As described in the article in the last issue of The Life-boat on the 35 feet 6' inches self-righting type of motor life-boat, the Institution was engaged from 1921 to 1929 in experiments on a motor life-boat which should be suffi- ciently light for it to be possible to launch her off a carriage or the open beach. This boat was self-righting.

As soon as the experiments were completed, and it was possible to build life-boats of this type in numbers, the Institution set itself to design another life-boat which should have the same advantage of lightness, but be of the more stable type which does not self- right. Such a type was essential, as at a number of stations the crews prefer a life-boat which, though it does not self-right, is less likely to capsize.

The first of the new light type, called the Liverpool type, was completed in 1931 and stationed at Hoylake. She is the same length as the light self-righter, 35 feet 6 inches, but has 9 inches more beam, being 10 feet broad, and is slightly heavier. On service with crew and gear on board she weighs 7 tons.

She is built with a double skin of mahogany, keel of teak, ribs of Cana- dian rock-elm, stem and stern posts of English oak, and air-cases of Columbian red cedar, which is now being used instead of white deal as being a lighter wood. She is divided into six water- tight compartments and is fitted with 129 air-cases. She has eighteen reliev- ing scuppers and these can free her entirely of water in 20 seconds.

She has the same engine as the light self-righter. It is a 6-cylinder high- speed engine running at 3,300 revo- lutions a minute, as compared with 1,200 revolutions a minute in the 60 h.p. and 40 h.p. engines used in the larger types of life-boat. It develops.