ON March llth, through the kindness of the British Broadcasting Corporation, Major-General the Right Hon. Lord Mottistone, P.C., C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.

(Major-General Seely), coxswain of the Brooke, Isle of Wight, life-'boat, made a wireless appeal for the life-boat service as " The Week's Good Cause." The appeal was made in the National and Regional programmes.

Lord Mottistone has been a mem- ber of the Brooke life-boat crew for nearly forty years, and last year was unanimously elected coxswain by the crew. He has been a member of the committee of management of the Institution for thirty-two years and a vice-president since 1930.

The Appeal.

" My home is in a small village on the south coast of the Isle of Wight.

It is so small that we could not man our life-boat unless everyone there who knew anything about the sea belonged to the crew; and so of course I am a life-boatman, not from any merit of my own, but because we must all do our share.: "I have been a life-boatman now for forty years, and it was one of the happiest moments of my life when, some months ago, my comrades in the crew chose me to be the coxswain.

These are my credentials for speaking to you to-night about the life-boat service.

" I will not tell you of my own experiences, though, of course, in these many years they have been varied and interesting, but rather may I tell you one story of a life-boat service which happened just over a month ago. I confess when I heard of it it moved me deeply, and I think you who are listening will also be moved by pity and admiration.

" The Runswick life-boat on the Yorkshire coast went out last month in response to signals of distress from a steamer. A gale was blowing and the sea was heavy. When the life-boat reached the sinking steamer she found that seven of the crew had already been rescued by a tug, but one man, a cripple, remained on board, who was unable to jump into the tug because of his lameness. As the life-boat came alongside the coxswain called to the man to jump. The man knew he could not do this, so he lowered himself over the side, and hung there.

" Robert Patton, the coxswain, lent over and seized the man. He knew very well the risk he was taking. He cried out to the man to loose his hold, but, as often happens, the man only held on the tighter. At that moment the life-boat sheered off from the wreck.

Patton could, of course, have let go, but he knew that the man, who by then was only holding on with one hand, would certainly be flung into the sea.

So he still held the man, and, as the life-boat was swept away from the side of the ship by a great wave, was dragged overboard. But, of course, when the wave passed the life-boat was flung back against the ship's side, and Patton's body took the full force of the blow. Patton sung out to the crew to haul the man on board. They grabbed the man and got him into the boat unhurt. But before they could get the coxswain back into the boat it had crashed twice more against the wreck, crushing him again. They brought him ashore to Runswick, and for some days there was hope of his recovery, but on the ninth day he died.

" Patton's widow will be pensioned as if he had been a chief petty officer of the Navy killed in action. More- over, the committee have awarded the posthumous medal for great gallantry, a distinction but rarely given. So much the Institution can and will do.

" These brave deeds are part of the price we pay for being an island set in a stormy sea. But it is a costly business to pay the pensions and rewards of the crews and launchers.

We are obliged to spend nearly £50,000 each year on these awards and pensions alone, the whole of which must come from the voluntary gifts of the public, for we receive not a farthing from the State.

" Few of us can take our place in a life-boat, but each one of us can become a member of the life-boat service of Great Britain and Ireland by joining the great army of voluntary subscribers who alone make the life-boat service possible.

" So, I respectfully entreat you, send all you can afford to help this great service, remembering brave Patton, who gave his life for another.

" And will you send your gift to me : Lord Mottistone (some of you will perhaps remember me better as Jack Seely)—Lord Mottistone, at Life-boat House, Grosvenor Gardens, London." The Response.

To this appeal 3,433 replies were re- ceived, of which 1,095 were anonymous.

The replies came from all over the British Isles, including the Irish Free State, although the appeal was not broadcast there. Several were received from abroad, the most distant coming from a yacht in the Mediterranean.

The individual responses ranged from 4d. to £500, and the total response was £2,443 5s. 3d. Many of those who sent gifts wrote that they wished to become regular subscribers.

In his speech at the annual meeting (see page 246) the Prince of Wales referred to the touching fact that a number of gifts were received from old age pensioners. One, a retired gardener at Wigan, sent 5s. and wrote : " It is half of my old age pension, the first of which I became entitled to last week." Another sent 5s. from Darwen, also in Lancashire, and another 2s. 6d.

from Newcastle-on-Tyne. Another old age pensioner, a Northamptonshire woman, unable to send any money, sent a poem instead and wrote : "I have made a lot of money for charity by writing such a poem on different things and I hope you may find this useful when appealing." Another contributor, who sent a pound, wrote: " Am afraid I must make unemployment the excuse for the smallness of the amount, but I have travelled for twenty-two years around Africa and so I fully realize the de- servedness of the cause you champion." Among other contributors were the skipper and crew of the yacht Lone Star, which from 1897 to 1922 was the life-boat Mary Badger, stationed at Saltburn, Yorkshire ; " the widow and mother of two American sailors " ; a son who sent his gift in memory of his father, saved by a life-boat; a relative of Captain G. W. Manby, who in 1825 received the gold medal of the Institu- tion for his invention of the rocket life-saving apparatus; and a great granddaughter of James Beeching of Great Yarmouth, who in 1851 designed and built the first self-righting life-boat.

Previous Appeals.

This was the third life-boat appeal broadcast from London as " The Week's Good Cause." The previous appeal was made in 1930 by ex-Coxswain John T. Swan, of Lowestoft. It re- ceived 1,700 replies, amounting to £751 4s. 5d. The first was a life-boat duologue, "SO S," written by the late Commander Stopford C. Douglas, R.N., deputy chief inspector of life-boats, and broadcast in 1927 by the late Sir Gerald du Maurier and Miss Mabel Terry- Lewis. To this appeal 420 replies were received amounting to £376 17s. 2d..