THE variety of services performed by life-boats and the variety of vessels which life-boats help have been clearly illustrated during the past quarter.

The first ten services for the month of May, which are recorded on pages 500-2 of this number, are instructive.

Two of the services consisted of taking sick or injured men off ships, one of the ships being a Dutch vessel in Yarmouth Roads, the other being an Italian steamer off Barrow in Lancashire.

In five cases Jife-boats towed vessels in distress to safety. The Stromness life-boat towed a Norwegian fishing vessel which had gone aground in Hoy Sound; the Islay life-boat found a yacht ashore in Islay Sound and towed her off; a motor vessel which had gone ashore in the channel between Anglesey and Puffin Island was towed to Beaumaris; the Howth life-boat found a diver's boat drifting ashore under the cliffs and towed her to safety; and the Walmer life-boat, after putting out to the help of a small boat which succeeded in continuing under her own power, ended by towing in three fishing boats.

Of the other services a yacht was escorted to Southend; five canoes were escorted to Llandudno; and the mechanic of the Humber life-boat, finding a motor boat in trouble, boarded her and repaired her engines.

These various services led to only one claim for property salvage, and indeed there was only one salvage claim throughout the whole month.

COST OF MAINTAINING A STATION Further extensive repairs, including work which has to be carried on under water, have been approved by the Committee of Management for the Selsey life-boat station. The station is a busy and important one, and last year the Selsey coxswain, Douglas Grant, was awarded the silver medal for a series of outstanding rescues.

But because of erosion the cost of maintaining this station is an enormously high one. Since the war new construction, including a gangway extension, has cost more than £6,000.

The general upkeep, which has included underpinning slipway piles, strengthening the boathouse slipway and gangway trestles and repairing damage by storm, has exceeded £24,500. In addition the Institution had to pay more than £1,000 for a hydrographic survey. The cost of the further repairs now found necessary will be between £1,500 and £2,000.

REFLECTING MATERIAL ON BUOYS AND LIFE-BELTS The Committee of Management have decided to fit Scotchlite reflecting material on to all life-buoys in lifeboats and all life-belts worn by members of life-boat crews.

Scotchlite is a specially coated material which has exceptional powers of reflection. The reflective property is caused by the action of large numbers of microscopic crystals with which the material is coated. The beam of a searchlight is picked up by these tiny lenses and reflected through a wide arc. The reflected light is a brilliant one, and trials have shown that Scotchlite enables a man in the water to be seen in the beam of a searchlight at far greater distances than would otherwise be the case.

The life-buoys will be fitted with two gaiters of Scotchlite, and the lifebelts will have strips of Scotchlite on the shoulder straps.

DUNKIRK MEMORIAL The part played by the Margate and Ramsgate life-boats at the time of the evacuation from Dunkirk was recognised when H.M. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother unveiled a memorial at Dunkirk to commemorate those who gave their lives during the 1939-1945 campaign. Two members of the crews of the Ramsgate and Margate lifeboats which went to Dunkirk were invited to take part in the ceremony.

They were Mr. E. D. Parker, D.S.M., who was coxswain of the Margate lifeboat at the time, and Mr. J. T. Hawkes, who went over to Dunkirk as a member of the Ramsgate crew.

LIFE-BOATS AT AGRICULTURAL SHOWS Life-boats of the Institution were exhibited at three of the major agricultural shows during the summer.

The Broughty Ferry life-boat was seen at the Highland Show at Dundee from the 18th to the 22nd of June; the Great Yarmouth and Gorleston lifeboat at the Royal Show at Norwich from the 2nd to the 5th of July; and the Redcar life-boat at the Great Yorkshire Show at Harrogate from the 9th to the llth of July. Arrangements were made to ensure full operational efficiency while these life-boats were away from their stations. Members of branches and guilds in the areas gave up many hours to collect money and sell souvenirs at all these shows.

HISTORY OF THE LIFE-BOAT SERVICE The first full-length book on the Life-boat Service as a whole to appear for nearly thirty-five years is being published in October, 1957.

H.R.H. the Duchess of Kent, President of the Institution, has written a foreword to the book. The book, which is entitled The Life-boat Story, has been written by Mr. Patrick Howarth, Publicity Secretary of the Institution, and is published by Messrs. Routledge & Kegan Paul. It has more than thirty illustrations and will cost one guinea. On every copy sold through the Institution the funds of the Institution will benefit by 7s. A review of the book will appear in the December number of the Life-boat..