Second Mechanic F. K. Neilson of New Brighton, lost his life on the 6th March, 1962, when he fell overboard from the New Brighton boarding boat.

The honorary secretary of the New Brighton station had issued instructions that during the period of spring tides in early March the life-boat, which lies afloat, was to be watched at low water. There is a standing instruction at the station that the boarding boat should be manned by two men, but Second Mechanic Neilson, a most conscientious man, had gone ahead of the coxswain and mechanic on the afternoon of the 6th March, and had launched the boarding boat by him- self.

As the boarding boat approached the life-boat Neilson was seen to go forward, but a minute later the boat was observed drifting back on the ebb tide and Neilson appeared to be missing. A few minutes later the empty boat was picked up by the staff onSeacombe landing stage, and two minutes after that Neilson was seen floating face down on the ebb tide between the landing stage and the ferry. He was hauled out and first aid was applied, but he did not recover.

Nobody saw him go overboard, but there is little doubt that he either slipped or fell when making the painter fast or trying to clear the propeller which the painter had fouled.

Second Mechanic Neilson, who had been a full-time employee of the Institution since 1957, first joined the New Brighton crew in 1951. A service was held on board the New Brighton life-boat on the 23rd March, when Neilson's ashes were committed to the sea. The crew donated the exercise payments to which they were entitled for that day to the widow. Neilson's widow is, of course, receiving a pension from the Institution on the scale applicable to a chief petty officer in the Royal Navy..