THE LIFE-BOAT FLEET 153 Motor Life-boats 1 Harbour Pulling Life-boat LIVES RESCUED from the foundation of the Life-boat Service in 1824 to October 31st, 1950 - 77,074 The Danger of Rubber Dinghies EVERY year life-boats are called out to rescue people from rubber dinghies which have got out of control and drifted dangerously out to sea. Before the war the number was not large; but since the war it has increased and is going on increasing, as the popularity of these dinghies as a seaside toy spreads. Many of the dinghies were formerly R.A.F. equipment, used legiti- mately by airmen baling out over the sea: now they are adopted by holiday makers on the coast as pleasure paddle- beats, usually while bathing. They take up to six people, although they are of ten'operated solo; -and children form a fair proportion of their crews.

The sole purpose of the Life-boat Service is to save life at sea: it does not concern itself with the fitness or other- wise of those who put to sea, to navi- gate the craft they go in.

However, there is no doubt that its task would be eased if more care were taken by those using rubber dinghies.

The normal hazards of the sea and its travellers are great enough: when there are added to them these constant cases of people in danger through lack of a proper regard for their own ele- mentary safety, some publication of them is perhaps necessary.

The particular danger in rubber dinghies is that so many children use them; and if they get carried out—or indeed paddle out deliberately—some way from the shore, are usually not strong enough to curb an ebbing tide, or battle against strong currents and a wind-stirred sea. The rubber dinghy is obviously a very agreeable seaside pleasure-craft, but it should be plied only in the shallows, especially if there is an off-shore wind or when the tide is running out; and if children or any young people are in charge of one, it would be more expedient to attach a line to the dinghy from the shore.

The rubber dinghy—except for airmen —is not a deep water fish, and is best left to play among the in-shore shrimps.

Here is a list of the services performed this year, between April and September, by life-boats to rubber dinghies. Of the eighteen lives saved, five were children and three women.

Date Station Craft Service April 9th May 13th June 6th St. Abbs Holyhead New Brighton No. 1 Rubber Dinghy Rubber Dinghy Rubber Dinghy Rescued 1' Rescued 3 Rescued 8 Date Station Craft June llth Appledore Rubber Dinghy Rescued 2 ? 12th Appledore Rubber Dinghy Rescued 2 ?j 28th Rhyl Rubber Dinghy Saved Dinghy ,, 28th Skegness Rubber Dinghy Saved Dinghy and rescued 6 Julv 17th Skegness Rubber Dinghy and tyre Rescued 2 ., 18th Dungeness Rubber float Rescued 8 Aug. 9th Bhvl Rubber Dinghy Rescued 2 from sandbank Total number of Launches ,, ,, Lives Rescued Children 10 18 ( 4 boys 1 girl Women Men 3 10 18 There were also two shore-boat rescues of rubber dinghies.

Date June 28th August llth Place Rhyl Scarborough Craft Service Rubber Dinghy Rescued 6 Girl on rubber tyre Rescued 1 This account is of the most outstanding rescue from a rubber dinghy during this summer.

A Dramatic Rescue at Rhyl ON the afternoon of the 9th of August last, a father and his two small sons took out their six-seater rubber dinghy at Rhyl, in North Wales. John Mullins and his wife were on holiday there with David, aged ten, and his six-year- old brother John; and this was one of their favourite pastimes.

This day there was a south-westerly breeze, and as it freshened, the sea grew rough. The dinghy drifted away from the beach. When it was about seventy yards out, Mr. Mullins jumped into the sea and, carrying the lifeline, struck out for shore. But in the heavy sea he was soon in difficulties, and only with the help of Mrs. Mullins, watching from the sands, did he reach land.

She dropped her baby and dashed into the water to drag him out. Mean- while, the lifeline had been lost and the dinghy, with its two small occupants, drifted farther out to sea.

At 4.35 a call from the Prestatyn Police through the Rhyl coastguard brought out the life-boat. The two children had been seen off Point of Ayr lighthouse. The life-boat, Antony Robert Marshall, in charge of the second coxswain, searched the area without avail; and then, calculating the direction the dinghy may have drifted in the prevailing wind, made off for West Hoyle Bank.

Suddenly, at 6.10 in the evening, they saw two black dots above the sea's surface. They were the heads of the two small boys, who had aban- doned their dinghy, and were on the submerged sandbank. The life-boat set off towards them with all speed ; but when still 200 yards away grounded in shoal water. The second mechanic and the bowman thereupon volun- teered to wade to the children. With a lifeline they moved through the corrugated banks, crossed by deep gulleys, until they reached David and John. They were only just in time.

The sea was already up to David's chin, and he was holding up his small brother, who was out of his depth. He could hardly have held on more than a couple of minutes longer.

The life-boatmen took the two little boys on board, and by eight o'clock they were back in Rhyl, where a doctor sent them both to hospital.

But they had had a narrow escape.

Only the elder boy's presence of mind and his almost unbelievable courage and nerve saved them both from drowning.

This rescue, which was so nearly tragedy, serves as an example of the perils of putting to sea in a rubber dinghy..