Mr. Samuel Edward Saunders, of Cowes, who died on 17th December, at the age of seventy-seven, was very closely associated with the building of the present motor life-boat fleet, first as head of his own firm, Messrs. S. E.

Saunders, Ltd., and then as president of Messrs. Saunders-Roe, Ltd. He began to build for the Institution in 1913, and from then until his firm became Saunders-Roe, Ltd., in 1929, he built no fewer than thirty-three motor and pulling and sailing life-boats, the great majority of which are still on the coast. Since 1929 Messrs. Saunders- Roe have built twelve motor life-boats, making a total in the twenty years of forty-five life-boats. Mr. Saunders was best known as a designer and builder of racing motor boats, and in 1912 he designed and built, with Mr. T. O. M.

Sopwith, what was stated to be the first amphibian flying boat in Europe.

He has been described as a genius in the design and construction of high- speed motor boats, and in his work for the life-boat fleet he showed himself a great craftsman..