THE War, which caused such an inter- ruption in neatly every branch of national and international life, very soon led to a complete cessation of the exchange of journals and reports between this Institution and the Life-boat Services of our Allies and neutrals. Needless to say, therefore, this interruption was immediately felt in the case of enemy States. Hence, it was not until a few weeks ago that I received a batch of the reports of the German Life-Boat Society dating from the year 1913-14 to the year 1920-21. It must be gratifying, however, to friends of humanity and to the great cause of life-saving which we represent that the Institution was able, shortly after the termination of hostili-ties in the spring of 1920, to assist the German Life-Boat Society by using its influence with the Admiralty to prevent the destruction of that part of the harbour of Heligoland in which the German Motor Life-boat could alone find safe anchorage, an action for which the Institution received the warm thanks of the German Society in June, 1920.

Since then, the Institution has, in accordance with its traditions, readily given the German Society the benefit of its unique experience in the development of the Motor Life-boat and its usefulness for certain parts of the coast.

Even a brief survey of the reports to which I have alluded is necessarily of the greatest interest. I propose, there.fore, to give here some brief jottings, showing the position of the German Society just before the War, its activities and vicissitudes during the War, and the results which the territorial losses brought about by the Treaty of Ver- sailles effected.

As was stated in The. Life-Boat of November, 1913, the German Society was founded in 1865, and was, until the revolution, always under the patronage of the Kaiser. It received much valued support from him, and especially from his brother, Prince Henry, whose dis- tinguished naval position naturally led him to take a great interest in the Life- boat Service. The German Society, like the French, the Spanish, the Portuguese, and several others, has always pursued a two-fold activity by the provision of Life-boats and Rocket Apparatus, which latter, in Britain, are under the Board of Trade, which took over their manage- ment and control in 1855.

In 1914 the Society had 76 Life-boats, and 51 Rocket Apparatus Stations, and had, at that date, saved 3,997 persons, of whom the great majority, 3,392, had been saved by Life-boats from 643 wrecks, the balance of 605 being saved by the Rocket Apparatus from 114 wrecks.

It was the custom in normal times for the German Society to lay down a scheme for the provision of Life-boats, Boathouses, and Slipways, on which a report was furnished in the following year. The provisions for the year 1914 included the following important under- takings :—Three open Motor Life-boats, Three ordinary Life-boats. The installa- tion of a motor in one of the decked sailing-boats.

Accordingly, a 36 foot Motor Life-boat was provided for Cuxhaven, and a simi- lar boat for Heligoland, while the boat at List was provided with a 30 h.p.

Daimler engine.

The following Motor Life-boats were provided with electrical searchlights :— Cuxhaven, Heligoland, List, Laboe, Warnemiinde West, Athmatmundung.

The Report for 19] 4-15 brings us fully into the War years. The first paragraph of the Report states that the work of the Society has been " immensely inter- rupted and arrested " by the progress of hostilities, which is particularly regretted, as it was about to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of its foundation. A warm tribute is paid to two of the chief founders of the Society, namely, Dr. A. Emminghaus, whose enthusiastic work led to the union of a number of small societies to form the one chief Life-saving Society; and to the first President, H. H. Meier, whose close association with German maritime ex- pansion, and especially with the develop- ment of the North German Lloyd, had brought him into close connexion with, and finally to the Presidency of, the Life-Boat Society.

Dr. Emminghaus was still alive in 1915, while Mr. Meier had died in 1898, after he had witnessed the realisation of his aims in seeing the last Life-boat Station which was administered by the Prussian State handed over to the voluntary organ- isation of the Life-Boat Society. It is curious, by the way. to note that even Germany, which has been the main advocate and most conspicuous example of the absorption of all public activities by the State, in accordance with Treitschke's ideals, should have realised very early in the day the advantages for the Life- boat Service of a voluntary administra- tion, of voluntary crews, supported by the voluntary contributions of the generous public; and the advent of the revolution and of a Labour-Socialist Government has so far not affected the freedom of the Society as a voluntary organisation. This fact may well give pause to those who so frequently insist upon the desirability of the Institution's work being undertaken by the State ! It is a striking coincidence, indeed, that, in Britain, the Government Depart- ment most closely concerned with mari- time affairs (as distinct from the Navy) has just arranged with the Institu- tion to take over the last Station, which has till now been administered by the said Government Department, although the Boat has always been provided by the Institution since 1865.* The same report states that there were 1500 crews at 133 Stations, such crews including, of course, all the crews of Rocket Apparatus as well as the crews of * See previous article, " The Ramsgate Station." the Life-boats. The number of lives saved up to the 1st April, 1915, had risen to 4,136; 3,527 of which were rescued by Life-boats from 655 wrecks, the balance being saved by the Eocket Apparatus.

In this report, too, mention is made of the fact that nineteen Life-boatmen had lost their lives in the fifty years of the Society's history. It is a comment on the extraordinary number of the Life- boat Services carried out by the Institu- tion, and of the more dangerous charac- ter of our coast, that the number of Life- boatmen who lost their lives from 1851 to 1920, i.e., seventy years, was 233.

Unfortunately, we have no accurate record of the loss of life previous to 1851, but, in view of the much less efficient Life-boats which were utilised on so many parts of the coast, often in the hands of small private societies with very limited funds, we may, without exaggera- tion, assume that the proportion of lives lost in the British Life-boat Service between 1824 and 1851 will have been considerably higher than in the later period, so that probably no less than 500 lives will have been lost in the Life-boat Service up to date in the fulfilment of the heroic endeavour to save the lives of the shipwrecked on our coast.

The German programme for 1914-15 was, of course, severely curtailed. I note the statement (this was in 1915) that the 30-foot Life-boat and carriage for Arendsee were completed and would be sent to the Station " immediately after the conclusion of Peace " ! The Report for 1915-16 states that 122 persons were saved, 100 by Life-boats and 22 by the Rocket Apparatus, bring- ing the total number saved up to 4,258.

There were altogether 133 Stations, 86 to the east of Jutland and 47 on the North Sea. Of the whole number 64 were double Stations, i.e., they were provided with both Life-boats and Rocket Apparatus, whereas 52 had Boats only, and 17 had Rocket Appara- tus only. There were eight open Motor Boats and six Decked Sailing Boats equipped with motors. It is interesting to observe that the Society had provided thirty-seven telephonic connexions for Life-boat purposes. The Report states that all the Stations had been inspected and, " as far as possible," the exercises lad been carried out. The death of Professor Doctor Emminghaus, the Founder and first Secretary of the Society, at the age of eighty-five, is referred to with deep regret, and accom- panied by a warm tribute to his deep and sympathetic interest through a period of ifty years. This year also witnessed the death of Captain Steengraf, the first Inspector of the Society (from 1868 to 1874).

The Report for 1916-17 is a very short document, which records that 43 persons had been rescued during the year under review. One sentence makes curious reading. Among the endow- ments provided for awards is one in- tended to encourage the saving of life on the high seas. In this connexion the report states that, during the year under review, the Society had no know- ledge of any Germans having partici- pated either as rescuers or as rescued! When we recall the number of cases in which Germans were rescued by officers and men of the Royal Navy, whose ships had a few minutes earlier been the object of submarine attack, it is impossible to read this declaration of pristine inno- cence without a smile. However, we could hardly expect the German Society to bestow the rewards resulting from the endowment on the officers and men of the Royal Navy.

The Report for 1917-18 states that 109 persons were saved, 95 by Life- boats and 14 by the Rocket Appara- tus, bringing the total to 4,410. The number of Stations has increased to 135, the new Stations being the " double" Station Maasholm and the Rocket Apparatus Station Nieby. Here again, we find that all the Stations had been inspected, and " where possible " the exercises had been carried out.

The cover of the Report for 1918-19 ] is a tacit witness to the tremendous ! events of that period. For the first j time the names of the Kaiser, as Patron, and of Prince Henry of Prussia, as President, are missing. A revolution has taken place, and the Society con- tinues its humane work with the same motto " God bless the work of life- saving," a motto in which all humane persons throughout the world will cordially join. We are told that 19 persons were saved by Life-boats, bringing the total number saved by the Society to 4,429, of which 3,757 were saved by Life-boats in 688 casualties, and 672 by the Rocket Apparatus in connexion with 120 casualties. The Report refers to the closing of two Stations owing to the exigencies of the War. The most important passage in the Report, however, refers to the probability (since realised, in fact) that the Stations on the parts of the coast which had had to be ceded to Poland, the Free City of Dantzig, the Region of Memel, and to Denmark would have to be abandoned to the authorities of those countries. In the case of Poland, the Report expresses a not unnatural anxiety lest the total inexperience of maritime affairs, let alone the Life-boat service, on the part of the Polish, Dantzig Free State, and Memel autho- rities should result in at least temporary injury to the humane work of life- saving, and a suggestion is made that perhaps some arrangement might be come to which would allow the German Society to continue its services under the control of the new dominions. That such a hope was not, in this instance, based on any desire to keep a grip on the territory so long held by Germany or to undermine the authority of the new owners is shown by the fact that the Report recognised the thorough efficiency of the Life-boat Service in Denmark, and therefore made no such suggestion with regard to the Stations on the Schleswig-Holstein coast which were ceded to Denmark under the Treaty.

Needless to say, these hopes were not likely to be fulfilled, and the Report for 1921-22 expresses the grief and dis- appointment of the Society at the com- plete failure to secure from the Polish authorities any sympathy for the Ger- man proposals or, indeed, up to the date of the Report, such compensation for the material loss of the Society as it could apparently claim under inter- national law. The past history of Germany's dealings with its Polish population has, therefore, manifestly borne bitter fruit for a philanthropic Society solely concerned with the saving of life at sea. Surely, even in the after- math of the Great War, the whirligig of time has brought few stranger results than this. And so we find the number of Stations reduced from 133 to 122, 80 of which are on the Baltic and 42 on the North Sea. Of these 61 are provided with Life-boat and the Rocket Appa- ratus, and 44 are Life-boat Stations only, 9 of which are open Motor Boats, and 6 Decked Motor Boats.

A grim touch of the period through which Germany is passing is seen in the decision to abandon altogether the three gold, silver and copper medals, which conditions have made impossible since 1915, and to substitute for them two bronze medals, to be awarded for the most distinguished services of the year on the Baltic and North Sea Coast respectively.

The financial outlook is, of course, discouraging, especially in view of the enormous rise in the cost of labour and material, and the Report lays great stress on the importance of securing and maintaining a solid basis of subscrip- tions, which is more valuable, because more stable, than the revenue obtained by donations, special efforts, etc. The Report closes with an eloquent plea, which, with very little alteration, can well be applied to our own case : '' Our existence is at stake as a charitable Society which for half a century has rested on the foundation of the voluntary co-operation of the German people in the work of the brave men who voluntarily risk their lives in the service of humanity.

Our cry of distress goes out first and foremost to the shipping community, which is most directly assisted by the Life-boat Service." I take this opportunity of assuring the German Society of the interest and good- will with which THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION follows the work of the sister Society. In our common work of humanity national prejudices and the memories of the War are put aside, our purpose being to serve, with the ut- most efficiency of men and material, the great Cause of life-saving at sea. I should like to express the hope that the German Society will be able, in the near future, to restore the admirable map which used to form part of the Annual Report and which showed the position and character of the different Stations on the coast. I may also be allowed to express the confident hope that the Stations which the German Society has lost through the War may be managed and administered no less efficiently by the Danish and Polish authorities who have come into possession of the respec- tive territories under the Treaty of Versailles..