THE Institution has produced its first life-boat of the larger class, with a cabin and shelter for the crew and survivors, which incorporates the self-righting principle. This is a 48-foot 6-inch life- boat designed by Mr. R. A. Oakley, Surveyor of Life-boats and built by Messrs. William Osborne at Little- hampton. The life-boat has a water ballast tank sited beneath the engines.

This fills automatically when the boat enters the sea, and if the life-boat should capsize, 1 tons of water would be speedily transferred into a righting tank on the port side. The water would pass through three trunks or pipes, in each of which is fitted a valve designed to open when the boat is heeled over to an angle of about 110 degrees. The boat has been subjected to capsizing trials which prove that she would right herself in 5/7 seconds.

All controls in the life-boat are cen- tralized near the coxswain at the wheel, and for the first time a radar set is being fitted into one of the Institution's life- boats.

Conrad Memorial In the wheelhouse shelter there is a bulkhead at the fore-end incorporating the instrument panel on the starboard side and the electronic consol on the port side. In the consol are housed the medium wave radio transmitter and receiver, the very high frequency radio receiver and transmitter, the echo sounder recorder, the radar display unit and the radio direction finder.

For many years enquiries have been made with the object of finding a radar set which can be of practical use in a life-boat. The set being fitted in the 48-foot 6-inch boat is the new Decca type 202 set. It has been provided as a memorial to the great novelist Joseph Conrad. Conrad was born on 3rd December, 1857, and to mark the cen- tenary of his birth an appeal was launched with a letter signed, among others, by the Poet Laureate for funds to provide a new life-boat as a Conrad memorial. Although contributions came in from a number of countries the amount received fell far short of the cost of a life-boat, and with the agree- ment of Conrad's family the money subscribed is being used for the radar set.

Characteristics of Boat The following table shows the main characteristics of the new life-boat and of a comparable boat of the non-self- righting type, the 47-foot Watson boat.

New Design 48' 6" 14'0" 27 tons 2i tons 3 tons 9 knots 43.5 tons ft. at 44° 33.5 tons ft.

ISO3 47' 0" Watson 47' 0" 13'0" 23 tons Nil 3 tons 8.8 knots 34.3 tons ft. at 37° 11.5 tons ft.

105° Length Beam Displacement, estimated Water ballast Weight of ballast keel Speed Maximum righting moment Righting moment at 90° Range of stability Before the new life-boat was built ex- tensive tank tests were carried out with various models. The results of the tests were most encouraging and suggested that the new boat's performance in heavy seas might well be superior to that of the 47-foot Watson type. This was a striking advance, for up to 1959 the trend in life-boat design had been to- wards the building of non-self-righting life-boats, as they were considered more stable and therefore less liable to cap- size than life-boats of the self-righting type. In 1959 the 37-foot Oakley life- boat, which is a self-righter, came into service, but this was an open boat with a shelter but no cabin.

More Initial Stability One of the most important features of the new life-boat is that she has decidedly more initial stability than the 47-foot type. The deck area liable to swamping has been reduced and any water shipped passes down tubes through the bottom of the boat, each tube being fitted with a non-return valve.

The new life-boat is propelled by twin Gardner 6 LX diesel engines, each developing 101 brake horse power at 1,200 revolutions per minute, driving the propellers through 2:1 reduction gears. Each propeller is designed to absorb 95 brake horse power so that a reserve of 6 brake horse power is left to minimize loss of speed when the boat is punching through heavy head seas.

The air for the engines and ventilation of the boat is delivered by three electric fans. If the life-boat capsizes the fans are switched off automatically and the ventilation trunks closed by automatic valves to prevent water from rushing in.

Passage to Edinburgh There are three watertight doors, one leading from the steering position to the after cabin, one from the after cabin into the engine room, and one from the engine room into the forward cabin.

If the after door of the engine room and fore cabin emergency hatches are left open, the coxswain's attention is called by red warning lights.

The new life-boat, which is named The Earl and Countess Howe, after com- pleting extensive sea trials in the Little- hampton area, made the passage to Edinburgh, where she was shown at the ninth international life-boat conference.

She will eventually be stationed at Yarmouth in the Isle of Wight..