ON 22nd July last there took place the first telephone conversation between a life-boat at sea and the head office of the Institution in London. On that day the representatives of the Marconi International Marine Communication Co. visited the life-boat station on the Humber to test the radio telephony set which they had installed in the life-boat. By means of this set and the land-line, Coxswain Robert Cross, when at sea, a mile and a half east of the Bull light-vessel, was able to ring up head office and have a conversation with the deputy chief inspector of life-boats. Each could hear the other clearly and there was no interference by the engines of the life-boat, which were running at 800 revolutions.