1926 was, in. its weather, a normal year, with severe gales in October and November. During the year there were 269 launches of Life-boats on service, 65 more than in 1925, and 456 lives were rescued from shipwreck, 73 more than in 1925. Of these lives 361 were rescued by Life-boats, and the remaining 95 by shore-boats and in other ways, the rescuers in every case being rewarded by the Institution for their gallantry. Thirty-two boats and vessels were saved or helped to safety, and by the end of the year the number of lives for whose rescue the Institution had given rewards since 1824 was 60,814.

How severe were the gales in October and November is shown by the fact that there were 63 launches during those two months alone, and that 117 lives were rescued, more than a Quarter of the total for the year, and a, weekly average of nearly 14 lives, or nearly two lives rescued each day.

Services to Foreign Vessels.

The majority of the lives were British, but once again the Life-boats showed that they are a great International as well as a British service, by rescuing over 100 lives from foreign vessels.

Life-boats were launched to vessels of no fewer than nine foreign countries.

Seven of these vessels were French, from which 66 lives were rescued, four were Italian, three German, three Norwegian, two Belgian, one American, one Spanish, one Greek and one Yugo- slavian.

The outstanding Life-boat service of the year was performed by the Life- boat at Newbiggin, in Northumberland, at the end of April, in a dense fog with a very heavy sea, when the Coxswain took the Life-boat right among the rocks, with heavy seas breaking continually over her, and succeeded in taking off the crew of a steam trawler.

It was only his perfect knowledge of the rocks and currents which made it possible for him to rescue them and save the Life-boat herself from being wrecked, and for this gallant service he was awarded the Institution's Bronze Medal.* This was the only medal awarded to a Life-boatman during the year, but one Silver and four Bronze Medals were awarded for gallantry in rescuing or attempting to rescue lives from ship- wreck, by other means than Life-boats.

Construction during the Year.

In other ways 1926 was a very active year for the Lifeboat Service. ¥001 powerful Motor Life-boats were added to the Institution's Fleet, another four were under construction when the year ended, and three more had just been laid down. There are now 62 Motor Life-boats in the Institution's Fleet of 214 Life-boats. The new Boats were sent to Aberdeen, Ply- mouth, Longhope in the Orkneys, and Montrose in Forfarshire. The first two of these Boats are of the largest type, the Barnett Twin-Screw, each being 60 feet long, with two 76 h.p.

engines, cabins, line-throwing gun, searchlight and life-saving net. They are the most powerful and up-to-date Motor Life-boats in the world, and were fully described in The Lifeboat for last November. The Aberdeen boat went to her Station during the gales at the * A full account of this service appeared in The Lifeboat for November, 1926.end of October, and the journey of 565 miles, described elsewhere in this issue, was a very severe test of both the Crew and the Life-boat.

During the year a number of interest- ing mechanical developments were made.

The engine of 76 h.p., which was specially designed for the requirements of Life- boat work in 1922, will be replaced in Motor Life-boats now under construc- tion with an improved engine, of which there will be two variants, one of six cylinders giving 60 h.p., and one of four cylinders giving 40 h.p. Thus Life-boats will be able to be fitted, according to their special requirements, with one or two engines of either of these powers. The decision to adopt a lighter type of engine is a result of a decision to build Watson Cabin Motor Life-boats with two engines instead of one. The first 40 h.p. engine has been completed, and the first 60 h.p.

engine was under construction at the end of the year. A new 35 h.p. engine for the light Carriage Motor Life-boats has also been given its preliminary trials.

Four of the Motor Life-boats under construction at the end of the year were Watson Cabin Motor Life-boats with two engines. Of the first two, which will be completed early in 1927, the Boat for Piel (Barrow) has a single screw, and the Boat for Wexford twin- screws. Whether or not future Boats of this type will have one or two screws will depend on the experience gained from these two Boats.

A new experimental Tractor for launching Life-boats on flat beaches was also under construction at the end of the year. The Tractors which have been placed on the coast during the past six years have done excellent work, but it has been found that they are not powerful enough, and while they have worked well over sand, they are not suitable for shingle and soft mud. It is hoped in the new Tractor to have a machine able to launch Life-boats of all types of flat beach.