IT is with great regret that we have to announce the retirement, under the age limit, of Commander Thomas Holmes, R.N., the Chief Inspector of Life-boats, on completing twenty-seven years' service, and we feel sure that our regret will be shared by all who have come in contact with this able officer, and not least by the coxswains and crews of the Eastern and Irish Districts where he acted as Inspector of lifeboats Commander Holmes, who was invalided out of the Navy in 1884, joined the Institution as Inspector of the Irish District in 1892, and was transferred to the Eastern District in 1893; being promoted to the position of Deputy Chief Inspector in 1908 ; and to Chief Inspector in 1909, on the retirement of the late Commander St.Vincent Nepean.

He has thus held the post of Chief Inspector for ten years, being assisted till the outbreak of war by Commander (now Captain) Rowley, C.B.E., R.N. These last ten years have seen the most important development in the Service since the adoption of steam power enabled the Institution to add several Steam Lifeboats to its fleet. For in this period the petrol engine has been made an integral part of the equipment for life the COMMANDER T. Late Chief Inspector saving ;oii the coast. Starting with experimental engines, which were announce | stalled in some pulling and sailing boats, life the system has been steadily developed till the Institution has produced an engine adapted to its own special requirements, and answering to the altogether exceptional demands of the Life-boat Service. Based upon an engine supplied by Messrs. J. Tylor & Sons, Ltd., our engine has been modified and improved to the specifications of the Institution's technical officers, and we now have an engine which would have been the motive power of a fleet of at least 25 boats of various types had not the war arrested, and, subsequently, paralysed our work of construction.

As it is, matters are so far advanced that the Institution has in hand the provision of some fifty of these splendid boats as soon as the industrial con- T. HOLMES, R.N. ditions allow of Inspector of Life-boats. steady progress being made.

Although this departure was initiated while Commander Nepean was Chief Inspector, it is no injustice to that officer to say that the whole of the development and practical progress has been carried out during Commander Holmes's tenure of office. With no special technical training in machinery, but with years of practical experience in the handling of Life-boats under every ' condition, including the difficult problem of the launch and return of boats of various types, from every kind of shore, rocky or sandy, precipitous or shelving, Commander Holmes watched the investigations and directed the experiments of the expert Surveyors of Life-boats and machinery, and applied the results thus obtained, the outcome being the present splendid Life-boats of three types— Watson, Self-righting, and Norfolk and Suffolk—the largest being a 45 ft. by 12 ft. 6 in. boat, with an engine of 60 horse-power and a speed of 8 knots.

The development of this fine instrument of life-saving has, 'of course, enabled the Institution to make far-reaching plans for the increased efficiency of the Life- boat Service, and, as has been indicated in the last four Annual Reports, a scheme has been elaborated for converting a large proportion of the boats into Motor Life-boats. In the elaboration of this scheme Commander Holmes's great experience has been of the utmost value, and he has the satisfaction of knowing that his proposals, based upon the reports of the Inspectors and the Engineers with regard to each station, have been adopted, and that a programme of construction is in hand which should provide the Institution, by about 1924, with a noble fleet of Motor Life- boats.

Another important factor in the efficiency of the Service has occupied Commander Holmes's careful attention, and has been the subject of long-continued and elaborate experiments. We refer to the Kapok life-belt, of which the newest patterns confer a measure of safety, coupled with freedom of movement for the arms, which has never before been obtained; a fact which will, we trust, in time overcome the prejudices which many of our Life-boat men feel with regard to any new development, especially when it is accompanied, as it must be admitted is the case here, with a somewhat clumsy appearance.

It will be seen that, even from the purely technical point of view, Com- mander Holmes's tenure of office has been an extremely important one in the development of the Institution's great work of life-saving on the coast, and the burden of responsibility thrown upon its chief technical officer has, on that score alone, been a heavy one.

But, in addition, it so happened that this busy and fruitful period coincided for the last five years with the outbreak and progress of the Great War which, while it hampered and hindered the Institution's programme of construction to a degree of which the public have no conception, also brought to the Life- boat Service opportunities of humane and heroic activity such as no similar period of time has ever afforded. Nor is it necessary to refer here to the manner in which the Institution and its gallant crews answered to the call.

But the work and the responsibility thrown on the Chief Inspector were immense. Deprived at the outbreak of war of nearly all—and eventually of all—the District Inspectors of Life-boats and of his chief- assistant, the Deputy Chief Inspector (Commander Rowley), Commander Holmes found himself faced with the task of maintaining the effi- ciency of the Service at a moment when the demands upon it were greater than at any previous period, while at the same time the war took away in rapid succession men who, whether as as- sistant surveyors of machinery, motor mechanics, or members of the Life-boat crews, were indispensable to the work on the coast, to say nothing of the loss of experienced members of the clerical staff in his office and at the Store yard.

These difficulties, which would have been sufficient to appal many men of equal ability, found Commander Holmes quite unshaken, and determined to get the last ounce of efficiency out of every Life-boat which could, by hook or by crook, be kept on the active list. Only these who, like the writer, have had the privilege of working day by day with Commander Holmes's constant assist- ance can appreciate to the full his imper- turbable optimism, his unruffled temper, his unrelaxing grip of the work in hand, and his unfailing consideration for all his colleagues and subordinates. The former qualities have left their stamp on everything which passed through Commander Holmes's hands, while the latter has left a warm place in the hearts of all who have been in contact with him. They will assuredly join with the writer of this note in wishing the retiring Chief Inspector many years of good health to enjoy the peace and leisure which he has so fully earned, and will associate themselves with the utmost cordiality with the following resolution of the Committee of Manage- ment, which was passed at the last meeting at which he was present:— "That the most cordial thanks of the Committee of Management be accorded to Commander Thomas Holmes, R.N., for his long, distinguished and most valuable services to THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, and that this Committee desires to place on record their high esteem and regard for Commander Holmes both as an officer of the Institution and as a friend.".