By the death, on 3rd June last, of Coxswain Richard Payne, of Newhaven, at the age of fifty-seven, the Institution loses one of its most distinguished Coxswains. He was appointed Bowman in 1911. A year later he became Second Coxswain, and the following year he was promoted to Coxswain.

That was in July, 1913, and he remained Coxswain for seventeen years, retiring at the end of 1930, as a result of injuries on service. Coxswain Payne was com- mended for his good judgment in the service to the London barge Crete- rampart in November, 1920, a service on which he was injured, and he won both the Bronze and Silver Medals for his skill and gallantry. The Bronze Medal was awarded for the service to the tug Richmere, of Newhaven, in a whole gale in November, 1924. The tug was driven ashore when going to the help of the cross-Channel steamer Dieppe, and her crew were in imminent peril. The tug was lying in a position which made it very dangerous to approach her, but the Motor Life-boat was splendidly handled by Coxswain Payne, and the four men on board were rescued in spite of the fact that the Life- boat was severely damaged by the tug rolling on top of her. Then, damaged though the Life-boat was, Coxswain Payne put out again and stood by the Dieppe until she refloated. His last and greatest service was in the terrible gales of the winter of 1929-30, when the Motor Life-boat rescued the crew of the Danish schooner Mogens Koch, in December, in a gale with gusts at over eighty miles an hour. On the return journey she had to fight her way against wind and sea and tide. One huge wave broke in the boat. It stove in the shelter and knocked down every man on board, and Coxswain Payne, who was at the wheel, was seriously hurt in the back, but he stuck to his post until the end. From that injury he never recovered, and he retired at the end of 1930, receiving a Certificate of Service, a pension and a special allow- ance. The Institution was represented at the funeral by Sir George Shee, the Secretary, and by Captain E. L. Hamer, R.N., Deputy-Chief Inspector of Life- boats. As Coxswain Payne's death was the result of injury on Life-boat service, his widow has been pen- sioned under the Institution's scheme, as if he had been a petty officer in the Navy, or a non-commissioned officer in the Army, who had been killed in action.