THE LIFE-BOAT FLEET 155 Motor Life-boats 1 Harbour Pulling Life-boat LIVES RESCUED from the foundation of the Life-boat Service in 1824 to October 31st, 1953 78,410 Notes of the Quarter First Shore-boat Award of the Year Two Scarborough fishermen, Mr.

William Pashby and his eighteen-year- old son of the same name, are the first two men who are not members of life- boat crews to win awards made by the Institution this year. The elder Mr.

Pashby is the skipper of the fishing boat Courage, On the 8th of July, 1953, the crew of the Courage, when they were off Hayburn Wyke, saw a man on a rock waving for help. The Courage could not get nearer than 100 yards to him, and the younger Mr.

Pashby swam towards him with a raft.

The man had been injured and lost consciousness, and the elder Mr.

Pashby then swam out to give help too. They hauled the injured man on to the raft and paddled it towards a speed boat which had by then been sent to help. Both Mr. Pashby and his son were awarded the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum.

Monetary awards were paid to the whole crew of the Courage, to the crew of another fishing boat Rachel, which also put out to help, and to the crew of the speed boat.

This act of gallantry calls attention to one aspect of the Institution's work, of which few of the general public, and probably by no means all of the Insti- tution's supporters, are aware. Al- though the building, manning and administration of the fleet of 155 motor life-boats form the Institution's main tasks, the recognition and re- warding of acts of life-saving at sea by other boats stationed around the shores of the British Isles is another of the duties which it has always undertaken. In 1952, 103 lives were saved by what are known in the Institution as shore-boat rescues. One of these rescues led to the award of the bronze medal of the Institution to a fifteen-year-old boy, Mr. Tony Metcalfe.

The Search for Aircraft After the busiest peace-time winter in the whole history of the Institution, life-boats were again in constant de- mand during the summer of 1953. In the six summer months from the 1st of April to the 30th of September life- boats were launched on service 332 times. They rescued 178 people.

Once again a high proportion of these launches were made either to help yachts or to search for possible survivors from aircraft. Life-boats went out to the help of yachts 86 timesand to search for survivors from air- craft 40 times. The percentage of launches caused by crashes or reported crashes of aircraft has thus been about 12 per cent of the total number of launches. Considered in terms of rewards paid to crews, however, the percentage is as high as 18, for searches for survivors from aircraft usually mean that life-boats must be at sea for many hours. Unfor- tunately, although the demands made on the life-boats by reports that air- craft have crashed into the sea are considerable, the results in terms of lives rescued are inevitably unimpres- sive. Whereas 86 launches to the help of yachts resulted in the rescue of 87 lives, not a single life was saved by life-boats searching for aircraft.

The life-boats have worked in close co-operation with the Royal Air Force, and their work in this respect has been highly praised. In a letter to the Chief Inspector of H. M. Coastguard in September of this year it was stated that "the Headquarters Rescue Co- ordination Centre take the oppor- tunity of placing on record their high esteem for the efficiency and co- operation afforded by the life-boat crews." The lack of positive results in picking up survivors can only be deplored as a tragic inevitability.

Thurso's Distinction With over one thousand financial branches working constantly to raise money for the service, it is seldom that the Institution has occasion to single out a particular branch for the work it has done. But the achievements this year of Thurso in Caithness-shire are certainly exceptional. The popu- lation of the burgh of Thurso was shown in the 1951 census as 3,203, and that of the civil parish, which in- cludes the burgh as 4,210. Yet in the life-boat week held from the 2nd of August to the 8th of August the sum of £1,100 was raised. This figure is particularly stiking, because in the whole of 1952 Thurso raised only £65 for the service.

There is no doubt that the recon- stitution of the Ladies' Life-boat Guild in February, 1953, has had much to do with this success. Every day during life-boat week some special activity was organised. On one day there was a horse gymkhana and an open air dance; on the flag day and the day of the house-to-house collection there was a treasure hunt and a showing of films. There were also brass and pipe band performances, a highland dancing display, a whist drive, a barn dance and a garden fete. A life- boat rescue display, followed by trips in fishing boats, was also organised.

One of the successes of the week was the production of a cookery book with recipes provided by a variety of experts, including a kitchen-maid in the service of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and the housekeeper at the Queen Mother's Castle of Mey.

The whole edition of a thousand was sold within five days for 2s. 6d. a copy.

Although the Ladies' Life-boat Guild provided the main impetus, the work done by the coxswain and crew of the life-boat in helping to raise money was also remarkable. The crew gave up time every day to help at the various functions, and a number of them who are fishermen lost a week's fishing in order to do this.

The Chairman of the Committee of Management, Sir Godfrey Baring, sent a letter of congratulations to the Thurso branch stating: "The Institu- tion has every reason to feel proud of the support it receives from Thurso." John Terry's Death The sudden death on the 21st of August, 1953, of John Terry at the age of fifty was a tragedy deeply felt by his many friends and by countless people associated with the Life-boat Service. Since 1935 when he joined the Institution John Terry worked un- sparingly, and the wonderful support given to the Life-boat Service through- out the London area is a tribute to the work he did. But he was much more than merely an able and energetic worker for the cause which he sup- ported so keenly. He was a man of great charm and of great kindness.

A memorial service was held in Thursley parish church on the 24th of August. Among those who attended were three members of the Committee of Management, Captain Guy D. Fan- shawe, Mr. T. O. Gray and Colonel the Hon. Harold Robson, the Secretary and past and present members of the staff, and honorary workers who had come in many cases considerable dis- tances to be present. Those who were there will remember and may have echoed the words of the vicar, the Rev.

H. G. French, when he said: "The Life-boat Service and the Church were the two great and abiding interests in John Terry's life." Following so soon on the retirement of Mr. Charles Vince and Mr. R. C.

Baverstock, John Terry's death has meant that the three chief officials sup- porting the Secretary on the adminis- trative side have been lost to the Institution within two months. As a servant of the Life-boat Institution he will be greatly missed; as a friend and as a delightful companion he will be remembered kindly by thousands.

Letters from Our Readers A feature which it is hoped to introduce—or rather revive—in The Lifeboat is the publication of letters from readers. Such letters were a regular feature of earlier Journals.

The first letter to be published in the Journal appeared in 1854 and came from New Orleans. It was from an inventor of a life-boat named Edward G. Fitch, who stated that his motive for forwarding the communication was "not a pecuniary one," but that his object was "only the saving of life." He pointed out that "life preservers," which he described in detail, were carried in the steam boats on the Mis- sissippi River in accordance with a law of the Congress of the United States requiring all steam vessels carrying passengers to be supplied with one for each passenger carried. He suggested that a law should be introduced in Britain compelling all vessels to carry such life preservers. The correspon- dence on life preservers was continued by others.

It was in the same year that the President of the Board of Trade, Thomas Cardwell, introduced the bill which became the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854. This was a comprehen- sive act consolidating earlier legislation and making provision for the protec- tion of passengers as well as the protection and welfare of seamen. In particular it specified the number and nature of ships' life-boats and life- buoys to be carried.

Letters from readers should be addressed to the editor of the Life-boat Journal and not, as in normal corres- pondence, to the Secretary of the Institution. Any such letters will be considered for publication unless the writer expressly states otherwise..