LAST year the Institution presented Vellums to seventeen Life-boat Stations which had been in existence for a century and over. Up to the end of July this year seven more Stations received the same honour,* and since then Vellums have been presented to several more, and accounts of these presentations will appear in the next issue of The Lifeboat.

Each Vellum is signed by the Prince of Wales and bears a record, expressing the Institution's appreciation of the voluntary work of the Officers and Committee and of the devotion and courage of the Life-boat Crew.

The number of lives rescued and of medals awarded (as given in the following reports) is up to the date of the ceremony, but it is not in every case possible to give the total of lives from the date of the establishment of the Station, as the early records are not always complete. The medals are in each case all medals awarded to Lifeboatmen and others from the foundation of the Institution in 1824.

Newcastle, Co. Down.

One of the two places in Ireland at which the Institution decided, immediately after it was founded, to place Life-boats, was Dundrum Bay,] the other place being Courtmacsherry. The first Dundrum Bay Life-boat was stationed at Rossglass in 1825, and in 1830 it was transferred to Newcastle.

Altogether Newcastle has had seven Life-boats. They have been out on service 49 times, and have rescued 99 lives, while two Gold Medals and eighteen Silver Medals have been awarded to Life-boatmen and others for gallantry. In addition to these Medals awarded by the Institution, the French Government in 1905 presented a Gold Medal to Coxswain Foland for the rescue of the crew of a French barque.

The presentation ceremony took place * The report of the presentation at Aberdeen in January appeared in the last issue of The Lifeboat.

on 13th May, the Rev. Otway Woodward (Chairman of the Branch) presiding.

The presentation was made by Mr. George F. Shee, M.A. (Secretary of the Institution), who paid a tribute to the fine work done by the Station and to the gallantry of Irish Life-boatmen.

The Vellum was received by Mr. Woodward, who then presented it to the Chairman of the District Council for safe keeping in the records of Newcastle.

Montrose, Forfarshire.

Montrose was one of the earliest places on the Scottish coast to have a Life-boat Station, being one of five places in Scotland for which boats were provided at the beginning of the nineteenth century, built by Henry Greathead, the builder of the first Life-boat, in 1789. The other four are Aberdeen, Arbroath, St.

Andrews and Ayr.

The first Montrose boat went to her Station in 1800, and since 1869 two Lifeboats have been maintained at Montrose.

Altogether Montrose has had thirteen Life-boats, including the present Motor Life-boat, built in 1926, and named by the Duchess of York. They have been launched on service 259 times, and have rescued 475 lives.

Fourteen Silver Medals have been awarded to Life-boatmen and others, nine of which were given for one Service in 1832. In addition to these Medals, the Norwegian Government awarded Medals and Diplomas for a service to a Norwegian vessel in 1916.

The name which constantly appears in the Life-boat records of Montrose is that of Mearns. A Mearns was one of three captains with whom Greathead had consultations in 1807, when he built a second boat for the Station. A Mearns was among the nine men who received Silver Medals for the Service in 1832. The Coxswains of the two Lifeboats in 1873 were each awarded the Medal for the rescue of the crew of the brig Henriette, of Memel. They were William Mearns and William Mearns, junior, and the latest Medal to be awarded in 1913, was won by David Mearns, Master of the trawler Southesk.

There are men of the same name in the present Life-boat Crew.

The presentation of the Vellum took place on 12th July on board the Pulling and Sailing Life-boat in the presence of between 200 and 300 people. In the unavoidable absence of Major-General Sir Eobert Hutchison, K.C.M.G., C.B., D.S.O., Member of Parliament for Montrose District, Provost W. D. Johnston, O.B.E. (Chairman of the Branch), presided, and the presentation was made by Mr. George F. Shee, M.A., Secretary of the Institution, in the absence of Sir Godfrey Baring, Bart., Chairman of the Committee of Management, and the Duke of Montrose, Chairman of the Scottish Life-boat Council. In presenting the Vellum, Mr. Shee gave a short history of the Station, and congratulated it on its splendid record. In accepting the Vellum on behalf of the Town Council, Provost Johnston said that it was a testimonial to the town which would be jealously guarded by the Council on behalf of the citizens of Montrose.

St. Andrews, Fifeshire.

The St. Andrews Life-boat Station, like that at Montrose, was established in 1800, and including the first Lifeboat, built by Greathead, the Station had had six Life-boats in all. They have been out on Service on 72 occasions, and have rescued 140 lives. One Gold and eight Silver Medals have been awarded by the Institution to Life-boatmen and others. In addition, ex-Coxswain Chisholm, who won the Silver Medal in 1912 for the rescue of the crew of nine of the Swedish barque Princess Wilhdmina, was awarded a medal by the Swedish Government.

The ceremony of presentation took place on 13th July, in the presence of an audience of several hundred people, after the Life-boat had been drawn in parade through the town. Brigadier- General W. A. Oswald (Chairman of the Branch) presided, and the presentation was made by Mr. George If. Shee, M.A., Secretary of the Institution. Mr. Shee gave a brief history of the Station, paid a tribute to the fine work of its Crews, and mentioned ex-Coxswain Chisholm, who was loudly cheered. The Vellum was accepted by Provost Boase, who said that the town was proud to place it among its archives.

Arbroath, Forfarshire.

The Arbroath Station was established in. 1802, being equipped, like Montrose and St. Andrews, with one of Greathead's Life-boats. Since then it has had four Life-boats, including the present boat. The first of these four boats was built out of a fund raised by the Dundee People's Journal. She was called People's Journal No. 2, and served from 1865 to 1888. People's Journal No. 1, built out of the same fund, went to Peterhead.

The other three Arbroath boats have been built out of private gifts or legacies to the Institution: Arbroath's Lifeboats have a record of 90 launches and 43 lives rescued. Two Gold Medals have been awarded, botb in Maieb. 1S2T, aad to the same man, a Coast-guard Officer.

In 1905 the Coxswain, Second Coxswain and Bowman were presented with Silver Watches by the German Emperor, for the rescue of five lives from the German schooner Gesine.

The presentation ceremony took place on 13th July, on board the Life-boat, in the presence of about 300 people. Ex- Provost A. M. Eobertson (Chairman of the Branch) presided, and the presentation was made by Mr. George F.

Shee, M.A., Secretary of the Institution, who paid a tribute to the Life-boatmen of Arbroath. In the absence of Provost Chapel, on account of illness, the Vellum was accepted by Bailie Sherrifis on behalf of the town, who spoke of the gallantry of the fishermen of Arbroath, from whom their Life-boat Crews were drawn.

Cromer, Norfolk.

Cromer was first provided with a Lifeboat in 1829, but of this boat's service the Institution has no particulars . A second boat was sent there in 1858, and since 1923 Cromer has had a Motor Lifeboat, at the same time retaining its last Pulling and Sailing Life-boat as an emergency boat. Its Life-boats have been launched on Service 165 times and have rescued 366 lives. Two Gold, one Silver and twenty-four Bronze Medals have been awarded to Life-boatmen of Cromer, all these awards being made for two Services in recent years, which rank among the most arduous and gallant in the history of the Institution.

These were the service in 1917 to the Swedish steamer Fernebo, which had been blown in half by a mine, and the service in 1927 to the Dutch steamer Georgia, which had broken in half on the Haisborough Sands. In addition to these twenty-seven Medals to Coxswain and Crew, the Silver Medal was awarded to a soldier who played a very gallant part in the service to the Fernebo. Coxswain Henry Blogg, who received the Gold Medal for each service, is the first Life-boatman since 1848 to be twice awarded this, the V.C. of the Life-boat Service, for conspicuous gallantry.

In addition to these Medals, Coxswain Blogg was awarded an inscribed Gold Watch, and each Member of the Crew an inscribed Silver Watch by the Government of the Netherlands for the Service to the Georgia.

The presentation ceremony took place on 19th July, in the Parish Hall, which was packed with people. Alderman D.

Davison, J.P., Chairman of the Urban District Council and Chairman of the Branch Committee, presided, supported by Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt., Chairman of the Committee of Management of the Institution, the Dowager Lady Suffield, the High Sheriff of Norfolk (Mr. Stanley Christopherson), the Vice-Consul for the Netherlands at Great Yarmouth, and Mr. F. H. Barclay, J.P., Honorary Secretary of the Branch.

In opening the meeting, Alderman Davison read a message from Lord Suffield, expressing his regret that he could not be present, and referred to the fact that Lord Suffield had succeeded his father and grandfather as President of the Branch. He gave a brief history of the Station, and spoke of Cromer's pride not only in its Life-boatmen, but in the wives and mothers of the men. Their courage also deserved the gratitude of all who had at heart the welfare of the Life-boat Service.

In presenting the"Vellum, Sir Godfrey Baring paid a warm tribute to the magnificent record of the Cromer Life-boat Crews, and in particular to Coxswain Henry Blogg, whom they might justly claim to be not only a national, but an international celebrity. He asked that the Vellum which he presented should be placed in the Town Hall as a lasting memorial of the heroism of Cromer men, and a small mark of the gratitude of the Institution to all who had been and were connected with the work of the Life-boat Station.

After Alderman Davison had accepted the Vellum, the Vice-Consul for the Netherlands at Great Yarmouth presented the Watches on behalf of the Netherlands Government. He presented them, he said, as a mark of the gratitude of the Queen of Holland and the Dutch people and with the heartfelt thanks of the captain and crew of the Georgia.

Alderman Davison then presented a Medal which had been awarded to a corporal of the Cromer Division of the St. John's Ambulance Brigade for fifteen years' service. In doing so, he said that two members of the Life-boat Crew were qualified ambulance men, and he would like to see the whole Crew members of the Brigade.

Teignmouth, Devon.

Teignmouth is mentioned in the first report of the Institution, issued in March, 1825, as one of those places on the coast where Life-boats had been placed by individuals or associations other than the Institution. Including the boat stationed there some time before 1825, Teignmouth. has had altogether five Life-boats. Of these, the second, which served from 1862 to 1880, was built out of a fund raised in Hong Kong and Shanghai, and was called The China.

Teignmouth Life-boats have been out on service 60 times and have rescued 128 lives. Four Silver Medals have been awarded for gallantry. Two of these were awarded in 1907, one to Coxswain George Rice, who died in March of the present year, and the other to the present Honorary Secretary of the Station, Mr.

W. J. Burden, for an arduous and gallant service in 1907, when the crew of a Finnish schooner were rescued.

The Russian Government made a present to the Crew in gratitude for this service.

The presentation ceremony took place at a meeting of the Urban District Council on 30th July, at which Mr. G. S.

Young presided. Mr. W. J. Burden, the Honorary Secretary, presented the Vellum to the Council, and in. doing so, gave the record of the Station. Mr.

Young, in accepting the Vellum, thanked the Institution for the way in which it had recognised the services of Teignmouth to the Life-boat cause, and paid a warm tribute to the work which Mr. Burden had done for the Station..