THOSE who attended the annual general meeting of the governors of the Institution on yth April, 1964, were told that 364 people had been rescued by the Institution's life-boats and inshore rescue boats during the previous year, without loss of a single member of the life-saving crews. The meeting, which was held at the Central Hall, Westminster, was atten- ded by H.R.H. Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, president of the Institution.

NO LIVES LOST Reporting on the year's work, Cap- tain the Hon. V. M. Wyndham-Quin, deputy chairman of the Committee of Management, said, "My first duty today is to report on the work of the life-boat service in the year 1963, and a very eventful year it was.

It was also a most successful year in every possible way. The true measure of our success is that 354 people were rescued by life-boats; 10 others were rescued by our new inshore rescue boats, to which I will refer later; and individual boat-owners, many of them associated with our inshore rescue scheme, saved the lives of 224 others. All this was done without the loss of a single member of a crew of a life-boat or other life-saving craft in the service of the Institution.

SKILLED CREWS "That, I think you will agree, is a wonderful record. When disasters do occur much is written about them. This is very understandable, but surely it is also worthy of comment that during the year in which we experienced just about the worst winter in human memory life- boats were continually out on their missions of life-saving and not a single man was lost and no life-boat was seri- ously damaged. This is a tribute both to the skill and seamanship of our crews and to the quality of the boats in which they serve.

ADVANCES IN DESIGN "We have indeed every right to be proud of the quality of our life-boats, but we are never satisfied and we are always trying to improve. In the year on which I am reporting several important advances were made. We put into service a new prototype life-boat, which is now sta- tioned at Yarmouth in the Isle of Wight.

This is the 48-foot 6-inch life-boat designed by our own surveyor and the largest boat in our service to incorporate his own ingenious principle of self- righting.

INFLATABLE CRAFT "Then we introduced a new type of life-saving craft, a small, fast, inflatable boat driven by an outboard motor, capable of well over twenty knots and normally manned by a crew of two. We tried some of them out experimentally last year with marked success, and we shall have 25 of them in service this year. Through these craft we shall, I am certain, be making a major contribution to the in- creasing problem of casualties in summer months among small boat-owners and holiday makers generally.

"During the year we held a major inter- national conference at which 17 nations were represented and everyone, I think, learned something new about life-boats and their equipment. We made an important step towards improving communications by deciding to switch over from very high frequency to ultra high frequency radio telephones for communication between life-boats and helicopters and other aircraft. There is no doubt whatever that as a result voices will be heard more distinctly and the dangers of misunderstanding correspon- dingly reduced. These are only a few of our new developments, but I hope they will give you some idea of the direction in which we are moving and how we are constantly striving to provide our crews with the very best boats and equipment, for clearly they deserve no less.

RISING COSTS "On the financial side too, our results were satisfactory, and this is due to the tremendous amount of hard work done by our voluntary workers everywhere.

But we have got to face the fact that we shall have to raise more and more. Our costs are rising steeply, out of all propor- tion to changes in the value of money.

The reason is simply that we are making so many advances in so many directions that we are bound to spend more and to need more. Last year the service cost something like a million and a quarter pounds. I shall not be at all surprised if this year it costs about one million and three-quarters.

PRESIDENT WELCOMED "My next and pleasantest duty of all is to welcome your Royal Highness, our president, and to say how delighted we are that you are able to grace this meeting with your presence once again. We all know what a tremendous inspiration the work which you do, Ma'am, is to the life-boat crews in this country, and I know how delighted and honoured the crews of life-boats from other countries were when you visited them in Leith Docks and showed such a close interest in their work.

"I want to welcome most warmly Rear- Admiral Shields of the United States Coast Guard who has kindly consented to be our guest speaker today. Not long ago I led a delegation from the R.N.L.I.

to the United States to have a look at their boats and their methods of construction, and I can assure you we were all very much impressed. During this visit we received much kind hospitality from the United States Coast Guard and we were most grateful to them for the excellent arrangements they made. As you may have read in the newspapers we were so impressed by the new United States Coast Guard 44-foot life-boat that we have decided to buy one of these for evaluation purposes. The boat will arrive some time next month and we will subject her to exhaustive trials over a period of about a year.

READINESS TO LEARN "The decision to buy this life-boat is in accordance with our practice of providing nothing but the best for the crews who man our boats. It is, of course, no reflection upon our own life-boats in which we have supreme confidence, but we are always ready to learn, and if other life-boat services have new ideas or new designs we are always ready to adopt them.

"I would like also to extend a warm welcome to the representatives of the French, Irish, Netherlands and Nor- wegian governments who are with us today." UNANIMOUS DECISION The report and accounts for 1963 were adopted, and Captain Wyndham- Quin read out the nominations for chairman and deputy chairmen. These were: chairman, Captain the Hon.

V. M. Wyndham-Quin; deputy chair- men, Air Vice-Marshal Sir Geoffrey R. Bromet and Commander F. R. H.

Swann. These were elected unani- mously, as were the president, vice- presidents and other members of the Committee of Management. Commo- dore the Right Hon. the Earl Howe was elected honorary chairman for life.

Princess Marina then gave her presidential address.

LORD HOWE'S SERVICE "I would like first to say how very sorry I am that because of the state of his health Lord Howe is unable to be in the chair to-day. Lord Howe's record of service to the Royal National Life-boat Institution is a truly remarkable one. He joined the Committee of Management as long ago as 1919. From 1931 to 1947 he was deputy treasurer. He has served on all the Institu- tion's sub-committees, in 1946 he was elected deputy chairman of the Committee of Management, and ten years later he became its chairman. During all those years he gave of his time unsparingly and his devotion to every aspect of the workof the service is known, I am sure, to all of you. I believe I am right in saying that he has visited every single one of our life-boat stations. It is, therefore, a matter of the deepest regret to all of us that he will no longer be serving as chairman of the Committee of Management of the Institution, although I am happy to state that he has been appointed to a tide of honour as honorary chairman for life.

"In welcoming me so kindly to-day, Captain Wyndham-Quin, you referred in your speech to the international life-boat conference which was held in Edinburgh and Leith and at which Lord Howe took the chair. It was certainly a most inter- esting occasion and one which, I am sure, will have long-term beneficial results for the life-boat services in this and many other countries.

AT EDINBURGH "I had myself the opportunity of inspecting all the vessels which were there, not only five of the R.N.L.I.'s life-boats but also two life-boats from the Netherlands, a German and a Norwegian rescue cruiser and a fast rescue boat from Sweden. I also had the opportunity of talking to their various crews and meeting a number of the delegates, and it was a wonderful thing to find people from so many nations working together in com- plete harmony and for one purpose only, that of improving methods for saving life at sea.

OVERSEAS GUESTS "I am, therefore, particularly delighted that we have here to-day the Chief of Office of Operations of the United States Coast Guard, Rear-Admiral Shields. It was not possible for the United States Coast Guard to send a life-boat to Leith, but I know that everybody was most impressed by the paper they read on their new 44-foot life-boat.

"Another representative of an overseas life-boat service who is present to-day is Lieut.-Commander de Booy, who has just retired from the post of director of the Royal North and South Holland Life-boat Society. He has attended more international life-boat conferences than any man alive. Later I shall be presenting him with a certificate of honorary life governor of the Royal National Life-boat Institution, and I am delighted that not only his father before him, but now Lieut.-Commander de Booy have been accorded this honour.

NAMING CEREMONIES "When opening the international con- ference I had the privilege of presenting the gold medal for gallantry to Coxswain Hubert Petit of St. Peter Port in Guern- sey. He thus became the third man since the end of the last war to win this very rare award. I am delighted to see him on this platform to-day and this afternoon I shall be presenting medals to two mem- bers of his crew.

"Later this year I shall be visiting two life-boat stations in Wales, one in the north at Llandudno and the other in the south at St. David's, and I shall be naming the new life-boats. To everyone associated with the life-boat service it is always an inspiration to visit the stations and to meet not only the men who put out to the rescue but their wives who support them and all those who work voluntarily for the benefit of the station.

"As you have told us, Captain Wynd- ham-Quin, last year was one on which the whole life-boat service has the right to look back with pride. I wish to thank you all for everything you have done to achieve such success and to wish you continuing success in all that you are doing for the service." MEDALS PRESENTED Princess Marina then presented to:— Mechanic Eric Pattimore, of St.

Peter Port, the bronze medal for gallantry for the rescue of nine of the crew of the Norwegian motor vessel Johan Collett on 5th/6th February John Petit the bronze medal for the same service Coxswain Lionel Derek Scott, of The Mumbles, the silver medal for the rescue of the crew of the Dutch motor vessel Kilo on i8th November Second Coxswain Francis Taylor, of Wells, the bronze medal for the rescue of the crew of two of the cabin cruiser Seamu on i8th/i9th May Coxswain Richard Hickey, of Youghal, the bronze medal for the rescue of four of the crew of the French trawler Fee des Ondes on 2jth October Coxswain John Plummer, of Caister, the bronze medal for gallantry for the rescue of the crew of seven of the Lowestoft trawler Loch Lorgan on 13th DecemberMechanic Joseph Houlihan, of Valentia, the bronze medal for gallantry for the rescue of two men from a dinghy on 2nd September.

ADMIRAL'S REGRETS Rear-Admiral William Shields, chief of Office of Operations, United States Coast Guard, expressed the regrets of Vice-Admiral Donald McG. Morrison at being unable to attend the meeting because of ill- health. When Vice-Admiral Morrison had headed the United States delega- tion at the ninth international life-boat conference in Edinburgh the previous year he had formed many friend- ships with members of the Institution and had been looking forward to renewing them.

Rear-Admiral Shields read Vice- Admiral Morrison's speech. It began with mention of the honour he had been accorded in being the first United States representative to be invited to address the Institution's annual general meeting, and referred to his visit to the international life-boat conference.

NO IRON CURTAIN "It was there in Edinburgh that the delegates from these eighteen nations exchanged ideas freely-in the saving of life at sea there is no Iron Curtain or Berlin Wall. The Iron Curtain countries as well as those of the free world laid all their cards on the table. 'How can the life-boats be improved ? A human life is without price. Let's pool our knowledge.

How can we do a better job ?' This was 'the spirit of Edinburgh' as unanimously expressed at the conference in 1963. But prior to commenting further on Edin- burgh or mutual life-saving problems, I feel that you would appreciate having some understanding of my own service.

"The United States Coast Guard, among other things, is responsible for enforcing or assisting in the enforcement of Federal laws on the high seas and waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. These laws govern naviga- tion, shipping, and other maritime opera- tions, and the related protection of life and property. The service also co-ordin- ates and provides maritime search and rescue facilities for marine and air com- merce, and the armed forces. Other func- tions include promoting the safety of merchant vessels, furnishing ice-breaking services, and developing, installing, main- taining, and operating aids to maritime navigation. The Coast Guard has a further responsibility for maintaining a state of readiness to function as a specialized service of the Navy in time of war or national emergency.

FEWER STATIONS "During the last year, we operated a total of 323 ships with commissioned officers aboard, 138 aircraft of varying types, and a shore-side establishment of lighthouses, bases, air stations, marine inspection offices and administrative units. An interesting statistic is the num- ber of life-boat stations we operate - interesting in comparison with yours. We have 138 life-boat stations which com- pares with 150 of yours. You might feel that with our tremendous coast line that this is a small programme. Actually, our communication network, search and res- cue co-ordination centres, our larger vessels on patrol, the fact that our life- boat stations have several vessels attached - all these factors - enable us to maintain fewer stations, but I will later go into problems incident to our life-boat stations.

SAFETY MEASURES "In the field of merchant marine safety, we issued nearly 5,000 certificates of seaworthiness, reviewed plans for over 31,000 merchant vessels and completedadministrative actions in 56,000 cases of violation of navigation or motor-boat laws. We boarded for compliance with these laws nearly 200,000 vessels.

"We maintain a total of over 42,000 aids to navigation, including radio- beacons, lighthouses, buoys, day marks and, as a matter of interest, 70 long-range navigational aids throughout Europe, our continent and the islands of the Pacific.

NUMBERS RESCUED "I have not commented on our co- operation with other agencies or treaty obligations such as the International Ice Patrol, Bering Sea Patrol, operation of Ocean Station vessels in the Atlantic and Pacific and support of Arctic and Ant- arctic operations.

"Insofar as assistance to mariners was concerned in 1963, we actually assisted, by towing, refloating or in other fashion, over 20,000 vessels. Nearly 2,000 people were saved or rescued from peril and we assisted by aerial escort or otherwise nearly 500 aircraft.

"I have given you this rather brief account so that you will see quite readily that our service is comparable with several different agencies within the United Kingdom such as your own Institution, Trinity House, Ministry of Transport, Coastguard and certain elements of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE "I would like you to understand quite clearly that my remarks so far have not been intended to convey to you that I feel, as the heavyweight champion of the world, Cassius Clay, would say: 'We is the greatest.' "For in the field of pure life-boat work, our United States Coast Guard has nothing but admiration of your Institu- tion and of your method of operation.

You have a most remarkable organization which has proven itself over the years - an organization with a fleet of about 150 strategically located life-boats embodying that one vital factor, a factor regrettably now missing in my service, the factor of local knowledge of the waters in which the life-boats operate. This knowledge obtained over more than a century is passed down from father to son, from coxswain to coxswain.

"If I may now hark back to the Edin- burgh conference, I would like to com- ment upon our newly developed 44-foot motor life-boat. This vessel was the sub- ject of one of the papers presented and if I may briefly describe the boat it is a self-bailing, self-righting, twin screw vessel with a speed of over 16 knots and a power plant of 400 horsepower diesel engines.

SEEN FIRST-HAND "This boat aroused considerable in- terest here in the British Isles; so much so that Captain Wyndham-Quin, Mr.

Guinness, Mr. Warington-Smyth, Com- mander Swann and your chief inspector of life-boats, Lieut.-Commander W. L. G.

Dutton, deemed themselves sufficiently rugged to visit the colonies in the dead of winter. In January of this year these gentlemen viewed first-hand the con- struction of the vessel at our Coast Guard yard and operation of the vessel at selected life-boat stations under varying conditions of wind and sea.

"I can tell you quite frankly that the vessel has more than lived up to our design expectations. She has excellent carrying capacity. She has broken ice over eight inches thick; your Committee of Management were aboard a i,ooo-ton vessel which an operational 44-footer towed with ease at a speed of six knots.

Her stability in heavy surf is most remarkable.

BEATLES FOR BOAT "I know now that you are desirous of acquiring one of these boats for evaluation in the British Isles under operating con- ditions which prevail here. These ex- changes between countries are good but they are somewhat unfair. We send you a motor life-boat and you send us the Beatles. You can keep the motor life- boat but we did send the Beatles back to you inside a week.

"Now I would like to comment on problems that confront my Coast Guard and quite likely the Royal National Life- boat Institution. After World War II we had come to the conclusion that numerous life-boat stations could be shut down. Our conclusion was errone- ous. For then there began within our country what we choose to call a pleasure boating explosion. Leisure time, good salaries and any kind of a credit rating enabled millions of our citizens to go down to the sea in something less than a ship.

PLEASURE BOATMEN "We estimate that in the last year nearly 40 million people put out from our coastal shores, and on our lakes and rivers. This staggering total, I know, must conjure up immediately the tragedies of overloading, over-speeding, and almost total disregard for weather and sea con- ditions. Our surfmen at our life-boat stations for years had a saying, 'You have to go out but you don't have to come back'. This saying has absolutely no application in the case of the average pleasure boatman.

"We now required a long, hard look at our methods of operation, and since boating is perhaps the private individual's last frontier, we felt that, without un- limited funds, our duty should primarily consist of education of the public first and regulation of the public a secondary concern.

VOLUNTEERS HELP "To help us in our handling of the boating public, a group of civilian volun- teer yachtsmen formed into an organiza- tion known as the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

These voluntary boatmen have been of inestimable value to us in both a prac- tical sense at sea and a practical value ashore. Last year, for example, they conducted formal courses in boating safety and piloting at no charge to over 120,000 people.

BOATS EXAMINED "One very interesting practical aspect of their work for us is their examination of pleasure boats at dockside for the benefit of the neophyte. The Auxiliary has set up certain minimum equipment requirements for boats of varying sizes -requirements which are more rigid than our own legal requirements. An owner of a boat so examined has the satisfaction of knowing that a qualified fellow boatman had advised him of the adequacy of his vessel. Last year this group examined over 140,000 motor- boats for us. Additionally our Auxiliary assisted the U.S. Coast Guard by patrol- ling nearly 2,000 regattas and actually responded in 6,000 instances to boatmen requiring assistance. This voluntary group numbers over 20,000 members with nearly 15,000 boats, 91 aircraft, and 206 radio stations, which are made available to us for cases requiring additional forces in areas where our own regular forces are too thinly spread or otherwise en- gaged.

RE-ASSESSMENTS "It is interesting to note that when actually aiding the U.S. Coast Guard these vessels are regarded as government vessels and the government stands behind them in event of damages to their vessel or the vessel being assisted.

"This group then has been of inesti- mable value to us. But what of our own planning for intelligent utilization of our forces? What have we done here? We have had to look at present rescue station locations and determine: do we need this station in its present spot - ordo we need to increase the facilities in this certain area because of shift in boating locations or density ? New boats, higher speeds, greater towing ability, ruggedness and passenger capacity, all these factors now afford us wider coverage of areas previously served by several life-boat stations. Couple this with utilization of helicopters from the rescue station and we can forecast relocation and spacing changes, and resulting monetary savings with actually an in- crease in service. Those stations, to put it bluntly, not paying their way, had to be shut down.

STATIONS RE-SITED "When we propose closing down a life-boat station we do not do so with the idea of decreasing services, quite the contrary. Logic shows that stations need relocating, as pleasure boating shifts to and from certain areas. Our conclusions, however, do not always gibe with the views of an outraged community when you propose closing a station that has been that town's station for many, many years.

KENNEDY TRIBUTE "Parenthetically, I might add they never gibe. I can say that Hell hath no fury like a community scorned, and if you have faced or will face such problems, I wish you the good luck which you will need plus a tremendous supply of stationery and several additional secretaries. In this regard I speak from experience, believe me.

"This concludes my remarks concern- ing our two services but I do feel I would like to mention particularly that during your Committee's trip to the States in January, they visited Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C. When Captain Wyndham-Quin placed the mem- orial wreath on President Kennedy's grave, I thought to myself what a fitting proposal he made when you decided that a life-boat stationed in the Republic of Ireland should be named the 'John F.

Kennedy'. Our vital, young, late presi- dent was enthusiastic and vibrant in so very many fields but his one real love was in sailing. You could not have selected a more fitting memorial for years ahead than to have the memory of John F.

Kennedy kept alive in the United King- dom by a boat engaged in saving of life.

For this, I thank you on behalf of my fellow citizens.

boats and return from successful missions.

"The experience of these men and others in similar work throughout the world can be invaluable if we can only share it. Therefore, let us here resolve that the spirit of Edinburgh, so evident at the conference of 1963, continue; that the member nations of the International Life-boat Association and other nations of the world bordering on the coastline freely interchange technical knowledge and techniques so that we may more ably perform our important duties of saving life and property from the perils of the sea." BRITISH BACKBONE "I have not yet commented on what truly gives me the greatest pleasure in being here today, and that is to join with you in a salute to your gallant men whose heroism we are here to honour. Someone better gifted than I to turn a phrase has said, "The brave man is not he who fears no fear for that were stupid and irrational; but is he whose noble soul subdues its fear and bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from' - Joanna Baillie. I am not so presumptuous as to remind the British of their sea-going traditions but I wish to state unequivocally that the backbone and toughness of the British are embodied in the heroic daring of these men.

SHARING KNOWLEDGE "Courage mounts with the occasion and, if these gallant men are like most sailors, this day requires additional courage for them, for sailors - myself excluded - are usually modest and I know that on accepting the awards they are mindful of the assistance, co-operation and teamwork they had from their shipmates and from the British public whose generosity enabled the coxswains to put to sea under adverse conditions but in well found life- FORMAL RESOLUTION Rear-Admiral Shields proposed the resolution that the meeting, fully recognizing the important services of the Royal National Life-boat Institution in its national work of life-saving, desired to record its hearty apprecia- tion of the gallantry of the coxswains and crews of the Institution's life- boats and its deep obligation to the local committees, honorary secre- taries, and honorary treasurers of all station branches, and to the honorary officers and thousands of voluntary members of the financial branches and the Ladies' Life-boat Guild in the work of raising funds to maintain the service After the resolution had been carried unanimously, Princess Marina pre- sented certificates of honorary life governors to : Mr. C. Ernest Link, C.C., chair- man of the City of London branch Mrs. D. J. Wilkes, chairman of the Llandudno Ladies' Life-boat Guild Lieut.-Commander H. Th. de Booy, director of the Royal North and South Holland Life-boat Society until December, 1963.

Her Royal Highness then presented bars to their gold badges to: Mrs. E. K. Hartly-Hodder, M.B.E., Bristol Mrs. E. M. Eastwood, Oldham and gold badges to: Alderman Miss D. Mann, J.P., Ampthill Major E. P. Hansell, Cromer Mrs. W. Sutherland, Gourock Alderman Miss E. M. Lister, M.B.E., Leeds Mrs. E. F. Lyell, Montrose Mrs. F. Potter, Montrose Mr. R. K. Sayer, Newhaven Mrs. G. Cowle, Penarth Mr. J. E. Roberts, J.P., Porth- dinllaen Mr. W. R. Edwards, Ramsey Mr. R. Geoffrey Beard, F.C.A., Sheffield Mr. J. G. Jackson, Shoreham Miss M. Pudsey-Dawson, Tenby Mrs. E. C. Brooke, Walton and Frinton.

VOTE OF THANKS Captain R. E. Cowell, a member of the Committee of Management, moved a vote of thanks to Princess Marina He said, "My part on this occasion is a brief one but an extremely pleasant one: it is to propose the vote of thanks to your Royal Highness for your presence here today and for so graciously presenting the medals of gallantry and other awards.

This is a most important day for those of us connected with the life-boat service and a day on which we look back on the past year's work and tell our supporters what we have done. It is a day on which those who have carried out deeds of great gallantry or have otherwise rendered distinguished service receive their awards. The day would not be what it is were it not for your presence here, Ma'am. The close personal interest which you show in the work of our service is known wherever there is a life-boat station and wherever there is a branch of the service; that is to say, all over the country. By coming here today you have given further proof of your interest in our work and the inspiration and leader- ship which you provide will encourage us all in the tasks which lie ahead." Colonel F. Ferris St. George, also of the Committee of Management, seconded the vote of thanks which was carried with acclamation.

PLATFORM GUESTS Members of the platform party included representatives of the French, Irish, Netherlands and Norwegian governments, the Members of Parlia- ment for Swansea East and Yarmouth, Norfolk, the chairmen of the London County Council and the Middlesex County Council, the mayors and mayoresses of 42 towns and boroughs, the chairmen of two urban district councils.

Others on the platform were repre- sentatives of the Ministry of Trans- port, donors of life-boats or their representatives, others representing charitable trusts which have been actively supporting the life-boat ser- vice, honorary life governors and vice-presidents of the Institution, the chairman and vice-chairmen of the Central London Women's Committee of the Institution.

After the meeting those who had received awards for gallantry and then* families went to an evening per- formance of the Black and White Minstrel show at Victoria Palace..