Some Examples of their Conversion into Yachtj.

eve ything is done to make the Life-boats of the Institution as perfect as possible in material and workman- ship, and since they are -withdrawn from their Stations as soon as they begin to fall below the very high standard of seaworthiness which the Institution considers it necessary to maintain, it will be readily understood that, even when they are sold out of the Service, they are still fit for many years of work of a less exacting sort. Life- boats, when they cease to be Life-boats, do, in fact, play many parts, and some go to very distant places.

In The Lifeboat for February, 1922, some particulars were given of a Life- boat which had been converted into a motor-launch on the Kowie River, in South Africa. Another, and a famous Life-boat, has recently gone to Africa, the Steam Life-boat The Queen. She was the third of the six Steam Life- boats which have been built for the j Institution, was completed in 1897, and for 26 years was stationed at New Brighton, where she went out 81 times on service, and rescued 196 lives. In 1923 she was replaced by a Motor Life-boat and sold out of the Service. Her pur- chaser intended, at first, to use her for pleasure cruises on her own river, the Mersey, but he sold her to the Elder- Dempster Line, which has had various alterations made in her; and at the beginning of June she sailed on board the liner Egori for the Gold Coast, where she is to be used as a tender for landing passengers through the surf at Sekondi.

Round our own coasts there are num- bers of Life-boats, now converted into yachts, and we publish here pictures of three of them. They show how attrac- tive a Life-boat looks when converted.

All three were Pulling and Sailing Life- boats.

The first of them is the Life-boat which was stationed at Polkerris, in Cornwall, from 1904 to 1922. She was of the Watson type, 35 feet by 9 feet wide. She now has a cabin 11 feet 6 inches long with 5 feet 6 inches head- room. She has been fitted with hollow spars and carries roller jib, high-peaked mainsail, and Bermuda mizen. She has two centre keels, with tackles working over the cabin-top, and has shown excellent sailing qualities. Her owner, who converted her. attributes this to the fact that she was of the Watson type. She has two engines, each of 6 h.p., and two propellers.

These have proved the least satisfactory part of the conversion. The photo- graph shows an 8 feet dinghy, at the after-end, which stows on the coaming of the well, with the bow on the cabin top. This Life-boat is now the Grey Fox, and is at Lyme Regis.

A Graceful Yacht.

The photograph of the late Port Errol (Aberdeenshire) Life-boat, shows what a very graceful yacht can be made of a Life-boat, Like the Polkerris Life-boat, she was of the Watson type, the John Fortune, which was at Port Errol from 1904 to 1914, and then in the Reserve Fleet, until she was sold out of the service in 1923. Another recent conversion is the Elizabeth Leicester, a Life-boat of the self-righting type, which, after 21 years at Whitehaven, Cumberland, was sold out of the Service in 1924, is now the yacht White Lady, and can be seen on the Thames.

Two Life-boats which have been converted this year are the John Groome, which was at Killongh (Co.

Down, Ireland) from 1901 to 1914, and then at Point of Air, in Flintshire, until sold out of the Service in 1923.

and the James Cullen, which, from 1904 to 1926, was at Bull Bay, in Anglesey.

The John Groome was of the Liverpool type, 35 feet by 10 feet, and has been converted into a motor yacht, the conversion being carried out by Messrs.

W. & J. Leslie, of Poplar, who do a great deal of work for the Institution.

The boat's hull has been gutted, the air-cases being removed, and a cabin has been built up, giving 5 ieet 8 inches head-room, this cabin being divided into saloon, forecastle and galley, with sleeping accommodation for four people.

Under the name of Cloud she is now at Portree, in Skye.

The James Cullen was of the Watson type, and was sold out of the Service when the Bull Bay station was closed last June. She was converted into a motor-boat at once, but she has not forgotten her earlier calling. On 26th August she was launched to the help of the motor schooner Reciprocity, of Liverpool, which was on fire off Dulas Island, Anglesey. The crew of the Reciprocity had taken to their boat, and the James Cullen picked them ip before her old colleague of the Service, the Moelfre Life-boat, arrived on the scene..