LIFEBOAT MAGAZINE ARCHIVE

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New Life-Boats

ABERYSTWITH, CARDIGANSHIRE.—The Life-boat stationed here many years since has been replaced by a new self-righting boat, which is 35 ft. long by 8 ft. 6 in.

wide and rows ten oars double-banked.

She is fitted with two water-ballast tanks and one drop keel. A new transporting or launching carriage has been sent with the boat. The cost of the new Lifeboat has been met from the gift received by the Institution from Mrs. NAOMI BEATTIE, of Clifton, in memory of her late husband, and in accordance with her wishes the boat is named John and Naomi Beattie.

A grand demonstration took place on the occasion of the inauguration of the new Life-boat on the 10th August last, in the presence of an immense crowd of visitors and residents. The weather was fine but a stiff breeze caused a rough sea. Before the launching ceremony a procession started from the Life-boat House, consisting of Police, Fire Brigade, Royal Naval Reserve, Ambulance Corps, the Midland Church Boys' Brigade from Birmingham (800 strong), tableaux, decorated cars, Friendly Societies, motor and cycle groups, Sunday Schools, Bands, and the new Life-boat with her crew.

The procession proceeded round the town to the Life-boat slip, where a portion of the promenade had been fenced off and a platform erected.

The Mayor, Captain THOMAS DOUGHTON, the honorary secretary of this branch of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION (who was accompanied by his chaplain, the Rev. R. J.

Rees, M.A.), was supported by Councillor William Thomas, ex-Mayor ; Alderman E. P. Wynne; Councillors C. M. Williams, Isaac Hopkins, Daniel Thomas, Edwin Morris, and J.

Barclay Jenkins; Mr. A. J. Hughes, town clerk; Mr. Rees Jones, borough surveyor; Captain Humphreys, harbour master, and other officials. On the platform were Mr. Vaughan Davies, M.P., president of the Local Committee; Mrs. and Miss Loxdale; Mrs. Dough ton, Mayoress; the Misses Morgan, Nantceirio; Mr. Leonard Potts, town clerk of Poplar; Mr. Harry Bonsall; Mr.

Hopkinson, Bury ; Mr. David Samuel, M. A., headmaster of the County School; Mr. Mortimer, H.M. Customs, and others.

The President, Mr. VAUGHAN DAVIES, M.P., commenced the proceedings by saying that the Life-boat Institution was founded in the year 1824, since when it had been the means of saving 46,000 lives, and 550 had been saved during the past year. The new boat had been built especially for the men who would use her, and might have to risk their lives in the service as well as for the nature of the coast. To people living inland, slight waves might make a rough sea, but occasionally during the times of the equinoctial winds the sea was converted into mountains of water.

Nevertheless, the moment the flag of distress was flown by any ship, the crews never hesitated in going out to that ship, even though they had wivee and families dependent upon them at home. (Cheers.) The Institution could not, of course, be carried on without means, and he hoped that, while the crews were prepared to risk their lives, all those who stayed at home at ease would give pecuniary support. (Applause.) Lieutenant HOWARD ROWLEY, R.N., District Inspector of Life-boats, on behalf of the Institution handed over the boat to the Local Committee, and regretted that Mrs. BEATTIE, the donor, was not present in person to take part in the ceremony. The boat was fitted with the most modern appliances, and could carry twenty-ejght passengers in addition to her crew of thirteen men.

I She had been capsized on the Thames to try her self-righting qualities, and it now remained for her crew to test her qualities during tempestuous weather in Cardigan Bay. That boat was one of a ! fleet of 282 stationed round the coasts of the United Kingdom which had been the means of saving 46,000 lives.

(Hear, hear.) Aberystwith was supplied by the Institution with a boat in 1862 and that was the fourth boat which had been stationed on that part of the Welsh coast. Before formally handing over the boat, he thanked the Mayor and Mayoress for their attendance and especially thanked the Mayor for his nearly twelve years' work in connection with the Institution locally.

He had great pleasure on behalf of the Institution in handing over the boat to Aberystwith. (Applause.) The MAYOE, receiving the boat, said : Mr. President, Lieut. Rowley, ladies and gentlemen. It is very gratifying to me to realise that one of the chief functions during my year of office as Mayor of Aberystwith is to receive at your hands on behalf of the Local Committee and the inhabitants of the town this splendid boat. I need hardly say that a gift of such inestimable value to any seaside town cannot be too highly appreciated and I am perfectly satisfied from past experience that when the cry of " Man the Life-boat" is raised a crew will be found able and willing to go out to succour their brethren in distress, whether that cry for help is made by day or by night, or in whatever circumstances of storm or danger.

(Applause.) I have been out with the boat every time during the past twelve years and the Committee of Management of the Institution have approved my action and presented me with a binocular glass. I have seen times when the boat could not go out beyond the pier, when the oars were broken and we could do nothing but let the boat drift. I am sure the citizens of Aberystwith will thank the Life-boat Institution for the boat, and I will ask you to show your appreciation by giving three hearty cheers.

(Cheers.) The choir having sung the hymn " For those in Peril on the Sea," Mr. E. H. JOHNSON, Organising Secretary of the Life-boat Saturday Fund, on behalf of the Life-boat Saturday Committee, presented the Mayoress with a silver medal in recognition of her services with other ladies in organising Life-boat Saturday collections at Aberystwith, which the Mayoress suitably acknowledged.

The Rev. R. J. REES, the Mayor's Chaplain, having read a portion of the 107th Psalm and offered up a prayer, the launching of the boat was announced by the discharge of the Life-boat signal.

The Mayoress broke a bottle of champagne on the boat, and said : I have ; great pleasure in naming this Life-boat ; the John and Naomi Beattie. I prayer- | fully and earnestly wish success to all | who shall sail in her, and that, when necessity arises, she will be useful in saving valuable human life.

The boat was then successfully launched, the battery of the Boys' Brigade firing salutes, the choir singing the National Anthem, and the band playing " A Life on the Ocean Wave." LYNMOUTH, N. DEVON.—The Institution has replaced the Life-boat stationed here years ago by a new one of the self-righting type, 35 ft. long and 8 ft. 6 in. wide, rowing ten oars doublebanked.

She is fitted with two waterballast tanks and two drop keels. A new transporting carriage has been sup- [ plied with the boat. The cost of this | boat has been generously defrayed by Mrs. CHARLES F. GREENHILL, of Norfolk Square, London, and as desired by her is named Prichard Frederick Gainer.

On the 18th August last the new Life-boat was inaugurated in the presence of a large crowd, advantage being taken of the annual "Life-boat Saturday " usually held here in connection with the Branch.

On a platform erected for those who were to take part in the ceremony were the members of the Local Committee, the donor of the Life-boat, Mrs.

GREENHILL, and the District Inspector, Lieut. H. Rowley, R.N., while within an enclosure were assembled invited guests, subscribers, the band and members of the Lynmouth and Lynton choirs. The proceedings opened with a short speech by the President, Capt. E. B. Jeune, introducing Mrs. GREENHILL to those present. That lady then presented the boat to the Institution in the following words: Captain and Mrs. Jeune, ladies and gentlemen, and the crew of the Lynmouth Life-boat, I am not going to make a speech. I am only anxious to tell you what a very great pleasure it has been to me to give a Life-boat to the splendid ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION and how glad I am that she has found her home in the Bristol Channel at Lynmouth. I have heard of the good work done with your old boat, the Louisa, and I trust that God's blessing will be with the new boat and her crew and that she and they will be the means of saving the lives of any who may be shipwrecked or in distress off this coast. My very best wishes go with the boat and her crew. (Loud j applause.) The boat was accepted by Lieutenant Rowley, R.N., who said he desired, on behalf of the Institution, to express the sincerest gratitude for the noble gift of Mrs. GUEENHILL through whose generosity the Institution had been enabled to build a splendid boat, the constructors being the Thames Iron Works Company.

Her crew numbered thirteen and twenty-eight additional persons could be carried. She had been very carefully tested as to self-righting and other seagoing qualities and each and every test ; had been most satisfactory. The Lynmouth station was now thoroughly efficient and had a really good crew ! who were ready to go out at any time, in the fiercest storm to succour a vessel in distress and risk their all—to help those in peril at sea. He concluded by asking Captain E. B. Jeune, the President of the branch and the Eev. W. A.

Lewis, who had been the honorary secretary for the past four years to accept the boat and to see that she was maintained thoroughly efficient and ready at a moment's notice. He trusted their joint services would be well rewarded and wished the boat and the crew God-speed. (Applause.) Captain E. B. JEUNE said he and Mr.

Lewis on behalf of the Local Committee had great pleasure in accepting the noble gift, made as a memorial of a young sailor brother who was drowned at sea and whose name the new boat would bear, j It was a great thing that persons were to be found who were able and willing i to make sacrifices for their fellow-beings.

He was sure that if only one life could be saved by the new boat the noble donor would feel more than repaid.

Three cheers were then raised for Mrs. GKEENHILL and a bouquet was presented to her by Miss Mead-Briggs.

A short service was then conducted by the Rev. W. A. LEWIS closing with the singing of the hymn " Eternal Father, strong to save," the effect of which, accompanied by the band and heartily sung by many hundred voices, was most impressive.

The service being ended the naming ceremony was successfully performed by Mrs. E. B. JEUNE, to whom a bouquet was handed by Miss Margaret Lewis, and the Prichard Frederick Gainer was launched for her first exercise amid loud cheers. The sea was sufficiently rough to show off her good points and was an interesting test of her able management by the coxswain, John Crocombe and the crew.

An excellent supper, supplied by Mr.

C. N. Bevan at the Drill Hall, to which the crew were kindly invited by Mrs.

GBEENHILL, closed a happy and prosperous day, the sum of 54Z. being collected for the Branch.

NORTH SUNDEELAND, NOKTHUMBEKLAND.

—The Life-boat stationed here many years ago by the Institution has been replaced by a new one of the self-righting type, 35 ft. long by 8 ft.

wide, rowing ten oars double-banked.

She is fitted with two water-ballast tanks and one drop-keel, and is provided with a new transporting carriage. The boat is named Forster Fawsctt, in accordance with the wishes of Miss T. E.

FAWSETT, of Maidenhead, who bequeathed a sum of money to the Institution for the purpose.

The programme arranged for the inaugural launch of the new Life-boat was carried out in brilliantly fine weather and amid scenes of intense enthusiasm. Bedecked with bunting and thronged with festively attired people—the residents being almost outnumbered by summer visitors and others who assembled for the occasion — the village throughout the day presented a gay and animated appearance.

Lord and Lady Armstrong, accompanied by their two children, the Hon. Willie Watson-Armstrong and the Hon. Winnie Watson-Armstrong, together with Lady Adye, Lady Thynne, Miss Thynne, Miss B. Thynne, and Mrs. Hope Morgan, motored from Bamburgh Castle. There were also present Lieutenant-Colonel Marshall (chairman of the local branch) and the following members of the committee, namely— the Rev. E. M. J. Adamson, Colonel W. R. Craster, Mr. James Ewing, the j Rev. Mark Fletcher, Messrs. Ernest J. • Hart, Charles Hope, Chief Officer Kew, ' H.M. Coastguard, Dr. J. G. Macaskie, William Milliken, Captain H. P. S. j Orde, Captain Joseph Roddam, Mr.

George Smith, Rev. E. Williams, Mr. • Lewis B. Ross (hon. secretary and j treasurer), and Lieutenant Basil Hall, R.N., District Inspector of Life-boats, i Lord ARMSTRONG, who was received j with hearty applause, said they were met for a very pleasing and interesting '; function—the launch of a new Life-boat for the use of the people of Seahouses and those who were toiling in the sea upon that coast. He was sure it was a very fitting thing that they should have a new Life-boat at North Sunderland at such a time as this, seeing that they had only within the last few days celebrated the anniversary of the wreck of the Forfaraliire and the rescue by Grace Darling and her father. (Hear, hear.) They owed a debt of gratitude to the lady who, by her munificence and generosity, had enabled this Lifeboat to be built. He hoped the Forster Fawgett would do as beneficent work as her predecessors had done. He would conclude his remarks by thanking the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION for placing a new Life-boat at the North Sunderland Station. He hoped it might be launched on a beneficent and useful career and that the heroic deeds of the past might be repeated by the gallant crew who would man this Life-boat.

(Applause.) He had much pleasure in calling upon Lieutenant Basil Hall to accept the boat on behalf of the Royal Institution.

Lieutenant BASIL HALL, R.N., said it was a very great pleasure to him to be present and to have the honour of representing the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION upon this very interesting occasion. The new Life-boat possessed all the latest developments in Life-boat construction. She was nonsinkable, self-baling and self-righting and he had no doubt that when she had been tested, as perhaps she would be during the ensuing winter, everybody would consider that the crew had made a very wise choice. (Applause.) He would remind those present that though through the generosity of an individual they were able to place a Life-boat at a station like this, it was only by the collective liberality of the public generally that they were able to keep the service in a state of efficiency.

The ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION was entirely supported by voluntary subscriptions. It got not one penny from the Government or any other subsidy. AH the funds came from the pockets of the public. He must ask them to remember that and to do their best to help it. On behalf of the Lifeboat Institution he had very great pleasure in handing over the boat knowing that it could not be placed in better hands. (Applause.) Colonel W. R. CHASTER, R.N., on behalf of the North Sunderland Branch of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION accepted with great pleasure the splendid present.

An appropriate religious service was at this juncture conducted by the Rev.

M. Fletcher, Vicar of North Sunderland, and the Rev. E. Williams, Vicar of Bamburgh.

Lady ARMSTRONG then performed the naming ceremony breaking a bottle of wine against the bow of the new boat which, fully manned, was thereupon run out to sea amid enthusiastic cheering, gun-firing and suitable music by the Alnwick Brass Band under Mr. R.

, Walsh.

Miss Gladys Fletcher presented to Lady Armstrong a bouquet of choice flowers.

Mr. Charles Hope proposed a vote of thanks to Lady Armstrong and in doing so spoke of the willingness her ladyship always showed to assist in any good work.

Lady ARMSTRONG thanked the company very much for their hearty vote of thanks. She only hoped that they might all face the duties and difficulties of life as bravely as the crew of the gallant Life-boat. (Applause.) ; Colonel Marsha!! proposed a vote of thanks to " All Workers," which was carried with acclamation.

Captain H. P. S. Orde proposed a vote of thanks to Lord Armstrong, which was carried with three hearty i cheers.

Mr. Lewis B. Ross, hon. secretary, proposed a vote of thanks to Colonel Craster, who he said had always taken the greatest interest in Life-boat work and was one of the largest subscribers to the funds.

Colonel Craster replied and the proceedings enthusiastically terminated.

PORT EYNON, GLAMORGANSHIRE.—The Life-boat placed here by the Institution some years since has been replaced by a new self-righting boat 35 ft. long, by 8 ft. 6 in. wide, rowing ten oars doublebanked.

She has two drop-keels and two water-ballast tanks. A new transporting carriage, fitted with Tipping's plateways, has been sent with the boat.

The cost of the new Life-boat has been defrayed from the bequest to the Institution of the late Colonel JOHN A. HAY, of Cheltenham and is named Janet as desired by the testator.

Thursday, the 23rd August last, was the day selected for the naming ceremony, and Port Eynon was en fete for the occasion. Brilliant weather favoured the function, which was numerously attended, the elite of the village and surrounding districts and hamlets putting in an appearance.

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Algernon Lyons, G.C.B., presided at the ceremony and he was accompanied by Lady Lyons. The Rev. D. Price, Rector of Port Eynon, acted as chaplain.

There were also present Rev. Lewis Hughes, Rector of Rhossily; Rev. S. W.

Jenkins, R.D., Oxwich, and Mrs. Jenkins ; Lieut. Howard Rowley, R.N., District Inspector of Life-boats; Mr.

F. le Boulanger and Mr. C. A. Bevan representing the Swansea, Mumbles, and Port Eynon districts of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION.

Admiral Sir ALGERNON LYONS called upon Lieufc. Rowley to make a statement of the work of the society. The lieutenant thanked the Admiral and all concerned for their part in the afternoon's function, and explained that the new boat was specially constructed for the work on the Gower coast, being of very shallow draught, in fact only drawing 2 ft. 2 in. of water, but she had two centre boards. She had been thoroughly tested and was of the latest ' design. In handing over the boat to Mr.

le Boulanger, on behalf of the Society, he expressed the hope that the Local i Committee would see that it was ready | to go on its errands of help and mercy.

; Mr. LE BOULANGEB, in accepting the charge, said the boat would always be ready, thanks to its staunch crew, for any calls made upon it. (Cheers.) The Rural Dean read Scripture and the Rector of Port Eynon offered up prayer, invoking the protection of ; Providence for the new boat. Hymus ; were also sung.

Mr. BEVAN, secretary of the Port Eynon Station, said they were all proud : to receive the boat. The crew were not ) sailors but men engaged in all kinds of employment on shore. Nevertheless, they were fully conscious of the risks they ran and were quite prepared to accept them in the hope of rendering aid to fellow-beings whose lives were in peril on the sea. (Applause.) It was a great encouragement to the crew to know that they had the sympathy of the public.

Lady LYONS then broke a bottle of wine over the bows of the boat and named her the Janet, amid vociferous cheering.

| The boat was then drawn by a team : of horses into the water amid much ' enthusiasm. Tea was afterwards served ! in the Life-boat house, which concluded the very pleasant proceedings.

HOYLAKE, CHESHIRE.—A new Lifeboat has also replaced the boat stationed here some years since. She is of the " Liverpool " type, 38 ft. long by 10 ft. wide, rows ten oars and has two water-ballast tanks and two dropkeels.

A new transporting carriage ' fitted with Tipping's plateways has been provided for the boat. The new boat is named Hannah Fawsett Bennett, in aci cordance with the wishes of the late Mrs. L. H. F. BENNETT, of Florence, ! who bequeathed to the Institution a I sum of money for a Life-boat for this I part of the coast and which has been i appropriated to this station. The balance of the cost of building and equipping the new boat, carriage, etc., has been met from the bequest of the late Mr. CHARLES HUTTON LEAR, of West Kirby, Cheshire..