presence of a work

" m i T? A. i i " which was created by faith and hope and loveEternal Father strong to save t Mowing, as we-believe, the guiding of the

•was then sung, and was followed by: High Spirit of God.prayers; "The waves of the sea are] " At the same time this Institution, whiie itmighty and rage horribly. But yet the Iis.the outcome of a great religious impulse, isT J v. j 11 j-i T-- t- • • i j.- i " also a characteristic monument of BritishLord who dwelleth on high is mightier \ temper and geniug The nature and efficiency

Mr. Green then read the 107th Psalm, j of its work are part of the characteristics oiand the Choir sang the Hallelujah I our race. Adventure, -which, has sent forth ourChorus from Handel's " Messiah." Thiswas followed by an address from Dr.Scott Lidgett :—

Dr. Scott Lidgett:" We are here this afternoon to give thanks

to God and to commemorate the history of ahundred years; to give thanks for those intowhose hearts God put it to found this greatBOTAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION ; tothank Him for the generous spirit which Heinspired, for the wisdom, enterprise andpersistence which has guided the counsels ofthis Institution during those hundred years.We are here to give thanks for the way in\rhich the work has grown and its possibilitieshave increased, likewise for the wisdom andgenerosity of the Institution which hasadvanced from the humbie and small beginningsof a century ago to the magnificent results which•we contemplate to-day. Above all, we arehere to give thanks to God for the splendidcourage of those who have manned the Life-

seamen for centuries over every sea; thesympathy which is not lavish of words, but ofpractical deeds ; the generosity which does notlike to be organized or directed by the State,but springs spontaneously up and does its ownwork, those qualities of devotion, of humanity,of practical sense and private endeavour, makeup the most characteristicBritish mind and temper,

features of theof its attitude

towards the tasks of life. And as enterpriseand adventure have sent our mariners uponevery sea, so the British people have respondedby the enterprise which has created, and theprivate sense of duty which has sustained, thisgreat organization. We have been makingwhat I may venture to call remedial after-thoughts. We have launched out, we haveventured upon sea and upon land to ourcommon good and in the development of ourindustry. In doing so we have exposed mento risks which sometimes we did not foresee,and then, following in the wake of the ventureand the risk of danger, we have createdremedial agencies by which the danger has

boats during this last century, for theirs, after been lessened. However much the State mayoil, is the gift without which all our generosityand all our wisdom would have been unavail-ing. Heroic courage, readiness to dare, kindlyhumanity at heart. It is brought home to usthat no storm ever rages round the shores ofthis storm-swept island without men springingto the call of duty and humanity. Nearly60,000 lives have been rescued from deathduring the century that we commemorate.

" This Institution is one of the oldestmonuments of the great philanthropic inspira-tion which came to Britain more than a centuryago. Those who trace the history of thehigher spiritual and social movements ofpreceding generations will not have failed tomark how a new passion of sympathy woke up•within the hearts of men in the latter part ofthe eighteenth and throughout the nineteenthcentury, and with that new feeling of thehorrors of some of the social conditions therecame a new sense of social obligation, a generous

henceforth encroach upon private enterprisein many walks of life, God grant that this oldspirit of humanity, of sympathy, of voluntaryservice, may be preserved during the days tocome.

" Our thanksgiving is a recognition of ourdebt and of our duty. If our land owes somuch to the brave men who have manned ourLife-boats during the past century, how muchmore does London owe a debt to those menand to the men of the Navy and the MercantileMarine whose dangers have called intoexistence this great Society I For it is acommonplace to say that London could notexist physically without these men of the Navyand of the Mercantile Marine. Still less couldit be the centre of the far-Hung British Empire,and the commercial and financial centre of theworld. Therefore our thanksgiving to-dayimposes upon us the great duty of rememberingour debt. Thank God, as our recent history

8 THE LIFEBOAT. [FEBRUARY, 1925.

has shown us in other spheres and in otherventures, the English spirit is not dead.Courage survives on land, on sea, and in the air,and men are ready to spring to the call of dutyas they have done through the history of ourcountry. But it is for us who have thissplendid force of humane spirit and energyand devotion at hand for every task of ourcommonwealth, it is for us who benefit by theheroism of our brethren, to see to it that theirwork is not hampered, but that they aresupported because we recognize our obligation.So our thanks to God to-day are a pledgebefore Him that this great Institution, whichhas lived and thriven and developed for a

most earnest and true and godly citizens of :our country. Great missionary societies werestarted and this Institution owes its origin tothat particular period of our history. But Iam sure that in those days it would have beenabsolutely impossible or hopeless to havethought of gathering together such an assemblyas we have here present with us to-day.

" Your Royal Highness, you will forgive me| if I venture to say how we indeed as anInstitution appreciate all that you have done

' for our work. Such a thing as members of thei Royal Family being present at a meeting likeI this a hundred years ago, or, even, perhapsfifty, would have been very difficult to imagine.

SIX OF THE SEVEN LIFE-BOATMEN WHO WERE PRESENT AT THECENTENARY THANKSGIVING SERVICE.

From left to right:—ex-Coxswain Holbrook, of Bembridge, hie of Wight; ex-Cowwain RobertBurton, of Berwick-on-Tweed i Second-Coxswain Georre Newman, of Worthing j CoxswainWalter Fairbairn, of Dunbar and Skateraw; Coxswain Daniel Murphy, of Kingstown; Coxswain

John Williams, of Tenby.

century past, shall go on to yet greatertriumphs and have yet more generous supportin the century that is to come."

After the address the hymn " TheLife-boat" was sung, and was followedby prayers for the Life-boats and theirCrews. The Choir then sang CanonGeoffrey Ryley's anthem, " Fierce ragedthe tempest o'er the deep," and prayerswere said for those at sea, and inremembrance of those who have perishedat sea. These were followed by anaddress from the Bishop of Willesden.

The Bishop of Willesden :" Dr. Scott Lidgett has brought to our eyes

the memory of the past in the hundred yearsthat have gone since this Institution was firstformed. In those days, for the most part,such Societies were supported by a few of the

And we have with us to-day representativesof the House of Commons, of our municipallife, and of the great Services—the Navy, theArmy and the Air Force. We also feel the joyof having with us here upon the platform thisafternoon our brothers who represent theactual work that is being done by the Life-boats on our coast, and I am sure you willagree with me that it •would be well to readtheir names. Although, perhaps, Sir, just asyou and I would object to such prominencebeing given to us, we are right, absolutelyright, in mentioning the names of those whocome from England, Scotland, Ireland andWales, and who are on the platform this after-noon.

The Bishop then read out the namesgiven above, and proceeded:

" I have before me, my brothers, the recordsof what you have done, but I forbear to readthem, I will only say that we are gathered


i i

together to thank Almighty God for what hasbeen done in the past and to pledge ourselveslor the time to come to give a more liberalrapport than has been given to the work of!tiife Institution. j

" It has never received any aid from the |State, and I hope and trust that it never will, jIt is of this and some kindred Societies that jthose in authority in Parliament have declaredthat they are carried out better when they are !the outcome of voluntary effort than whenmaintained by State aid. This applies to ourhospitals, as I believe, and to that work in |which Your Royal Highness Princess Louiseis specially interested—the great work in ILondon of the Police Court Mission. May it!remain so for this Institution, if only because jit becomes most splendid of all in the volunteer'work of those men all round oar coasts. i; " The way in which the work has spread is ]_ before you. You will see that the cost o f iupkeep has risen from the very, small sum of

$10,000 a year in the past to £250,000. at the i^present time, and that 60,000 men, women and Ichildren have been saved from the perils of the i

; deep by the work of the Life-boat Institution. IThat is eleven a week through all the hundredyears. It is for that work that we to-day arethanking God. The first little Life-boat,which had no more than a certain amount ofcork to keep it afloat, depended upon the oarswith which the men rowed, and cost perhaps£200. To-day we have Motor Life-boats.They are provided with everything that can

,be done for the preservation of life, and they.coat £10,000 and more. But it makes all the.difference. I remember, in a little fishingvillage in Cornwall two years ago, seeing thefishing boats leave the harbour without settingtheir sails because of the small motor powerthat they had in them, and in coming back tothe harbour I remember an old sailor saying tome, ' There is nothing in it now, Sir, anybodycan do it.' It made all the difference in theircoming home safely, that they had this motorpower. So every appliance that can. be usedand every improvement that can be made,THE BOYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITU-TION is determined to have.

"There is, of course, the other side, thesplendid character of the men, whom some ofus, perhaps, have seen launching the Life-boat.Amid all the howling of the wind, the storm,

the rain, the cold, they man the Life-boat, andgo forth on their mission of saving humanlife.

" I remember an incident on the Pacificcoast, where a boat that had left these shoreswas suddenly seized by a squall of wind andfoundered. All the passengers were strugglingfor their lives, and four Indians put out intheir tiny, fragile eanoe. It was nothing like asgood even as those Life-boats in use a hundredyears ago, but they fought their way throughthe sea to where the wreck had foundered, andwhere there were four or five still strugglingfor their lives. And those Indians, in thattiny canoe, brought them safely to shore, andrefused to accept one single dollar in rewardfor it. Why ? Because they had beenbrought to the knowledge of Christ; becausethey had come by the ways of their fore-fathers. They had learned this, and, someyear or two afterwards, the Governor-Generalof Canada pinned on the breasts of those mena medal which they were proud to wear.

" It is the uplift of our humanity. It is theend of that which has been said on all sides,' You cannot help it, human nature is onenature; everything must go on, we cannotmake things better.' On the contrary, it is

; because we believe in the restoration of ourI human nature, it is because we believe in HimI who took that nature upon Himself, that we; here to-day surely will pledge ourselves to seethat in every way that we possibly can, we will

! help to forward the work of this Institution,i and offer our humble and hearty thanks toI Almighty God for the blessings which He has, given, and pray Him to continue them fromj generation to generation.I " Boys and girls, you have your share in it,! too. It is for you to help as much as thosei who have the greatest influence. I ask you to| see that while these men upon our shores arecarrying out this splendid work, you remember

) the work of this Institution and help it as you] can, as well as, and as much as, any of us.\ " Now we are going to sing our last hymn,j and during this a silver collection will be made.j I ask you to give as liberally as you can."

After the Benediction the NationalAnthem was sung.

The collection amounted to over £60.

Gallant Services at Newhaven and Runswick.

THEBE were heavyat the end of November, and on the 26th

Three Bronze Medals Awarded.

Jes round the coast whole gale was blowing at the time, andthe Motor Life-boat and two tugs put out

and 27th of that month ten Life-boats to her help. Both tugs got into diffi-were launched. Two of these launches 1 culties, and one of them, the Richmere,led to gallant and dangerous services, [ went ashore, and was wrecked in thefor which Bronze Medals have been j heavy seas. The Life-boat went to herawarded.

On the. 27th November, the cross-Channel steamer Dieppe went ashore atthe entrance to Newhaven Harbour. A

help, anchored and veered down. Whileshe was alongside her the Richmeregave a heavy roll, and smashed theLife-boat's gunwale and hull. The


Life-boat was in the gravest danger,but she was splendidly handled byCoxswain Payne. The four men onboard the Kichmere, which sank imme-diately afterwards, were rescued andbrought safely ashore; and then, inspite of her severely damaged condition,the Life-boat returned to the Dieppe, andstood by her until she refloated somethree hours after she went ashore andwas able to enter the harbour under herown steam.

For this skilful and gallant service,Coxswain Payne was awarded theBronze Medal of the Institution, and hisCrew the Thanks of the Institutioninscribed on Vellum. Extra monetaryawards were also given. As a mark ofits appreciation the Southern Railwayhas made a donation of 100 guineas tothe Institution, and the following letterof thanks from the Master, engineer,deckhand and fireman of the tug wasaddressed to the Honorary Secretary,Coxswain and Crew at Newhaven :—

" We, the undersigned, being themembers of the late s.s. Richmere, desireto convey to you some small portion ofour heartfelt thanks for your kindlyrescue of us on the morning of Thursday,27th November, when, but for yourprompt assistance, there is little doubtthat we should have lost our lives.Great difficulty is experienced in givingexpression to our feelings, but hope youwill take the will for the deed, againthanking you."

On the same day a gallant rescue was

performed on the Yorkshire coast.week before, the Belgian steamercesse Clementine had gone ashore offStaithes. Her crew of nineteen wererescued by the Runswick Life-boat, buther Captain had remained on board.On the 27th November he signalled for

j help. A gale was blowing with a veryheavy sea which was sweeping right overthe wreck. The Life-boat was launchedwith great difficulty, some of the laun-chers going into the sea up to their necks.When she reached the Princesse Clemen-tine she was several times nearly swepton to the deck of the wreck, but shesucceeded in getting alongside. A ropewas thrown to the Captain, who, withgreat difficulty, made Ms way aft andjumped into the Life-boat. In thankingthe Crew for their gallantry he said thathe would never have jumped, if it hadnot been that he knew he was riskingother lives besides his own. On herway back the Life-boat was completelyburied by a tremendous wave.

For this gallant and difficult servicethe Institution awarded Bronze Medalsto Coxswain Tose and Second CoxswainPatton, and extra monetary awardsto the rest of the Crew and the helpers.

The Institution has now received fromthe owners of the steamer, the BelgianSteam Navigation Company of Antwerp,a donation of £30 and a letter, in whichthe Company say " We cannot expressthe gratitude •which, we feel for the in-estimable service which your honourableInstitution has rendered the Ciew andCaptain of our steamer."

Two Brave Life-savers.Portlethen, Kincardineshire, and Southwold, Suffolk.

ON 26th November, 1924, two acts ofgreat individual gallantry were per-formed in rescuing life from vesselsstranded near the shore. One was onthe rocky coast of Portlethen, in Kin-cardineshire, the other on the sand-banks off Southwold, in Suffolk. Apartfrom this difference of the kind of shore,there was a remarkable similaritybetween the two acts of gallantry, per-formed on the same day at placeshundreds of miles apart.

About six in the morning the trawlerPress Home, which was on her way home

to Portgordon from the English fishingat Yarmouth, ran on the rocks inshore.A moderate gale was blowing, there wasa thick mist, and a heavy swell. Almostat once on these terrible rocks the trawlerbegan to break up. Her crew of eightwere in grave danger. Their only hopeof safety was to leave the vessel at once,and they tried to reach a ledge of rock.Three succeeded; the other five weredrowned.

When the trawler struck she soundedher siren. Among those who heard itwas George Craig, a fisherman in his

FEBRUARY, 1925.] THE LIFEBOAT. 11

seventieth year, who lives close by.What happened then was graphicallytold in the Mearns Leader :

" About 6.30 old George Craig wasroused by his son, who lives close byand told him that a boat was ashore.He hurriedly dressed and rushed down

were pu'in' me back, I went richt under,*he concluded, with a quiet smile."

Undoubtedly George Craig savedthree lives. The tide was rising, andwith that and the heavy sea the threemen, before very long, would have beenwashed off the rock. Apart from his age,

to the rocks. Picking his way down the! it was an act of very great gallantry, andcliffs in the dark of the morning was a I the Institution has awarded him itsprecarious task, but Old George knows Silver Medal, a copy of the Vote in-every foot of them. Seven or eight j scribed on Vellum, and framed, and apeople were there before him, and soon j monetary award. These were presentedthe little group were joined by numerous to him at Portlethen on his seventiethothers.

' The boat was smashed by this time,birthday. He has also been decoratedby the King with the Board oi Trade's

however, and the three survivors had Silver Medal lor Gallantry in saving lifefound sanctuary on a precarious rock, j at sea.Another Gfeorge Craig, of 60, Portlethen, i Southwold.had brought a rope, and they tried to; Early in the morning of the same daythrow it to the shipwrecked men. The j three motor fishing boats of Cromer leftintervening boulder frustrated their Southwold to lay cod-lines. A gale gotefforts. As it was impossible to reach up from the S.E. with a very heavy sea,the men with the rope, which alwayslanded on the top of the boulder, theheroic veteran decided to try to ' clam-

and as they had not returned by noon alook-out for them was kept. It wasclose on one o'clock when one of the

her ' out to the nearest rock, the one that j three was seen lying off the harbour,was causing all the difficulty.

" The rock was over twenty feet away,apparently not daring to attempt theentrance. The Life-boat was launched,

but he knew submerged boulders by j to stand by, and first one and thenwhich he could make his way. ' When another of the fishing boats ran in undermy son saw me gaun oot, he nearly went her own power. The third was lessmad,' was how Craig described his son's fortunate. Her crew could not make theanxiety on seeing his father set out onhis heroic attempt to rescue the men.

harbour but beached her about three-quarters of a mile to the north. At this

, There was little wonder at the son's mis- point there are two shoals lying off thegivings, for any moment the old man beach, one about forty, the other between.might be dashed to death against the i sixty and seventy yards from it, withrocks. I deep gullies separating them from the'"I

buller,jist scram'ledfa'in' noo and

fra bulleragain, bit

tae j shore and from one another. Over theseaye

gettin' up. Sometimes the water wouldbe up tae ma waist. Still, I reached therock. There were only the three on theopposite rock, and nae sign o' the ithers.One was in his bare feet, and the ithertwo shouted to get him first, as theythocht he was near gone.' In thesesimple words George Craig compressedan epic into a few sentences.

" He threw the rope to them, and theyfastened it round the waist of theirexhausted shipmate. He pulled him tothe rock, where he himself stood, andafterwards pulled the other two over.He shouted to the anxious watchers onthe shore, and one by one they draggedthe four of them to safety, ' Fan they

shoals a very heavy sea was running.As the boat crossed the outer one shewas struck by a wave and broached to.The shock threw two of her crew of threemen out of her. One kept hold andmanaged to struggle back on board. Theother was flung clear into the deep waterbetween the two shoals. He was encum-bered by his heavy oilskins and in gravedanger.

A number of people had gathered onthe beach to help if help were needed,and one of them, Mr. T. H. Gillings,rushed at once into the sea, fully clothed.He struggled through the first gully,crossed the inner shoal, and went on intothe deep water beyond. He was at leastforty yards out, and up to his neck in


"water, when the waves receded, butthey still continued to break far abovehis head.

Between the two shoals he seized thefisherman, by now utterly exhausted,and after a hard struggle brought himsafely ashore. Mr. Gillings's prompt andcourageous action undoubtedly savedthe fisherman's life. He said himselfthat when Mr. Gillings reached him he

was " completely done." In recognitionof his gallantry the Institution hasawarded Mr. Gillings its Bronze Medal,and with it a copy of the Vote, inscribedon Vellum and framed.

Some years ago Mr. Gillings per-formed a similar rescue in even moredifficult circumstances and was deco-rated by the King at BuckinghamPalace.

Two Rescues by Shore-boats.San day, Orkney Islands, an i Smerwic'i, Co. Kerry.

ABOUT ten at night on 24th June, 1924,a small boat, with three men on board,was capsized in a sudden and heavysquall in Otterswick Bay, at Sanday, inthe Orkney Islands. Two of the men onboard her were thrown clear of the boat,but the third managed to cling to herbow. Three men in a boat, about half amile to windward, saw the accident andwent at once to the rescue. The wind•was high, a heavy sea was running, and rough, and a moderate gale was blowingthe currents were strong. All thismade the work of rescue both difficultand dangerous. By careful manreuvringthe rescuers managed to get the first ofthe three on board, after he had been inthe water about twenty minutes. Hewas very exhausted. The second man,

Institution has awarded its Thanks in-scribed on Vellum, and framed. It hasalso granted each of them a monetaryaward.*

Smerwict, Co. Kerry.About 8.30 in the evening of 24th

September, 1924, a fishing canoe, inwhich were three men, was capsized ina sudden squall. The boat was ridingby the stern to the nets. The sea was

from the north. Hearing a cry for helpthree fishermen in another canoe slippedtheir nets and went to the rescue, butthey were able to rescue only one of thethree men. Of tha other two, althoughthey searched carefully, no trace couldbe seen. It was not until next morning

who had fallen clear of the capsized boat, I that one of the two bodies was found,had by this time become entangled in entangled in the nets. The other hasthe boom, and with each swell he went not been found. It was both a difficultcompletely under water. It was onlywith great difficulty that he wasrescued. The most difficult and dan-gerous part of the work was still to bedone. The third man, who was clingingto the bows, was so exhausted that hecould do nothing to help his rescuers,He could not even lose his hold of thesinking boat, and it was only afterrepeated efforts, with the continual riskthat their own boat would be stove in,

and a dangerous service, not only be-cause of the high sea, but because of thefrailty of the boat, which, like all thelocal boats, was of canvas. In this casealso the Institution has awarded itsThanks inscribed on Vellum, and also amonetary award, to the three rescuers,all of whom were fishermen, James Kane,Michael Bowler and Daniel Kane. TheVellums were sent to the Superintendentof the Coast Life Saving in that part

that the rescuers succeeded in getting j of Ireland, to be presented to the three~ " " " men. In acknowledging them, he wrote :him aboard. Even then their difficulties

were not over, for their boat was dan-gerously overloaded for the heavy seaand strong currents. In spite of thesedifficulties she was brought safely ashore.To these three men, John Dearness,fisherman, Oliver Scott, farmer, andJames Slater, crofter and fisherman, the

" The Vellums awarded by the RoyalNational Life-boat Institution havebeen presented by our Parish Priest, Rev.R. Browne, and I have been asked, bythe receivers, to convey their sincerestthanks to that humane and honouredInstitution."


Two Motor Life-boats in the December Gales.THE gales at the end of December " On coming ashore the Coxswain saidreached their worst on the 27th, on the conditions in the Channel were thewhich day ten launches took place round worst he had ever experienced in histhe coast, long career of Life-boat work, but he

From the Isle of Wight it was reported was too full of praise for the Boat andthat " the damage ashore was not so his Crew to talk much of the trip. Hegreat as in November, but at sea condi- described the Boat as ' wonderful' andtions of almost unprecedented violence his Crew as ' splendid." Later, how-existed," and both the Motor Life-boats ever, he told a County Press representa-now stationed in the Isle of Wight were tive a thrilling story of the trip. Hecalled out, the self-righting Motor Lif-e- said that, on rounding Clifi End Fort,boat which has been at Bembridge since they met the full force of the gale, but1922, and the Boat of the New Watson ; the Boat forged ahead out to the Needles.cabin type which had been stationed at, The seas in the Needles Channel wereYarmouth less than three months j bad, but once the open sea was reachedbefore. The first of this type was • they were literally mountainous. Socompleted in the summer of 1923. heavy were they that he dared not turn

In both cases the steamers to which and run directly to St. Catherine's beforethey were called, got over their diffi- the gale, so he steered well out into theculties, and no services were performed,; Channel, taking the seas on the star-but the graphic account of their adven- board bow. Many came aboard, buttures.. which appeared in the County the Life-boat shook herself free inPress, deserves to be read if only be- magnificent style, and fought her waycause it shows to what an exceptionally , up Channel. Passing over the bridgesevere test these new Life-boats were of the Needles was the worst experienceput, and how magnificently they stood it. of all. One huge sea cocked up the bow

until the boat was almost perpendicular,The Yarmouth Boat. another struck her stern whilst she was

" The guns assembling the Life-boat, in this position and threw her clear ofCrew were discharged just before '•• the water, and she fell a sheer 20 feet into11.30 A.M., and Coxswain Walter Cotton i the trough of the next sea, meeting theand his Crew were quickly aboard the ' water with a crash that seemed to spellMotor Life-boat in the harbour, and j disaster, but the stout little craft waswere just about to leave when the l none the worse. The wind was terrific,' Stand-by ' message was received. The I and the heavy rain blotted out every-second message, telling the Boat to put thing mor6 than 50 yards or so ahead,to sea, was received at about 12.40,- and j Gradually, however, the Boat workedwithin a few minutes the Life-boat was ' round and approached St. Catherine'sout of the harbour. She passed out o f ; at about five o'clock. No sign of anysight through the Hurst Channel at j vessel had been seen, and, fearing thatabout 1 o'clock, and nothing more was ; they had missed her, the Crew took theirheard of her until about 6 P.M., when a ! craft inshore until they were able to getmessage came that she was returning via j the welcome flash-light signal fromSpithead and the Solent. In such I Niton that they could proceed home,weather this news was a big relief to the I By this time the gale had moderated aCommittee and relatives of the Crew, j little, and the homeward journey wasAt about 10.30 P.M. her lights were seen I completed without great difficulty. Thecoming down the Solent, and she swept j Boat will probably never have a moreinto the harbour at about 10.40 P.M. A1 severe test. It was a fruitless trip,crowd of about 200 people awaited her j but it has served a splendid purposeon the quay, and they raised lusty j by giving the Crew complete con-cheers for the Crew as they neared their fidence in their Boat, which will enablemoorings, the Crew giving answering them to meet any future call with thecheers. I knowledge that they have a stout craft

B 2


which can weather the worst of j steamers in distress were able to getstorms." away, for he was very doubtful whether

It is worth adding that two of the! a Life-boat could have got alongsideregular members of the Crew were away,! them in such weather. Even under theand their places were taken by two men | lee of the land a tremendous sea waschosen from a number of volunteers, and j running, but after passing Dunnose thethat the Chief Mechanic, although • conditions were such as to be almostsuffering from sea-sickness, stuck to his indescribable. Again and again theengines. Boat was buried beneath tempestuous

TU n u -j n » seas- With her motors running splen-Ine oembriage coat. 3- n ^ l f * . i r •didly, however, she fought her way in" The Bembridge Life-boat, the the teeth of the gale, while, unknown to

Ltmgham, was launched at 1 P.M., and:the Crew, signals were being made fromproceeded around Foreland Point in | the cliff top near Ventnor, in an attemptterrible weather. Watchers ashore; to let them know that their servicescould see the huge waves breaking clean; were no longer required. Half blindedover her, but she fought her way I by the driving spume, the Life-boatmenthrough, and eventually passed out of j saw nothing of this. Passing throughsight. An anxious wait followed until | the broken water of St. Catherine'sthe return of the Life-boat, just after j Race, they were some three miles south5 o'clock. The Crew were drenched, and I of the point within an hour and a halfthe hot coffee provided by the local j of the launch—a highly creditable feathelpers was very acceptable. Coxswain | for both the Crew and their Boat. NoGawn said he had been down Channel i steamers were seen, and, after cruisingto somewhere off Brook, but had seen j about until dark in appalling weather,nothing. At times the wind blew the j they returned. The Coxswain spokewaves completely over the Boat, and i highly of the behaviour of both Boatfrequently he could not see the Bowman; I and Crew under conditions which hebut she behaved splendidly. He con- j summed up as ' about as bad as theysidered it very fortunate that the could be.'"

Super-Quality of Life-boats.By Captain HOWARD F. J. ROWLEY, C.B.E., R.N., Chief Inspector of Life-boats.

CRITICISMS have been expressed in of the human element, there would berecent years as to the great cost of the no need for a Life-boat Service,construction of the Institution's Life- Unfortunately, the commercial worldboats. It would seem, from these, could not, and cannot, afford super-workcriticisms, that the public do not fully: in the construction of their vessels andunderstand either the nature of Life-boat{ boats, so that any vessel or boat thatwork or the extreme risks which the '< has to go to the assistance of a casualtyBoats and their Crews have to face. | must of necessity be of superior quality

The necessity for super-qualities,super-material and super-constructioncan, I think, be summed up in thefollowing words : If commercially-builtvessels and boats were built on such linesthat they could withstand the enormousstresses and strains put upon them underall conditions of storm and sea, includingfoundering in collision, stranding andbreakdowns of machinery, failure ofmasts, sails and equipment, then, apartfrom the casualties due to the mistakes

to the vessel or boat which she issuccouring. Otherwise she could notcarry out her task without incurringthe gravest risk not only to herself butto the lives of those who volunteer toman her and to render aid to their lessfortunate comrades.

It is here that the expense occurs inconstruct/on and equipment. .Every-thing put into a rescuing craft must beof the very highest quality obtainable,and the necessity of doing this has been


demonstrated in hundreds of cases sincethe inception of the Life-boat Service in1824. I will only quote one recentinstance, which should suffice to make thepoint clear.

On the 27th November of last year, across-Channel steamer, making New-haven from Dieppe, missed the entranceto the harbour and was thrown ashore.The Newhaven Life-boat was called out,and; in the teeth of a driving gale, wentto her help. The steamer herself wasfound in a position where the passengerswere in no immediate danger, but atug-boat which was in attendance onher, and had been connected to her bya hawser, was swept round and drivenashore in a very dangerous position, hercrew being in imminent peril of losingtheir lives. The Coxswain of the Life-boat, realizing the predicament of thefour men on board the tug, instantlymade up his mind that his urgent dutywas to go to their rescue. At the sametime he realized that he had to take theextreme risk of breaking up the Life-boat, but knowing the super-quality andconstruction of the Boat he took therisk. He went to the tug's help, andwhile her crew were being taken aboard,the tug rolled on top of the Life-boat,tearing her planking above and belowthe water-line, ripping out the wale orfender, gunwale, stanchions, crutches,and everything that came into contactwith the tug's side. In spite of that herescued that crew; he took them ashore:he then returned to the cross-Channelsteamer. He did all this, although hisBoat was so badly damaged that shehad, later, to be sent to a boat-buildingyard at Cowes for repairs. (It will beinteresting to note here that the machi-nery compartment suffered no damage,and the installation was uninjured.)

No Admiralty pinnace, no com-mercially-built vessel could have with-stood the blow which she received andcontinued her work under the violentconditions of weather on that night.

An examination of this Boat revealedthe fact that her timbers were intact,and after being at Messrs. Saunders'yard ten days, she was returned to herStation repaired and completed for anyfurther work that she might be calledupon to perform.

One other very interesting illustrationmay be of value to show the immensestrength of the Life-boats.

The Teesmonth Motor Life-boat, whichwas launched last June, carried out athree months' propaganda cruise on theThames before going to her Station.After this cruise, it was found that someslight misalignment in the tail shafthad taken place, necessitating verycareful examination of the Boat at theInstitution's storeyard, at Poplar, beforeshe could proceed to take up her workon the coast.

Various suggestions were put forward,it being considered by some that the Boathad altered her form, and very carefulmeasurements and tests had to be made.The conclusive tests were as follows :The Boat is a 45-foot Watson Cabintype, weighing 20 tons, including asolid iron keel, 30 feet in length. 12 incheswide, 7 inches deep, weighing 3 tons,and a motor just abaft the midshipsection weighing 2 tons with its instal-lation. She was placed on two sets ofblocks, the one being just under theafter end of the iron keel, the other2 inches forward of the fore-end of theiron keel, leaving a distance of 32 feetout of a total of 45 feet between them.These two sets of blocks took the entireweight of the Boat, and when the tail-shaft coupling was broken, the varia-tion in the straightness of the keelshowed a deviation of 23/l,030ths ofan inch, by which amount the keel hadsagged.

The next test was made by placingtwo sets of blocks 2 feet apart under herkeel, just abaft the midship section ofthe Boat, and the sets of blocks sup-porting her extreme ends were knockedout. The total weight of this 20-tonBoat then rested on these two sets ofblocks, 2 feet apart, the ends over-hanging without any support. Thecoupling was again broken, and showeda variation of 23/l,OOOths of an inch,by which amount the keel had " hogged."When the four sets of blocks werereplaced in their normal position, theBoat regained her original form imme-diately, and when she was placed afloat,and her further steaming trials werecarried out, everything proved to be inorder.


The Life-boat Services of the World : Sweden.By Captain STEN ISBERG, Secretary of the Svenska Sillskapet For Kaidning Af

Skeppsbrutne.

[This article, on the Swedish organiza-tion/or rescuing life from shipwreck, whichCaptain Isberg has very kindly writtenfor THE LIFEBOAT in English, should beread with particular interest for tworeasons. Sweden is the only countrywhich has both a State and a voluntaryLife-boat organization. They are separate,but working together in complete harmony,the Chairman of the voluntary Societybeing a member of the Government depart-ment which controls the State Life-boats.Moreover, the State organization is theolder of the two, the voluntary Societyhaving been formed nineteen years agobecause it was felt that the State organiza-tion was not as complete as it should be.The second reason which gives a specialinterest to the article is the fact that theformation of part of the Swedish coastmakes it useless to establish there per-manent Life-boat Stations such as we haiein this ctuntry, and this part of the coastis protected by cruising Life-boats.—EDITOR, The Lifeboat.]

THE same wave of humanity that causedthe foundation of the English Life-boatInstitution also brought the L'fe-boatidea to Sweden. Even in 1810 the Par-liament made a suggestion to the Kingthat Life-boats of English constructionshould be procured and stationed inplaces where ships were frequentlywrecked, but as the Parliament had notsupplied any funds for the purpose, and,moreover, the Government thought thatit would meet with difficulties in pro-curing the necessary crews from the verythinly-populated coasts, the proposalwas refused. Although the idea wasstill prominent, there was nothing donefor many years, during which periodmany lives were lost in shipwrecks, inspite of the courage and perseverance ofthe dwellers on the coast.

In 1852 the Boyal Naval Society inCarlskrona became interested in thematter, and at a meeting of this SocietyCommander Gr. M. Hollander pointed outthe necessity of erecting Life-boat

I Stations, and also proposed that such

should be erected at certain places onthe south coast, the Sound, Halland,Bohuslan, and the Islands of Gotlandand Oland. As a result of this proposalthe Society wrote to the Minister of theNavy acquainting him with this neces-sity, and at the same time deliveringdrawings and models of Life-boats.However, it was first in the Parliamentof 1853-54 that a member of the House,Consul C. Booth, of Helsingborg, broughta Bill before the House that 100,000Riksdaler Banco should be voted for theerection of as many Life-boat Stationsas this fund would allow. The amountof money was granted, but before any-thing was done it was thought advisableto send Lieut. C. Kleman, of the KoyalNavy, to Denmark to study the organiza-tion of the Danish Life-boat service.

Lieut. Kleman went to Denmark inJuly, 1854, and visited several Life-boatStations, together with Mr. C. B.Claudie, inspector of the Danish Life-saving Service, who not only mostwillingly gave him the informationrequired, but also demonstrated the useof the Life-boats and other life-savingapparatus. On his way home, Lieut.Kleman surveyed the coast betweenYstad and Crimrishamn, and the resultwas that he proposed that two Life-boatStations should be erected, one at Sand-hammaren and one at Brantevik. Subse-quently, these two stations were built in1855. Since that time the Pilotage Board,under whose supervision the Life-savingService comes, has erected twenty-oneLife-boat Stations, the last one beingcompleted in 1907, but six of these havebeen closed as unnecessary.

It was, however, only the PilotageBoard which thought these six Stationssuperfluous. The seafaring men and thepeople along the coast were quite awarethat still many more Life-boats wereneeded. After the terrible Septemberstorm in 1903, when the west coastof Sweden was strewn with wrecks,the fishermen of the little village ofStafsinge, rendered utterly incapable ofoffering assistance, were forced to witness

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a tremendous loss of life. To avoid this I was so extensive, thought a specialhappening again, they formed a union! society should be formed to continuefor the purpose of acquiring a properLife-boat, and this union proved theseed from which the voluntary SwedishLife-saving Service has sprung.

Influenced by the terrible disasters ofthe preceding autumn, the Swedish

the work. It, therefore, drew up a listof rules for such a society and also issuedgeneral invitations to a meeting inStockholm in June, 1907. At this meet-ing the Swedish Life-boat Society wasfounded, but as an assistance to the new

General Shipping Society decided, at its [ Society the Committee—whose Chair-Spring meeting in 1904, to form a com-mittee for the purpose of increasingpublic interest in life-saving. This Com-mittee started its work at once and foundan open field for its exploits. Ship-

man is Civil Engineer A. Isakson—decided to continue its work.

The organization of the Society is verysimple. The Board of Directors has itsheadquarters in Goteborg and consists

A CRUISING LIFE-BOAT, AND A LIFE-BOAT OF THE MODIFIED WATSONTYPE AT STOCKHOLM.

owners, underwriters, firms and private | of twenty-five members, of whom twelvepersons, showed their great interest withthe scheme by giving large contributionsto a Life-boat Fund, in consequence ofwhich the Committee were able, alreadyin 1906, to deliver a modern Life-boat,with carriage and a rocket apparatus, tothe village of Stafsinge, for which theStafsinge Society built a Boat-house.

must be residents of Goteborg and theremainder residents of various othertowns, by which means the Society canhave representatives in different partsof the country. The Chairman is theCaptain in the Pilotage Board, Com-mander Otto Stenberg. The Board ofDirectors has a paid Secretary, Inspector

The first Station was soon followed by j of Life-boats and Office Clerk, othera second one, which was the result of a j propaganda work being done by volun-golden wedding gift from twelve Swedish j tary service. The larger part of the Life-ladies to King Oscar and Queen Sophie, boat crews receive no salary, only the

crew in the cruising Life-boats and theand in 1907 the foundation of a thirdStation was laid. At that time theCommittee, perceiving that the work i boats being remunerated for their ser-

masters and engineers in the Motor Life-


vices, the latter, however, receivingonly a very small amount. During drilland life-saving expeditions, however,

Strong representations were made, assoon as a reliable crude-oil motor couldbe obtained, that Motor Life-boats

the voluntary men are paid compensationfor the loss of their usual day's work.

With the exception of this last year(1923), the Society has worked with suchgood results that it has been able to erectabout one Station every year. The totalcost of the erection of the sixteenStations belonging to the Society is over570,000 kroner (at pre-war rate ofexchange, over £32,000). In additionto the actual Life-boat Society thereexists a Society of women-workers,called " Life-buoys," because by meansof money derived from bazaars andsocial gatherings they help the Societyfinancially. To show the importance ofthese " Life-buoys," it may be mentionedthat they have contributed about 97,000kronor to the Society (£5,500).

The first Life-boats were constructedaccording to Danish drawings andmodels, the dimensions of which are 9-4metres in length, 2'5 metres in breadth,and a moulded depth of 0'9 metres.They are clinker-built, with stems, keelsand sterns of oak, and timber anddecks of ash. Through a system ofaircases the boats are made insubmer-sible and a cork-fender runs outside,below the gunwale. The aircase, whichis placed abaft the centre-board, can befilled with sea-water to be used as ballastwhen the boat is sailing. The oars,

should be built, and in order to avoidcostly experiments the Society made anapplication to the Royal National Life-boat Institution in London for the loanof its drawings and specifications. ThisInstitution of long standing gave all thedesired information and assistance mostwillingly and obligingly. As a result, itwas decided that the English Watsontype was not quite suitable to theSwedish coast, and therefore the Swedishboat-constructors were invited to builda boat with the Watson type as model,but modified to suit Swedish require-ments. Various suggestions were dulyhanded in, but none was accepted bythe Judging Committee, which consistedof A. H. Lindfors, Professor in the Art ofShip-building, Wilhelm Lager, CivilEngineer, and S. Isberg, Secretary ofthe Society. However, the designs ofone of the competitors, Jack HutchingKay, was so well thought out that hewas awarded the prize, and was commis-sioned to alter, according to the Society'sdirections, certain details of the Watsonboat. The hull remained unaltered, butspace was found for an engine-room, andalso for a cabin to provide a shelter forshipwrecked crews, as the cold climate ofSweden demands. Although quite a lotof aircases had to be omitted, it waspractically proved that the Boats were

5 metres long, are made of ash and are insubmersible. Even when the engine-balanced by a lead ring fastened justoutside the handle. The boats, fittedout with, all necessary equipment suchas sea-anchors, oil-spreaders, heaving-canes, etc., are mounted on transportwaggons, constructed by the Society'sinspector, Captain A. Viksten, and aremanned by a crew of eleven. There arefive boats built according to this descrip-tion, four of which are stationed on thecoast of Halland, and the fifth at Hoburg,the southern point of Gotland.

At Gfotska Sandon there is a sixthrowing-boat, but as only the lighthouse-keepers—six men—are living on thislittle island this boat is of much lighterconstruction, and has an outside motoras an auxiliary to the rowing, but it hasnot proved very reliablesensitiveness to spray.

owing to its

the alteration beingconsequence of the

room and berth-room and 25 per cent, ofthe aircase compartments were filled withwater the boat only sank to the cork-fender and was still controllable.

Instead of the petrol-motors used inEnglish boats the Swedish Society usecrude-oil motors,chiefly made indanger of fire. The crude-oil motorstake, no doubt, a long time to getstarted, but experience has proved thatthe motors are always ready to startwhen the boat has reached the water,which usually takes about ten minutesfrom the time the crew arrives. Themotors in the modified Watson Boatsare of 30 to 40 b.h.p., giving a speed of7 to 8 knots. Besides the motor theBoats have a complete outfit of sails.

This type, of which the Society bjw

i 20 THE LIFEBOAT. [FEBRUARY, 1925.

six, has been tried in severe storms andhas fulfilled its purpose wonderfully.Thanks to their seaworthiness and their ireliable motors these Life-boats have!been able to aid ships stranded far awayfrom the Stations. The Life-boat jDrottniiig Victoria made, for example, ia| voyage in stoim and darkness whichtook twelve hours, to save the crew of aGerman steamer. This fact is verysignificant in a country so thinly popu-lated as Sweden, where it is often diffi-1cult to get together an adequate Life- i

smashed to pieces by the sea, allowingno time in which to save the crew. Onaccount of this, the Society has alteredthe organization of the Life-saving Ser-vice on this part of the coast. Insteadof stationary Life-boats there are bigcruising ones, which patrol outside thecoast in stormy or foggy weather, towarn ships which are heading towardsdanger and to offer what assistance theycan. By this means many ships andlives have been saved.

The Cruising Boats are quite different

A LIGHT LIFE-BOAT WITH OUTSIDE MOTOR, GOTSKA, SANDON.

boat crew. In fact, the Society has in : from the Watson type, but quite assome cases been compelled to abandon good. They are 18'1 metres long andthe thought of erecting Life-boat Sta- 5'25 metres broad, and they draw 2-25tions in places where they are necessary metres of water. They are renderedbecause it was impossible to find suffi- practically unsinkable through a systemcient able men.

The coast of Bohuslan, betweenGoteborg and the Norwegian border,differs from the other coasts of thecountry. It consists only of rocks, andoutside these are numerous islands whichare often very precipitous and surrounded

of traverse and fore-and-aft bulk-heads. The motor for this type of Boatis of 60-70 b.h.p., which gives a speed ofabout nine knots, but usually they aresailing—and splendid sailing vessels theyare. For the crew's comfort there areberths, and a little cabin for the master, in

by deep water. A ship, during a storm | which also is placed the wireless appara-and high sea, striking such a rock or |tus, a useful means for saving ships. Theisland, will immediately either sink or be i ordinary crew on these boats, of which


the Society possesses two, consists offour hands, including the captain. Thecruising Life-boats are stationed atVinga, outside Gtoteborg, and at Karin-gon, some twenty miles north.

The Society has about 6,000 members,who pay a subscription of at least 5kronor per annum. Another source ofincome is derived from the voluntarycontributions, which every ship payswhen loading or discharging in a Swedishport, which amounts to about 18,000kronor per annum (£1,000). The intereston the capital is about 2,000 kronor,and the " Life-buoys " contribute on anaverage about 10,000 kronor (£550).Besides the above-mentioned contribu-tions, the Society every year receivessome casual contributions, so that theyearly income generally amounts toabout 100,000 kronor (£5,600). Fromthis income the Society was able to saveabout 20,000 kronor before the World'sWar, but nowadays it is hardly enoughto cover the expenses.

The Swedish Life-boat Stations—State's and Society's—have togethersaved about 2,500 lives. Of these theSociety's Stations have saved about350. Besides this direct life-saving, the

Society's Life-boats have stood bytwenty-four ships in distress with crews

! totalling about 350 men. Twenty-fourships, with crews totalling about 100,have been saved through towing, and

I eleven stranded ships, with crews total-jling about 50, have been got afloat.j The cruising Life-boats also have assisted! a large number of fishermen in differenti ways, given the direction of places toships in foggy weather, and carried sickpersons to hospitals, etc.

To reward Swedish subjects, who, atthe hazard of their lives have saved ship-wrecked crews, or foreigners who havesaved the lives of Swedish sailors, the

i Society has instituted a Life-savingI Medal. Finally, to persons, who have,! in a high degree, shown their interest| in the Society's work, silver cups aregiven engraved with suitable inscrip-tions.

i The Society is under the patronage ofI H.M. Queen Victoria, to whom every| service is reported. Her Majestyinvariably shows her appreciation of thework by a letter of recognition to thecrew, and at Christmas time she alsjpresents gifts to the men of the variousLife-boats' Stations.

Centenary of the Dutch Life-boat Service.By GEORGE F. SHEE, M.A.

As was indicated in the importantarticle contributed by my friend, Mr.de Booy, in the February, 1921, issue ofthis journal, the beneficent influence ofSir William Hillary's noble initiative inthe foundation of the ROYAL NATIONALLIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION was not confinedto these shores. Some philosophers haveheld that only the Good is permanent,and that evil is, in virtue of its ownessence, utterly null, negative and non-enduring ; and all ethical teachingagrees that a good act, or a good thought,is fruitful and prolific of good, exem-plifies the law of the, conservation ofenergy, and reproduces itself in endlessseries from generation to generation.Thus, not only did Sir William Hillary'slife-giving ideal, backed by his ownheroic example, create the British Life-boat Service, and thereby provide the

i means for saving the lives " of an incal-culable number of beings yet unborn,"but the impulse led to the establishment,

'among a neighbouring and kindredi people, namely, the Dutch, of two Life-i boat organizations within a few monthsiof the foundation of the Institution! itself. On the llth November, 1824,! there was founded the Nord-en-Zuid! Hollandsche Redding - Maatschappij.This was followed by the foundation

I of the Zuid-Hollandsche Maatschappij' tot Redding van Schipbreukelingen onj the 20th November, 1824.i The two Societies, which betweenj them maintain the whole of the Life-boatj Service on the coast of Holland, includ-jing about fifty Life-boats, have re-mained separate organizations, althoughworking with complete friendliness, theNorthern Society providing and adminis-

B 3


tering the twenty-five Life-boats from1 the extreme north (the mouth of the

Ems) to the village of Loosduinen, just

from each Society, which, however, :placed us in the difficulty that it wasalmost impossible for the same repre-

south of Scheveningen, and also on the sentatives to attend both functions, onecoast of Friesland, while the South pro- being on the llth and the other on thevides and maintains the twenty-three 120th November last. Thus it came aboutLife-boats between Loosduinen and the that on the former occasion the Institu-southern extremity of Holland. TheNorthern Society has the larger number

tion sent Captain S. M. Day, C.B.,D.S.O., R.N.R. (a member of the Com-

of Boats and several Motor Boats ; the imittee of Management), the SecretarySouthern has, in addition to two Motor j and the Chief Inspector of Life-boats toBoats, the two very important steam! Amsterdam, in response to the kind

Centenary of the North and South Holland Life-Saving Society.Front Row, left to right. A Dutch Coxswain, Mr. J. Lels (President of the South Holland Society). CaptainRowley, Captain Day, Mr. Tegelberj. M. Granion de Lepiney, Mr George F. Shee. Behind M. de Lepiney

is M. de Booy.

Life-boats, the Prins der Neihrlandea andthe President ran Heel.

It is not for us to enquire why the twoSocieties have not seen their way to joinforces and devote their efforts to theLife-boat cause under one control. Wemay be sure that there are good reasonsfor their separate maintenance, and, inany case, it has not interfered withthe thorough efficiency with which bothSocieties have carried on their task. Batwith a consistency and amour proprewhich we can only admire, each Societydecided to hold its Centenary Celebra-tion on the respective date of its founda-tion. In this way the Institution hadthe pleasure of receiving an invitation

invitation of Mr. P. E. Tegelberg, thePresident of the Nord-en-Zuid Hol-landsche Redding-Maatschappij. whilethe Hon. George Colville (Deputy Chair-man) and Sir Woodburn Kirby repre-sented the Institution at the anniversaryof the South Holland Society at Rotter-dam .

The North and South Holland Life-SavingSociety.

Captain Day, the Chief Inspector(Captain H. F. J. Rowley, C.B.E., R.N.),and I left London for the Hook of Hol-land on Monday, the 10th November,and had the experience, not infrequenton this journey, of crossing in a thick fog.


I believe this atmospheric condition isthe one most dreaded by mariners.Hence, I imagine that my fellow-travellers never really enjoyed them-selves, and their seamen's sympathywith the Captain probably materiallyinterfered with their night's rest. Formyself, I am free to confess that I wasextremely grateful to the god of Mists,who veiled the smooth waters of thepassage in a filmy veil which only justenabled me to realiza that I was onboard ship. I found that these condi-tions accorded much more comfortablywith my internal economy than therough weather and storm which guaran-tees freedom from fogs. In fact, I havealways had a warm sympathy andunderstanding for the passenger who,hurrying down to the saloon, his facetinted a delicate green, was greeted bythe steward with the stern observation," You can't be sick here, sir," andreplied, with bitter defiance, " Can'tI! " Nor can I withhold my sympathyirom the passenger who was studyingthe waves over the side when the shipwas boarded by pirates, and the chiefpirate levelled a pistol at his head andtold Mm to throw up his hands, to whichthe weary traveller replied, "Well,I'vethrown up everything else, but I'll try."

We breakfasted on a very comfortabledining-car between the Hook andAmsterdam, and reached our hotel atabout 9.30 a.m. The morning was spentin a call on our friend, Mr. de Booy, theSecretary of the North and South Hol-land Life-Saving Society, whom wefound snowed under by telegrams, whichkept on pouring in while we talked. Twoof those which arrived while we were inthe office were from the Queen Motherand the Queen of Holland respectively,and we had the great pleasure of con-gratulating Mr. de Booy later on in theday on the honour which the Queenconferred upon him that day by makingMm an Officer of the Order of the Houseof Orange. In the afternoon Mr. Tegel-berg and his Committee gave a reception,•which was attended by representativesof France, Germany, Sweden and Den-mark, delegates of the Branches of theSociety and of the South HollandSociety, and by a number of distin-guished persons. At this reception I

read a letter of congratulation from theChairman and Deputy Chairman, andCaptain Day presented the Gold Medalof the Institution, the highest awardwhich it is in its power to confer, as amark of its appreciation of the signalservices rendered, not only to Holland,but to the mariners of the world by theNorth and South Halland Society. Mr.Tegelberg, whose mastery of the Englishlanguage had been shown when hs repre-sented his Society on the occasion of theInstitution's celebrations in July last,replied in felicitous terms, and we hadthe pleasure of discussing our commonwork with a number of keenly in-terested members and delegates of theSociety.

In the evening we left the hotel inmotor cars and proceeded to one of themost important docks, where we wereferried across by an electric ferry to thequay where the ships of the NederlandLine are berthed. Here we found the10,000-ton Konigin der Nederlanden ad-mirably decorated with flags and bunting.We were presented to the Prince of theNetherlands, who presided at the dinner.The Prince conversed with ease with allthe delegates, speaking English to us,French to the French delegate, M. deLepiney, Danish to our friend, CaptainSaxhild, Swedish to Mr. Lithander, whorepresented his Government at our cele-brations in London, and German to HerrKorff, the President of the German Life-boat Society. The scene in the saloonof the Konigin der Nederlanden was a bril-liant one, and, to us English guests, thegold braided costumes and sinuousmovements and impassive faces of theJavanese " boys," working under whitestewardSj added a pleasing touch ofEastern mystery and charm. Thedinner was a marvellous achievement,both from, the point of view of organiza-tion, of gastronomy, and of the infinitevariety of dishes which passed beforeour astonished gaze—I do not mean that 'they all passed unchallenged, though j <there are limits! The banquet wouldhave done credit to a royal palace or tothe best hotel in the world, and it wasonly after the dinner that we realizedthat the ship had only arrived from Javaon the previous day, that the dinner hadbeen cooked by the chef of the ship him-


self, and that all the arrangements hadbeen completed within twenty-fourhours.

The guests included, besides the repre-sentatives of Britain, France, Germany,Sweden and Denmark, the Prime Minis-ter of Holland, the Governor of North

ago, when wrecks were not only wel-comed, but, horrible to relate, oftenbrought about by those who lookedupon them as a source oi profit. Thechange from that spirit to the self-sacrifice of the modern Life-boatmenwas one which reflected honour on

several ex-Ministers of the Navy, as wellas a large number of Naval Officers andmany representatives of the chief ship-ping companies. Indeed, the dinner wasgiven by the Directors of the Nederlandline, who, with the other shipping com-panies of Holland, form the main sup-port of the Life-boat Service. Thus, asMr. de Booy told us in his article pub-lished in February, 1921, the shippingcompanies provide more than half ot thetotal income of the two societies, andthe Norwegian shipping companies andfirms contribute an even larger propor-tion of the revenue of the Norsk Selskabtil skibbrudnes Eedning (the NorwegianLife-boat Society). One feature of theDutch procedure—which was also fol-lowed at the dinner given by the SouthHolland Society on the 20th November—struck me as an improvement on ourown habits on these occasions. Thespeeches—and they were numerous—were scattered through the evening,thus affording a welcome intellectualexercise, " a feast of reason " (for thosewho understood the oratory) betweenthe material activities which eight ornine courses involved, and which mightotherwise have proved a case of " linked Captain Day, in replying on behalf offeasting long drawn out.'

The Prince of the Netherlands, in hisintroductory speech, surveyed the workaccomplished by the Dutch Societies inthe saving of life and emphasized the

humanity.Mr. P. E. Tegelberg, the Managing

Director of the Company owning theKonigin der Nederlanden, and also thePresident of the North Holland Life-boatService, stated that his Company, to-gether with practically every othershipping company in Holland, gladlygave 'a regular percentage in support ofthe Life-boat Service, that percentagebeing based on tonnage. These contri-butions were made not only in recogni-tion of the practical benefits accruingto the shipping interests from a Life-boatorganization, but as a means of fosteringinternational good feeling, which mustsurely result from the practice of con-vening these great international gather-ings and councils where delegates of allnations exchanged views and were ableto learn from one another.

In proposing the toasts of their foreignguests he particularly referred to the sea-men who were so fittingly representingthe island kingdom of Great Britain, theonly nation which had preceded Holland—and that only by a few months—bythe initiation in 1824 of the world-f amousROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITU-TION.

the foreign guests, that is, on behalf ofBritain, France, Germany, Sweden andDenmark, expressed their cordial thanksfor the generous reception accorded tothem, and, speaking as a seaman, said he

value of international co-operation in ) was sure that all sailors would appreciatethe humane task of life-saving, and the [ the honour done to one of their numbersplendid results which must accrue, not! in imposing on him the duty of replying.only to this particular form of beneficentactivity but to the general betterment

He alluded in complimentary terms tothe admirable organization and training

of international relationship. The Prime for the mercantile marine which HollandMinister, who is a born orator, deve-1 had established, and which was, in someloped the Prince's views in eloquent respects, a model of the practical andterms, and drew a sharp contrast | technical training which ought to bebetween the work of life-saving now I given to officers and men entrusted withundertaken by the chief maritimenations and the deplorable attitudewhich characterized the coastwise popu-lation in many countries a hundred years

the important business of commandingand manning merchant ships.

Many speeches followed, including oneof congratulation to the Society, and to

FEBRUARY, 1925.] THE LIFEBOAT. 2 5 i j

Sir. de Booy, on the success achieved inthe hundred years of its activity. Whilemy knowledge of the Dutch language istoo limited to enable me to have followedthe details of the speeches, it was obviousthat the speaking was throughout easyand fluent and flavoured with plenty ofthe salt of humour.

We broke up at a late hour, and re-turned to our hotels, but left the Princeof the Netherlands and several of the

: hospitality which they received as werewe about the hospitality of the North

j and South Holland Society.

" The Life-boat President van Heel lay, moored yesterday in the Veerhaven in| honour of the Centenary of the South; Holland Society for the Rescue of theShipwrecked. The harbour of theMaas was also gay with bunting and flagsto commemorate this important event.

Centenary of the South Holland Society for the Savin? of the Shipwrecked.Front Row. left to right: Mr. Julius (Secretory of the South Holland Society). Baron SwecrU, Mr.

Colville, Mr. Lels, Mr. Lels, jun., Sir Woodbum Kirby.

Dutch guests to enjoy the further hospi-tality of the company as guests of theKonigin der Nederlanden.

The South Holland Society for the Savingof the Shipwrecked.

As I was only present in spirit~atRotterdam a week later, at the Cen-tenary Celebrations of the South Hol-land Society for the Saving of the Ship-wrecked, I will quote from the accountwhich appeared next day in the Rotter-damscke Newsblad, first saying, however,that both the Institution's delegateswere as ecstatic in praise of the lavish

" In the large half of De Maas areception was held by the Manager ofthe Institution, and amongst otherswho accepted the invitation were the

i Burgemeester and Mevr. Wytema,I the office bearers of allied Institutionsand of the North and South Holland, aswell as many deep-sea mariners, consulsof foreign nations, and representativesof Life-boat Institutions abroad.

" Mijnheer Otto Stenberg, the leaderof the Swedish Life-boat Institution,presented a Gold Medal, and the RoyalNational Life-boat Institution also pre-sented a Gold Medal.


" In the evening a dinner was givenby the Directors of the Society on thesteamship Insulinde, when over ahundred guests sat down at differenttables in the elegant dining-room of thefine ship. At the centre table was seatedPrins Hendrik der Nederlanden, and onhis right Heer J. Lels, President of theSociety, and on his left Heer A. A.Sweerts, of Landas Wyborgh, Vice-President. Opposite the Prince were thePrime Minister, Jhr. Mr. Ch. J. M. Ruysde Beerenbrouck, Jhr. Mr. A. Roell, theQueen's delegate in Noord-Holland ;Mr. W, I. v. Leeuwen, the Vice-Presi-dent of the Council of State; and Mr.Wytema, Burgemeester of Rotterdam.

" The excellent dinner, which reflectedgreat credit on the cooks of the Rotter-dam Lloyd—the waiters included anumber of Java boys—was followed bymany entertaining speeches.

" Heer Sweerts presented the Princewith the Gold Mtdal of the Society, andin his speech congratulated him on thegreat services he had rendered on theoccasion of the shipwreck of the Berlin.

" In the course of his speech thePrince said: ' You will readily under-stand (after what has been said to mewith Kgard to the Berlin) that I have aspecial feeling of sympathy with thesegentlemen whose sphere of operations isthe Hook of Holland. Involuntarily mythoughts go back to February of theyear 1907 when the disastrous wreck olthe steamer Berlin took place at theincut h of the Rotterdamsche Waterweg,which I happened to witness at closequarters. The scenes there were fright-iul, but at the same time heroic courageand intrepidity were shown by the life-boatmen. Captain Jansen, with hisLife-boat President tan Heel, the pilots'staff, the Sperlings, filled the wholeworld with admiration for their heroic-self-sacrifice, and made the homely peopleof the Hook world-famous. I can see thewhole scene now clearly before me.

" ' Eighteen years have passed sincethen. The efforts made by office-holdersof this Institution throughout all theseyears to increase their efficiency is suffi-ciently shown by the admirable life-saving devices which are now to befound at its Stations, and on which sea-faring people rely for rescue.

" ' Let us hope that the Zuid-Hol-landsche Maatschappij for the Rescue ofthe Shipwrecked will continue to havethe best wishes of the public, and thatthe Dutch people will be more and morewilling to make sacrifices for this philan-thropic undertaking.'

" The next speaker was the Premier,who said: ' An aspect of the work of theInstitution, whose jubilee we are cele-brating, and one that has received lessattention, is the one I am now privi-leged to place before you. There are twopowerful Life-boat organizations, theNorth and South Holland Society, withits headquarters at Amsterdam, and theSouth Holland, which, has its domicilin Rotterdam. Co-operation betweenthese two is of great advantage, andtheir relation to each other is virtuallythat of twin-sisters. The beneficialresults of mutual assistance on the partof our two great commercial centres isstrikingly illustrated here. Amsterdamhas long been known as a centre offinance, as carried on by the old schoolof business man, and also as the marketfor buying with a view to re-selling—toborrow, for a moment, the language ofthe book of Mercantile Law. Rotter-dam, on the other hand, is the youngersister, whose distinction it is to haveacquired a world-wide reputation as acentre of navigation. Fortunately, thetwo work together and supplement eachother's efforts for the welfare of ourcountry. It is a healthy system, becauserivalry invariably leads to greater zeal.Expressing the hope that Heaven willbless their joint efforts, I propose to youthe health of these twin-sisters.'

" Jhr. Roell, in his capacity as Chair-man of the Centenary Committee, re-turned thanks for the way in which thetoast had been received. Besides the bene-ficial competition between the two largesttowns of Holland, there was, at present,he said, another contest being carried onas to which was the better banquet. Theguests at the Koniwjin der Nederlanden,in Amsterdam, thought the meal thereunsurpassed, but now that they werehere the same gentlemen said that theirmeal was by no means inimitable.

" Burgemeester Wytema referred withpride to the fact that the- Com-mittee he had formed had collected no


less than Fl.65,000 in Rotterdam. Intheir town the founder of the Societywas bom, and the Town Council haddecided to confer on him the highesthonour in its power, and to name a streetWillem van Kouten (applause).

" In a speech in English, Heer J.Rypperda Wierdsma congratulated theInstitution in the name of the represen-tatives of Foreign Institutions of a likenature, and more particularly the sistersocieties in England, France and Sweden.The rescue of sailors in distress was anact that recognized no barriers, and inthis noble work all nations became one.Heer Wierdsma then proposed thehealth of the foreign guests.

" Thanks were expressed by the Hon.George Colville on behalf of the RoyalNational Life-boat Institution, who saidthat roughly about one hundred Britishvessels passed the Hook every week, andit was not difficult to understand that theBritish should have a feeling of gratitudefor the safety thus assured to themoff the Dutch coast. He also re-ferred to the warm reception given tothe Dutch Life-boats in the summerwhen they visited the Thames on theoccasion of the Centenary of the BritishLife-boat Service, and said that theDutch flag was now more welcome inEngland than it was in 1667! (Loudapplause.)

" Heer P. E. Tegelberg, Chairman ofthe Nbord-Hollandsche Maatschappij,reminded his hearers that the authoritieshad originally worked for the amalgama-tion of the two Institutions, but thewisdom of those who opposed this pro-posal was, after a hundred years; evi-dent, because now they could holdcentenary festivities twice. Amsterdamand Rotterdam had stretched out a handto each other, and had inaugurated anoble competition in banquets. Hewished especially to express his admira-tion of the South Holland Society forthe excellent way in which it had carriedout its work.

" Heer A. J. M. Goudriaan, who wasseated among the Life-boat crews, said

; he considered it an extraordinary privi-lege to address the crews of the SouthHolland Society in the name of theBoard, and to convey to them the appre-ciation in which they were held by theManagers. ' There was never,' he said,' much sensation created by their work,only a bare notice in the newspapers,which is exactly what is most in

i keeping with the character of the menthemselves, who simply do their dutywithout demonstration and withoutmaking any effort to attract notice.The truth is they do not require anyencouragement from outside, beingthoroughly inspired with their ownlofty purpose and with enthusiasmfor their self-sacrificing work. Honour,then, and gratitude, to the never-failing prowess of our Life-boat crews,in which we have full confidence forthe future ! Before our minds thererise up the figures of several heroes whohave lost their lives in the fulfilment oftheir duty, and the occasion must notbe allowed to pass without a tribute

| being paid to their memory. I raise myglass in honour of the men who haveproved so efficient in carrying out theintentions and wishes of the Managing

I Board of the South Holland Life-boat(Society. The members of this Boardj may change, but the men remain thesame, and deserve nothing but com-mendation for the way in which theyare carrying out the intentions of

I the founders one hundred years ago.'j (Applause.)

j " A number of other speeches were! made, including one by M. Granjon deI Lepiney, Secretary of the French Life-i boat Society, and a poem was read, which! was received with loud applause. ThePrince then gave the signal to rise fromthe table, and the guests left the fineship in very good humour."

Next day the foreign guests weredriven to the Hook of Holland, and aLife-boat display was given, in which theSteam Life-boat President van Heel andthe Pulling and Sailing Life-boat EmielRobin took part.

28 THE LIFEBOAT. [FEBRUABY, 1925.

Contributions from Shipping Companies.A New Appeal.

As readers of The Lifeboat know, wehave for some time been urging on theshipping community the claims of theInstitution to their generous support,since it maintains a national service in

of their vessels had been rescued, andthat the work of the Institution shouldbe put before them.

There is not and never can be any ques-tion of the Institution asking for pay-

( 1924.October 4.

which they are more directly interested I ment for its services to those whose livesthan any other section of the nation.; it rescues from shipwreck, but it isThese efforts have borne some fruit in that the owners of the ships may likeincreased contributions; but we feel i to take the opportunity of showing theirbound to record that the shipping com- i gratitude, particularly in those casesmunity as such—apart from the " por-• where, at present, they do not sub-tion of the contributions made by; scribe'. We propose to publish in Thepassengers on steamers " for charitable j Lifeboat lists of such gifts as they comepuiposes which some of the shipping!in. Those which have been receivedcompanies allocate to the Institution— < since this plan was adopted last autumnstill contributes less than 1 per cent, are as follows :—of the £250,000 which is needed annuallyto maintain the Service.

The Institution has now obtainedfrom the Board of Inland Revenuea valuable concession for shipownerswho support the Institution. TheBoard has decided that annual sub-scriptions made by " shipowners and Qctobcr 19other persons who directly employ sea-faring persons as a class " may for the ;future be " treated as expenses incurred |in the earning of business profits." j

This is an interesting decision, ibecause it shows that the Board of :Inland Revenue recognize that themaintenance of an efficient Life-boatService is a vital necessity to all ship-owners. It is useful because it means

; October 21.

a considerable saving to shipping com-panies who contribute generously to theInstitution.

We have drawn the attention of allBritish shipping firms to this con-cession, so that those who already con-tribute may take advantage of it, andthose who do not may be encouragedto become annual subscribers of amountsbearing some relation to the value oftheir shipping. Our chief aim is thatall shipping firms should contribute inproportion to the number of theirvessels.

But there is another way in which weare asking them to show their apprecia-tion of the Life-boat Service. At the sug-gestion of a prominent shipowner it wasdecided, in June 1924, that in futureowners should be notified when the crews

Stromness Motor Life-boatrescued 10 from steam trawlerHessmite, oi Hull. Owners :The Kingston Steam Traw-ling Co. £25. (This Companyis an annual subscriber tothe Hull Branch).

Runswick Life-boat rescued 19from the s.s. Princess Clemen-tine of Antwerp. On 27tliOctober it rescued the Captainwho had remained on board.(A full account of this serviceappears elsewhere in thisissue.) Owners: The BelgianStf am Navigation Co. £30.

Eastbourne Motor Life-boatrescued 3 from a MotorLauich, M.L. 87, on 21stOctober, Owner; Major T.Ross, M.C., D.C.M. 5s.

October 22. Margate No. 1 Life-boat rescuedS from barge Lord Nelson, ofLondon. Owner; W.Easter,Esq. £1 1*. subscription.

October 22. Margate No. 1 Life-boat rescued5 from barge Guernsey, ofLondon. Owners: Messrs.T. E. Evans & Co., Ltd.£5.

November 27. Newhaven Life-boat rescued 4men from the tug Richmere,and stood by the S.S.Dieppe, of Newhaven.Lifeboat badly damaged.Owners: Southern Rail-way. £105. (The SouthernRailway are already sub-scribers to the Institution.)

December 23. An.struther Life-boat rescued 12from the s.s. CAingford, ofDundee. Owners: Messrs.James Mitchell and Sons,£26 5s. (Messrs. JamesMitchell and Sons are already

FEBBUARY, 1925.] THE LIFEBOAT. 29

subscribers to the Institution,and the two partners of thefirm are subscribers also, andtake an active part in thework of the Institution'sBranch at Dundee, Mr.W. M. Hunter Mitchell beingits Chairman.)

To these another donation has tobe added which has not been sent inresponse to this appeal.

Service to the S.S. "Bardic."As recorded in the last iasue of The

Lifeboat, the Motor Life-boat at theLizard rescued ninety-three lives, fromthe wrecked White Star cargo vesselBardic, on 31st August, 1924. At thetime a letter of appreciation was writtenby Colonel Concannon, one of the

joint managers of the White Star Line,to the Station at the Lizard. ColonelConcannon has now sent to the Station£100, asking that £5 should be presentedto each of the eight members of theCrew, and that the remainder should beentered as a donation to the Branch.A personal presentation has also beenmade to the Honorary Secretary of theStation. The White Star Line is oneof the great shipping firms which areregular supporters of the Institution,its annual subscription being 15 guineas.In addition to this it makes generousallocations to the Institution from thesums contributed by the passengers onboaid its steamers for charity, ihese

; allocations amounting to some hundredsof pounds each year.

The Aldeburgh of Long Ago.By Dame MILLICENT FAWCETT, G.B.E., J.P., LL.D.

[These extracts are from Dame MillicenlFawcett's book of reminiscences, " WhatI Remember," which were published(12*. 6d. net) last autumn. They aremade by her kind permission, and thai ofher publishers, Messrs. T. Fisher Unwin.It will be remembered that Dame Millicentspoke at the Annual Meeting in 1920, andon that occasion gave some of her recollec-tions of the Aldeburgh Life-boat.]

THERE was a very cordial arid friendlyfeeling between my father and the sea-faring men at Aldeburgh. He was a mer-chant and owned a small fleet of tradingvessels which plied between our littletown and London, and also Newcastleand the North. Later he built vesselsfor himself at his principal place ofbusiness, Snape, a few miles higherup the river than Aldeburgh. Hehad some official position which con-nected him with the beachmen. Iremember on his business writing-paperthe, to me, mysterious words : " Agentfor Lloyd's and Receiver of Droits ofAdmiralty." The sound and look of thewords Droits of Admiralty fascinated me.In the old days of sailing vessels the coastof Suffolk, and particularly the Alde-buigh Bay, were very dangerous, andthere was never a wreck without my

father being present, and if there werelives to be saved he took an active partin the dangerous and difficult work.The rocket apparatus for sending a cordor rope over a distressed ship had notthen been perfected, and lives were oftenlost in the vain attempt to reach andsave mariners in ships which had beenstorm driven on one of the shoals offAldeburgh. The gun, three times fired,which summoned the Life-boat Crewfor active service was a familiar and nonethe less an intensely thrilling sound, inour ears. Whenever the Life-boat waslaunched, even were it only for a practice,every man, woman and child who heardthe gun hurried to the beach, some to lenda hand, and all to see and wish and hopethat the departing men would return insafety and bring their rescued comradeswith them. It was a deep angry seawhere a tall man would be out of hisdepth three yards from the shore, andthe great breakers in a storm beat withdeadly weight upon men and ships alike.I remember one awful day, 2nd Novem-ber, 1855, when there were seventeenships driven ashore or broken up on theshoals off Aldeburgh in my father's dis-trict. Everything that possibly couldbe done was done, but there was aterrible loss of life. My father received


the official thanks of The Royal j Swedish brig VESTA, which in a gale ofNational Life-boat Institution en-! wi-nd was wrecked near Orford Low Light-grossed on Vellum for his services on this | house on the 2W, Noveinbn: 1855.occasion. This document which now i There was a familv of seamen for

Pholoyrn-ph by\ [ Wynforil Sn;inborm'

JAMES CABLE, COXSWAIN OF ALDEBURGH, 1881-1917.

belongs to my nephew, Philip Cowell,runs thus : That the Special Thanks ofThe Royal National Life-boat Institu-tion be presented to Newson Garrett, Esq.,in testimony of his highly meritoriousconduct in assisting to rescue through thesurf nine out of the eleven of the crew of the

which we ever after felt a deep bond ofgratitude and affection—the Cables.My father and George Cable were takinga leading part in making a human chainalong a rope to reach a shipwreckedcrew in urgent distress and fetch-ing them off one by one. My father

FEBRUARY, 1925.] THE LIFEBOAT.went first, Cable second, and a goodnumber following; after doing thisand bringing in his man several times,my father showed signs of exhaustion,and Cable said to him, " Look here,governor, you have done this oftenenough," and he took the leading placeon the rope from my father and assumedit himself ; he never came ashore again ;the rope snapped between my father andCable, as if it had been pack thread, andCable was washed away and perished insight of the gallant men who had under-

I more than usually distinguished itself,so that newspaper men from Londoncame down to learn and retail all theparticulars of the brave work. Theyfound Cable the very reverse of commu-nicative, their only chance seemed to beto pump his narrative out of him infragments, question by question. Oneof these, and Cable's reply to it, form asort of epitome of his character.

Newspaper Reporter : " Now. Mr.Cable, you can tell me, I expect, how

i many lives you have saved at sea ?

THE "CITY OF WINCHESTER."The Life-boat which has been stationed at Aldehurgh since 1902.

taken the work of rescue. My fatherwas again, and by his own choice, in theplace of the greatest risk, which had justended fatally before his eyes. We werealways taught by my mother to remem-ber that Cable had saved my father's life.

James Cable, the son of George, justreferred to, was only a boy when all thishappened, but as he grew in years hedeveloped into a very fine seaman, muchrespected and well known all along thecoast and in the Life-boat Society, forcombined courage and caution; for manyyears, indeed until old age compelled himto withdraw, he was Coxswain of the Aide-burgh Life-boat. On one occasion thisboat under James Cable's command had

James Cable : "I don't know I'msure, sir, I don't keep no count on 'em."

This was the sort of thing that made! every one in Aldeburgh just love Cable,but he was not a bit spoiled—he wasalways the same simple, modest, uprightman that his father had been before him.

Another incident of my childhood inconnexion with the Life-boat was anintense joy to me. The Life-boat gunhad been fired, but only for a practice.The Crew received 3s. a head for practiceon a smooth day and 5*. on a rough day ;this was a 5s. day. We all ran offto the beach as usual, I holding myfather's hand. While the boat was still

! on the rollers one of her crew said to my


father, " Come along with us, governor ";he replied, " I should like it, my lad, butyou see I can't, I've got the child withme." Looking down on me, the sailorrejoined, " Little missie would like tocome, too, sir." There was no need forme to say anything. I was too enchantedat this unexpected adventure. Thesmallest cork jacket in the collection wasfound and slipped over my head, and we

embarked. The seas broke over theI boat as we crossed the shoal and drenched; my hair and shoulders ; one of the kindsailors produced a pink cotton handker-chief from his pocket, and said, " Here,missie, wrop this round your neck." Ofcourse, I did so, and, of course, the jiinkhandkerchief was soon as wet as the restof my clothing. I was intensely happy,and never dreamed of being sea-sick.

The Aberdeen Life-boat Station.FOE the past seventy years there hasbeen a Life-boat Station at Aberdeen,provided and maintained, not by theInstitution, but by the Aberdeen Har-bour Commissioners.

The first Boat for the Station wasprocured by the Commissioners in 1853,a boat 30 feet 11 inches by 8 feet,which was known as the " Beach"Life-boat, as she was provided with acarriage for transport and launching.In 1875 a second Life-boat was obtained,34 feet by 8 feet, and was known as the" Harbour " Life-boat, as she was keptsuspended in a shed above the water inthe Harbour itself. Up to the presentyear both these original Boats were stillon service. The Commissioners alsoowned three Life-saving Rocket Appara-tuses.

The Aberdeen Life-boat Crew con-sisted of a Master and Mate and tenmen, chosen yearly from among thetwenty-four harbour pilots. The wholeof this Crew was required for the workingof one Boat, but it was felt to be highlyimprobable that both Boats would becalled at the same time.

These two Boats, the " BonaccordNo. 1," and the "Bonaccord No. 2"have rescued between them 589 lives.

For many years the Institution hashad a financial branch at Aberdeen,which last year raised £563, but theBranch has had no share whatever inthe administration of the Station, whichhas remained entirely in the hands ofthe Harbour Commissioners.

For a long time the Committee ofManagement have felt that it would beto the advantage, both of Aberdeen andof the Institution itself, if the Institutionwere to take over the full control of the

Station, to provide for it Boats of thelatest type, and to give Aberdeen theadvantage of the Institution's experienc eof life-saving work all round the coastof the British Isles.

For the sake of the Institution alsothe Committee were anxious to take overa Station for which, even in Aberdeenitself, many people believed the Institu-tion to be responsible. In 1900, there-fore, the Committee offered to takecharge of the Station, but the HarbourCommissioners did not see their way toaccept the proposal. The offer remainedopen. There were many people inAberdeen in favour of its acceptance,and again in 1915 the matter was con-sidered by the Harbour Commissioners.Again, however, it was decided that " noadvantage would be gained by thetransference of the service to the Institu-tion."

So matters remained until 1923. On13th October of that year the trawlerImperial Prince, of Aberdeen, waswrecked off Belhelvie, near Aberdeen.The Aberdeen Harbour Life-boat wascalled out, but as she approached thewreck she broached to ; part of her Crewwere washed overboard, and wererescued with great difficulty. The Boatherself was carried to leeward, and wasfinally beached with her crew exhausted.In the end the crew of the trawler wererescued by the Newburgh Life-boat,with the help of men from'H.M. de-stroyers Vampire and Vendetta, whichwere lying at Aberdeen. The Life-boathad to be dragged seven miles along thebeach to the scene of the wreck.*

. * A full account of the service appeared icThe Lifeboat for December, 1923.


Shortly after this the Harbour Com-missioners invited the Institution todiscuss with them the question of trans-

agreement with the Board of Trade, hastaken over the Eocket Apparatus aswell.

ferring to it the Aberdeen Station. As a | The Commissioners have handed overresult, the Institution has now taken over'to the Institution the two Boathousesthe Station as from the beginning of 1925,and has sent to Aberdeen a Self-RightingLife-boat, 34 feet by 8 feet, of the Rubietype, and a Watson Life-boat 40 feet by11 feet. The latter Boat will be replaced,

and other buildings, and will maintainthese houses for the Institution. Theywill also provide and maintain mooringsfor the Motor Life-boats in the Harbour,and will contribute £500 a year towards

early next year, by a Barnett 60-foot the upkeep of the Station, which willTwin Screw Motor Life-boat, the most cost more than double that sum.powerful type in the Institution's Fleet, | For the administration of the Stationof which the first was completed in 1923,1 it has been decided that the Commis-and is now at New Brighton, and the sioners shall appoint three representa-second is being built for Plymouth. | tives to serve on the Committee of the

The Harbour Commissioners are trans- Aberdeen Branch of the Institution, andferring to the Institution a legacy of£1,350 left them in 1894 to provide andendow a Life-boat at Aberdeen, whichnow amounts, with the accumulatedinterest, to nearly £3,000. This legacywill be devoted to providing andendowing the Self-Sighting Life-boatwhich will be named " George andElizabeth Grow," in memory of thetestator and her husband. The MotorLife-boat, which will cost about £16,000,will be provided out of the funds of theInstitution.

The Life-Savinground our coasts is manned and main-

the Branch has elected the HarbourMaster as its Marine Honorary Secretaryto take charge of the administrative sideof its work.

Thus, by amicable arrangements withthe Harbour Commissioners, the Institu-tion has now assumed full control of theAberdeen Station, which will be adminis-tered in exactly the same way as theInstitution's other Stations. Thus, inthe last year of its first century, theInstitution had the satisfaction of

! taking over the last but one important

tained by the Board of Trade, but as theRocket Apparatus at Aberdeen has, forso many years, been part of the Life-

Rocket Apparatus j Life-boat Station hitherto owned andmanaged by a separate organisation.The last is The Tynemouth Life-boat

saving Service there, the Institution, by own Boats.

Society, which maintains a service onthe Tyne alongside the Institution's

Obituary.Major Arthur Thomas Fisher, .Honorary Secretary of the Salisbury Branch.

WE regret to announce the death ofMajor A. T. Fisher, who founded theSalisbury Branch in 1910, and had beenits Honorary Secretary ever since.Major Fisher was in his 82nd year.He was born in 1843, educated at Har-row, passed for the Army, served inIndia, and since he retired in 1883 livedin Hampshire, where, through a long andactive life, he devoted himself to publicwork and sport. He contributed tomany magazines, and was the author oftour books on sporting subjects. TheSecretaryship of the Salisbury Branchwas onlv one of a number of honorary

public posts which he held ; and thevalue of his work for the Institution maybe judged from the fact that the contri-butions of the Branch in its first yearamounted to £73, and in 1924 to £388.A short account of Major Fisher's careerand his work for the Life-boat Serviceappeared in The Lifeboat for June,1923, and last November, as announcedelsewhere in this issue, he was electedan Honorary Life Governor of theInstitution, the highest honour whichthe Institution can confer on its honoraryworkers, and one reserved for thosewho have given it both Jong and dis-tinguished service.

THE LIFEBOAT. [FEBRUARY, 1925.

How You can Save by a Gift to the Institution.IT does not sound possible, but it i The following is a list of the cost of theis a fact that by making a large gift! different types of Life-boat and of theseto the Institution during his life a j other parts of the equipment of thewealthy man may actually save money.! Service which are no less essential to itsThe lastitution recently received a sum! efficiency :of about £20,000 from a gentleman whohad decided to leave that amount to Motor Life-boat (60-ft. Barnettthe Institution in his will, but who Twin Screw) . . . £14,000altered this to an immediate gift, not j Motor Life-boat (50-ft. Barnettonly because of the satisfaction of seeing' Twin Screw) . . . £13,000a Life-boat built and bearing his name | Motor Life-boat (Watson Type) £9,000in his life-time, but because he found j Motor Life-boat (Norfolk andthat, if he lived another year, he would | Suffolk Type) . . . £9,000by this gift have saved several thousand | Motor Life-boat (Self-rightingpounds to h i s estate Mysterious as this j Type) . . . . £8,000sounds, it is quite simple. By his gift he j Concrete Slipway . £6,000~£10,000hasreducedhiscapitalsothatitwillcome jMotor Life-boat House . £1,800-£3,000into a lower category for payment of | Motor Life-boat Engine . . £1,600Estate Duty, and he will thus save one j Winch and Engine. . . £950per cent, on the whole of his capital. Motor Caterpillar Tractor . £750He has also saved both the Estate and Life-boat Carriage. . . £600Legacy Duty which would become pay- j Line-throwing Gun . . £20able on the legacy if given on his deathinstead of during his lifetime. There is; In order not only to present, but tono duty payable on a gift given to anInstitution, such as this, during the life-time of the donor, provided he lives for

endow, a Life-boat for fifteen years, orfor the life of the Boat, that is, to payfor its maintenance, a gift is necessary

at least one year after having made the j varying from £11,200, in the case of thegift. We would seriously ask those who i 60-ft. Barnett Twin-Screw Type, tomay contemplate leaving money to the! £8,500. In order both to present a Life-Lif e-boat Service to consider if it would boat and to endow it for ever, so thatnot be better to make the gift at once, the Boat will not only be maintainedMotor Life-boats are being built that j but replaced by a new Boat wheneverawait a donor and a name, and there J this is necessary, a gift is requiredare other and less costly gifts which the ; varying from £31,500 to £18,000, accord-Institution is always glad to receive, f ing to the type of Boat.

Norwegian Honour for the Institution.SIK GODFREY BARING, Bt., Chairman of services in connexion with the organiza-the Committee of Management, and tion of the International Life-boatMr. George F. Shee, M.A., Secretary ofthe Institution, have each been pre-sented by H.M. the King of Norwaywith the Gold Medal of the Norwegian

Conference in London on July 1stand 2nd, 1924. The presentations weremade at a luncheon on 1st Decemberby His Excellency Mr. P. B. Vogt, the

Life-boat Society in recognition of their | Norwegian Minister.

FEBEOABY, 1926.] THE LIFEBOAT. 35

The Help of the Cinemas.Two Shipwreck Films.

DURING the autumn of 1924 two The response to this has been veryfilms with a special Life-boat interest i satisfactory. Not only has it been madewere released to the Cinemas. One o f ' clear that the Cinemas are prepared tothem, " Down to the Sea in Ships," is; help the Institution when they arethe cruise of a whaler. Among its showing films of the sea, but also thatscenes are the wreck of one of the boats they feel that collaboration with theby a whale and the eating of one of her Institution is a real help to them. Itcrew by a shark. The film ends with interests people in their films who wouldthe wreck of the whaler herself. The not otherwise come. In a word, they

ThejAndrews Picture Palace, Plymouth, during the week in which " Down tothe Sea in Ship*'' was shown and Collections made for the Life-boats.

other film is " Women who Give," partof the scene of which is a Life-boatStation on the coast of the UnitedStates, and there is not only a ship-wreck but a Life-boat rescue.

The Institution wrote to the Cinemasat which these two films were to beshown, asking if they would allow col-lections to be made on behalf of the Life-boat Service, and offering to collaboratewith them in interesting the public inthe films by lending them one of theInstitution's own films to show duringthe same week, or the week before, and,where possible, models, posters and Life-boat gear for decorating their entrancehalls.

both help a fine cause and do good busi-ness for themselves.

In London the first Cinema at which: these collections were made was theMarlborough Theatre in Holloway. TheInstitution, in this case, was able tosend one of the Reserve Boats from the

; Storeyard, and this was stationed out-; side the Cinema during the whole weekl in which " Down to the Sea in Ships "was shown. The theatre staff gave the

j Institution every help that they could,and over £108 was collected. Altogether

j collections have been made at thirteeni London Cinemas at which this film has:been shown, amounting altogether toover £221. an average of £17 a Cinema.


The chief contributories have been theHampstead Picture Playhouse, whichcollected £26 in six days, the CentralHall, Catford, and the Lion Cinema,Botherhithe, with £12 each, and theLeyton Picture House with nearly £11,all collected in three days. Arrange-ments have been made for collections atanother six Cinemas where this filmwill be shown later on.

The scheme has been equally success-ful in the North of England, where therewere eight collections at " Down to theSea in Ships " and sixteen at " Womenwho Give," giving a total of £248 and anaverage of £15 10s. Od. a Cinema. TheBradford Theatre Royal collected nearly£30 at a special matinee, the ManchesterTheatre Boyal Cinema £28 during theweek, the Newcastle-on-Tyne PictureHouse £23 in three days, the DoncasterPicture House nearly £20 in three days,the Empire Theatre, Maryport, £19 inthe week, the Keighley Picture Housenearly £17, the Whitley Bay Coliseum£12, and the Oxford Picture House,Workington, £10, each in three days.

In Scotland £30 was collected at thePalace Picture House, Perth, in twodays during " Women who Give." Anappeal was made during the perform-ance and a choir of 100 fisher girls sangsongs.

The Arcadia Picture House, Bridge-ton, Glasgow, collected over £19, andthe Ayr Picture House £14. Altogetherin Scotland nearly £73 has been collectedat five Cinemas showing this film, anaverage of over £14 10s., and arrange-ments have been made for collections atseveral more Cinemas.

In the Midlands and Wales collectionshave been made at five Cinemas during" Women who Give," realizing over£22, an average of £4 10,s.

In the south of England the chiefsuccesses have been at the AndrewsPicture House, Plymouth, where about£65 was collected, and the Super Theatre,Oxford, with £45, and one of the Brigh-ton Cinemas with £20 during "Downto the Sea in Ships." At the Cinema,Newbury, nearly £16 was collected dur-ing " Women who Give." Altogether,nearly £216 have been collected at fifteenCinemas, an average of over £14. Col-lections have also been arranged at anumber of other Cinemas.

Altogether collections so far have beenmade at sixty-one Cinemas which haverealized over £776. As these two filmswill continue to be shown for somemonths to come, and as other sea filmswill no doubt follow them, we have giventhese details of what has already beendone so that Honorary Secretaries andother Life-boat workers may realize howvaluable this co-operation with Cinemasmay be, not only in obtaining publicityfor the work of the Service, but in theactual raising of funds.

Appeals by a Music Hall Artist.

In this connexion we should also liketo make grateful reference to the helpwhich the Institution has received fromMr. Shaun Glenville, the music-hallartist, who last summer offered to givethe Institution every help that he couldby speaking for it from the stage. At anumber of music halls appeals from thestage, for whatever object, are notallowed, but at several places Mr. Glen-ville was able to make speeches, notablyat the Empire, Newport (Mon.), at theEmpire, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and at thePalace, Huddersfield, where he spokeeach night of his week's visit, and nearly£27 was collected.

The Ladies' Life-boat Guild.THE Marchioness of Carisbrooke, who Patron. — H.B.H. Princess Louise,is already associated with the Life-boat Duchess of Argyll.Service as President of the Scarborough Vice-Patrons.—The Duchess of NorfolkBranch, has very kindly accepted an and the Duchess of Portland.invitation from the Committee of Man- President.-agement to become President of the brooke.Ladies' Life-boat Guild. The Officers ofthe Guild are now complete. Milford-Haven.

The Marchioness of Caris-

. -T\\? Marchioness of

FEBKIMRY, 1925.] THE LIFEBOAT. 37

The Mayors of London and the Life-boat Service.BY the kindness of the Lord Mayor ofLondon (Colonel Sir Alfred Louis Bower)a meeting was held at the MansionHouse, on 13th January, at which theMayors, Mayoresses and Town Clerks ofthe London Boroughs were invited tomeet the Committee of Management ofthe Institution and the London Women'sCommittee, and to hear an address fromSir Godfrey Baring, Bt., Chairman ofthe Committee of Management.

Sir Godfrey Baring said that in thepast ten years the annual contributionsfrom Greater London had risen from£8,300 to £21,795, of which sum £10,600came from the city. Grateful as theInstitution was for this help, it felt thatit was still not all that London, with itspopulation of something like 8,000,000,should do for the Life-boat cause. SirGodfrey Baring then compared London'scontribution in 1924 with those receivedfrom Manchester (a great industrial cityand seaport), Oxford (an inland city withno great industries) and Brightlingsea (avillage on the coast). The comparisonshowed that Manchester contributed£16,268 from its population of 1,100,000 ;Oxford and District £1,100 from its

population of 147,497 ; Brightlingsea£148 from its population of 4,500,Manchester's contribution was equalto 3%d. per head, Oxford's to If a!, a headand Brightlingsea's to 7f<i a head.The actual cost of the Service wasequivalent to l|rf. per head of thewhole population.

The Institution asked the Mayors ofLondon for their personal interest andsupport, so that its appeal for thenational and permanent work of theLife-boat Service might be on the samescale as Alexandra Rose Day and EarlHaig's Poppy Day, and have the samesuccess.

The Lord Mayor said that the Life-boat Service was one of the great out-standing services maintained by privatesocieties. It had his warmest sympathyand was most deserving of the supportof the metropolitan Mayors and Mayor-esses. He appealed to them to usetheir personal influence to make LondonLife-boat Day a permanent and nationalfunction, in the great city which wasthe centre of the maritime life of theEmpire, as well as the birthplace of theLife-boat Service of the world,

Awards to Coxswains and Life-boatmen.To TIMOTHY KEOHANE, on his retirement,

after serving 23£ years as Coxswain of theCourtmacsherry Life-boat, a Certificate ofService and a Pension.

To CHARLES WM. CONWAY, on his retirement,after serving 5J years as Coxswain and 6years as Second Coxswain of the TotlandBay Life-boat, a Pension, on the closing ofthe Station.

To ALFRED J?. GALLOP, on his retirement, afterserving 5^ years as Second Coxswain of the •Totland Bay Life-boat, a Gratuity.

To CHARLES A. GKIGGS, on his retirement,,after serving 6 years as Second Coxswain of:the Shoreham Life-boat, a Gratuity, on theclosing of the Station.

To JOHN NORMAN, on his retirement, after jserving 22 years as Second Coxswain of theWatchet Life-boat, a Life-boatman's Certifl- icate and a Pension, commuted at his own \request with a lump sum. ,

So WILUAM HUGHES, on his retirement, after |serving 19 years as Bowman of the Cemaes i

Life-boat, a Pension, commuted at his ownrequest with a lump sum.

To WALTER NORMAN, on his retirement, afterserving 18 years as Bowman of the WatchetLife-boat, a Life-boatman's Certificate anda Pension.

To FRANK HALL, on his retirement, afterserving 21 years as Bowman of the TotlandBay Life-boat, a Life-boatman's Certificateand a Pension, on the closing of the Station.

To GEORGE SMITH, on his retirement, afterserving 28 years as Signalman of the Shore-ham Life-boat, a Pension, on the closing ofthe Station.

Life-boatmen's Certificates of Service havebeen awarded to the following men who haveretired, the figure after their names being theiryears of service :—

JOHN GEOQAN (17); MICHAEL MURPHY (19);JOHN BEIAS WHBLBHAN (17); EDMOJTDWALSH (14); all of_the Ballycotton Life-boat.


Summary of the Meetings of the Committee ofManagement.

Thursday, 21st February, 1924.The Hon. GZOBGB COLVIHJ? in the Chair

Decided to dose the Eastbourne No. 1 Lifiboat Station.

Reported the receipt of the following speciicontributions :—

£ s. <MB. ALBANY WARD, Collections

in Picture Palaces (additional) 640 -ME. J. CULLINOWORTB (subscrip-

tion) 52 10" E. H. W." (additional dona-

tion) 50 -—To be thanked.

Paid £10,288 15s. W. for sundry charges inconnexion with the construction of Life-boatsLife-boat Houses and Slipways, and the maintenance of the various Life-boat establishments.

Voted £610 12s. Id. to pay the expenses othe following Life-boat services :—

LiveLife-boat. Vessel. rescued

Aldeburgh No. 1. S.S. Clan Kennedy, ofGlasgow. Landed 18and rendered assist-

Barry Dock(Motor)

Blackpool

Brixham.(Motor)

Cloughey

Girvan .

Gourdon

Grimsby

Huna

Lowestoft(Motor)

Newbiggin

Wexford.(Motor)

Wevmouth

anee.S.S. Su&, of

Slavia. Renderedassistance.

S.S. Nord, of Helsing-borg. Stood byvessel and landed 1.

S.S. Sever Lagan, ofSwansea. Stood byvessel.

Brigantine Helgoland,of Plymouth.

Fishing Doat Sea Spray,of Giivan. Savedboat and rescued

Motor yawl Lily of theValley, of Gourdon.Stood by and es-corted yawl intoharbour.

Steam trawler Loroone,of Grimsby. Stoodby vessel.

Steam drifter Brae-faad, of Inverness.Stood by and as-sisted vessel.

Pishing smack Irene,of Lowestoft(also a cat).

S.S. VlieJand, of Hot-teidam. Stood byand rendered assist-ance.

Schooner Canibri, ofLiverpool

Schooner Fanny Croas-fleld, of Barrow.Stood by vessel.

The Boulmer Life-boat rendered assistanceto the steam trawler Thomas Davison, ofHartlepool.

to pay the expenseschei

Also voted £479 Is.of the following Life-boat launches, assembliesof crews, etc., with a view to assisting personson vessels in distress:—Blacktock, Blyth(Motor), Boulmer, Cambois, Caister, Clacton-on-Sea (Motor), Donaghadee (Motor), Dunbar,Holyhead No. 1 (Steam), Lowestoft (Motor),Lyme Regis, Margate No. 1, Moelfre, TheMumbles, Peel, Ramsgate, Southend-on-Sea,Southwold, Tynemouth (Motor), Walton-on-the-Naze (Motor), and Wexford (Motor).

The Bridlington Life-boat was also launched.

Granted £33 13s. 6d. to men for injury inthe Life-boat service at Cardigan, Piel, Poole,and St. Alines.

Awarded the Bronze Medal of the Institutionaccompanied by a copy of the Vote, inscribedon Vellum and framed, to ANDREW YOTJNG,Acting Coxswain of the Cloughey, Co. Down,Life-boat, in recognition of his fine seamanshipwhen the Life-boat under his command rescuedTom shipwreck the crew, five in number, of thesrigantine Helgoland, of Plymouth, which was;otally wrecked off Tara Point, Co. Down,during a strong S.S.E. gale, with a heavy sea,on the 12th January, 1924. Also grantedadditional monetary rewards to each of the:rew, and addressed a Letter of Thanks toihe Rev. D. PALMER, Honorary Secretary,For his zeal and co-operation on this occasion.A full account of this rescue will be foundn the report of the Centenary Meeting in thisssue.)

Reported that in recognition of the servicesrendered by naval ratings, in the Newburgh

ife-boat, on the occasion of the wreck of the.rawler Imperial Prince in October last, thejords of the Admiralty had promoted Petty

Officer ESSAM to Chief Petty Officer or War-ant Officer, as he choose, and given each ofhe eleven men six months' seniority.

Voted £1 17*. Sd. to five men for rescuinghe two occupants of the motor pilot boatItella, which was in difficulties off Lynmouth,« the 14th January, 1924. Also granted 5s.or the use of the boat. The Stella was boundrom Appledore to Bristol, but signalled forelp as her motor had broken down, and herails had been blown away. As it was notonsidered necessary to launch the Life-boat,ie weather conditions being moderate, thealvors put off in a rowing boat and brought

B boat safely into harbour.

Voted £6 15s. to nine men for rescuing twomen, at Girvan, on the 26th December, from

Sea Spray, which hod gone ashore oa aeef of rocks to the south of Turnberry. Asi» weather conditions were moderate it wasecided to take out a shore-boat, which would

FEBRUARY,1925. THE LIFEBOAT. 39

be better able to reach the Sea Spray than theLife-boat, and the Coxswain of the Life-boatwent out with a crew of eight. The men wererescued from a position of considerabledanger.

Voted £2 10s. to two men for rescuing theoccupant of a fishing boat which caught fireand was destroyed off Porthallow, Cornwall,on the 25th January. Some risk was incurred,and the promptness of the rescuers undoubtedlysaved the man's life.

Voted £2 to T. SMITH, £1 to P. DEERANK,and 10s., together with a copy of " Britain'sLife-Boats," to a boy, C. MURTAGH, for theirservices on the 1st December, when theyrescued the crew of five and two passengersfrom the motor boat Tormore, at Galway. Themotor boat was on her way from Aran Islandsto Galway when she lost her bearings in thefog, ran ashore near Mutton Island, and wasin danger of breaking up. Some risk wasincurred, as the rescuers' boat was very smalland much overloaded when the rescued wereon board.

Voted £8 to eight men for rescuing the crew,nine in number, of the trawler Endora, ofLeith, which was wrecked in a fog off Newton-by-tbe-Sea on the 12th December. Alsogranted 10s. for fuel consumed. The crew hadtaken to their boat, and when found weredrifting towards dangerous rocks and breakingseas. Six of them were taken into thecoble, which then took the boat in tow withthe other three men on board. Some risk wasincurred by the salvors, owing to the darknessand the rocks in the vicinity.

Voted £3 16s. to eleven men for landing orassisting in the landing of five persons from thes.s. Divonia, at Ilfracombe, on the 9th January.They were the survivors of the French schoonerAdolphe, who had been picked up at sea, theirvessel having been wrecked near Port Talbot,and abandoned. The Captain of the schoonerhad lost his life and his crew were exposed in agale for some hours before being rescued by theDiixmia.

Paid £25,342 6s. 5d. for sundry charges inconnexion with the construction of Life-boats,Life-boat Houses and Slipways, and the main-

of the various Life-boat establish-tenaneements.

Voted £220 14s. 3<£. to pay the expenses ofthe following Life-boat services :—

LivesLife-boat. Vessel. rescued.

Abersoch . . Ketch Merit, of Bos-ton. Landed 4.

Broughty Ferry. S.S. City of Manchester,(Motor) of Glasgow. Stood

by vessel.Clacton-on-Sea . Schooner Alatga, of

(Motor) Tvedstrand. Stoodby vessel.

Filey . . . Ten fishing cobles ofFiley. Stood bycobles.

Flamborough . Three fishing cobles ofNo. 1. Flamborough. Stood

by cobles.Hauxley. . . S.S. Kapland, of Sande-

fjord. Stood by

Scarborough

Selsey (Motor)

Whitby (Motor).

Fishing coble Jock, ofScarborough. Es-corted coble intoharbour.

Motor fishing smackMolly, of Selsey.Saved vessel andrescued.

Motor fishing boatsRemembrance andFortuna, of Whitby.Escorted boats intoharbour.

Thursday, 20th March, 1924.Sir GODFREY BAKING, St., in the Chair.

Elected the MARQUESS OF GRAHAM, C.B.,C.V.O., a Vice-President of the Institution.

Reported the receipt of the following specialcontributions :—

£ *. d.MEMBERS ASD SUBSCRIBERS TO

LLOYD'S (on account). . . 1,000 - -"BATH" 1,000 -MESSRS. WALLACE BROS. . . 500 -Miss MADGE WATSON . . . 105 -MR. FRANCIS GODLEE . . . 100 -Miss EDITH M. DEMPSTER . . 100 -" PANTALEONE : A Thankoffer-

ing " 50 -MBS. A. HICKMAN MORGAN . . 50 -MBS C. ROBINSON . . . . 25 -I/has CAROLINE COLLINS . . . 20 -MB. G. T. GOLDIE 20 -—To be thanked.

The Easington Life-boat rendered assistanceto the steam trawler Cortina, of Grimsby ; theHauxley Life-boat rendered assistance to thes.s. Kapland, of Sandef jord ; and the Shering-ham Life-boat assisted to save the bargeOceanic, of London, and the crew of three.

Also voted £415 12s. 6d. to pay the expensesof the following Life-boat launches, assembliesof crews, etc., with a view to assisting personson vessels in distress:—Aldeburgh No. 2,Caister, Cloughey, Donaghadee (Motor), DonnaNook, Dunbar, Gorleston No. 1, Hythe,Lowestoft (Motor), Newburgh, North Deal,Pwllheli, Ramsgate, Rhoscolyn, Skegness,and Whitby (Mctor).

Granted £8 5s. 6d'. to men for injury in theLife-boat service at Aldeburgh.

Voted £6 to JOSEPH TAYLOR, Bowman ofthe Eunswick Life-boat, and his two sons,GEOBGE and WILLIAM, for rescuing one of thetwo hands of the fishing coble Peace, of Runs-wick, which was struck by a heavy squall andcapsized, on the 18th January, when out withthe fishing fleet to haul crab pots. One of thecrew was drowned, but the survivor managedto secure two oars and keep afloat, the cap-sized coble drifting into broken water. It wasdangerous to follow her, but the rescuerssailed right in, and were just in time to rescuethe man, who wan very exhauated. He was

40 THE LIFEBOAT. 1925.

at once taken ashore, and artificial respirationapplied, but it was some hours before herecovered.

Thursday, 10th April, 1924.Sir GODFREY BARING, BT., in the Chair.

Keported the resignation of Major RALPHGLYNN, M.C., from the Committee of Manage-ment, and co-opted the Bight Hon. F. 0.ROBERTS, M.P., to the Committee.


£ *. d." IN MEMORY OF FATHER, barn

Feb., 1824" (donation) . . 100 - -ANONYMOUS (donation) . . . 50 - -—To be thanked.

Paid £15,349 15s. 9d. for sundry charges inconnexion with the construction of Life-Boats,Life-boat Houses and Slipways, and the main-tenance of the various Life-boat establish-ments.

Voted £107 7s. 6rf. to pay the expenses ofthe following Life-boat services :—

Lifeboat.Berwick - on -

Tweed.

Vessel.Lives

rescued.A fishing yawl. Es-

corted yawl into har-bour.

Boulmer . . A fishing boat ofCraster. Stood byboat.

Holy Island Five fishing cobles ofNo. 1. Holy Island. Stood

by cobles.Newbiggin . . Nine fishing cobles of

Newbiggin. Stood\ by cobles.

North Sunder- . Twelve fishing cobles• land. of Seahouses. Es-

corted cobles intoharbour.

| The Flamborough No. 1 Life-boat assisted tosave the s.s. Allegiance, of Liverpool, andrescued her crew of five.

Also voted £107 8s. 4<t to pay the expensesof the following Life-boat launches, assemblies

I of crews, etc., with a view to assisting personson vessels in distress :—Caister, Dunbar, Dun-geness No. 1, Gorleston No. 1, Ilfracombe,Johnshaven, Poole and Bournemouth, Selsey

: (Motor), Spurn (Motor), and Teuby (Motor).I Granted £43 17s. 6<Z. to men for injury in thej Life-boat Service at Blakeney, Blackpool,: Cardigan, and Moelfre.: Voted a gratuity of £10 to six men who

manned the motor boat Champion on the15th February, and rescued the two survivorsof the ketch Lord Hamilton, which was wreckedoff Ramsgate on the 12th February. Themotor boat also put off again on the 18thFebruary and salved the Life-boat's anchor,which was lost when the Boat went out onthe 13th February.

Voted an additional monetary reward to theLife-boat crew and helpers at Boulmer, and!directed that a Letter be sent to the Station

expressing the Committee's appreciation of theaction of all concerned in successfully launchingthe Life-boat for service, under very difficultconditions, on the 24th March, 1924.

Directed that Letters of Thanks be sent toMr. G. GREEXWAY and Mr. MEADE, whogreatly assisted at a difficult launch of theHoly Island No. 1 Life-boat for service, onthe 24th March, 1924.

Voted £6 to six men for rescuing the crew,four in number, of the fishing boat Mars, ofiIlfracombe on the night of the 20th March.Also granted 10*. for the use of a motor boat,A strong breeze was blowing with a heavy sea,and as the fishing boat had not returned tiemotor boat put off and found her disabledabout three miles off Bull Point, a line havingfouled her propeller. She was towed to Ilfra-combe, with her crew of four, who were coldand famished. Considerable risk was in-curred bv the salvors.

Thursday, 15th May, 1924.Sir GODFREY BARING, BT., in the Chair.

Decided to close the Shoreham and HaylingIsland Life-boat Stations.

Reported that in future the Brixham, Tor-quay and Paignton Branches would be knownas the Torbay Branch.


£ s. d.j Miss G. MURIEL BOSTOCK (a

great great grand-daughter ofLionel Lukin) (donation) . . 100 - -

WHITE STAB LINE, being a por-tion of the contributions madeby passengers on board theirsteamers 100 - -

RED STAB LINE, do. do. . 50 - -ANONYMOUS (donation) . . . 60 - -MR. KENNETH M. CLARK (in addi-

tion to £50 annual subscrip-tion) (donation) 50 - -

MR. ALAN C. HABBIS . . . . 25 - -—To be thanked.

Paid £17,996 16s. 2d. for sundry charges inconnexion with the construction of Life-boats,Life-boat Houses and Slipways, and the main-tenance of the various Life-boatestablishments.

Voted £24 5s. to pay the expenses of thefollowing Life-boat services :—

LwesLife-boat. Vessel. rescued.

Ball Bay. . . Schooner Jane McCattof Dublin . . . 11

Fraserburgh. . Five fishing boats of(Motor) Fraserburgh. Stood

by boats.The Portrush Life-boat assisted to save the

s.s. Silver Thvrn, of Liverpool.Also voted £199 18s. Gd. to pay the expenses

of the following Life-boat launches, assemblies


of crews, etc., with a view to assisting personson, vessels in distress:—Barry Dock (Motur),Blakeney, Brighton, Caister, Dunbar, Gorle-Bton No. J, Holyhead, Huna, Newburgh, New-haven (Motor), PadstowNo. 1, PeterheadNc. 2(Motor), Southend-on-Sea, Thurso, and Waltonon-the-Naze (Motor).

Granted £44 4s. to men for injury in theLife-boat service at Bridlington, Sheringharn,Torquay and Winterton.

Voted a special gratuity to John Holbrook,ex-Coxswain of the Bembridge Life-boat, inrecognition of his excellent services with theLife-boat.

Voted a compassionate grant of £5 to thewidow of B. C. Oilier. Oilier, who had been amember of the Dungeness Life-boat crew forfourteen years, left his widow in very poorcircumstances.

Voted a compassionate grant to Mr. J G.Nevin, late Honorary Secretary of the TorquayBranch, who was injured in the Life-boat Ser-vice many years ago, and is now partiallydisabled, and in poor circumstances.

Friday, 27th June, 1924.Sir GODFREY BAKING, St., in the Chair.

Reported the receipt of the following specialcontributions:—

£ s. d.MEMBERS AND SUBSCRIBERS TO

LLOYD'S (Balance of Collection) 63 5 -Miss PANTING 25 - -PBCTDENTIAI/ ASSUBANCE CO..LTD.,

for a " Prudential " Life-boat (onaccount) 2,000 - -

—To be thanked.Paid £16,990 8s. 7d. for sundry charges in

connexion with the construction of Life-boats,Life-boat Houses, and Slipways, and the main-tenance of the various Life-boat establish-ments.

Voted £144 12s.the following Life-

Life-boat.Boulmer

Easington

Voted £3 to four men, including the Ardrossan |Harbour Pilot and the Life-boat Coxswain, for Margate No. 1 .putting off in a motor boat, and rescuing two Iboys who were being blown out to sea in a Ismall boat, off Ardrossan, on the 24th March. ! Walton-on-the-The boys had gone out with nothing in the boat j Naze (Motor).but pieces of wood, which they used as paddles, Iand they were unable to control the boat in 1 Whitbythe strong easterly wind. When picked up (Motor)they were in an exhausted condition.

9rf. to pay the expenses ofboat services:—

livesVessel. rescued.

Schooner Saint Jean,of Kirk-wall . . . 3

Steam drifter Tliealby,of Grimsby. Stoodby vessel.

S.S. Baron Lovat, ofArdrossan. Stood byvessel.

S.S. Baron Lovat, ofArdrossan. Stood byvessel.

S.S. Medhatt, of Aber-deen. Stood by ves-sel.

Voted £6 to the Coxswain of the CromartyLife-boat and five other men, for patting off ina motor boat on the night of the 7th April, andsearching for several hours for a missing boatwith three on board. Also granted 10s. for theuse of the motor boat in which the search wasmade. The small boat, manned by a Ministerand his two sons, left Inverness to go to Cro-marty. She met with bad weather and wasblown to the north of Cromarty, but, for-tunately, found shelter and was able to proceednext morning.

Voted £3 2s. 6d. to the Coxswain of theGorleston Life-boat and four other men forrescuing the only occupant of a boat which wasin distress, on the 30th April. While makingfor the harbour during a fresh breeze from theS.S.E. with a heavy swell, the boat had hermast carried away, and becoming unmanage-able, was in danger of drifting on to the NorthBank.

Voted £5 5s. to seven men, who, in twoboats, rescued the crew of eight of the trawlerEvelyn Joyce, when she stranded at HolyIsland, on the 14th April. Also granted £1f or uae of the boats and petrol consumed. Thetrawler was first seen on fire and the two boatsstood by to help when necessary. Later, thetrawler drifted ashore and, at some personalrisk, the seven salvors took the crew off theburning vessel, and landed them at HolyIsland.

The Cambois Life-boat assisted to save thes.s. Solhavg, of Haugesund, and rescued fromshipwreck her crew of twenty-eight; theFraserburgh (Motor) Life-boat assisted thesteam trawler, Pelagos, of Granton; and theWalton-on-the-Naze (Motor) Life-boat renderedassistance to the s.s. Pass of Bramder, ofLondon.

The Cromer Life-boat was also launched.Also voted £219 11s. 11<J. to pay the expenses

of the following Life-boat launches, assembliesof crews, etc., with a view to assisting personson vessels in distress:—Blyth (Motor), BullBay, Caister, Holy Island No. 1, Johnshaven,North Deal, North Sunderland, Palling No. 2Portrush, Ramsgate, The Humber (Motor),Torbay (Motor), Totland Bay, Weymouth, andWinterton No. 2.

Granted £4 to men for injury in the Life-boat service at Wexford.

Voted the Silver Medal of the Institutionaccompanied by a copy of the Vote, inscribedon Vellum and framed, to John WilliamStorry, in recognition of his courageous actionin rescuing three boys, at Whitby, on the30th May. (This service was described inThe Lifeboat for November, 1924.)

Awarded Aneroid Barometers, suitablyinscribed, to Messrs. John Simpson and IanLynn, in recognition of their services in rescu-ing two men, whose boat capsized off Blairmore,

I Argyllshire, on the 19th May.


The two men were laying moorings in astrong E. by N. wind, when their boat wascapsized and they were thrown into the water.In spite of the heavy sea running, they managedto cling to their boat, which was keel up, untilthe salvors reached them. It was a very credit-able service carried out at considerable risk,as the rescuers were obliged, all the way back,to support the two men in the water, their boatbeing so small that it was impossible to takethem on board.

Voted £2 to four men for rescuing two menwhose boat capsized, while they were fishingoff Thorpeness, on the 5th May.

The accident happened during a squall fromthe S.W., when the boat was about 500 yardsfrom shore. The occupants were father andson. Another boat, in which was another sonof the capsized man, at once made for the sceneand rescued the son, when he was in a state ofcomplete exhaustion, and two partially disabledex-Service men put off from the beach andsaved the father. The promptitude of thesalvors was undoubtedly the means of savingtwo lives.

Voted £8 to eight men for putting off fromStroma and rescuing the crew, eight in number,of the steam drifter Guide Me, of Peterhead,which stranded on the 22nd May. Alsogranted 10*. for fuel consumed.

The drifter ran aground on a dangerouspoint, on the north side of the Island, duringa thick fog. As the tide runs very stronglyat this point, her position was critical, and hercrew were warned not to leave in the ship'sboat or they would be swept away. Thesalvors put off in a motor boat, and afterskilful manoeuvring, with considerable risk,succeeded in rescuing the men. The drifterbecame a total wreck and was soon sweptaway.

Voted £2 10*., also 10s. for petrol and oilconsumed, to four men for rescuing the crew,twenty-three in number, of the s.s. Jan VanRyswick, of Antwerp, off Holy Island, on the21st May.

The Second Coxswain of the Life-boat wasout fishing when he saw two ship's boats fullof men, drifting northward. He went to theiraid and took both boats in tow to Berwick-on-Tweed, where he landed the shipwrecked men.Their steamer had struck the KnavestoneRock, Fame Islands, during a thick fog, andhad sunk so rapidly that the crew had had totake to their boats at once.

Voted 10s. to a man for rendering assistancewhen a punt was capsized off Lytham, on the10th June.

During moderate weather, nine visitors fromPreston were going from the shore to a fishingboat, when their punt overturned, and theywere thrown into the sea. The water was notvery deep and all were rescued, except asmall child who was strapped in a go-cart.

Directed that a Letter of Thanks be ad-dressed to Mr. W. H. Moore, Assistant HarbourMaster, and voted 10*. each to three othermen for putting off from Douglas and savingthree persons, on the 17th May.

[ At about 10.30 a.m., during a moderatej S.W. breeze with a strong ebb-tide, a smallmotor boat was reported to be in difficulties.Mr. Moore obtained a boat and crew of Life-boatmen, and on reaching the motor boat,found her adrift, without sails or oars and withher engine disabled. She was taken intoDouglas Harbour together with her crew. Theprompt services of the salvors rendered thelaunch of the Life-boat unnecessary.

| Voted £9 to nine men who, in three motor| boats, put out from Littlehampton and rescuedi the two occupants of the fishing lugger Bril-I tania, which was in distress on the 31st May.I Also 6s. for repairs to one of the boats con-cerned.

I The fishing lugger had been caught in ai heavy S.W. gale, which carried away her[ sails ;• her anchor-cable parted, she driftedi towards the shore before the storm. The firstof the motor boats to reach her got a rope tothe lugger, but had to cut the rope to avoidbeing pulled ashore. The rope then fouledher propeller, and she was almost ashore before

! the rope could be got clear. Meanwhile theother two boats succeeded in towing theBrittania into safety. This was a skilful ser-vice, carried out in a heavy gale on a leeshore.

Thursday, 24th July 1924.\ The Hon. GEORGE COLVILLE in the Chair.i Decided to close the Rhosneigir Life-boati Station.\ Reported the receipt of the following special; contributions :—

£ s. d.Sir WILLIAM CORRY, Bt. . . . 100 - -Miss B. A. GRAY 100 - -WHITE STAR LINE, being a portion

of the contributions made byi passengers on their steamers . 100 - -i ANONYMOUS 50 - -| The Hon. ALEXANDRINA PECK-i OVER 26 5 -Mr. JOHN WEIR 26 5 -THE BELGIAN GOVERNMENT . . 25 - -Mrs. MOYSEY 25 - -

• •—To be thanked.

i Paid £29,477 5*. 2d. for sundry charges inconnexion with the construction of Life-boats,Life-boat Houses and Slipways, and the main-tenance of the various Life-boat establish-ments.

Voted £49 10s. &d. to pay the expenses of thefollowing Life-boat Services :—

Livesi Ufeboat. Vessel. rescued.i New Quay . . Fishing smack Wini-I (Cardigan) freida, of Aberayron 2I Ramsey . . Ketch Marie Celine, of

Drogheda. Landed 31 Sunderland . . A small pleasure boat . 6' (Motor)The Humber . A small boat from

! (Motor) Haile Fort . . . 3

Also voted £117 Os. 4<Z. to pay the expensesI of the following Life-boat launches, assembliesI of crews, etc., with a view to assisting persons

FEBRUARY, 1925,] THE LIFEBOAT. 43

on vessels in distress :—Appledore (Motor),Bembridge (Motor), Brighton, Caister, Fraser-burgh (Motor), Hilbre Island, Padstow (Tug),and Ramsgate.

Granted £79 8«. 9d. to men for injury in theLife-boat Service at Cardigan, Sheringham,and Torquay.

Voted a compassionate grant of £5 to JOELHTOST, who was a member of the RamsgateLife-boat crew for many years, and is now inpoor health and circumstances.

Voted a compassionate grant of £5 to thewidow of JOHN EVANS, who is old and invery poor circumstances. Evans had been amember of the Moelfre Life-boat crew forforty-five years.

Reported that H.M. the King of Sweden hadawarded Cups of Honour to the members ofthe Longhope Life-boat crew in recognition oftheir good services in rescuing eight of thecrew of the s.s. Citos, of Helsingborg, whichwas in distress on the 12th September, 1923.Also that the presentation was made byCAPTAIN DAINTREE, R.N., Inspector-Generalof H.M. Coast Guard, at Kirkwall. (Describedin The Lifeboat for November, 1924.)

Voted £1 to MB. H. WEST, who, accompaniedby another man, rescued two boys, who weredrifting helplessly in a small boat off Montrose,on the 12th July, 1924. Also granted Is. 6rf.for fuel consumed.

! Reported that some of the Wexford per-manent Life-boat crew put off in the Coxswain'sown motor-boat—the Life-boat being underoverhaul—and proceeded to Fethard, on thenight of the 12th July, ag it had been reportedthat the s.s. Listnore had foundered in thericinity. A strong S.W. wind was blowing,md the boat spent the night in an unsuccessfulsearch, returning to Wexford at 4.30 p.m.next day. Voted £3 10s. to two men, notmembers of the crew, for their services, andilso allowed £6 for petrol consumed.

' Life-boat Houses and Slipways, and the main-tenance of the various Life-boat establish-ments.

Voted £182 5*.the following Life-

Lifeboat.Barmouth .

Gorleston No. 2 ,

| Hoylakej The Lizard .. (Motor)Margate No, 1

! Newhaven(Motor)

Skateraw

~d. to pay the expenses ofboat Services :—

LivesVesseJ. rescued.

Ketch Notre Darne deBoulogne, of Treguier 4

Shrimpboat Falcon, ofYarmouth. Savedboat and rescued

Yacht Dart, of Hilbre .S.S. Bardic, of Liver-

poolMotor ketch No. 872,

of Gravelines. Stoodby vessel.

Steam trawler Cayrian,of Grimsby. Ren-dered assistance.

Schooner Cyril, ofLondon. Stood bv

22

93

Teesmouth(Motor)

Wells .

S.S. Kalix, of Stock-holm. Stood bv

S.S. Coniscrag, of Glas-gow. Renderedassistance.

Thursday, 18th September, 1921.Sir GOOTEEY BAKWG, Bk., in the Chair-Reported the resignation from the Com-

mittee of Management of Sir WILLIAM COEBY,St.

Reported the receipt of the followingipecial contributions :—

£ s. d.S.S. Co., LTD. ; Anchor

Line (Henderson Bros.), Ltd.;Messrs Thos. & Jno. Brockle-bank; Commonwealth andDominion Line (special jointdonation) 500 - -

3trNARD S.S. Co., LTD. (col-lected on their steamers);—

Subscription 100 - -Donation 50 - -

I. W. (donation > (00Hiss G. M. BBMSETT (dooation) 25 - --To 6e thanked.

Paid £21,134 13s. Id. for sundry charges inKmnexion with the construction of Life-boats,

The Blakeney Life-boat assisted the s.s.', ffilderthorpe, of Hull; the Clacton-on-Seai (Motor) Life-boat saved the yacht Elidor, of1 Burnham, and rescued her three hands ; the| Lizard (Motor) Life-boat on two occasionsI rendered assistance to the s.s. Bardic, of Liver-i pool; and the Penlee (Motor) Life-boat| assisted the s.s. River Ely, of Cardiff, and; landed five persons.

,' Also voted £274 2s. 5d. to pay the expensesi of the following Life-boat launches, assemblies! of crews, etc., with a view to assisting personson vessels in distress:—Caister No. 1, Cress-well, Douglas, Fowey, Hartlepool (Motor),Hilbre Island, Holyhead No. 1, The Humber(Motor), Margate No. I, Mevagissey, Newhaven(Motor), North Deal, Padstow No. 1, Poolbeg,Poole and Bournemouth, Ramsgate, Rhoscolyn,Rhyl, St. Abbs (Motor), and Whitby (Motor).

Granted £141 14*. §d. to men for injury inthe Life-boat Service at Blakeney, Moelfre,Sheringham, and Torquay.

Voted a compassionate grant of £10 for thebenefit of WILLIAM SCHOFIELD, ex-Coxswain ofthe Clacton-on-Sea Life-boat, who is nowbroken in health, and practically destitute.

Reported that JAMBS HARLAND, ShoreSignalman, was accidentally run over by theLife-boat carriage and killed while assisting ata Demonstration launch of the Whitby Life-boat, on the 16th August. Granted weeklypensions to the widow and four young children,and also defrayed the funeral expenses.

Granted additional rewards to the crew ofthe Hoylake Life-boat for an arduous service

1 on the night of the 17th August, when the two| hands of the yacht Dart were rescued.


Reported that the Superior Council of the iItalian Navy had awarded a Silver medal to jthe Coxswain, and Bronze Medals to the other jmembers of the JJorth Deal Life-boat crew, in jrecognition of their services in rescuing the (crew, thirty in number, of the s.s. Val Salice, \of Genoa, on tie 19th November, 1916 ; also ithat the presentations had been made by theItalian Naval Attache. (Described in TheLifeboat for November, 1924.)

Voted the Thanks of the Institution inscribedon Vellum and a reward of £2 to ROBERTCUTTING for rescuing a man at Rye Harbour,on the 7th August. Mr. Cutting and a com-panion were out in a pleasure boat when shewas capsized and sank. They both began toswim, towards the shore, but the other man, \after swimming about twenty yards, collapsed.Mr. Cutting, who was in a weak state of health,gallantly went to his help. With great difficultyand at great personal risk he eventually jsucceeded in getting him ashore in an insensible 'condition, and then resuscitated him byartificial respiration.

Directed that a Speeis! Letter of Thanks beaddressed to MB. F. W. TEE, for rescuing aman and a woman, off Netley, on the 8th June.They were sailing in Southampton Waterduring a strong S.W. breeze with a rough sea,when their dingey began to leak badly, andthen sank, but came up again keel upwards.After clinging to her for some time, theydecided to swim for a small boat which was atanchor near them, but owing to the strong ebb,the woman failed to reach the boat and Iwas carried down Southampton Water. Onlearning of the accident, Mr. Tee at once pu t 'off in a small boat and rescued her, but as theboat was too small to allow of her being taken ;on board, she was towed ashore clinging to the |stern. Mr. Tee then made a second journey jand brought ashore the man. Mr. Tee declinedto accept a monetary award voted to him bythe Institution.

Voted £2 to two men for rescuing two of thethree occupants of the yacht Thistle, of Ply-mouth, which foundered off Fowey, on the17th August. Also granted 2s. for petrol used.The weather at the time was very squally, andthe sea was rough. When the yacht founderedtwo men at once put ofi in a motor boat andwere successful in finding two of her crew.Unfortunately the third man was lost, buthad it not been for the prompt action of thesaWoia, there is no doubt that the other twowould have been drowned also. MB. M. Dusw,pilot, one of the salvors, gave his monetaryaward as a donation to the local Branch of theInstitution.

two girls were out in a small boat, when astrong ebb tide and a S.W. moderate breezeswept them to the northward towards theNeweombe Ridge. Mr. Allerton, who hadkept the boat under observation, put off in& motor boat accompanied by Mr. and Mrs.Tarrant, who had volunteered to help himwith the motor. The occupants of the boatwere quite helpless, and it was only withdifficulty, owing to the swell and breakingwater, that the salvors were able to get theminto the motor boat, and tow their boat ashore.

Voted £1 10*. to three men for putting off ina motor boat and helping the motor boatBetty, at Tenby, on the 13th August. Alsosent a Letter of Thanks to the owner of themotor boat used, and allowed 3s. for petrolused. The engine of the Hetty had brokendown, and she was drifting helplessly in thefresh S.W, breeze, with a crew of two andtwo passengers on board.

Thursday, 16th October, 1924.Sir GODFREY BAKING, Bt., in the Chair.Co-opted the Hon. ESMOND HARMSWORTH a

member of the Committee of Management.Reported the receipt of the following special

contributions :—£ *. r/.

Miss JULIET REC-'KITT (additionaldonation) 100 - -

Mrs. WH.ABHIE (Centenary dona-tion to Horsham branch) . . 100 - -

L. J. WOODHOUSE, Esq. (donation) 100 - -—To be thanked.

Paid £17,486 10s. Id. for sundry charges inconnexion with the construction of Life-boats,Life-boat Houses and Slipways, and the main-tenance of the various Life-boat establishments.

Voted £190 15*. 2(/. to pay the expenses ofthe following Life-boat Services :—

LivesLife-lKiat. Vessel. rescued.

Cromer . . Auxiliary motor-boat(Motor) lona, of Middles-

brough. Landed 4from the HaisbroughLight Vessel.

Moelfre . . Schooner Mary AnneJane, of Guernsey . 3

Palling No. 2 . Steam drifter Lubtrt,of Boulogne. Stoodby vessel.

Stromness . . Steam trawler Hesso-(Motor) nite, of Hull . . . 10

Totland Pay . Motor yacht Adelante,of London. Stoodby vessel.

Voted £1 10«. to two men for rescuing twowomen at Cemaes, o» the 31st July, who weredrifting out to sea in a small rowing boat,which they were unable to control owing to thestrong S.W. wind and tide.

Voted £1 to Ms. H. ALLVRTOX, and directedthat a Letter of Thanks be sent to Ms. andMRS. H. TARRAKT, for rescuing four persons of?Lowestoft, on the 4th August. Also granted2s. for petrol consumed. Two young men and

The Wexford (Motor) Life-boat rescued thesix hands of the motor schooner Michael /felly,

; oi Liverpool, and afterwards saved the vessel.Also voted £272 6*. Qd. to pay the expenses

of the following Life-boat launches, assemblies1 of crews, etc., with a view to assisting personson vessels in distress :—Aranmore, Banff and

; Maeduff, Caister, Cemae?, Clacton-on-SeaI (Motor), Cromer (Motor), Holy Island No. 1,I Holyhead Nos. 1 and 2, Hoylake, Johnshaven,


The Mumbles, Peterhead No. 2 (Motor), Pooleand Bournemouth, Ramsgate, St. Peter Port,Sheringham, Southend-on-Sea, Stromness(Motor), Torbay (Motor), and Wells.

Granted £29 15s. to men for injury in theLife-boat Service at Aranmore, Blackpool andKedcar.

Directed that a Letter of Appreciation beaddressed to Coxswain WILLIAM JOHNSTON, inrecognition of the meritorious manner in whichhe navigated the Stromness Motor Life-boat,on the 4th October, when she rescued fromshipwreck the crew, ten in number, of thesteam trawler Hessonite, of Hull. The vesselwas wrecked on the North Crags, Birsay,Orkneys, during a dense fog, and the Life-boatwas launched to go to her aid at 4.30 A.M. Sodense was the fog that the only guide that theCoxswain had to steer by was the brokenwater on the rocks and crags along the coast.Under these very difficult conditions he safelybrought the Life-boat to the wreck, a distanceof twenty miles. Through the local Press therescued men expressed their thanks to theLife-boatmen for their services.

Voted £5 5s. to Coxswain THOMAS STORMand six other Life-boatmen for rescuing thefive occupants of a small pleasure boat, whichwas in distress off Robin Hood's Bay on thenth September. Four visitors and a boatmanhad gone out fishing, but were overtaken bya W.S.W. gale when about two miles N.E. ofRobin Hood's Bay. In attempting to pullback they lost two oars, and then hoisted adistress signal. Some risk was incurred by thesalvors who went out in a fishing coble.

Voted £2 53. to Coxswain CHABLES CONWAYand two other men for rescuing two boyswhose canoe capsized in rough water off HurstCastle, near Totland Bay, on the 12th Sep-tember. The accident was seen through aglass, and the men quickly put off, and withsome difficulty rescued the boys, one of whomwas much exhausted.

Tuesday, 18th November, 1924.The Hon. GEORGE COLVILLE in the Chair.Co-opted Captain T. P. H. BEAMISH, C.B.,

R.N., M.P., a member of the Committee of

! Paid £22,937 19s. 3d. for sundry charges in| connexion with the construction of Life-boats,Life-boat Houses and Slipways, and the main-tenance of the various Life-boat establish-ments.

Voted £165 10s.the following Life

LUe-boat.Cromer No. 1 .

(Motor)Eastbourne .

(Motor)Flamborough

No. 1.

GorlestonNo. 2.

Margate No. 1 .

Margate No. 1 .

Port Patrick; (Motor)

I St. Anne's .

9d. to pay the expenses ofboat Services:—

LivesVessel. rescued.

S.S. Clansman, ofLowestoft . . . 9

EX-M.L. 87 . . . 3

Steam trawler Joule,of Hull. Stood byvessel.

Steam drifter Har-vester, of Berwick.Stood by vessel.

Barge Lord Nelson, ofLondon . . . . 3

Barge Guernsey, ofLondon . . . . 5

Fishing boat PeggyMorgan, of Port Pat-rick. Saved boatand rescued . . . 2

S.S. Royal Regis, ofLondon. Stood by

The Humber(Motor)

S.S. Harlech, of Lon-don. Landed 14.

Reported the resignation of the Duchess ofNorfolk from the Presidency of the Ladies'Life-boat Guild.

The Margate No. 1 Life-boat saved the bargeChallenge, of Weymouth, and rescued fromshipwreck her crew of three.

Also voted £204 3s. 9<J to pay the expensesof the following Life-boat launches, assembliesof crews, etc., with a view to assisting personson vessels in distress:—Barry Dock (Motor),Caister, Cromer (Motor), Dunbar, DungenessNo. 2, Gorleston No. 2, Lytham, Margate No. 1,Peterhead No. 2 (Motor), Pwllheli, Skegness,The Humber (Motor), and Weymouth (Motor).

Granted £24 13s. to men for injury in theLife-boat Service at Blackpool, Cardigan,Peterhead, and Winterton.

Voted a further sum of £100 for the benefitof the men of the Ramsgate Life-boat, whotook part in the rescue of the Indian Chief in1881.

Voted a compassionate grant of £5 toWHJ.IAM SWAN, who for over twenty years

Reported the receipt of the following special was a member of the North Sunderland Life-contributions :— £ s. d."P. P. B.," In Memoriam (dona-

tion) 200 - -Executors of the late Mrs. S. A.

BESCOBY (donation). . . . 100 - -Mrs. BrmKEtL (for the " Agnes

Cross" Life-boat at Lowestoft) 100 - -WHITE STAH LINK (being a por-

tion of the collection from pas-sengers for charitable purposeson their steamers) . . . . 100 - -

Mr. F. D. G. OSBORNE (gift fromEstate of the late Miss G. G.OSBORNE) 80 - -

"E.R." 28 - -—To be thanked.

boat crew, and is now disabled by the loss of| his eyesight.I Voted a compassionate grant of £5 to JOHN| DAI/TON, Winchman, and at one time a mem-ber of the crew of the Poolbeg Life-boat, whohas a wife and three children and is now com-pelled to go to South Africa on account of hisill-health.

Awarded the Thanks of the Institutioninscribed on Vellum, and the sum of £3 eachto Messrs. JOHN DEARNESS, OLIVEK SCOTT,and JAMES SIATEB, in recognition of theirgallant conduct in going out in a 17-ft. boat,and at great personal risk rescuing the threehands of a sailing boat which had capsized in

THE LIFEBOAT. 1925.

a heavy squall and a, rough sea, ofi Sanday,Orkneys, on the 24th June, 1924. (This serviceis described on page 12.)

Awarded the Thanks of the Institutioninscribed on Vellum, and the sum of £3 each,to Messrs. MICHAEL BOWLER, DANIEL KANE,and JAMES KANE, in recognition of theirgallant conduct in going out in a 26-ft. canvascanoe, and at great personal risk rescuing oneof the three occapants of a fishing canoe,which was swamped during a moderate nor-therly gale with a rough sea off Smerwick, Co.Kerry, on the night of 24th September, 1924.(This service is described on page 12.)

Voted £2 to two men, father and son, forrescuing one of the two occupants of a shrimpboat which capsized off Lowestoit, on the 22nd jSeptember, 1924, The boat was capsized by

an exceptionally violent squall, the two menbeing thrown into the water. One succeededia obtaining a hold on the boat, but the other,his grandson, was swept away by the heavysea and drowned. The salvors, who were alsoshrimping near at hand, saw the accident, andrescued the man clinging to the boat, but itwas only done with considerable difficulty, asthe rescuers' boat had to be taken over thesunken boat.

Thursday, 27th November, 1924.The Hon. GEORGE COLVILLE in the Chair.

Resolved that Major C. R. SATTERTTVWAITE,O.B.E., R.E., be appointed Deputy Secretaryof the Institution, in succession to the JateMr. Rowland Berkeley.

The Storeyard's Children's Party.THE Institution's Storeyard is atPoplar, in a district of London wherethere is a great deal of poverty, and atChristmas last year it gave a Tea andEntertainment to over 150 children.It was entirely arranged and carried outby the Storeyard Staff itself, with thehelp of contributions from the Staff atLife-boat House, a number of whomwent down to Poplar to help on the day.

The Party was given at the EmeryHall. A hundred and fifty invitationswere sent out to children at the localSpecial School of the London CountyCouncil, and a few days before, membersof the Storeyard Staff distributed presentsto the remaining 130 children of the school,who, on account of physical infirmities,could not come to the party itself.

It was announced to begin at 4 p.m.,and punctually at noon the first of theguests were at the door. Punctuality isnot always an. easy virtue, and thosewho find it difficult may like to encour-age themselves with the heroic exampleof one of these guests, a boy, who hadslept in his best clothes the night beforeso that nothing might prevent him frombeing in time.

Long before 4 o'clock 180 of the 150invited had arrived at the door, and werewelcomed by Captain Rowley, the ChiefInspector^ and Captain Sevan, DeputyChief Inspector for Stores. Fortunatelythere was a band, and the guests enter-tained themselves with song until teawas ready. Yet more guests were thenseen looking hungrily through the door,and room was made for them.

After tea there was an entertainment,

with conjuring and a clown. No con-juring is complete without at least onemember of the audience who knows—and tells other people—how the thing isdone. Poplar is no exception. In oneof the tricks members of the audiencechose numbers. These were added to-gether, and the conjurer then fired at aboard, one of the figures of the totalappearing at each shot. Afterwards, abig boy was overheard, saying, " I did.I did. I saw the blinking numberscoming out of the pistol."

After this came games ; refreshments;more games; a magic lantern and aChristmas tree; and, finally, FatherChristmas himself (like the Conjurer, theClown, the Organizer of Games, theStory-teller, and the Magic LanternOperator, a member of the StoreyardStaff) loaded with toys, fruit, sweets,crackers, and balloons. The presence ofso many more than the 150 formallyinvited, might have caused him someembarrassment, but a number of newsixpences were found for those forwhom there were no toys.

There is usually some small tragedy atevery party, and close on nine o'clock thefollowing dialogue took place :

GUEST : " Please I want a bladder "(Poplar for balloon).

CONJURER : " But you've had one."GUEST : " It's bust."CONJURER : " There isn't another."GUEST : " But it's my birthday next

Wednesday."CONJURER (temporising); " How old

will you be ? "GUEST : " Ten and a half ! "


Awards to Honorary Workers.Election of Eight Honorary Life-Governors.

THE following have been electedHonorary Life-Governors of the Institu-tion in recognition of their long anddistinguished services, and have beenpresented with a copy of the Voteinscribed on Vellum and' signed byH.R.H. the Prince of Wales, the Pre-sident :—•LADY ANN, J.P., President of the Ladies'

Life-boat Guild, Derby.Mrs, ASTLEY ROBERTS, President of the Ladies'

Life-boat Guild, Eastbourne.Miss MOSER, Honorary Secretary and Treasurer

of the Shrewsbury Branch.SIB CHARLES MAOAKA, Bt., J.P., Chairman, St.

Anne's-on-the-Sea Branch of the Institution,and Founder of the Life-boat SaturdayFund, which was taken over by the Institu-tion in 1910.

Mr. J. A. GARDINER, Honorary Secretary, Life-boat Stations at Campbeltown, Machrihanishand Southend, in Argyllshire.

Mr. G. L. THOMSON, Honorary Secretary, Life-boat Station at Stromness.

Mr. W. J. OLIVER, Honorary Secretary, Life-boat Station at Sunderland.

Major A. T. FISHER, Honorary Secretary,Salisbury.

The following awards have also beenmade:—To Mr. T. D. ROBERTS, upon his retirement, on

the closing of the Point of Ayr Branch, after6 years' service as Honorary Secretary, aFramed Photograph of the Life-boat goingout to a vessel in distress.

To Mr. H. J. RAMSBOTHAM, upon his retirement,after 12 years as Honorary Secretary of theLyme Regis Branch, the Thanks of the Insti-tution inscribed on Vellum.

PARTIALLY BURIED IN GROUND.

[̂ Jglfili, J

MORTAR w MAROONS.

V SHAPED PIT. MORTAR LYING'AT NECESSARY ANGLE.

This Signal Maroon has been adoptedby the Institution in place of the RocketDistress Signal because :—•

1. As there is no metal in itsconstruction the danger of an acci-dent through failure to detonate isreduced to a minimum

2. No matches are needed tolight it. This is done with the endof the fuse, which is coatedwith a firing combustion, and canbe struck, either on the speciallighter provided, or, in an emer-gency, on an ordinary match box.

48 THE LIFEBOAT. FEBRUARY,1925.

News from the Branches.CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS.

SINCE the " Centenary Celebrations "Number of The Lifeboat appeared inNovember last a number of other cele-brations have been held.

Cumberland.A Whist Drive and Dance have been

held at Maryport in addition to theThanksgiving Service and Century Life-boat Day mentioned in the last issue.

Durham.A Century Life-boat Day has been

held at Gateshead-on-Tyne.Lancashire.

Century Life-boat Days have beenheld at Abrams, Accrington and Wigan.

House-to-House Appeals at Atherton,Great Harwood, Ormskirk and Mossley.

Yorkshire.A Century Life-boat Day has been

held at Doncaster, and a " Mile ofPennies " at Ripon.

Staffordshire.A Century Life-boat Day was held at

Stoke-on-Trent (including Longton, Fen-ton, Stoke, Hanley, Burslem, and Tun-stall).

Essex.A Dance has been held at Clacton-on-

Sea, to which parties came from Walton,Frinton and Brightlingsea, in additionto the Thanksgiving Service and Cen-tury Life-boat Day mentioned in thelast issue.

Devonshire.Plymouth has held a Centenary

Bazaar in addition to the CentenaryMeeting, Thanksgiving Service, Cen-tury Life-boat Day, Ball and Life-boatFete mentioned in the last issue.

Hope Cove held a Century Life-boatDay on the same date as the SalcombeDay reported in the November issue,and raised over £51. One of the featuresof the day was a race between theSalcombe and Hope Cove Life-boats.

Dorset.Four performances of Laurence Hous-

man's and Granville Barker's " Prun-ella " were given in aid of the Weymouth

| Mr. Russell Thorndyke in the principalparts. During one of the performancesthe Ladies' Life-boat Guild presentedthe Branch with a barometer and clockfor the new Life-boat House.

Hampshire.A Whist Drive and Dance have been

held at Basingstoke, in addition to theCentenary Meeting, the Century Life-boat Day, the Bazaar and the Mayor'sAppeal mentioned in the last issue.

Oxfordshire.A Dance has been held at Banbury in

addition to the Century Life-boat Daymentioned in the last issue.

Somerset.In addition to the Century Life-boat

Day, mentioned in the last issue, a Meet-ing was held at Frome, with Lady Walde-grave in the chair, and a Ladies' Life-boat Guild was formed with Lady MaryThynne as President.

Dumbartonshire.A Thanksgiving Service has been held

at Kirkintilloch, in addition to the Cen-tury Life-boat Day mentioned in the

I last issue.Edinburghshire.

, A Centenary Meeting was held in Edin-burgh at which the Lord Provost (SirWilliam Sleigh) presided, and Sheriff

! Jamieson delivered an address.j Renfrewshire.| Paisley has held a Century Life-boati Day and made a collection at a FootballMatch, in addition to the Thanksgiving

'• Service mentioned in the last issue.I Pembrokeshire.i A Century Life-boat Day was held atI Milford Haven.

Glamorganshire.i Barry Dock held a Centenary Thanks-giving Service (which was not reportedin the last issue of The Lifeboat) on2nd March, the Sunday immediatelypreceding the Institution's birthday.

; The Service was held in the WesleyanChurch, and there was a processionthrough the town. Those who took partin it including members and officials ofthe Urban District Council, the Life-

Branch, with Miss Eileen Thorndyke and j boat Committee and Crew, the Coast


Guard, the Police, the Salvation Army,the Channel and Dock Pilots, officialsand employees at the Docks, Boatmen,the Sea Scouts and Boy Scouts, and theSt. John and Bed Cross V.A. Detach-ments. The Service was conducted bythe Rev. J. Willis Benneworth, with thehelp of the local Chaplains of the Missionto Seamen and the British and ForeignSailors' Society.

Wicklow.A Century Life-boat Day was held at

Wicklow.

ANNUAL MEETINGS.ABERDEEN .—On 21 st November, 1924,

Ex-Baillie Milne, Vice-President of theBranch, in the chair. During the yearended 30th September, 1924, the Branchraised £552 as compared with £483 inthe previous year. Of this sum theLadies' Life-boat Guild had collected£263, and Century Life-boat Day hadraised £233. Both the collections of theGuild and the Day showed an increase,but annual subscriptions decreased,amounting to less then £10. The officerswere re-elected, and Captain Wyness,Harbour Master, was elected to the newoffice of Honorary Marine Secretary, inview of the fact that from the beginningof 1925 the Institution was taking overthe Life-saving work from the HarbourCommissioners.

APPLEDORE.—On 20th November,1924, Captain the Hon. Denys Scottpresiding. The report expressed theappreciation of the Station at the actionof the Mayor and Corporation of Bide-f ord in attending the Centenary Thanks-giving Service on Bideford Quay, andshowed that during the year ended 30thSeptember, 1924, the Branch had raised£400, as compared with £340 in the pre-vious year. The Rev. J. B. White wasre-elected Chairman, a post which he hasheld for twenty-five years, and themeeting expressed its appreciation of hislong and valued services. Mr. H. C.Whitehead was re-elected HonorarySecretary, and, in responding, said thathe had recently discovered old documentswith -references to the work of theStation. They showed that duringninety-five years of the ninety-nineyears of the Station's existence, 251lives had been rescued from shipwreck.

This was a record of which they couldbe proud ; and, in addition, the Apple-dore Station had the biggest subscriptionlist of any Branch in Devon.

BANFF.—On 12th December, 1924,Ex-Provost Walker, the Chairman ofthe Branch, presiding. During the yearended 30th September, 1924, the Branchcollected £97 as compared with £37 inthe previous year. The report for theyear showed that the Station was incomplete working order, and it had beendecided, after a year's trial, that theLife-boat should be placed permanentlyat Whitehills. Satisfaction was ex-pressed at the intention of the Institu-tion to provide a light Motor Life-boatfor the Station.

BATH.—On llth November, 1924,Brigadier-General E. H. Molesworth,C.B., presiding. During the year ended30th September, 1924, the Branch raised£352, as compared with £298 in the pre-vious year. The increase was due, theTreasurer's report stated, to the effortsof the Honorary Secretary in gettingnew donors and subscribers, and a voteof thanks to him was passed. Theofficers were re-elected, and AdmiralVeale was added to the Committee,

BLYTH.—On 28th November, 1924,Councillor G. Tynemouth presiding. Thereport showed that during 1924 theBlyth and Cambois Life-boats had beencalled out on service six times. TheBranch had raised during the year £341,which included £204 in voluntary collec-tions from ships, as compared with £236in the previous year, "which had included£191 from ships. The Chairman saidthat he thought that annual subscrip-tions might be considerably increased.The Mayor (Alderman G. Nunn) waselected first President of the Branch,and the Committee for 1925 was elected.

BRADFORD.—On 8th December, 1924,the Lord Mayor (Mr. J. H. Palin, M.P.)presiding. During the year ended 30thSeptember, 1924, the Branch collected£3,050, as compared with £2,643 in theprevious year. The Lord Mayor movedthe adoption of the report, and, inseconding it, Sir William Priestley, theChairman of the Committee, said thatthe Branch got into touch with all thedistricts of Bradford and with allclasses, that he had never been on a


Committee which worked more smoothly.He referred to a letter of warm appre-ciation which he had received from SirGodfrey Baring, the Chairman of theCommittee of Management of the Insti-tution, and said how much the Marquessof Graham had been impressed when herepresented the Committee of Manage-ment at the Alhambra Matinee. Inmoving a vote of thanks to the Officersand Committee of the Branch and to theLadies' Life-boat Guild, Mr. SutcliffeSmith mentioned the Centenary Dance,organized by Mrs. Henry Clough, whichhas raised £243, and the Sunday SocietyLecture, arranged by Mr. House, whichhad raised £117. Mr. Sutclifle Smith, atthe request of Sir William Priestley, pre-sented to the Lord Mayor & model ofthe City of Bradford Motor Life-boat,which is stationed at Spurn, and theLord Mayor, in accepting it, said that itwould be given a place of honour in theCaitwright Hall.

BUDE.—On 13th October, 1924. Thereport for the year ended 30th Septem-ber, 1924, stated that this was the firstyear that Bude had been a Financialinstead of a Station Branch. With theattraction of the Life-boat gone, especi-ally on Life-boat Day, there had been adecline in the receipts, which amountedto £155 as compared with £169 in theprevious year. What the Branchwanted was more annual subscribers of5*., and for these Admiral Nicholson,the Honorary Secretary, made a specialappeal. He also pointed out that in1923, out of the twelve Cornish Branches,only Newquay and Penzance had raisedlarger sums than Bude.

CKOMEB.—On 12th November, 1924,Mr. D. Davison, J.P., Chairman of the

been open a very short time instead ofthe whole season, for which reason £100less had been collected there than in theprevious year. The thanks of the Com-mittee of the Branch were expressed toCoxswain Blogg and his crew, and toMr. Blyth. the caretaker at the old Boat-house, who had sold over 1,600 picturepostcards and 528 Life-boat books. Itwas announced that Lord Suffield hadconsented to succeed his father as Presi-dent, and the Officers and Committeewere re-elected.

EASTBOURNE.—On 18th December,1924, the Chairman of the Branch, Mr.Ernest Armstrong, presiding, supportedby the Mayor (Alderman Sir CharlesO'Brien Hardingaccounts showec

;). The statement ofthat the year ended

Branch, presiding,year ended 30th

The report for theSeptember, 1924,

referred to the great loss which theBranch had suffered by the death of itsPresident, the late Lord Suffield. Twelvelives had been rescued during the year,making the total for the Station 287.During the year £350 had been raised,as compared with £457 in the previousyear. A record sum of £112 had beenraised on Century Life-boat Day, andthe fall in the revenue was due to the

30th September, 1924, had been a recordfor the Branch, £898 having been col-lected as compared with £779 in theprevious year. In moving the adoptionof the report, the Chairman paid a tri-bute to the wonderful work of Mrs.Astley Eoberts, President of the Ladies'Life-boat Guild, who had started herwork for the Branch in 1895, in whichyear the sum collected Lad been £30 ; toher devoted helpers ; and to Mr. MarkHookham, the Honorary Secretary ofthe Special Efforts, who, to their greatregret, felt that the time had come forhim to resign. The Chairman also dealtwith criticisms of delay in launching theLife-boat on 21st October, 1924, whenshe rescued the crew of three from theMotor-yacht Ex-M.L. 87. Careful in-quiry had been made, and the reasonwhy the Life-boat was not launchedearlier was that the yacht was not flyingsignals of distress. The Officers andCommittee were re-elected, Sir GeorgeLloyd, M.P., and Lady Lloyd, Mr.J. Andrews, and Lieut.-Col, GwynneEoland, D.S.O., being added to the Com-mittee.

EDINBURGH. — On 8th December,1924, the Lord Provost (Sir WiljiamSleigh) presiding. During the yearended 30th September, 1924, the Branchcollected £1,945 as compared with £1,359in the previous year. This included £850raised by the Century Life-boat Day—arecord sum. The Lord Provost ex-pressed his sympathy and admiration

fact that the new Boat-house had only | for the work of the Institution, and


Sheriff Jamieson moved a resolutioncommending the work of the Branch tothe public. Sir James Wishart Thom-son, K.B.E., proposed that the meetingshould record its appreciation of theservices of Mr. W. A. Wyse, who, at theend of twenty-one years' service asHonorary Treasurer, was intending toresign, and announced that Mr. S. C.Clapperton would succeed him.

LAKE DISTRICT BRANCH.—At Wind-mere, on 15th November, 1924, Mr. A. R.Sladen, Honorary Treasurer of theBranch, presiding. During the yearended 30th September, 1924, the Branchraised £97, as compared with £77 in theprevious year. Mr. Sladen expressedthe special thanks of the Branch to MissHamilton who collected in Windermere,and Miss Birkett who collected in Bow-ness, and said that another collectorhad been obtained for Ambleside. TheOrganizing Secretary ioi the North ofEngland then delivered an address onthe work of the Institution during thepast hundred years, and on the pressingneed for Motor Life-boats. Since thismeeting it has been decided to makea special effort in the Lake District toprovide a Motor Liie-boat tearing itsname.

OLDHAM.—On llth December, 1924,the Mayor (Alderman F. Broadbent)presiding. During the year ended 30thSeptember, 1924, the Branch collected£320 as compared with £280 in the pre-vious year. While the annual subscrip-tions had fallen by £9 the Ladies' Life-boat Guild had collected £190, an in-crease of £15. A special vote of thankswas passed to the Guild for its sple"ndidefforts, and an appeal was made to men'to do something more besides givingtheir annual subscriptions. The Officerswere re-elected.

SWANAGE.—On 31st December, 1924,Mr. Atkinson presiding. During theyear ended 30th September, 1924, theBranch raised £140 as compared with£113 in the previous year. The Honor-ary Secretary, Mr. Powell, read a reportof a launch of the Life-boat on 27thDecember, when, in tremendous seas,she went out fifteen miles to a steamerwhich had been in difficulties. It wasdecided to ask for subscriptions in orderto present a framed photograph of thecrew to each member of it, as a memento

of this service. The Officers and Com-mittee were elected for 1925.

WEYMOUTH.—On 6th October, 1924,Captain A. Masters presiding. Thereport for the year ended 30th Septem-ber, 1924, referred to the reconstructionof the Boat-house and the action of theWeymouth Corporation in laying thecable and supplying the current for theelectric winch free of charge. The fundfor the B.oat-iouse, initiated by Mr.Albany Ward, among the patrons of thePicture Houses and Theatres under hiscontrol, had raised £1,392 of the £3,553which the new House and Slipway hadcost, and Mr. Newbold had promised thatit should be carried on. During the year£228 had been collected as comparedwith £174 in the previous year. A voteof thanks was passed to the members ofthe Ladies' Life-boat Guild for their ser-vices on Century Life-boat Day, whichhad raised £111, and the Committee werere-elected.

SPECIAL MEETINGS.BRADFORD.—The annual matinee at

the Alhambra which, through the kind-ness of the Managing Director, Mr.Francis Laidlaw, has long since becomeone of the established features of Life-boat work in Bradford, was held on20th November, 1924. The performancewas given by the artists appearing at theAlhambra, supported by leading artistsfrom the Hippodrome, Leeds, and theHippodrome, Keighley. Among them > |was Miss Florrie Forde, who has i jappeared at many of these matinees, and j |was some time ago awarded the Gold ||Brooch of the Institution for the con- j !stant help which she has given to the ; )Life-boat cause. There was a crowdedaudience which included the Marquessof Graham, a Vice-President of theInstitution, who represented the Com-mittee of Management, the Lord Mayor(Mr. J. H. Palin), the Lady Mayoressand Sir William H. Priestley, Chairman ofthe Branch. At the close of the per-formance the Marquess of Grahamthanked Mr. Laidlaw, the artists and theofficials of the theatre, all of whom hadgiven their services. The total receipts,which are given to the Branch withoutany deduction for expenses, amounted to£383. To this was added £75 obtainedfrom a flower stall, making £458, and

52 THE LIFEBOAT. [FEBRUARY, 1925-

an anonymous friend made up theamount to £500.

DUBLIN.—On 7th November, 1924,a special meeting was held, at whichMr. John Good, T.D., presided, for thepurpose of presenting the Institution'sGold Pendant and Record of Thanks toMajor Whewell in recognition of histhirty years' service to the Life-boatcause as Chairman of the Dublin SpecialEffort Committee. The District Organiz-ing Secretary for Ireland, Mr. H. G.Solomon, said that Major Whewell wasthe first Irish worker to receive theGold Pendant, and that largely throughhis energy the contributions to theDublin Branch had risen from £400 in1910 to £1,200 in 1924. Major Whewell,in accepting the presentation, spoke ofthe splendid support which he hadreceived from the many Life-boatworkers in Dublin.

FLEETWOOD.—A special meeting washeld on 22nd December, 1924, at whichthe chair was taken by Mr. F. J. Thomp-son, J.P., supported by Lord Stanley,M.C., M.P., Lady Stanley, and Coun-cillor R. E. Mann (Chairman of theFleet wood Urban District Council).The purpose of the meeting was to pre-sent to Mr. John Robert Leadbetter theCertificate of Service which had beenawarded to him by the Institution inrecognition of the fact that he hadserved for forty-one years in the Fleet-wood Life-boat, during fourteen ofwhich he had been Second Coxswain,and during fourteen and a half Cox-swain. The presentation was made byLord Stanley, and afterwards LadyStanley presented Badges to Membersof the Fleetwood Ladies' Life-boat Guild.

MANCHESTER AND SALFORD.—On18th November, 1924, a small party ofLife-boat workers in Manchester paid a

visit to the Refuge Assurance Company,at the invitation of the President of theCompany's Orchestral Society, and afterinspecting the buildings, attended aconcert which was given by the Societyin the staff dining-room while lunchwas being served. The programmeannounced that a collection would betaken for the Life-boat Service, and themusic had been specially chosen withregard to the appeal, including, amongother pieces, " On the Quarter Deck " ;" The Old ' Superb,' " and " Do Shrimpsmake Good Mothers ? " The collection,which was then taken, amounted to over£8. 'The Refuge Orchestral Society hasonly been in existence ior four years, butduring that time it has collected forcharities, in this way, upwards of£1,400.

PLYMOUTH.—A special meeting washeld on 14th November, 1924, at whichAdmiral John M. Hutchinson, theChairman of the Branch, presided, forthe purpose of presenting the Vellumof Thanks awarded by the Committeeof Management to the late HonoraryTreasurer, Captain E. Robin, in recog-nition of nearly ten years' service to theBranch. The Vellum was presented bythe Mayor (Alderman W. R. Winnicot),and the District Inspector thankedCaptain Robin in the name of theCommittee of Management.

STOKE NEWINGTON.—A drawing-roommeeting was held on 20th November,1924, with an audience of between sixtyand seventy people, at which Major SirMaurice Cameron, K.C.M.G., a memberof the Committee of Management, spoke.During the meeting a large number ofpeople gave in their names as subscribers,and preparations were made to form acommittee and to establish a StokeNewington Branch.

Life-boats'There are other ways, besides saving

life from shipwreck, in which the Life-boats occasionally do service. Theyhave taken doctors to sick men on Light-houses, and recently the Tenby MotorLife-boat took bread out to a storm-bound vessel. Yet another way is grate-fully acknowledged in an article called" Leaves from a Chaplain's Journal,"

Other Duties.which appeared in the November issueof The Church and the Sailor, the maga-zine of Missions to Seamen. This articledescribed two visits which the Mission'sChaplain at Barry Dock paid to theBreaksea Lightship in the BristolChannel, on board the Barry MotorLife-boat, in order to hold Divine Servicefor the men on the Lightship.


Services of the Life~boats of the Institution during 1924.

Time of1924. Launching.

Jan. 1. 6.10p.m.

6. 10. 0p.m.„ 7. 4.45 a.m.

„ 8. 12 noon.„ 9. 1.55 a.m.

„ 9. 5. 0 a.m.9. 7.30 p.m.

„ 9. 8.35 p.m.

„ 10. 10. 0 a.m.

„ 11. 11.30p.m.„ 12. 1.15 p.m.

„ 13. 11.15a.m.

„ 13. 2. 0p.m.

,,16-18 11.57p.m.

„ 18. 9.30 p.m.

„ 21. 8.35 p.m.

„ 24. 3.30 p.m.

Kb. 8. 6.15 a.m.

„ 8. 10.30 p.m.„ 9. 2. 0p.m.

Personsrescued fromshipwreck.

S.S. Nephrite., of Glasgow. Cromer No. 1 Life-boat assisted to savevessel and rescued

S.S. Bromma, of Christiania. Cresswell Life-boat stood by vessel.S.S. Kapland, of Sandefjord. Hauxley Life-boat stood by vessel

and rendered assistance.Schooner Cimbri, of Liverpool. Wexford Life-boat . . . .S.S. Sud, of Yugo-Slavia. Barry Dock Life-boat rendered

assistance.S.S. River Lagan, of Swansea. Torbay Life-boat stood by vessel.Steam drifter Braekead, of Inverness. Huna Life-boat stood by

and assisted vessel.Fishing smack Irene, of Lowestoft Lowestoft Life-boat .

(Also a cat)S.S. Nord, of Helsingborg. Blackpool Life-boat stood by vessel

and landed 1.Schooner Helgoland, of Plymouth. Cloughey Life-boat .Schooner Fanny Crossfield, of Barrow. Weymouth Life-boat stood

by vessel.Motor yawl Lily of the Valley, of Gourdon. Gourdon Life-boat

stood by and escorted yawl into harbour.Fishing boat Sea Spray, of Girvan. Girvan Life-boat saved boat

and rescuedS.S. Clan Kennedy, of Glasgow. Aldeburgh No. 1 Life-boat landed

18 and rendered assistance.S.S. Vlieland, of Rotterdam. Newbiggin Life-boat stood by

vessel and rendered assistance.Steam trawler Loroone, of Grimsby. Grimsby Life-boat stood by

vessel.Steam trawler Thomas Damson, of Hartlepool. Boulmer Life-boat

rendered assistance.Steam trawler Cortina, of Grimsby. Easington Life-boat rendered

assistance.Ketch Merit, of Boston. Abersoch Life-boat landed 4.Barge Oceanic, of London. Sheringham Life-boat assisted to sav»

vessel and rescued

12

54 THE LIFEBOAT. [FEBKUABY, 1925.

PersonsTime of rescued from

1924. Launching. shipwreck.

Feb. 10. 3.22 a.m. S.S, City of Manchester, of Glasgow, Broughty Perry Life-boatstood by vessel.

„ 16. 4.20 p.m. Schooner Alatga, of Tvedstrand. Glacton-on-Sea Life-boat stoodby vessel.

„ 18. 11.55a.m. Motor fishing boats Remembrance and Fortmia, of Whitby. Whitby(Motor) Life-boat escorted boats into harbour.

„ 18. 12 noon. Three fishing cobles of Flamborough. Flamborough No. I Life-boat stood by cobles.

„ 26. 11.15 a.m. Ten fishing cobles of Filey. Filey Life-boat stood by cobles.„ 26. 1. 0 p.m. Fishing coble Jock, of Scarborough. Scarborough Life-boat

escorted coble into harbour.„ 26. 6.30 p.m. Motor fishing smack Molly, of Selsey. Selsey Life-boat saved

vessel and rescued 3Mar. 20. 8.30 a.m. S.S. Allegiance, of Liverpool. Flamborough No. 1 Life-boat

assisted to save vessel and rescued 5„ 24. 9.15 a.m. Five fishing cobles of Holy Island. Holy Island No. 1 Life-boat

stood by cobles.„ 24. 9.30 a.m. A fishing boat of Oraster. Boulmer Life-boat stood by boat.„ 24. 12.30 p.m. Nine fishing cobles of Newbiggin. Newbiggin Life-boat stood by

cobles.„ 24. 12.40 p.m. A fishing yawl. Berwick-on-Tweed Life-boat escorted yawl into

harbour.„ 24. 1. 0 p.m. Twelve fishing cobles of Seahouses. North Sunderiand Life-boat

escorted cobles into harbour.April 10. 9.35 a.m. S.S. Silver Thorn, of Liverpool. Portrush Life-boat assisted to

save vessel.„ 27. 7.40 p.m. Schooner Jane McCall, of Dublin. Bull Bay Life-boat . . . 11

May 3. 12 noon. Five fishing boats of Fraserburgh. Fraserburgh Life-boat stoodby boats.

„ 20. 8. 0 p.m. S.S. Solhatig, of Haugesund. Cambois Life-boat assisted to savevessel and rescued 28

June 6. 9. 0 a.m. S.S. Pass of Brander, of London. Waltou-on-the-Naze Life-boatrendered assistance.

„ 8. 3.45 a.m. Steam trawler Thealby, of Grimsby. Easington Life-boat stood by

8. 4. Op.m. A small boat of Sunderiand. Sunderiand Life-boat . . . .10. 8.15 a.m. S.S. Baron Lovat, of Ardrossan. Margate No. 1 Life-boat stood by

„ 10. 9. 0 a.m. S.S. Baron Lovat, of Ardrossan. Walton-on-the-Naze Life-boatstood by vessel.

„ 12. 4.15 a.m. Steam trawler Pelagos, of Granton. Fraserburgh Life-boatassisted vessel.

„ 12. 8.45 p.m. S.S. SedhaU, of Aberdeen. Whitby (Motor) Life-boat stood byvessel.

„ 13-14 Midnight. Schooner Saint Jean, of Kirkwall. Boulmer Life-boat . . . 3July 3. 6.30 p.m. Fishing boat Wini/reida, of Aberayron. New Quay (Cardigan)

Life-boat 2„ 6. 12 noon. A small boat from Haile Fort. The Humber Life-boat. . . . 3„ 10. 6.15p.m. Ketch Marie Celine, of Drogheda. Ramsey Life-boat lauded 3.„ 26. 1. 0 p:m. S.S. Bilderttiorpe,, of Hull. Blakeney Life-boat assisted vessel.,, 27. 1.25 p.m. Yacht Elidor, of Bumham-on-Crouch. Clacton-on-Sea Life-boat

saved vessel and rescued 3

FEBKUAKY, 1925.]

1924.

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17.

17.

31.

3.

4.7.8.9.

11.

14.22.

22.28.

2.

4.8.

9.

14.

16.

19.

21.22.

22.22.

2.19.27.

27.27.

4.

5.

THE LIFEBOAT. 55

PersonaTime of rescued irom

Launching. shipwreck.3.50 a.m. S.S. River Ely, of Cardiff. Penlee Life-boat landed 5, and assisted

1.50 p.m.

10.45 p.m.2.10 a.m.2. Op.m.

8.15 a.m.

6.50 a.m.6.30 p.m.5.50 p.m.

10.15 a.m.7.10 p.m.

1.30 p.m.7.20 a.m.

10. Op.m.12.30 p.m.

2.20 p.m.

4.30 a.m.11.43 a.m.

2.15 p.m.

3.30 p.m.

2.10a.m.

1.30 a.m.

10.59 a.m.9. Oa.m.

10. 7 a.m.10.15 a.m.

12 noon.

6.30 p.m.5.20 a.m.

7.30 a.m.8.50 a.m.

2.30 p.m.

2.50 p.m.

Shrimpboat Falcon, of Yarmouth. Gorleston No. 2 Life-boat

Yacht Dart o f Hilbre Hoylake Life-boat . . . . . .

S.S. Bardic, of Liverpool. The Lizard Life-boatS.S. Bardic, of Liverpool. The Lizard Life-boat rendered assist-

ance.

Motor trawler No. 872, of Gravelines. Margate No. 1 Life-boatstood by vessel.

S.S. Coniscrag, of Glasgow. Wells Life-boat rendered assistance.

S.S. Kalix, of Stockholm. Teesmouth Life-boat stood by vessel.

S.S. Bardic, of Liverpool. The Lizard Life-boat landed 47.Schooner Cyril, of London. Skateraw Life-boat stood by vessel.

Steam trawler Cayrian, of Grimsby. Newhaven Life-boatrendered assistance.

Ketch Notre Dame de Boulogne, of Treguier. Barmouth Life-boat

Auxiliary motor boat lona, of Middlesbrough. Cromer Life-boatlanded 4 from the Haisborough Light Vessel.

Schooner Mary Aim Jane, of Guernsey. Moelfre Life-boat

Motor schooner Michael Kelly, of Liverpool. Wexford Life-boatsaved vessel and rescued

Steam drifter Lubert, of Boulogne. Palling No. 2 Life-boat stoodby vessel.

Steam trawler Hessonite of Hull. Stromness Life-boatMotor yacht Adelante, of London. Totland Bay Life-boat stood

by vessel.

Motor fishing boat Peggy Morgan, of Port Patrick. Port PatrickLife -boat saved boat and rescued

Steam drifter Harvester, of Berwick. Gorleston No. 2 Life- boatstood by vessel.

S.S. Harlech, of London. The Humber Life-boat landed 14 froma trawler.

Steam trawler Joule, of Hull. Flamborough No. 1 Life-boat stoodby vessel.

Ex M.L. 87. Eastbourne Life-boat

Ketch barge Lord Nelson, of London. Margate No. 1 Life-boat

Motor barge Guernsey, of London. Margate No. 1 Life-boat .

S.S. Clansman, of Lowestoft. Cromer Life-boat

Barge Challenge, of Weymouth. Margate No. 1 Life-boat savedvessel and rescued . .

S.S. Royal Regis, of London. St. Anne's Life-boat stood by vessel.S.S. Princesse Clementine, of Antwerp. Runswick Life-boat .

Tug Richmere, of Newhaven Newhaven Life-boatS.S. Dieppe, of Newhaven. Newhaven Life-boat stood by vessel.

S.S. Princesse Clementine, of Antwerp. Runswick Life-boat

S.S. Fox, of Hull. Gorleston No. 1 Life-boat saved vessel andrescued

A fishing boat of Paignton. Torbay Life-boat saved boat andrescued . . . .

S.S. Vojvoda Putnik, of Split. Cromer No. 1 Life-boat assisted tosave vessel and rescued . . . .

22

93

4

3

6

10

2

3359

3

194

1

6

4

41

56 THE LIFEBOAT. , 1925,

1924.

Dec.

>;

"

t,„„

5.

15.

21.

22.23.23.

Time ofLaunching.

3. 5 p.m.

9.30 a.m.

11.0 p.m.

6. Op.m.8. 0 a.m.

10. 0a.m.

25. 6.15 p.m.

26.27.

27.27.

27.29.29.

10.20 p.m.8.20 a.m.

9.25 a.m.6. 0 p.m.

6.30 p.m.2.45 p.m.

10.15 p.m.

Personsrescued fromshipwreck.

S.S. Vajvoda Putnik, of Split. Palling No. 2 Life-boat renderedassistance.

Motor launch St. George, of Kingstown. Newcastle, Co. Down,Life-boat ................ 4

S.S. Ratherine, of Liverpool. Newcastle, Co. Down, Life-boatstood by vessel.

Schooner Mary Sinclair, of Barrow. Holyhead No. 1 Life-boat .S.S. Chingford, of Dundee. Anstruther Life-boat ..... 12Schooner Mary Sinclair, of Barrow. Holyhead No. 1 Life-boat

assisted to save vessel.S.S. Marjorie Seed, of Newcastle. Troon Life-boat stood by

vessel.S.S. Alslad, of Hekkef jord. . Blyth Life-boat stood by vessel.Barge Nell Jess, of Ipswich. Margate No. 1 Life-boat saved vessel

and rescued ............... 4S.S. PoeMyn, of Cardiff. Tenby Life-boat rendered assistance.Smith's Knoll Light Vessel. Cromer No. 1 Life-boat rendered

assistance.S.S. Atlantic, of Kubickenburg, Walfcon-on-the-Naze Life-boat . 6Ketch Millom Castle, of Barrow. Abersoch Life-boat . . . . 3Steam trawler Arctic Prince, of Shields. Tenby Life-boat landed

10.

Total lives rescued from shipwreck by the Life-boats in1924, in addition to which the Life-boats saved, or assistedto save, 17 vessels and boats ............ 349

Life-boats also landed 106 persons, who were brought ashorein the Life-boats as a precautionary measure.

Rewards were also granted by the Institution in the sameperiod for rescuing from shipwreck by means of Fishingand other Boats, etc ............... 105

Total for 1924 ............ 454

NOTICE.The next number of THE LIFEBOAT will be published in May, 1925.

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Documents

THE LIFEBOAT. - Microsoft · 2017. 1. 5. · Miss Mari Corelle ais a Life-boa. Speakert . In it obituars y notic of Mises Marie Corelli, the novelist who die, odn 21st April, 1924,