AT the beginning of September the two Motor Life-boats for Montrose and Longhope went to their Stations from the Building Yard at Cowes. Com- mander B. D. Drury, O.B.E., K.D., R.N.R., the Northern District Inspector, •was in command, both Boats being manned by crews from their Stations, and Mr. William Small, District Assistant Inspector of Machinery for the Northern District, was in charge of the engines. I went with the Boats as far as Montrose.

A little over seventeen years ago, in April, 1909, as Northern District Inspector, I took three Life-boats from London Docks to the north of Scotland.

One was a Pulling and Sailing Life- boat for Thurso (Caithness), and the other two were Motor Life-boats for Stromness and Stronsay, in the Orkneys.

On that voyage also the engines were in charge of Mr. Small. He and I were the only two on board the Montrose and Longhope Life-boats who had also been on that earlier voyage.

A comparison between the two voyages is interesting because, though there were already a few Motor Life- boats on the coast in 1909, they were converted Pulling and Sailing Life- boats. The Stromness and Stronsay Life-boats were the first to be specially built for motor-power. The Stromness Boat, which is still at that Station with a long record of fine service behind her, is a self-righting Life-boat, 42 feet long, with a 30-h.p. motor. The Stronsay Boat, which went later to Peterhead, and is now at Broughty Ferry, is of the Watson type, 43 feet long, with a 40-h.p.

engine. Like all our Motor Life-boats, until the last three years, they were open boats—splendid Life-boats, but with few comforts for a journey of several hundred miles. The Montrose and Longhope Life-boats, on the other hand, are of the new Watson Cabin type, of which the first was built three years ago. They are decked and have a cabin. They are 45 feet long, and they have 76-h.p. engines.

On that journey, seventeen years ago, the Stromness Boat led with the Stron- say Boat in tow, the Stronsay Boat in turn towing the Thurso Pulling and Sailing Boat. The Stromness Boat covered 768 miles, and the Stronsay Boat 808. The journey took just seventeen days, and we put in on the way at Harwich, Gorleston, Grimsby, Scarborough, Hartlepool, Tynemouth —where, owing to trouble with one of the .engines, we spent three days— Blyth, Dundee, Aberdeen, Fraserburgh, Wick and Thurso. In the Moray Krth, and again in the Pentland Firth, we met very heavy weather, with a N.W.

wind and snow squalls, and after leaving Thurso on the last stage the Stronsay Boat had to return owing to engine trouble, completing her journey of 808 miles the next day. The actual time taken for the 768 miles to Stromness was 122 hours, giving an average speed of 6-3 knots. Our longest run "was 111 miles, from Blyth to Dundee, which took eighteen and a half hours, an average of just six knots ; and our average daily run for the thirteen days at sea, from London to Stromness, was fifty-nine miles.

That was a record of which, in those early days, we had every reason to be proud. The advance which has been made in the intervening years is shown by comparing those figures with the times and distances in the journey of the Montrose and Longhope Life-boats last September.

We left Cowes at 6.30 on the evening of 1st September, and reached Montrose, a distance of 510 miles, at 8.30 on. the morning of 6th September. Thus the journey took four and a half days, the only ports of call being Ramsgate, Yarmouth, Scarborough and Sunder- land. The greater part of the journey was done by night. We were actually at sea for three nights and two days, sixty-three hours in all, and the average speed was just over eight knots. Our shortest run between port and port was the fifty-five miles from Scar- ; borough to Sunderland, our longest, 135 j miles from Yarmouth to Scarborough, which took sixteen and a quarter hours, and was done at an average speed of8-3 knots. Our average daily or nightly run was 102 miles, nearly twice the average of seventeen years ago. I think, also, that it should be put on record that the run from Ramsgate toScarborough, a distance of 208 miles, was done in twenty-five and a quarter hours, broken only by a call of two and a half hours at Yarmouth.The Longhope Boat spent two days at Montrose before continuing her journey, and then another day at Wick, and reached Longhope on 9th Septem- ber, eight days after leaving CowesShe was actually travelling four nights and three days, eighty-five hours in all, and did 663 miles at an average speed of seven and a half knots.

Again, as in 1909, rough weather was met in the Moray Firth and Pentland Firth, where the Life-boat had to ease down, owing to the very heavy seas.

Before that, however, the weather had been very fine, and the Boats were able to carry canvas for the latter part of the trip. This not only had a very steadying effect, but contributed to the high average speed maintained.

There is one point in the comparison which I should like especially to empha- size. The average speed in 1909 was 6-3 knots, and in 1926 it was just over eight knots. With the much more powerful engines now in use it may « perhaps seem odd that the increase in speed was not greater. But a greater speed is not wanted. If a Motor Life- boat were driven at a high speed in heavy weather no crew could live in | her. What we have obtained by more powerful engines is far more impor- : tant than speed—a great reserve of power. Not only does it enable speed j to be steadily maintained, even in very ; adverse weather conditions, but it is of immense value at what is the most critical stage of a Life-boat seivice, the manoeuvring in the neighbour- hood of the wreck, often in circum- stances of the greatest danger, among rocks or wreckage, when the smallest mistake or failure might mean the loss of the Life-boat herself and her Crew..