IN his speech at the Annual General Meeting the Prince of Wales said that he hoped one day to have an oppor- tunity of going out in a Life-boat. This opportunity came when, a month later, he made his tour through his Duchy of Cornwall, and visited the Isles of Scilly.

One of the incidents of that two days' ! visit was a trip in the new Motor Life- j boat at St. Mary's, which took place j immediately after the Prince had un- veiled the War Memorial of the Isles. We quote the description which appeared in the Western Morning News and Mercury from the pen of Sir Herbert Russell:— " The Atlantic curled in subdued murmuring notes upon the sand below, and the wind whispered in low, rustling through the little glen as we filed out in solemn silence. But the melancholy of this moving requiem refused to be nursed under the spell of this joyous May morning, and by the time we had reached the Life-boat House, perched under the pinnacle of Cam Thomas Rock, we were back in the crowded hour of life. The Elsie, brilliant in her coat of blue and white enamel, had been brought j forth from her shed, and rested slantwise on the launching-slip, with triangles of flags flickering from her masts. This magnificent Life-boat, presented by the Right Hon. Arnold Morley in memory of his wife, has a fine record since she first started on her splendid career on the 3rd March, 1920. One of her latest exploits was the rescue of twenty-four German seamen from the Hamburg steamer Hathor, in the howling blackness of the 2nd December last, one of the most gallant and hazardous feats ever per- formed in the annals of Life-boat work, to which full tribute is paid in a letter from the German Embassy displayed in the Boat House.* " The men, a statuesque array of bronzed and burly seafarers, stood drawn up in their life-belts and red stocking caps, under CoxswainLethbridge. With each of them the Prince shook hands and exchanged a few words.

" Then ' Man the boat, boys,' was the cry. There was a rush for the craft, the Prince, yielding to the infectious excite- ment, scrambling inwards with the rest.

The haul-up stopper was released, and with her motor beginning to whirr, the Life-boat sped down the slip and took the water with a fine burst of spray. For half-an-hour the Elsie cruised about the Sound. The Prince yarned with Cox- swain Lethbridge, and learned of the poor man's sorrow when, his five sons having served unscathed throughout the war, two of them were drowned whilst fishing twelve months ago. He asked the crew to tell him some of their life- saving experiences, and promptly had them all talking at once. With half a score of unfinished thrills still ringing in his ears his Royal Highness stepped ashore at St. Mary's Pier." It should be added to this account that the Prince, like the good sailor he is, " paid his footing " on the Life- boat.

* This service was described in the February issue ot-_The Life-Boat..