THE LIFE-BOAT FLEET Motor Life-boats, 106 :: Pulling & Sailing Life-boats, 78 LIVES RESCUED from the foundation of the Institution in 1824 to September 30th, 1931 62,687 Farewell! By Sir George Shee, Secretary of the Institution.

FAREWELL ! The word must always carry with it a breath of sadness, a hint of parting, a definite break, prolonged, even though perhaps not final. How different from the cheerful au revoir with which we mark the moment of a separation so temporary that it almost adds a zest to the reunion which is presently in view.

And yet a beautiful word, lovely in the long vowel which conveys the wish, and in the sweet fullness with which it closes. Onomatopoeic, too, in that the first syllable corresponds, in sound, with another fine English word—" fair." To me, as I write it to-day, the sadness and the beauty are alike very present, very real. For to-day I bid farewell to a post which I have been privileged to occupy for twenty-one years, as the Chief Officer of the Institution and Editor of this Journal. I sever a connexion not merely official, but living, personal and intimate, with one of the most splendid organizations that Britain possesses. It is an organisation not, like our glorious Navy and our Military Forces, the disciplined creation of our Government and people, looking essentially to the defence of the Realm against danger and aggression. It is the voluntary outcome of our island position, finding expression in an activity which embodies better, to my mind, the finest qualities of our race, than any that is known, to me, at any rate. For where will you find more nobly combined the courage, tenacity, and deep humanity of our people than in the activities of the Life-boat Crews ? As for courage, its finest quality is surely here, where it is not upheld by the ardour of the patriot fighting in defence of King and Country, and supported by the sense that the whole Nation is fighting at the same time, and with the same purpose. It is, moreover, not the valour of ignorance, but the courage of men who know full well the dangers they are facing, and who are prepared to leave wife and children and friends to face the utmost, death itself if need be, to fulfil their mission ; to go to the help of some poor souls utterly unknown to them—possibly belonging to another country, another race, and who have no claim whatever but that of the Brotherhood of the Sea.

Mark, too, that these activities are carried out from day to day throughout the year as if they were in truth quite normal and simple, and without the preliminary flourish of trumpets which, quite legitimately, announces some high enterprise undertaken with due warning and after full preparation.

It would be impossible for me to express in the course of an article my humble appreciation of the activities to which I have referred ; of the record of great achievement which shines out through a century of Life-boat story ; of the sacrifices made by the fishermen on all our coasts in the course of their service to humanity, and of the example of high civic virtue which these simple and God- fearing men have given, and do still give, to our people. I can only say that in bidding farewell to the Coxswains and Crews of our Life-boats, I feel for them an admiration and, if I may say so, an affection which dates back to the moment when, in 1881, as a boy at school, I first heard of Coxswain Fish and the crew of the Ramsgate Life-boat, when they carried out their epic service to the Indian Chief.

The Toll of the Service.

It has grown especially since I was privileged to come into closer contact with the Service by becoming Secretary of the Institution; and it has been confirmed by my knowledge of the tragedies which have, even in my time, overwhelmed two'whole crews, have taken grim toll of others, and have brought sorrow and desolation into many homes in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. It is a curious coincidence that in the last few days I should have received from one of the finest Coxswains I have met, Ex-Coxswain Swan of Lowestoft, a letter expressing his sympathy with me in having to leave the Service, and linking that sympathy with a touching reference to his own loss of " my dear and beloved wife, who passed away on the 20th of last month, leaving me very lonely." I shall always value this letter among my most precious possessions.

I say farewell also to those men and women, high and low, gentle and simple, who have worked, either as officials or as voluntary workers to maintain the efficiency of the Service, and to bring before the less thoughtful of our citizens the great claims of the Life-boat Cause.

While it would obviously not be proper for me to refer to any individual member of the Royal Family, I trust I may be allowed to say, with great respect, that the Patronage of the reigning monarch, and the deep and personal interest of members of the Royal Family have been of the utmost help to the Institution throughout the century in recommending to the Nation the great Service entrusted to it. This has naturally been particularly the case when the Heir to the Throne has received part of his training in the Royal Navy, and never has this personal interest been more generously given than in recent years.

The Committee of Management.

It would hardly be seemly for one who, at the time of writing, is still Secretary, to express admiration for the work of the Committee of Management, but I do wish to pay a perfectly impersonal tribute to the fact that that Committee, consisting of representative men of almost every sphere of life, of the chief religious denomina- tions, and of the three great political parties, give, in administering the affairs of the Institution, an immense amount of time, energy and ability to the task which they and their predecessors have steadily kept in view for over a century, namely, to provide for the Life-boatmen the best Life-boats which science can devise and money can supply; and this aim demands, and receives, their constant watchfulness to see that each step in the progress of science shall be linked if possible and desirable to the Life-boat Service, so that our Crews may at least know that there is an ever- present desire to make their dangerous task less dangerous, both for themselves, and for the shipwrecked whom they wish to succour.

Admirably, too, are the Committee of Management served by their technical officers, who, whether as executive officers or as designers, of Life-boats or of engines or of slipways, have always succeeded in holding so high the standard of Life-boat construction, and, in these later days, of progress in the development of the internal combustion engine, and of the tractor and other devices for improving the efficiency of the Service, that the Institution's boats stand to-day, as always, as the best in the world, just as the Service itself was the pioneer of the Life-boat Services of the world, and is still regarded by the sister societies as leading them in almost every sphere of Life-boat activity.

Farewell, too, to my colleagues past and present, in the sister Societies all over the world and here in Britain alike, and to my staff, some of whom were here long before me, and some of whom I have known before I came here. It will not do to say too much lest it should appear as flattery. But I will just say that I would not have changed my staff for any that I have known in London.

The Progress of 21 Years.

I end my words of farewell, as I began them, to the workers whom it has been my privilege to know in every part of the United Kingdom : peers and miners, marchionesses and factory girls, and fishwives, business men and railway employees, shipowners, and members of the police and fire brigades. I have had some experience- of the work of other great charitable undertakings, and I hold that there is no country in the world which can approach Britain in the generosity of its support for every good cause. But I really believe that the Life-boat seems to exercise on those who once come within its wake an admiration and a loyal service for which it would be difficult to find its equal. I must firmly resist the temptation to mention any single name. For if I once started I should fill several pages in naming some of the thousands of men and women who, even in my time, have worked, and are working, to further the Life-boat Cause.

When I took up the Secretaryship in 1910 there were, according to the Annual Report, some 360 Branches, of which 254 were Station Branches. To-day there are about 1,150, although the Station Branches are reduced to less than 180.

In nearly all these Branches there is a Chairman and Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer ; and, in most cases, a President, an Honorary Secretary and an Honorary Treasurer of a Ladies' Life-boat Guild. There are, therefore, roughly, some 6,000 persons who, as honorary officials, are giving time and energy to the administration and the organization of the Life-boat Service, and to many of whom the great success and progress of that Service is largely due. To hundreds of these men and women I owe a deep debt of gratitude for constant courtesy and many kindnesses given to me year after year. It is a debt that I can never hope to pay, but to all of them, and especially to the Honorary Secretaries and members of the Ladies' Life-boat Guild, I bid herewith a grateful farewell.

The Help of the Great Cities.

Finally, I venture to offer my respectful homage to those great cities which have had the vision to recognize in the Life-boat Service one of the finest things that Britain has ever done, and to see that, in this " fine flower " of maritime activity, the industry and far-flung commerce of our land has an ideal side, and one which deserves the far-sighted generosity of those whose success and wealth largely depend upon the safety with which the products and the raw materials of OUT industry pass to and fro across the surface of the ocean. Here I need not be so careful, and the names of Manchester, Glasgow, Bradford, Oxford, Birmingham, Nottingham and the City of London, stand out by their own yearly gifts and the generosity of their citizens, and by the fact that many of them have given their names to Life-boats.

Amid this splendid group I cannot help paying a special tribute to purely inland cities like Bradford, Oxford and Nottingham, for the example they have given to towns whose immediate interests are more closely concerned with overseas trade and commerce, or which are, in fact, great ports. So long as such cities and towns show the vision of which they have given proof, the people of England need not fear that the Life-boat Service will be allowed to fail for want of financial support.

For the truth is that, since it sprang into existence in response to Sir William Hillary's eloquent appeal, the Life-boat cause has, by its hundred years of service to the mariners of the world, and especially in the rescue of British seamen— because they still form the majority of the mariners of the world—found its way into the heart of the people. There it remains. And there it is safe. Farewell! 30th September, 1931..