Mr. R. B. Scott, Motor Mechanic at New Brighton.

BY the death, on 23rd July at the age of sixty-two, of Mr. Kalph Brown Scott, Chief Motor Mechanic of the Life-boat at New Brighton on the Mersey, a Lifeboatman with a very gallant record has passed away. Mr. Scott was in the Life-boat Service for thirty-one years.

In 1898 he was appointed Second Engineer of the Steam Life-boat City of Glasgow, which was stationed at Harwich, and in 1910- he became Chief Engineer of the Steam Life-boat James Stevens No. 3, which was at Angle, Pembrokeshire. He served with her at Angle, Totland Bay, Isle of Wight and Dover until 1922, when the Dover Station was closed and the Life-boat transferred to Holyhead. Then, after being trained in the handling of internal combustion engines, he was appointed, in 1923, Chief Motor Mechanic of the first Motor Life-boat of the Barnett Twin Screw type, which had just been completed. This Boat, the most powerful Motor Life-boat in the world, and the first of our Motor Life-boats to be provided with cabins, was stationed at New Brighton, but before going there she made a trip round Great Britain.

During that trip Mr. Scott broke a small bone in his arm, but he refused to leave the boat, and remained in charge of her engines until the end of the trip a month later. He gave still more signal proof of his courage and devotion in November, 1928—it was his last service—when the New Brighton Life-boat rescued the crew of the French steamer Emile Delmas. This was the finest service of the year, carried out in a very heavy gale with a very heavy sea, blinding rain-squalls, and gusts of wind at 100 miles an hour. Scott himself was ill, waiting for a bed in the hospital, and faced with the probability of a serious operation. In spite of this he answered the call and was in charge of the engines throughout the service, which lasted nearly six hours. Five days later he was taken to hospital, but it was decided not to operate, and he got much better, being present at the Annual Meeting of the Institution in April to receive the Bronze Medal which he had been awarded, as had each member of the Crew (the Coxswain receiving the Silver Medal), for the service to the Emile Delmas. He fell ill again shortly afterwards, underwent an operation in June, and died just six weeks later..