Commander S. W. F. Bennetts, D.S.O., D.S.C., R.N., Chief Inspector of life- boats, died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Rottingdean on 1st of April, 1961. He joined the Institution as District Inspector (General) in 1949 and in 1951 was appointed Deputy Chief Inspector. In 1958, on the retirement of Commander T. G. Michelmore, O.B.E..

R.D., R.N.R., he was appointed Chief Inspector.

Commander Bennetts was educated at Osborne and Dartmouth. Apart from two months' service in H.M.S. Revenge he was in command of submarines and destroyers from 1933 to 1944. In 1943, while serving in the Mediterranean in command of H.M.S. Bicester, he was awarded the D.S.O., and in the same year he was awarded the D.S.C. He was also mentioned in despatches for ser- vices in the landings in North Africa in 1942. From 1944 to 1948 he served at the Admiralty in the Department of Naval Equipment..