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 May 31st, 1951 - 77,369 Mr. Anthony Eden on the Life-boat Service* OUR British race loves the sea.

Throughout the length and breadth of the land, whether on the moors or in the valleys, however far from the sound of the sea, in every corner of the country, are men and women who love the sea.

They may not see it very often; they may not know it very well; but the allegiance is there all the same. Our whole history and national tradition is an ocean story.

This Institution, we are reminded, was 127 years old this month, quite a considerable age. It is indeed the oldest Life-boat Service, and its work goes on unchanged in a changing world.

It has seen sail give place to steam, and petrol engines follow the steam engine.

Whether or not all those are very good things would not be for me to say this afternoon. Whatever our views on that topic, we shall discuss them a little further down the road. This Institution has made use of every new invention, and the men who designed and built the first life-boat would indeed be amazed at the life-boat of to-day.

The Institution has changed with the times, and yet it has remained the same. It is as its founder planned it.

*A speech delivered at the annual meeting of the Institution, see page 164.

It is a voluntary service. Its crews are volunteers. It is administered by voluntary committees, and the whole of its revenue comes from voluntary gifts collected by voluntary workers.

There is no State contribution (Applause); surely a remarkable phenomenon, but again one on which I do not propose to dilate at all this afternoon.

An Amateur Service In this professional age this remains largely a service of amateurs, in the best sense of the word, its work given freely from a sense of devotion and loyalty. I am entirely convinced that no work is as well done, and no money so well and wisely spent, as that which is provided by willing hearts and hands.

(Applause.) Political changes have made little difference. For instance, the Institu- tion remains responsible for life-boats, not only in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but in the Republic of Ireland also. We are very glad of that, and it is interesting to note that of the four medals which Your Royal Highness has presented today, three of them have been won by men from the Republic of Ireland and one by an English coxswain. Youmay also note that while one of the two Irish services was to an Irish fishing boat, the other was to a Scottish steamer, and the medal won by the English coxswain was for rescuing the crew of a schooner from the Republic of Ireland. There indeed is inter- national co-operation at its best, not as iii my experience from the Foreign Office windows we always see it. I could wish that there were more of such international co-operation in the world to-day. (Applause.) You do not have to be a member of any particular church or party or union to receive aid from the crews of the life-boats. If you need help, you get it. This is a principle, idealistic maybe, but certainly practi- cal in the fullest sense, which could be called the watchword of the Insti- tution.

A Remarkable Increase It might be thought that, while so much is being done to make travel by sea and air, not only more com- fortable, but safer, the work of the Life-boat would be decreasing. But the contrary is the case. The work is increasing. Its expansion during the past thirty years has been remarkable.

I do not want to weary you with figures, but one contrast will suffice. In 1921- 25 the average number of launches on service was 234. In the six years of the last war it was 617. Those were the busiest and the most dangerous years in the whole history of the Ser- vice. Yet since the war the average number of launches has fallen very little, which is rather surprising.

Altogether this Institution has, as your report tells you, given rewards for the saving of over 77,000 lives, an average of 50 lives a month. (Applause.) Not only does the work go on, and increase, but the dangers remain.

They are always there, but when, again and again, life-boats come tri- umphantly through them it is very easy to forget them.

I have to say just two sentences about finance. The Institution is now rebuilding its fleet after the losses and delays of the war, and is spending on this something like one and a half million pounds. Before the war the Service cost £400,000. Last vear it cost £800,000. Fortunately, as the cost of the Service has increased, so has its income. In 1950 the income rose to the record total of £750,000, but, as your chairman has told you, it was still £70,000 less than the year's expenditure. The Institution owes a very deep debt of gratitude to the men and women (many of them in this hall today) who, as honorary workers for over a thousand branches, help to collect its funds, as well as to the thousands of all classes in all parts of Great Britain and Ireland who con- tribute to them. (Applause.) " This Gallant League of Men " Let me then put my message to you: We at home sometimes hear on our radio of gale warnings and other fore- casts of the menaces to shipping around our coasts, and as a result we may perhaps shiver a little more deeply into our armchairs. But not many of us recall that each of these warnings may mean for others a call to action, an invitation to danger, and maybe a threat of death. No words of ours can exaggerate the gallantry of this league of men. They face constant peril because they have dedicated themselves to serve others on the sea.

Today we thank and we salute them.

As a meeting we pledge ourselves to stand by them, proud at this moment to form part of a gallant community ready at all times to work and to save their fellows who go down to the sea in ships. (Loud Applause.).