Important Notice.

Owing to the continued extraordinarily high cost of all printing, and the need for economy in view of the large capital expenditure with which the Institution is at present faced, THE LIFE-BOAT will not be published in August, and the next issue, therefore, will appear in November. This decision has been taken with less reluctance than would otherwise have been the case in view of the great amount of important and interesting matter appearing in the present issue, which is practically a double number.

Annual Meeting.

THE Ninety-seventh Annual General Meeting of THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE- BOAT INSTITUTION was held at the Central Hall, Westminster, on Thurs- day, the 28th April, at 3 P.M., His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, K.G., Pre- sident of the Institution, in the Chair.

Among those present were:—The Con- sul- General for France, the Consul- General for Denmark the Consul-General for Spain, the Right Hon. the Earl Waldegrave, P.C. (Chairman of the Committee of Management), Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt. (Deputy - Chairman), the Right Hon. the Earl of Plymouth, P.C., G.B.E., C.B., the Right Hon. Walter Runciman, P.C., Miss Alice Marshall (Hon. Secretary of the Oxford Branch), Admiral the Marquess of Milf ord Haven, P.O., G.C.B., the Hon. George Colville, Admiral Sir Frederick E. E. Brock, K.C.M.G., C.B., General Sir Charles Monro, Bt., G.C.M.G., G.C.B., Admiral Sir Dudley de Chair, K.C.B., Admiral Commanding Coast-guard and Reserve, Admiral F. C. Learmouth, C.B., the Hydrographer of the Admiralty, Vice- Admiral Sir Frederick Tudor, Rear- Admiral Charles Rudd, Captain Sir Herbert Acton Blake, K.C.M.G., Deputy Master of Trinity House, Colonel Sir A.

Henry McMahon, G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O., K.C.I.E., Captain the Viscount Curzon, R.N.V.R., M.P., Major Sir Edward Coates, Bt., M.P., Sir Woodburn Kirby, Sir William Corry, Sir Maurice A.

j Cameron, Commander Sir Harry Main- , waring, Bt., R.N.V.R., Sir Keith Smith, K.B.E., Mr. Harry Hargood, O.B.E., Mr. H. P. Hussey, Mr. Andrew T.

i Taylor, J.P., L.C.C., Mr. R. H. Gillespie, ; Mr. W. Fortescue Barratt, Hon. Secre- tary of the Civil Service Life-boat Fund, | Mr. F. C. A. Coventry, Mr. Richard I White, Chairman of the General Steam I Navigation Company, Lieut.-Comman- der A. B. T. Cayzer, R.N., Chairman of the Clan Line, the Lord Mayor of Bristol, the Mayor and Mayoress of ; Wimbledon, the Mayor and Mayoress of Darlington, the Mayor and Mayoress of Rotherham, the Mayor and Mayoress : of Wakefield, the Mayor of Plymouth, : the Mayor of Tynemouth, the Mayor of Southend-on-Sea, the Mayor of Salford, the Mayor of Hornsey, the i Mayor of West Ham, the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Navy League, the Secretary of the Royal I National Mission to Deep-Sea Fisher- men, the Secretary of the Mission to Seamen, the Secretary of the Ship- ! wrecked Fishermen and Mariners Society, I the Secretary of the Carnegie Hero Fund | Trust, Commander Thomas Holmes, R.N. (late Chief Inspector of Life-boats), Captain Basil Hall, R.N. (late District Inspector of life-boats), Mr. George F. Shee, M.A. (Secretary of the Institution), Captain Howard, F. J. Rowley, C.B.E., R.N. (Chief Inspector of Life-boats), Mr. P. W. Gidney and Mr. Charles Vince (Assistant Secretaries), the Dis- trict Inspectors of Life-boats, and the District Organizing Secretaries.

H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES said: My Lords, ladies and gentlemen, I must ask you, first of all, to forgive me if I keep you rather a long time, but as the President of the Institution I have rather a long address to read to you. I hope it will not be too boring.

It is a great pleasure to me, as President of this Institution, to take the Chair for the first time at an Annual General Meeting o£ the Governors. In doing so, I am glad to carry on the close relationship between my family and the Life-boat Service, which has marked the history of the Institution since its foundation nearly a hundred years ago.

I find that I am the seventh President, the Earl of Liverpool, the then Prime Minister, having been the first President in 1824, and the other periods of office being shared by my grandfather, my father and myself with the Dukes of Northumberland, whose family have had so long and honour- able a connexion with the development of the national service of the Institution.

My deep interest in the Institution only carries on a tradition established a hundred years ago, and strengthened by my grand- father and my father. King Edward, when Prince of Wales, presided over the Annual Meeting of the Institution on three occa- sions—in 1867,1884, and 1893; and in 1899, soon after he became President, he presided at a dinner in connexion with the Life-boat Saturday Fund In 1902 he presented the Gold Medal to Thomas Haylett for his services at the Caister Life-boat disaster in the preceding November, a disaster in which Haylett lost two of his sons and one of his grandsons. At the inquest it was suggested to Haylett that the Life-boat had perhaps given up her attempted rescue in despair, and returned. It was on this occasion that the gallant old man, he was then seventy-eight years of age, made the characteristic reply : " Caister Life-boat men never turn back." My father has shown the same keen appreciation of the Life-boat Service. It is a curious coincidence that the last occasion on which a Prince of Wales was closely associated with the Institution was in May, 1908, when King George, as Prince of Wales, presented the Gold Medal to William Owen, the Coxswain of the Holy- head Steam Life-boat, Duke of Northumber- land, for the service to the steamer Harold, of Liverpool. This service -was carried out in terrible weather, with a hurricane blowing at eighty miles an hour. The Harold had been driven close to the precipitous coast of Anglesey with tremendous seas breaking round her, and it took the Life-boat two hours' manoeuvring before communication could be established with a rope, and during this period she was in constant danger of being flung against the ship. To-day I am to have the pleasure of conferring a similar honour on a Welsh Coxswain for a service which has many similar features with that rendered by Coxswain William Owen.

In April, 1915, the King sent a message to the Chairman of the Committee, express- ing his high appreciation of the " gallant service rendered by the Life-boats during the past months of the war, though they have but maintained the splendid traditions of an Institution with which the King is proud to have been for so many years so closely identified." Well, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen, I do not think I need say any more to show how deep and constant has been the interest taken in the Institution by all the members of the Royal Family. Nor could it well be otherwise. Although I am not very old, it has been my privilege, in peace and war alike, to be brought into close contact -with almost every form of beneficent activity in which the virile and generous spirit of our race shows itself. But I know of none which, while keeping the freedom of voluntary organisation and administration, more highly deserves the title of " national" than the Life-boat Service, which is man- aged, administered and maintained by THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION.

For it is national, not merely in the extent of its operations, which cover every part of the coast of the United Kingdom ; nor in the fact that each part of these Islands supplies its brave and skilful crews ; nor in the circumstance that the great majority of the ships saved and of lives rescued—now amounting to the wonderful total of over 58,000—have of necessity been British.

The national character of the Life-boat Service seems to me to lie even more in this : that it is the natural outcome of our position as the heart and centre of a maritime Empire, which owes its strength, wealth and far-flung dominion to the development of Sea Power as manifested by our Mercantile Marine and protected by our Navy. And, sprung from the sea, the Life-boat Service has drawn, from incessant contact with it, those qualities of hardihood, endurance and instant readiness for action which are indispensable to those who live by and on it. Moreover, to these qualities they add a broad and deep humanity which prompts them to launch their craft without a moment's hesitation in the face of any danger, in order to succour those who are total strangers, and whose only claim upon them is that they are their fellow-men " in peril of the sea." In the light of these facts, the-truly national character oi this great Institution stands out clearly enough.

But, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen, it is something more than this. It is universal in the scope of its beneficence. At any rate, there is no nation possessing a coastline and any ships which has not benefited, at some time or other, by the activities of our British Life-boat Service.

In this, as in every other respect, the year 1920 was typical. I have before me a list of services rendered to foreign vessels in that year. I see that our Life-boats were launched to the assistance of thirty-five foreign vessels out of a total of one hun- dred and eighty ships, and I am interested to see that the largest number of foreign ships succoured belonged to our gallant Allies the French. The rest of the list is interesting, for it includes vessels belong- ing to Spain, Russia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Germany.

It is surely a fine comment on the universality of the Institution's work that two vessels and twenty-four lives belonging to Germany were saved in 1920; and the list gives eloquent proof that the Institution has not forgotten the declaration of its founders, that its objects were " to extend to all without distinction of country in war and peace alike." I note that one of the lives lost by the Life-boats last year, was sacrificed in a service to one of these foreign countries. It is very gratifying to us, in these circumstances, that all these countries have shown their sympathy with our work by the presence of their Consular representatives here to-day. There is no doubt that the work of the Life-boat Institution is unlimited in its scope ; and, by its record of over 58,000 lives saved in peace and war—5,322 of which were rescued during the Great War—it has earned the gratitude of mankind.

But, after all, we must never forget that it is British ships and British lives that naturally benefit in the largest proportion by the activity of the Life-boat Service.

These Islands are still the centre of the World's shipping ; and in view of the great preponderance of the shipping which belongs to Britain, the vast majority of the passengers and crew are of necessity British.

Above all, our coastwise trade and the steam trawlers and drifters on which we depend for so much of our food supplies, and the hardy crews who man these vessels, are by far the most frequent objects upon which the Institution practises the chivalry of the sea. Nor would we wish that it should be otherwise. For, as the foremost maritime people, we must take the largest share in the great business of sea-borne trade, and hence, also, in the responsibility for safeguarding the lives and property of those who go down to the sea hi ships.

The Report which is in your hands de- serves careful study, for it is really an epitome of the Institution's work, especially as it deals with a year typical in every way of the Life-boat Service. I shall not at- tempt even to touch upon the many sub- jects necessarily covered by such a docu- ment. But there are three salient points which have struck me, and to which I should like to draw your attention and that of the wider public to which this Institution appeals. These three points I put in three words : machinery, men and money. I put machinery first, because it must come first in point of time. The Institution was founded to save lives from shipwreck on the coasts of the United Kingdom, and hence its first business was, and is, to pro- vide the best Life-boats, to be manned by the splendid voluntary crews who are always ready to launch them to vessels in distress. Well, at the present moment, the Institution has a fleet of 246 Life-boats of various types, the majority self-righting and including three Steam Life-boats, and twenty-six Motor Life-boats (one has gone to the coast since the end of 1920).

Now I want to draw your special attention to these Motor Life-boats, which the Institution has developed, after years of watchful experience, into a very wonderful instrument of life-saving. Throughout the history of the Institution the Committee of Management, aided by their technical staff, have ever been on the lookout to take advantage of every advance in the progress of science for the benefit of the Life-boat Service. The progress has been immense, and, alike in workmanship, in material, and in the perfect adaptation of the means to an end, the Sailing Life-boats of the Institution are the last word in Life-boat construction. But, with the advent of the petrol-driven engine, a new era opened for the Institution in 1909, when the Committee first decided to instal engines in the Life- boats. Built on the same lines as the Sailing Boats, the addition of the special engines designed by the technical officers gives a power of working against wind and tide, a range of action, and an ease of manage- ment which make them far more valuable as a life-saving agency, where the local conditions are favourable, than the Sailing Boats, admirable as the latter are. I need only recall the wreck of the hospital ship Rohilla off Whitby on the 30th October, 1914, when after five Pulling and Sailing Life- boats had for three days and nights made most gallant attempts to save the survivors, thirty-five having been saved by the Whitby Boat in the first few hours, the final rescue of the fifty survivors was effected by the Tynemouth Life-boat, which travelled forty-four miles along the unlit coast and did what the best efforts of the most undaunted Life-boat men could not effect in a Sailing Boat, in face of an on-shore gale, off that terrible, rocky coast.

Since that date, the Motor Life-boats have again and again shown how much power for good has been added to the Life-boat Service by their adoption, and I am sure you will agree with me that the Committee have been wise in deciding to complete the great programme of Motor Life-boat construction which was initiated in 1917, as and when funds allow. The cost is, however, very great. Not only are these boats three or four times as expensive as Sailing Boats—they cost from £8,000 to £9,000—but they require, in most cases, the provision of costly boat-houses and slipways, in order that the boat can be properly housed and launched into deep water without delay. As you will see from the Report, some of these slipways cost over £15,000. When you add this to the cost of the Boats, you will not be surprised at the caution which the Committee show in launching out on a scheme of such magnitude and importance. Yet this is only one aspect, although it is the most important, of what I may call the machinery of the Life-boat Service. The Institution has quite recently turned to peaceful pur- poses the Caterpillar Tractor which was found to be of such value in time of war, and I have to-day had the pleasure of seeing one of these Motor Tractors outside this building, which can be seen active on the coast in drawing the Life-boat over sandy beaches, launching her into deep water, and, eventually, hauling her up again. These ingenious engines will un- doubtedly facilitate the launch of Life- boats on many parts of the coast. Again, the Institution has adopted electric power for hauling up its Life-boats wherever these Boats are so heavy as to make manual labour slow and ineffective. It is also on the point of attaining what has long been a desideratum, namely, an effective means of communication between the Life-boat and the ship. When you reflect that too often the Life-boat has had to lie off a wreck during a winter's night, in the teeth of a gale, because it has been impossible to reach the vessel, and that when she has eventually got to the ship, she has found that some of the crew have been swept away during the night, you will realise how much an effective line-throwing gun will mean in the added capacity to reach promptly the vessel in distress, and hence to save life.

It will be gratifying to you to know that the Institution's pre-eminence in the development of the Life-boat Service is acknowledged in the most practical way by the fact that not only the Overseas Dominions, but all the other overseas countries constantly come to the Institution for advice and for plans and specifications of its Life-boats, carriages, engines, tractors, etc. Within the last few weeks it has been the pleasant duty of the Institution's officials to give such help in response to requests from Holland, Denmark, Spain Turkey, Roumania, Mexico and Uruguay.

Encouraged, therefore, by the help which science has afforded in the past, the Com mittee will continue carefully to examine every invention and every suggestion which may be put forward with a view to harnessing the progress of science to the cause of life-saving at sea.

But, as we found in the war, men are greater than machinery, and we shall all agree with the words of the Report which draw attention to the fact that the efficiency of this great Service " must ultimately depend, as it has depended in the past, on the maintenance of crews with the courage and endurance, the skill and seamanship and the intimate knowledge of the changing conditions of the coast for which our Life- boat Service has always been renowned." Such crews we shall, I feel sure, continue ;o find while we maintain around our coasts that hardy maritime population which has, for centuries past, given us not only our best fighting-men, but the bulk of the Mercantile Marine, which has carried our Flag in peaceful trading to the farthest shores of the world, and which, in the tremendous struggle from which we have emerged, rendered such magnificent ser- vice in the Mine Sweepers, the Naval Auxiliaries, aye, and the merchant ships, which carried our men and our war material with undaunted courage and tenacity hi the face of the most deadly perils. Such crews you have, I am glad to say, on every part of the coast, and such a crew you will have before you here to-day. On the 2nd December last the Fishguard Motor Life- boat performed a magnificent service, which gained for the Coxswain, John Howells, the Gold Medal of the Institution, the V.C. of the Life-boat Service. When, presently, you will have heard an account of this service, it will be a very great privilege to me to present the Medal to this man. But while you applaud his courage, his endurance and his seamanship, I would ask you to remember that you see in him not only a typical Coxswain but a repre- sentative of the crews which, on the Welsh coast, and on every part of the British shores, are prepared to risk everything in order to carry out their noble, voluntary and self-imposed task.

Nor must we forget that these men in their battle with the elements are constantly face to face with dangers which too often demand the sacrifice of life. By a striking coincidence, the glory and the tragedy of the Life-boat Service are exemplified by two instances which are touched on in the present Report, and which were separated from one another by only a few hours. On the 3rd December, only a few hours after the Fishguard Life-boat had returned from her perilous and successful exploit, the Rhoscolyn Life-boat, on another part oi the Welsh coast, while engaged in a similar task, went over on her beam ends and threw out several of the crew. Although she righted herself at once, we have to deplore the loss of the Coxswain and four of the gallant crew. We are thus reminded that the victories of this peace- ful Service are not obtained without grievous loss. And remember that when these gallant men lose their lives, there are always widows and orphans to be looked after. The Institution has, from its earliest days, done its utmost to alleviate the sorrow and distress of those who suffer from the loss of the breadwinner, and, in 1917, a Pension Scheme was adopted, based broadly on the scheme of pensions given to the widows of soldiers and sailors who lose their lives in the service oi the country. In this, as in almost every other direction, the Institution has, in the last few years, considerably increased the scale of awards for services and the remuneration for exercises, as well as the retaining fees of Coxswains, Second Coxswains, etc.

These decisions have added a very heavy burden on the funds of the Institution.

And this brings me to my third point. It is impossible to contemplate the vast extent of the Institution's work, the broad humane purpose which it pursues, or the splendid men, numbering some six or seven thousand, who man its Life-boats, without being struck by the fact that this mighty organisation for good is maintained at such a small cost, under a quarter of a million a year, and that that cost is provided solely by the voluntary contributions of the generous public. When you hear, as you have so often heard, of the work of the Life-boat Service, I am sure that your feeling, and that of the Nation at large, one of heartfelt admiration for the crews and of gratitude to the Institution. But I am sometimes inclined to think that the very efficiency with which the Institution carries out its work, coupled with the fact that most of it is done in the darkness of the stormy night, and on an element with which the majority are only familiar in its gentler moods, makes many people blind to the claims of the Life-boat Service on every one of us for such measure of support as we can afford. Indeed, although the Institution has been at work for nearly hundred years, I believe that a very large number of people are still unaware of its existence, and imagine that the Life-boat Service is run by the State, or, apparently, by some Providence which does not require any help from us. Now it can never be too strongly emphasised that the Institution receives not a penny by way of grant or subsidy from the State, and that the whole its great work is entirely dependent on the free gifts of the British people. It would surely be a sad thing if it were otherwise, and if we, the first maritime nation, should be so forgetful of the claims of the seafarers who approach and leave our shores, so wanting in pride in the great traditions of our voluntary Life-boat Service, to have to go to the State and ask to shoulder additional burdens which we ought to be only too ready to bear. If the Institution is to be enabled to carry on its work with undiminished strength, energy, and success, it will need all the help that a generous public can give. For I note with concern that the year 1920 shows a, deficit £12,000 on the financial operations, and that the Committee feel considerable anxiety as to their ability to meet the very heavy expenditure involved—amounting over half a million sterling—in the large scheme of Motor Life-boat construction, unless it is spread over a considerably longer period than would be desirable in the interests of the highest efficiency. These are matters which, as I say, give rise to some anxiety. On the other hand, it is very encouraging to find that a number of generous persons have presented donations for the construction of Motor Lifeboats, and that an increasing number have seized the opportunity of linking their name, or that of someone who has paid the supreme sacrifice in the Great War, with the Life-boat Service by similar gifts for Motor Life-boats which are still under construction; and certainly I can imagine no memorial more fit to commemorate a noble death on the field of battle than a living instrument of life-saving which will foster and maintain among our crews the highest kind of fighting spirit.

It is very encouraging, too, to see that the great cities are coming forward generously in response to the special appeal for the Motor Life-boat scheme, and I have very little doubt that the shipping community, which has the greatest stake in the lives of. .our seafaring population, will support its customary generosity a form of national activity which makes such a special appeal to their patriotism and public spirit.

Nor do I hesitate to share the confidence of the Committee of Management that the Army will take its place by the side of the Navy in showing open-hearted and practical sympathy with a form of heroism and selfsacrifice which is so much akin to that which inspires the Forces of the Crown.

Ladies and gentlemen, more than this is needed, and I think the Committee of Management have come to a very wise decision in founding a Ladies' Life-boat Guild in order to bring into closer union and co-operation the women whose personal service on behalf of the Life-boat Cause has already done so much to commend it to the support of men and women of all classes.

This is not the first time that the Life-boat Service has appealed to women in the hour of need. Over and over again through the history of the Institution, we have the record of women coming forward to assist their husbands, brothers, or sons in launching the Life-boat. The name of Grace Darling comes down through the years with its example of heroic effort in life-saving exerted by a delicate girl. Among the long roll of heroes whose names illustrate the annals of the Institution, her name and that of her father hold a proud place as the recipients of the Silver Medal of the Institution. Only the other day the women of the little Northumberland village of Boulmer went into the sea waist-high in helping to launch the Life-boat. And, as the Report shows, thousands of women hi every part of the United Kingdom, rich high ' ' - - - - - and poor, high and low—and I should particularly like to pay a warm tribute to the work of large numbers of women in humble circumstances—thousands of these women have shown that they are moved by the same spirit of mercy and helpfulness as actuated Grace Darling and the women of many a little fishing village scattered j around our coast. These women have, in ] their way, rendered magnificent service to the Life-boat Cause. Without them, it would have been almost impossible to ' organise successfully those appeals, es- pecially in the shape of Life-boat Day : efforts, which bring the claims of the In-stitution to the sympathetic attention of j the million. I feel sure that you and they will welcome the Institution's decision to j form a bond of union among all these women i in the establishment of the Ladies' Life- boat Guild, and it is a great satisfaction I to me to be able to announce that the Duchess of Portland, from whom I had a , letter this morning very much regretting being unable to be present this afternoon, has consented to act as President of the Guild. The Duchess is no new friend of the Life-boat Cause. For years past she has been a prominent and active worker through- out the County of Nottingham, and only those who have been brought into frequent ~.

contact with her know how much, enthu-siasm and zeal her own keen interest in charitable work, but above all, in the Life- boat Service, has inspired in that county.

My Lords, ladies and gentlemen, as I have said before, the Institution is approach- ing its Centenary Year. It is face to face with very heavy commitments and very heavy expenditure in its efforts still further to improve the Life-boat Service of which we are so proud. It will continue to aim at giving the Life-boat men the best boats and equipment which science can devise and money can provide, and it will aim at encouraging in every possible way the splendid spirit, the skill and seamanship j of the crews which man those boats. I I am confident that, with the enthu-siastic help and devotion of British women, and the generous help of all classes of the community, the Institution will be able to carry out these high aims, and to con- tinue undiminished and unimpaired a service which is the natural outcome of our maritime position, and the humane and heroic corollary of Sea Power.

The SECRETARY (Mr. George F. Shee, M.A.): Your Royal Highness, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen, this paper, which is signed by Lord Waldegraye, the Chair- man, nominates the following noblemen and gentlemen as suitable persons to fill the various offices in connection with the Institution during the period dating from the 28th April, 1921, until the Annual General Meeting of the Governors in 1922.

(The Secretary read the list of nominations.) President.

H.B.H. the Prince of Wales, K.G.

Vice-Presidents.

His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, P.O., G.C.V.O.

His Grace the Duke of Leeds.

His Grace the Duke of Portland, K.G., P.O., G.C.V.O.

His Grace the Duke of Northumberland, C.B.E., M.V.O.

The Most Hon. the Marquis of Ailsa.

The Right Hon. the Karl of Derby, K.G., P.O., G.C.V.O., C.B.

The Right Hon. the Earl of Rosebery, K.G., K.T., P.C.

The Right Hon. the Earl Waldegrave, P.C.

The Earl of Lonsdale.

The Right Hon. the Earl of Plymouth, P.C., G.B.E., C.B Admiral of the Fleet the Viscount Jellicoe of Scapa, G.C.B., O.M., G.C.V.O.

The Right Hon. the Lord Strathelyde, P.C., G.B.E.

Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt.

Treasurer.

The Earl of Harrowby.

Committee 0} Management.

The President.

The Vice-Presidents.

The Treasurer.

The Right Hon. the Earl Waldegrave, P.C., Chairman.

Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt., Deputy-Chairman.

The Lord Airedale.

The Earl of Albemarle, K.C.V.O., C.B.

Frederick Cavendish Bentinck, Esq.

Admiral Sir Frederick E. E. Brock, K.C.M.G., C.B.

Major Sir Maurice Cameron, K.C.M.G.

Captain Charles J. P. Cave.

Kenneth M. Clark, Esq.

Harold D. Clayton, Esq.

Major Sir Edward Feetham Coates, Bt., M.P.

The Hon. George Colville.

Sir William Corry, Bt.

Sir John G. dimming, K.C.I.E., C.S.I.

Captain the Viscount Curzon, R.N.V.R., M.P.

Henry R. Fargus, Esq John Bevill Forteacue, Esq.

R. H. Gillespie, Esq.

Major Ralph Glyn, M.C., M.P.

Engineer Vice-Admiral Sir George G.

Goodwin, K.C.B.

The Earl of Hardwicke.

Harry Hargood, Esq., O.B.E.

Vice-Admiral Sir Colin Keppel, K.C.I.E., K.C.V.O., C.B., D.S.O.

Sir Woodburn Kirby.

Brigadier-General Noel M. Lake, C.B.

S. F. Lamb, Esq.

Herbert F. Lancashire, Esq.

Charles Livingston, Esq; Colonel Sir A. Henry McMahon, G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O., K.C.I.E., C.S.I.

Commander Sir Harry Mainwaring, Bt., R.N.V.R.

The Most Hon. the Marquis of Milford Haven, P.C., G.C.B., G.C.V.O., K.C.M.G.

Captain George B. Preston.

Engineer Rear-Admiral Charles Rudd.

The Right Hon. Walter Runciman.

Major-General The Right Hon. John E.

Bernard Seely,C.B.,C.M.G., D.S.O..M.P.

Rear-Admiral Hector B. Stewart.

Commander Francis Fitzpatrick Tower, R.N.V.R.

The Lord Tredegar, O.B.E.

Commodore Sir Richard Henry Williams- Bulkeley, Bt., C.B., R.N.R.

The Right Hon. the Lord Mayor of London.

The Admiral Commanding Coast Guard and Reserves.

The Deputy Master of the Trinity House.

The Hydrographer of the Admiralty.

The Chairman of Lloyd's.

Auditors.

Messrs. Price, Waterhouse & Co.

H.R.H. THE PRINCE of WALES : I declare these Gentlemen duly elected. I now call upon the Secretary to read the account of the services rendered for which the Medals on this table have been awarded.

The SECRETARY : Your Royal Highness, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen, on the evening of the 3rd December, 1920, the three-masted Dutch motor schooner Hermina, which was anchored outside Fishguard breakwater, was seen burning flares as signals of distress, and the Motor Life-boat was launched. A whole gale from the north was blowing, and by the time the Life-boat reached her, the Hermina had dragged her anchors and was grinding heavily on the rocks with tremendous seas making a clean breach over her. The Life- boat was anchored and veered down to her, but it was only with the greatest difficulty and at great risk that she was able to get ropes on board. The sea was lifting the Life-boat into her rigging, and once had it not been that the rigging pre- vented it the Boat would have been dashed down on the schooner's deck. In spite of these difficulties seven of the crew were safely taken off, but the captain and two mates refused to leave their vessel although the Coxswain implored them to come, warning them that with the rising tide the Hermina would soon be dashed to pieces against the cliffs.

While the rescue was being carried out the Motor Mechanic discovered that the Life-boat was leaking, and, although he made repeated efforts, he could not re-start the engine. The Life-boat, with the seven rescued men on board, was in extreme peril.

Then no sooner had she cast off from the wreck than her mizzen became unhooked, and was blown to ribbons, leaving her with only the main sail set If her position was perilous before, it was now almost hopeless ; but, in response to the call of the Coxswain, the Second Coxswain and one of the crew, Thomas Holmes, at once crawled out on the forward end box, and, with the great seas breaking over them, succeeding in reeving the jib tack so that the jib might be set.

There is little doubt that the prompt action of these brave men saved the Life-boat and all on board of her. At midnight, three hours after she left the wreck, the Life-boat reached Fishguard. Immediately afterwards distress signals were again seen burning on the Hermina. It was impossible for the Life-boat to return, but the Board of Trade Life-Saving Apparatus was in readiness at the top of the cliff, and succeeded, when day came, in rescuing the captain and first mate. The second mate had already been washed overboard and drowned. One of the volunteer crew of the Apparatus, Mr. William Morgan, to whom the Com- mittee have awarded the Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum, was lowered down the cliff to bring up the mate, who was lying exhausted and helpless on a ledge of rock with the waves washing over him.

Great courage and determination were shown by all concerned in this successful and dangerous service. But these qualities alone would not have been enough. With- out fine seamanship on the part of the Coxswain, and the readiest obedience on the part of all the crew, it would never have been possible to bring the Life-boat, water- logged as she was, away from a lee shore, with sheer cliffs behind her, in face of a whole gale.

(H.R.H. the Prince of Wales then pre- sented the Gold Medal to Coxswain John Howells, Silver Medals to Second Coxswain Thomas Oakley Davies, Motor Mechanic Robert Edwin Simpson and Life-boat man Thomas Holmes, Bronze Medals to the re- maining members of the crew, and the Thanks of the Institution, inscribed on Vellum, to Mr. William Morgan.

The EARL ov PLYMOUTH : Your Royal Highness, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen : The great difficulty that I really feel in recommending to the support of this meet- ing the resolution that I am about to read is, that anything that I can say in its support is already fully recognised by the whole Nation. The resolution reads thus : " That this Meeting, fully recognising the important services of THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION in its National work of Life-Saving, desires to record its hearty appreciation of the gallantry of the Coxswains and Crews of the Institution's Lite-boats, and grate- fully to acknowledge the valuable help rendered to the cause by the Local Com- mittees, Honorary Secretaries, Honorary Treasurers, and Ladies' Auxiliaries." Now there is no one in the whole country (one can say this with confidence) whose heart is not thrilled by the accounts which we read of the gallant rescues that are made by the Coxswains and the crews of our Life-boats all round the coast of Great Britain and Ireland, and I should only be labouring the point if I said anything more, I think, than His Royal Highness has said, in the most interesting address that he has given to us of the work of the sailors and of our fishermen are to be found in our Life-boat crews, and I have no hesita- tion in saying that the cream of our fishing communities are those who man the Life- boats of this Institution Not only do they show their characteristic courage in the work which they do in all weathers and under all conditions, but they bear them- selves with sailor-like modesty. You have had an example to-day in the Fishguard crew, who, if I may use a very plain English word, combine with modesty a jolly demeanour They, however, would be the first to admit that their action and their record is not singular, and that every crew of the Life-boats round the coast of these islands would show equal courage and tenacity and ingenuity under similar circum- stances. If such is the character of the men who serve us afloat, the duty then falls on us all the more heavily of giving them the best material that money can buy. The Life-boat was, I believe, invented in what I am still proud to call my birthplace—in South Shields ; but the Life-boat of South Shields was a very primitive craft, and its great successor, which was called the Tyne, which not only succeeded in saving over 1,000 lives, but, I believe, in drowning more than one crew, has been superseded by some of the best designed craft in the world. Mr. G. L. Watson, who was the designer of one of the most beautiful and brilliant yachts which ever sailed the sea, the Britannia, also provided our Life-boat men with the best designed craft for rough water that have been devised, and we are fortunate in still having the technical services of the late Mr. Watson's firm for carrying through the construction of all the new vessels which we place around the coasts. The difference that is made to the Life-boat men by the provision of motors in the Life-boats is far greater than the difference between a sailing fishing-boat and a motor fishing- boat ; the range of action of both is ex- tended, but the safety of the crews of the Life-boats themselves and of the vessels which they save is greatly increased. It is not only our privilege to employ highly technical men to design these craft and to construct them ; it is our privilege to find the funds whereby our Life-boat men can have their area of service extended, and extended at a diminished risk. We are in the unfortunate position of having to pay higher prices now for our Life-boats than ever before in the history of shipbuilding, and, if we have not sufficient funds for the purpose, the Institution's programme for the construction of Motor Life-boats must be postponed. There may have to be an interval of two or even three years in that programme unless the money is forthcoming.

My own personal view is that such a post- ponement would be unfair to our Life-boat men, but, if that be the correct view, it is then all the more our bounden duty to provide the necessary funds. There is an alternative to providing the funds volun- tarily, and that is to place the Institution under State control. I have had the privi- lege of seeing State control both from inside and from outside, and I do not hesitate to say that, if the Institution were controlled by the State and administered by a Govern- ment Department (a great many of them are more efficient than many of us believe), it would not be one-half as well done as it is by the voluntary Committee of Management, its technical staff, and its supporters through- out the country. And, indeed, even if that were not so, I think it would be discreditable to a sea-faring race that they do not, out of their own abundance, provide the necessary support for their Life-boat Service. Our President has stated so admirably to-day the maui claims and the future responsibi- lities of the Institution, that nothing need be added to his speech, except that I would wish that every one of our supporters throughout the country, and those count- less thousands who only hear of the In- stitution indirectly, might be imbued with the same spirit which has inspired our President.

(The Resolution was put to the meeting and carried unanimously.) Lord WALDEGRAVE : Your Royal High- ness, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen, it is my privilege, as Chairman of the Committee of Management, to have the honour of moving a vote of thanks to His Royal Highness, and in so doing I beg to speak on behalf of all the supporters of the Institution and give him their heartfelt thanks for coming and presiding here to- day. In doing so he has followed in the footsteps of his father and his grandfather, and has continued to show that personal interest in the welfare of the Institution which has been shown by all British monarchs and members of the Royal Family since its foundation, when King George IV.

became its first Patron. In expressing the gratitude of all supporters of the Institution, I think I may say that that practically con- stitutes all the people of the Kingdom, for there must be hardly any man or woman who has not at one time or other felt a feeling of gratitude towards our Life-boats' crews, who watch the dangers of the sea- farers of all countries, and especially of this country. There are two groups of people who ought to be specially cheered and encouraged by His Royal Highness's interest in this Institution, because he has served his country both as sailor and soldier, and has put into actual practice the words of his motto, which, we are glad to learn, from recent investigation is not German in origin, but comes from Gelderland, which is much more closely akin to our Anglo- Saxon dialect than the German. First of all there are the Life-boat men. them- selves, who we know are, in peril, in sympathy with fellow seafarers in distress, and are actuated by the courage and splen- did endurance which have made their name proverbial. There is not one member of the Life-boats' crews scattered around our 1,500 miles of coast who will not feel encouraged and cheered by the interest shown in their Cause by His Royal Highness to-day. The other great group who will feel much encouragement is the thousands of men and women who have already been alluded to throughout the length and breadth of the country, who take a keen interest in the welfare of the Institution, and give their time, energy, and even health, to doing their best to support it; and we are glad to see so many of them here to-day, I especially Miss Alice Marshall, of the well-known Oxford Branch, and I am sure that, in returning to their work in the country, they will carry back with them a message of courage which will give great and glowing results in future years. I do not think, as His Royal Highness and Lord Plymouth and Mr. Runciman have touched so much on the financial question, that T need repeat it, but you know how much we want support from all our countrymen ; the cost of labour and materials has gone up, and the cost of maintaining an Institution like this in- creases, but I am sure, after the great interest His Royal Highness has shown here to-day, the Committee of Management need feel no anxiety for the future, and may look forward to the Centenary with calm.

I beg to move : " That the hearty and respectful thanks of this Meeting be given to H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, for presiding over this, the Ninety - Seventh Annual General Meeting of THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE- BOAT INSTITUTION." Sir GODFREY BAKING : Your Royal High ness, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen, it is my high honour and privilege to be allowed to second this resolution. The words of the vote of thanks are, of necessity, somewhat cold and formal in tone, but when the vote is actually put to the Meeting, His Royal Highness will see that our thanks come from our hearts. There seems to me to be something strikingly and specially appro- priate that one who personifies in his own character the highest attributes of the English race, courage, chivalry and modesty, should present rewards to our Life-boat men, who are nothing themselves unless they are courageous, chivalrous, and modest. The demands on His Royal High- ness's time are, we know, overwhelming in number and bewildering in variation. He has almost solved the difficult problem of perpetual motion ; and even to read the record of his activities leaves one in a state of respectful breathlessness ; but I venture to say that of all the great causes which His Royal Highness encourages and helps by the fact of his presence, and the en- couragement of his eloquent words, there is no nobler, no more worthy, no more truly national cause than that of the Life-boat Institution. I hope on many future occasions our President will preside at our Annual Meetings, and perhaps we might arrange on a suitably stormy and windy day that His Royal Highness should go out on what is called " a practice exercise." May I say that he would find it almost as exhilarating as riding a steeplechase—and far less expensive ? Ladies and gentlemen, there was one matter connected with securing the necessary money to carry on the Institution of which I heard with great pleasure, and that was the establishment of a Ladies' Life-boat Guild. We, on the Com- mittee of Management, anticipate great things from that Guild. We hope we shall be able to rake in a good deal of money, and it has led the Institution to take a step which I can only describe as being revolu- tionary in character. We have placed two ladies on our Organising Sub-Committee.

I think, since the passing of the Great Reform Bill, there has been no greater revolution than that ; but, may I say at once to those who may be, perhaps, a little nervous at such revolutionary proceedings, that this is not our old and esteemed friend the thin end of the wedge—it would be un- chivalrous to compare a lady with anything so prosaic and dull as a wedge—but we do think the ladies who do so much for us in securing money, and who work so hard for the Life-boat Cause, have some reason to claim representation on one of the Sub- Committees of our Committee of Manage- ment. Your Royal Highness, these are difficult and trying times, but, encouraged by to-day's proceedings, the Committee of Management will face the future with courage and hope. For nearly one hundred years we have relied on the generous sub- scriptions of a sympathetic public. They have not failed us in the past, they will not fail us in the future. The work of the Life- boat Institution is often difficult, onerous, and complex ; but there is not a man or woman associated with our Institution who does not love the work, and does not feel it an honour to be connected with so great and beneficent an organisation. It is because your Royal Highness's presence here to-day has done so much to encourage and inspire our workers, and to reward them for the great efforts they have made in the past, that it gives me such pride and pleasure to be allowed to second the resolution.

(The Resolution was put to the Meeting and carried unanimously.) H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES : My Lords, ladies and gentlemen, I am afraid you are having rather an over-dose of me this afternoon ; I am not going to read another address, but I want to thank Lord Waldegrave and Sir Godfrey Baring for the very kind words they have used, and all of you ladies and gentlemen for your vote of thanks—although I am sure that the thanks are not for me at all. It is a very great pleasure to me to come and take the chair to-day, and the vote of thanks should go to all those who have done such splendid work, and such successful work, for the Institution. Talking about the Life-boat exercises, I was very near to taking part in one of those at Newquay some ten years ago, only I think the Secretary thought that it might be better for me not to go.

However, I hope to have an opportunity one of these days.* I think we should all like to offer our heartiest congratulations to the splendid crew of the Fishguard Life-boat on the award of their medals. I can assure you that I shall always take the greatest possible interest in THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, and that I wish it every possible success—which it so fully deserves. Thank you very much.

* The Prince went out in the St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly, Motor Life-boat on the 21st May, during his tour through his Duchy of Cornwall.—EDITOR, The Life-Boat.