ALTHOUGH, in the course of its 127 years of work the Institution has saved, or helped to save, thousands of vessels from destruction, it makes no claims for salvage. Its sole purpose is the rescue of life. When, however, life- boats are able also to save property, their crews are allowed to claim salvage exactly as they would claim it if they had done the work in their own boats.

This has always been the practice of the Institution, but as many people, and in particular yachtsmen, do not seem to have understood it, Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt., the chairman of the Com- mittee of Management, wrote last March to all yacht clubs to explain it to them, and the reasons for it. He wrote both as chairman of the Institu- tion and as a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron.

The letter was sent also to all yacht- ing papers with a request that they would publish it. Here is the letter: Letter to Yacht Clubs "During the past year there have been several cases of claims for pro- perty salvage against yachts from which it appears that there are yacht- owners who do not understand what is —and has always been—the attitude of this Institution towards property salvage.

"The Institution exists solely for the purpose of saving life at sea. If, at the same time, without interfering with its primary object, it can also help to save property as well, that is, obviously, to the advantage of shipowners.

"The Institution, however, makes no salvage claims. Those claims are made by its crews, on their own behalf, as if they had done the work in their own boats.

"The great majority of these men are fishermen. The Institution rewards them whenever they go out in the life- boats, but they are not its paid ser- vants. To make it a condition of their service that they are not to under- take in the life-boats the work of salvage which they are free to undertake in their own boats would be unfair to them. It would also lead to property being lost which might have been saved.

"The Institution would like to make it clear to all yachtsmen: "1. That it is not the duty of a life-boat to save property.

"2. That in the case of any help which yachtsmen ask of a life-boat to salve their yachts—or of any help which a life-boat's crew offers them to salve their yachts—they are deal- ing with the crew as individual fishermen.

"3. That if such help is asked for, or accepted, the men are entitled to make the same claims for salvage as if they were in their own boat.

"Though the crews are free to make their own claims, yet in many cases where they have saved, or helped to save, a vessel, they make no claim at all. In the three months of June, July and August, 1950, life-boats carried our services to forty yachts, motor boats and sailing boats. In only six of these forty services the life- boatmen claimed salvage. In another twenty-three there were bases for such claims, but none was made. In fact, in the great majority of cases, where life-boatmen have helped to save small yachts, they ask for no salvage.

"There are two other points on which there is often misunderstanding.

Yachts grounding on dangerous banks, such as the Goodwins, may be in no immediate peril; but as the tide falls the peril may be sudden and very real. In such cases, even though no signal for help has been made, the coastguard will notify the nearest life- boat station and the life-boat will go out to stand by. It is right that she should. It would be too late if she waited until the yacht heeled over and filled, or was damaged through fouling old wreckage.

Care with Signals "The other cause of misunderstand- ing is signals. Before clothing is hung up to dry it should be remembered that in certain circumstances—when the anchor is dragging or a yacht is on a lee shore in rough weather—a shirt or a pair of trousers may be taken for a signal of distress. A scrupulous use ofsignals would be a great help to the Life-boat Service. So too would it be if all craft carried distress flares.

"If these facts are known I think it will save much misunderstanding be- tween yachtsmen and life-boats, and I shall be very grateful if you can bring them to the notice of your members." The replies received showed that the letter was both needed and welcomed.

Not only did secretaries of yacht clubs write that they were bringing it to the notice of members, but one asked for permission to publish it in the club's magazine, and another wrote, after reading it at the club's annual meeting: "From the remarks made afterwards it would seem that the information given in that letter was quite novel to many of our members. I heard one member tell his neighbour: 'I have been to sea all this time and I didn't know that.' I confess I had got a wrong idea of the question and it seems to me that your letter could not be too widely known, especially among yachts- men." He then asked if he could have copies to send to all the members of the club, so that those who had not attended the meeting would see it.

As a result of the publication of the letter in the yachting papers a corres- pondent wrote to one of them com- plaining of a salvage claim made against the owner of a barge, and giving the facts as given him. The Institu- tion sent him other facts from the report of the service which it had received from the station, and the correspondent thanked it for giving him "the other side of the story.".