ON 27th September the inaugural ceremony took place of the new motor life-boat which has been built for the station at Maryport, Cumberland. The new boat was welcomed by the Earl of Lonsdale, K.G., G.C.V.O., D.L., Hereditary Admiral of the Coasts of Cumberland and Westmorland, and was named by Lady Lonsdale, C.B.E.

Over 20,000 people were present at the ceremony and the whole town was decorated. The ceremony was the first event in a three days' carnival. Among those taking part in the ceremony were Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt., chairman of the Institution, Mr. Wilson G.

Nixon, J.P., chairman of the Mary- port Urban District Council, the Bishop of Barrow-in-Furness and Col. G. J.

Pocklington-Senhouse, J.P., president of the branch; and among those present were the Mayor and Mayoress of Whitehaven, the Mayor of Working- ton, the Mayor of Birkenhead, Mr.

Walker T. Moore, honorary secretary of the station, Mr. J. M. Mawson, J.P., honorary secretary of the Piel (Barrow) station, Major A. D. Burnett Brown, M.C., deputy-secretary of the Institution, and Mr. John Murray, only survivor of the crew of the first life- boat stationed at Maryport in 1865.

The New Motor Life-boat.

The life-boat has been built out of a legacy from the late Mr. Joseph Braithwaite, of Westmorland and Hove, Sussex, who died in 1883, but the legacy' has only just come to the Institution as his widow had a life interest in it. It was left to provide a life-boat for either Sussex or Cumber- land, the boat to be named Joseph Braithwaite after the donor.

The new boat has replaced another motor life-boat and is of the light Liverpool type described on page 377.

There have, at various times, been five life-boat stations on the coast of Cumberland, and they have rescued 160 lives from shipwreck. Maryport is now the only Cumberland' station.

It was established in 1865, and its life- boats have rescued 124 lives. One silver and one bronze medal have been awarded to Maryport coxswains for gallantry. The silver medal was won in 1878 by Coxswain John Webster, and the bronze medal this year by the present coxswain, Thomas Q. Reay.1 Col. G. J. Pocklington-Senhouse, J.P., president of the branch, presided, and Mr. Wilson G. Nixon, J.P., chairman of the Maryport Urban District Council, welcomed the visitors. After the hymn " Lord in the hollow of Thine Hand," and a reading by the Rev.

Percy Jackson, of the Methodist Church, Commander J. M. Upton, R.D., R.N.R., district inspector of life-boats, described the new life-boat.

Mr. Edward Moser, on behalf of his uncle, trustee to Mr. Joseph Braith- waite, presented the life-boat to the Institution. The donor, he said, came of an old Kendal family, and was bom at Wigton in 1836. He thanked the Institution for perpetuating Mr. Braith- waite's name by stationing his life-boat so near his birthplace.

The life-boat was received by Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt., chairman of the Institution, who said that he was a Cumbrian by birth. He paid a tribute to the life-boatmen of Maryport, and formally handed the life-boat to the branch. She was received by its president, Colonel G. J. Pocklington- Senhouse, J.P., who recalled that at the last inaugural ceremony of a life- boat at Maryport there were a hundred people present. The audience, two hundred times as large on this occasion, showed the immense interest of the people in their life-boat service.

Lord Lonsdale, in welcoming the life-boat to the coast of Cumberland and Westmorland, said : " It is with the greatest pleasure that I welcome this life-boat to these shores. It was a most kindly thought of the donor, for there is no greater service than that of the life-boats. Maryport has a crew worthy of their new boat. I congratu- late them on the honours of the past, and wish boat and crew the best of luck for the future." The life-boat was then dedicated by the Bishop of Barrow-in-Furness (the Right Rev. H. S. Pelham, M.A.), in the absence, through illness, of the Bishop of Carlisle, and after the singing of " Eternal Father, strong to save," 1 See page 349.

and a prayer by the vicar of Maryport, the Rev. E. H. H. Hymas, M.A., Lady Lonsdale named the life-boat Joseph Braithwaite.

A vote of thanks to Lord and Lady Lonsdale and the others who had taken part in the ceremony was proposed by Mr. J. H. Rich, J.P., vice-chairman of the Maryport Urban District Council, and seconded by Mr. T. Carey, J.P., Maryport's oldest inhabitant, who will be 102 in December.

The life-boat was then launched, and a life-saving display was given by Maryport swimmers, with the new Daily Dispatch life-saving line..