By RITA DAPHNE HARDING (aged 11), The Colville Junior Girls' School, Lonsdale Road, Netting Hill, London, W.ll.

I STOOD watching a strong weatherbeaten tisherman haul baskets of crabs over the side of his boat, on to a landing-stage at Cromer.

The waves rocked his little boat and his strong body was rocked in rhythmic swing.

I walked over the pebbly beach and along the landing-stage.

" Well, young missy," he said, pausing in his work to look up at me, " this ain't the place for young ladies like you, you know." " I came to look at your boat," I ventured.

" I've never seen inside a fishing vessel before." " Aye, missy, she's one of the best fitted out of the whole fourteen thousand British fishing smacks, but she's not half as good as my old life-boat on the cliffs." " Surely she's not yours," I said, " she belongs to the Life-boat Institution." " That she do, but she is half mine." " How is she? " I asked.

" Well, you see I am the coxswain of her," he said, " and she is my best pal." " I wish you could spare the time to take me over her," I said.

" Very well," the fisherman said. " We'll have a look at my Mary Ann." He started to stroll along the beach, with me running by his side to keep up with him.

" She's a beauty," he said, " one of the best out of all those round our five thousand miles of coast. And," he said proudly, " with me at her stern she can do almost everything that is put before her." " Do you mean that if you pushed her under water and filled her with water she could come up and empty herself? I bet she couldn't." " Well," he answered, " we won't put it to the test. She could do it though, and I'll take you round the boat and show you how its done. Now to empty her of water she has twelve automatic relieving valves or scuppers. These are made so that they will let the water out almost as quickly as it comes in " " But while they are open the water comes in, doesn't it? " I interrupted.

" No, it can't, because as soon as the water tries to come in the scuppers close like that," he said, with a movement of his hands.

li But how does the boat keep afloat when she is full of water," I questioned.

" We are just coming to that," he said.

" Now the boat is divided into fourteen water-tight cases and a hundred and sixty air- tight cases. Now if any of these get knocked or broken she still has all the others to rely on." " What does she run by? " I asked.

" Well, she has two sixty horse-power Diesel engines which enable her to go at a speed of nine knots. She is fitted throughout with electricity, and has a searchlight, awireless, and a line-throwing gun. In her stern she has an oil spray for calming the waters round the wreck." " Where do you put the shipwrecked? " I questioned; " surely you don't leave them out in the wet." " Oh no, we have a cabin in the boat, and she can carry a hundred people besides a crew of eight." " Who was the founder of the Life-boat Institution? " I asked; "he must have been a very brave sailor." " As a matter of fact he wasn't a sailor at all," the fisherman answered to my sur- prise, " he was in the army. It touched him to see ships dashed to pieces on the rocks and people floundering helplessly in the rough water. He begged the people of England to do something. The first life- boat was an open rowing-boat made buoyant by a cork lining. Very often the boat would capsize and the crew would be thrown into the water and very often injured or drowned.

Sir William Hillary was not only the origina- tor of life-boats, but himself one of the bravest of life-boat men." " Was he very old when he retired from the service?" I asked.

" Yes, he was sixty-four. On the way to a wreck Sir William Hillary was tossed out of the boat when it capsized, and was hauled aboard with three broken ribs. • " Of course you know the boats have im- proved now. They are made either to be able to right herself when she capsizes or not to be able to capsize at all. She also has four special qualities, great strength, great buoyancy, power to empty water as soon as she ships it, and lastly, and most important, power to work even when she is badly damaged." " Where does she get her strength from, surely she is made of the same materials as any other boat? " " No, missy, that's just where you're wrong. My Mary Ann is made of woods from half the countries in the British Empire.

English oak," he said, counting on his fingers, " Canadian rock elm, Burmese teak, mahog- any and several others." " I should think a lot of time is wasted when the waves are rough and you can't get near the wreck." " Yes, there is, but with me being the cox- swain we soon beat off the waves with our oil spray here," he said, indicating the spray in the bows, " and that there water gets as calm as a lamb and the passengers are lowered over the side." " I expect it's rather funny to see people coming over the side of the boat, although it can't seem very funny to them to be let down in the dark into the tossing boat." " Of course I shan't always be the cox of the boat, I will have to retire soon, being over sixty." " Oh, well, I really must be going now, and thank you ever so much for listening to me." " Oh, that's all right, it's a change for someone to take notice of me. It's been interesting talking to you. Good-bye, per- haps I shall see you some other time." He rose then, and helping me down the steps of the life-boat house he strolled off down the beach whistling, while I hurried off home to an anxious mother..