ALTHOUGH 1933 was remarkable for having one of the longest and most settled summers on record, the number of lives rescued from shipwreck round the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland was the largest for five years. It was 406. Of this total 337 were rescued by life-boats and 69 by shore-boats and in other ways. Not a month passed without the rescue of lives some- where round our coasts, and it is a remarkable fact, in such a summer, that the number of lives rescued during the six summer months was 182 —a life saved for every day but one of the six months.

Besides the lives rescued, life-boats saved from destruction, or helped to safety, forty-five boats and vessels.

Up to the end of 1932 the Institution had given rewards for the rescue of 63,551 lives since it was founded in 1824.

Sixty-six Lives Rescued from Foreign Vessels.

The great majority of the lives rescued were British, but life-boats rendered help to eleven foreign vessels, belonging to nine different countries, and rescued sixty-six lives from them.

Two of the vessels were Belgian and two Greek. The other seven were from Denmark, France, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Norway and Spain.

Services to Fishing Vessels and Yachts.

The year was notable for the number of services to fishing vessels. Life- boats rendered help to them on no fewer than seventy-six occasions, saved or helped to save twenty-four of them, and rescued the lives of 151 fishermen.

The figures of services to yachts also deserve to be recorded. Life-boats rendered help to twenty-three yachts, saved or helped to safety ten of them, and rescued twenty-four lives.

No Loss of Life.

Although there were 320 launches of life-boats on service, and over 1,600 launches on exercise, there was no loss of life among the Institution's crews.

The Finest Services of the Year.

The three finest services of the year were carried out by the motor life- boats at Peterhead (Aberdeenshire), Cromer (Norfolk), and St. Mary's (Scillies). The Peterhead life-boat rescued the whole crew of nine men of the trawler Struan of Aberdeen, fighting against time and rising tide, in a very heavy sea on the night of 18th January1. Fourteen attempts were made to get alongside the wreck before the last of the crew was rescued.

The life-boat herself was flung against the after-gallows of the trawler, and the coxswain was washed overboard but seized the guard-rope and was hauled back. For this service Cox- swain John Strachan received the silver medal of the Institution, and the motor mechanic, David Wiseman, the bronze medal.

In the fierce easterly gale which swept suddenly over Great Britain on 13th December, Coxswain Henry Blogg, of Cromer, who has already won the Institution's gold medal twice, and the silver medal once, added yet another to his list of gallant services, when he and his crew in the motor life-boat rescued two men from the barge Sepoy, of Dover, which was wrecked off Cromer pier.2 For this service Coxswain Blogg was awarded a bar to his silver medal.

On 28th November the motor life- boat at St. Mary's rescued the crew of six of the schooner Mynonie R.

Kirby, bound from London for the South Seas. The schooner had been dismasted and was drifting and rolling in a heavy sea. Both the coxswain and second coxswain were away from the station, owing to the serious illness of their father, and the bowman, Harry 1 A full account of this service appeared in The Life- boat for last March.

2 A full account of this service appears on page 197, and of Coxswain Blogg's record on page 202.

Barrett, was in charge of the life-boat.

He was awarded the bronze medal.1 Ten New Motor Life-boats.

Ten new motor life-boats were built and sent to their stations during the year. Seven went to the English coast—Shoreham Harbour (Sussex), Dungeness (Kent), Walmer (Kent), Exmouth (Devon), St. Ives (Cornwall), Weston-super-Mare (Somerset), and Runswick (Yorkshire); two to Scot- land—Anstruther (Fifeshire), and Long- hope (Orkneys); and one to Wales— Llandudno (Caernarvonshire). At the end of the year there were 120 motor life-boats and 56 pulling and sailing life- boats, making a fleet of 176 life-boats round the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland.

A New Type of Motor Life-boat.

During the year the plans have been completed of two motor life-boats of a new and much lighter type than any at present in the fleet. The lightest of the motor life-boats on service is the 35 feet 6 inches boat, which weighs 6| tons with crew and gear on board.

The new type is 32 feet long, and weighs only 3| tons. She will be driven by two 10 h.p. engines. One of the two boats of which the plans have been prepared will be fitted with Gill pro- pellers, like other motor life-boats.

The other will be fitted with a cone propeller, which is a variation of the paddle of the earliest steamships, placed inside instead of outside the hull of the boat. Experiments will be carried out with these two boat§4 efore it is decided which of these methods of propulsion to adopt for the new light type.

1 A ful] account of this service appears on page 203..