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 30th September, 1955 79,860 Notes of the Quarter THE first good summer which Britain and Ireland have enjoyed for six years has found life-boats two and a half times as busy as they were twenty years ago. There are a number of reasons for the extraordinary growth in the work which the life-boats are called upon to do, even in a year of good weather, but one of the chief of these is certainly the increasing help given to yachtsmen. During the sum- mer months, from May to August inclusive, life-boats were launched 254 times. 64 of these services were to yachts —that is to say, more than a quarter.

In the period reviewed in this number of the Life-boat, that from July to September inclusive, the relative importance of services to yachts was even greater. Out of a total of 192 launches on service 59—or more than 37 per cent—were to yachts. Much of the section in this number of the Life- boat which records details of services reads like a yachting chronicle; yet in spite of the continual reports of yachts in distress having been towed in, there were only four salvage claims in all and only two for the saving of yachts.

RAMSGATE'S 1,000th LAUNCH When the Ramsgate life-boat put out to the help of the Norwegian ship Husvik on the 16th of July, 1955, the thousandth launch known to have been made by Ramsgate life-boats was recorded. The early records of life- boat services are incomplete, and this figure of one thousand is arrived at only by listing services which are definitely known to have taken place.

On the basis of the evidence available, only Great Yarmouth and Gorleston life-boats are known to have been launched more often, and only Caister and Great Yarmouth and Gorleston have rescued more lives than Ramsgate.

The Ramsgate station was estab- lished in 1802, the first life-boat to be stationed there having been built by Henry Greathead for the trustees of Ramsgate Harbour. Among the many famous life-boats which have been stationed at Ramsgate was that which was built according to the model sub- mitted by James Beeching, which won the Duke of Northumberland's prize in 1851. Full records of the station date from only 1865. In the course of their remarkable record of life-saving, Ramsgate life-boats have been happily free from disasters. The only instance in which a member of a Ramsgate crew lost his life on service was that of an accident in 1873, when one man was washed out of the life-boat and drowned. Yet members of the Rams- gate crews have won 40 medals; two gold, 37 silver and one bronze.APPRECIATION The reactions of those whose lives are rescued, or who are in other ways helped by life-boats, vary, but from time to time the Institution receives letters which indicate that the work done by life-boat crews is duly esteemed. The following letter re- ceived from the owner of the Italian steamer Alba is among the more memorable.

" I am very sorry I could not manage yet to come to your office to express all the gratitude we owe, myself and my men, to you and to the magnificent crew of the Lytham.

"It would be very difficult for me to explain the nature of the wave of emotion that overflowed every one of us seeing the little Lytham come out from the darkness and approach our dear and helpless Alba. The Lytham and her crew, in the storm, were a perfect image of struggle of Good against Evil. That emotion we will never forget because in that very moment we felt the way every human being would have to feel towards each other.

"There are no words to express our gratitude! I just have to say that, in that night of September 13th, the glorious and heroic history of the English Marine had in the crew of the Lytham her splendid ensign-bearer." MEMORIAL TO LIONEL LUKIN An interesting ceremony took place on the 2nd of July, 1955, at Dunmow, in Essex. This was the unveiling of a memorial by Mrs. Augustine Cour- tauld, the wife of a member of the Committee of Management, to Lionel Lukin, the inventor of the life-boat.

Lukin is believed to have carried out experiments with model boats on the doctor's pond in Dunmow, and from his experiments he developed the idea of constructing what he described as an " unimmergible" boat. It was the success of these experiments which led Archdeacon Sharp, trustee of the Crewe estates, to ask Lukin to build the first boat to be used as a life-boat.

This boat was stationed at Bamburgh in Northumberland. Like Sir William Hillary, the founder of the Institution, Lionel Lukin was a man with a remark- able variety of interests. By trade a coachbuilder, he also designed a raft for rescuing people submerged under ice, an adjustable reclining bed for invalids, a rain gauge and a stove for ventilating the lower parts of ships.

EARLY RECORDS Those who care to examine the statement of lives rescued, which is given at the beginning of each nurhber of the Life-boat, may notice a sudden leap in the figures recorded in this number. This is not due to any recent huge increase in the number of lives rescued, but to the re-examination of certain early records. The figure of lives rescued has been built up over the years from existing records. In- vestigation, however, has shown that in the years 1824, 1843, and 1848 medals were awarded for certain ser- vices, but the lives then rescued have not been included in the total figures.

On the 23rd of November, 1824, for instance, a gold medal was awarded for the rescue of 195 people from the transport ship Admiral Berkeley, of Portsmouth. In 1843 a silver medal was awarded for the rescue of five men from the Neapolitan ship San Salva- dore, off Wcxford. and five years later a silver medal was awarded for the rescue of 230 people from the American ship Burgundy on Long Sand. The discovery of these particular services suggests that the total number of lives rescued at sea since the Institution was founded may be even greater than is now claimed..