WHEN the "National Shipwreck Institution," as this Institution was then called, was re-organized and consolidated in 1850, there were various county associations which acted in harmony and unison with it, but for all practical purposes were separate organizations, with their own officers, rules and funds.

Prominent among those associations were the following: Anglesey, North Devon, Norfolk, Suffolk and Lincolnshire.

One by one they saw the advantage to be gained by throwing in their allegiance to the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, the prosperity of which after 1850 having advanced by leaps and bounds, and it having gained the national confidence in a remarkable degree.

The policy of the Institution with regard to centralization is well described in THE LIFE-BOAT, No. 4, p. 57, 1st June, 1852: "We are of opinion, then, that if the National Shipwreck Institution is to possess the advantage of being a united body, having many parts yet being but one, and under one head, it will be very desirable that, where their own interests will permit, the local committees should be considered as but an extension of, or offshoots from, the central one, and not as distinct bodies acting more or less in unison with it. That whilst therefore the London Committee would wish to sympathise with all bodies, whether county associations or others, working in the same cause, and would be ready to give them the benefit of their experience and advice when solicited; to provide them with designs for their boats, render them any other service which might be in their power, and under certain circumstances to give them pecuniary assistance; yet that they should, as a general rule, require all bodies who might receive pecuniary aid from them towards the building and establishing Life-boats, to become branches of the Institution and to accept its rules and regulations for their guidance, modified where necessary to meet any local peculiarities." This policy found favour, and as already stated the various county associations fell in with the views put forward, the last to come in being the Lincolnshire Coast Shipwreck Association, which effected a complete union with the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION in the early part of 1864.

The Lincolnshire Coast Shipwreck Association was instituted on the 31st July, 1827, three years after the formation of the present Parent Institution.

It was formed for the protection of lives and property from shipwreck on the coast of Lincolnshire "in union with the Royal National Institution." It was officered by a patron, president, vice-presidents, treasurer and secretary, neither of the two latter being allowed any salary or any remuneration above actual expenses.. The vice-admiral of the county was ex officio patron, and in 1829 we find the Right Hon. the Earl Brownlow, Lord Lieutenant and Vice- Admiral of the County, presiding at the general annual board of governors, held in the Grand Jury Chamber of the Castle of Lincoln. The vice-presidents were limited to twenty-four, exclusive of the high sheriff, the Dean of Lincoln, the mayors of Lincoln, Boston and Grimsby, and the Warden of Louth.

The governors were subscribers of one guinea annually, while benefactors of ten guineas in one or two payments were eligible to be life-governors. A board of governors was held annually, and they elected the treasurer and secretary for the year and passed the accounts. Special boards were convened as occasion desired. The general board also elected a central committee of governors for managing the affairs of the Association and to audit the accounts.

The central committee could authorise the establishment of local committees and could define the powers of these local committees. The- secretary was expected to attend the general boards, enter the minutes, issue advertisements and circulars, and generally transact the correspondence. Among other duties devolving on the general board and central committee, they had from tune to time to give notice to the Trinity House, Shipowner's Society and Lloyd's of the stations fixed upon for Life-boats and apparatus (Manby's).

Similar notice was also given to the Admiralty and the Customs with a request that such officers and men in their service employed on the coast may be directed to give the earliest possible information to the persons in charge of the nearest Life-boat station whenever they discover a vessel in a situation of danger.

Life-boats and other apparatus were ordered by the General Board. Under the heading of Rewards we find : " The claims of the widows, children anc families of individuals who may perish in their attempts to save a life shall also be especially considered by a special ocal meeting." Honorary medals were also bestowed and individuals admitted as honorary governors.

Arrangements were made for providing persons rescued from shipwreck in a state of destitution with food, lodgings, medicine and clothing until notice could be given to the proper parochial officer.

It is somewhat curious to note that at the time the rules of this association were framed it was thought necessary to state: " Foreigners shall be treated in all respects with the same kindness and consideration as British subjects." The practical work was (in 1829) divided into three districts, each district laving its local committee. They consisted in—Spilsby with a Life-boat at Gibraltar Point, placed there by the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, and Manby's Apparatus at Skegness; Louth, with Life-boat at Theddlethorpe and apparatus at Ingoldmells and Theddlethorpe ; and Northern District, with Life-boat at Donna Nook (recently removed from Saltfleet) and apparatus at Saltfleet.

From the report for 1829 it appears that the state of the funds showed a balance in hand of 1241. 6s. 4d., "a sum not more than adequate to the expenses of the past year, exclusive of rewards." It is of interest to note that the name of Sir John Franklin, R.N., P.R.S., appears among the vice-presidents in 1829, and continued until the year of his last departure for the Arctic Regions in 1845, and indeed for some successive years. He was a native of Spilsby.

An incident recorded in the Annual Report for 1842 shows that rescue work was not confined to Life-boats and other boats, and the incident is not an isolated one. "Nov. 14th, 1841.—The sloop, Two Brothers, of Boston, laden with coals, struck on a sand-bank off Donna Nook in a heavy gale. The crew, consisting of the captain and two men, after remaining four hours in the rigging, were rescued from their perilous position by Joseph Osborn and others, who, with great resolution, rode into the sea and carried off the men on horseback." To those who know Donna Nook, with its miles of flat sands, interspersed with gullies, locally called " binks," this feat is not so surprising. The local fishermen used to be seen shooting their nets from carts, and possibly still do so.

The Life-boat originally placed at Gibraltar Point had, prior to 1841, been removed to Skegness, and an additional Life-boat station at Huttoft appears in the 1842 report. In 1844 the Huttoft Life-boat was removed to Sutton. We also learn from the 1844 report that a small boat was required at Ingoldmells, but it does not appear to have been placed there, and that the Coastguard Officer had kindly consented to inspect the Skegness and Ingoldmells stations.

The name of the Rev. R. W. Cracroft, so well known and revered for forty-four years subsequently, first appears, in an official capacity, in the Annual Report as having attended the meeting of the Annual Board of Governors on 22nd July, 1861, and in the report for 1862 he figures as joint secretary with the Rev. J. 'Alington and the Rev. E. Rawnsley. The value of his work in connection with the Lincolnshire Lifeboats could not be over-estimated, and the advantage of his experience was much appreciated by the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, and especially by its officers whose duties brought them in contact with him. The unflinching way in which he carried out his self-imposed duties, even in his latter days, when he was at a great age, was an object-lesson to all.

About the year 1863 the Lincolnshire Coast Shipwreck Association had to face a somewhat serious situation—its four Life-boats were old and worn out, three of the transporting carriages required replacing and the boat-houses were old and too small to- accommodate larger boats and the necessary equipment.

The Association, which had always been self-supporting, found itself with |[ a difficult problem to solve, for, in order to replace their Life-boats and carriages it would mean expending the whole of their invested capital of 1,700Z. In these circumstances it occurred to some of the members of the board to approach the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION unofficially, and the Inspector of Life-boats (Captain J. R. Ward, R.N.) was invited to be present at the biennial inspection and exhibition of the Life-boats which was to take place at Mablethorpe on the 30th July, 1863, the hon. secretary, the Rev. J. Alington, having given as a motive that the question of the expediency of their society coming into closer connection with the Institution would probably be discussed. On this occasion the matter was not referred to officially, but, at the public dinner which took place, Captain Ward took the opportunity of showing how great an advantage the closer union of the two societies would be should such a course be contemplated. Captain Ward's visit appeared to have given considerable satisfaction, and from that time the desire to amalgamate began to take concrete form. In January 1864 the question was ripe for settlement, and Captain Ward attended a meeting of the governing body at Spilsby on the llth January, at which the terms of the union •were settled. Great satisfaction was given by Captain Ward explaining that the Institution did not wish to view the question of union as one of £ s. d., but that it offered its co-operation solely with the hope of enabling the association to increase the efficiency of its Life-boat establishments.

The chief condition of the union was that, in consideration of the sum of 600Z. contributed from the funds of the association the four stations on the coast should be entirely renovated by the Life-boat Institution. Another condition was that the crews should receive quarterly training, which the funds of the association had never hitherto permitted.

By the end of 1864 the Institution had fulfilled its principal obligation.

Four new Life-boats and four new carriages, with the necessary gear, had been provided, and in addition four new boat-houses had been built, the whole expense amounting to 2,054Z. 15s. 9d It is only necessary to add that since the, as might be styled, act of union was passed, the relations between the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION and the Lincolnshire Coast Shipwreck Association have been of the most cordial and friendly description, both mutually endeavouring to keep the Life-boat stations in the most efficient condition..