THE naming ceremony of the new lifeboat at Douglas, Isle of Man, was held on June 3rd, 1948, with a gale blowing and such heavy rain throughout the day, that it was impossible to hold it in the open. It took place inside the boathouse, and instead of the 4,000 or 5,000 people who had been expected to attend, there was. room only for 100.

Douglas was one of the first places in the British Isles to be provided with a life-boat. The station was opened in 1802, and the boat was one of the thirty-one boats built by Henry Greathead, who had built the first life-boat stationed at the mouth of the Tyne in 1789. She was a gift from the Duke of Athol. In its early years the station was maintained by the Isle of Man Life-boat Association. It was taken over by the Institution in 1868-, and since then it has had, including the new boat, seven life-boats. They have rescued 135 lives. The new boat is a 46-feet Watson cabin boat, and has been built out of a legacy from Mrs.

M. E. Walton, of Derby.

Mr. A. J. Loudon, chairman of the Douglas branch, presided. The boat was described by Commander E. W.

Middleton, R.N.V.R., the district inspector of life-boats, Captain N.

Harding Clarke, the organising secretary for the North-west of England, presented her to the branch, and she was received by His Honour R. D.

Farrant, J.P., C.P., president of the branch. The Venerable the Archdeacon of Man (The Rev. C. V. Stockwood, M.A.) dedicated the boat, assisted by the Rev. C. Edgar James and the Rev. F. M. Cubbon.

Lady Bromet, wife of His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man, then named the life-boat Millie Walton.

A vote of thanks to Lady Bromet was proposed by the Mayor of Douglas (Councillor F. M. Corkill, J.P.) and seconded by Mr. A. E. Kitto, the honorary secretary of the branch. The singing was led by the Lon Dhoo Choir and accompanied by the Brass Band Quartette.

As the life-boat ran down the slipway into the gale she was welcomed by the sirens and whistles of a large number of trawlers, stormbound in the harbour.

It was in Douglas that Sir William Hillary, Bt., wrote in 1823 the appeal which led to the founding of the Institution in the following year, and before the ceremony a wreath was laid on his memorial with the inscription: "From the Life-boat Service to the glorious memory of its Founder and one of the greatest of its life-boatmen, Lieut.- Colonel Sir William Hillary, Baronet.".