THE Institution's decision to acquire a 44-foot life-boat of the kind now operated by the United States Coast Guard was a direct consequence of the international life-boat conference held in Edinburgh in June, 1963. At the conference the United States Coast Guard delegation led by Vice-Admiral Donald McG. Morrison, the assistant commandant, presented two papers on this type of life-boat and showed a film and a model. An extract from one of these papers is reproduced on page 9.

All the delegates at the conference were deeply impressed by the descrip- tion of the new American life-boat, and after careful consideration by the In- stitution's boat and construction committee, the Committee of Man- agement decided in 1963 that a delega- tion should be sent to examine the Coast Guard life-boat and that it should have authority to acquire one for trial purposes if it considered this desirable.

FIVE MEMBERS The delegation was led by the present chairman of the Institution, Captain the Hon. V. M. Wyndham- Quin, who was then deputy chairman and also chairman of the operations committee. The other members of the delegation were Commander F. R. H.

Swann, chairman of the boat and construction committee and now a deputy chairman, Mr. Peter Guinness and Mr. N. Warington Smyth, both members of the boat and construction committee and Lieut.-Commander W. L. G. Button, chief inspector of life-boats.

After preliminary discussions in Washington the delegation visited the United States Coast Guard yard at Curtis Bay, Baltimore, during the week beginning igth January. They saw a number of vessels under con- struction including a line of 44-foot life-boats on which building was just beginning. Construction facilities in steel, wood and fibre glass were all inspected, as were the extensive mach- ine shops and rigging lofts.

FLEW TO NEW JERSEY The party were then flown to the Coast Guard receiving centre at Cape May, New Jersey. This is the east coast depot to which all new entries are sent when they first join the Coast Guard service. Captain Wyndham- Quin and Lieut.-Commander Button, who had gone ahead as an advance party, had already visited Cape May, where they had undertaken a short sea trial of a 44-foot life-boat.

The delegation found the living quarters, recreation facilities, training halls and parade ground at the receiv- ing centre most impressive. Opportuni- ties were provided for taking various life-boats to sea for trials, and one day was spent at sea in a buoy tender, the U.S.C.G. Sassafras. Various life-boats as well as amphibious aircraft and helicopters carried out exercises for the benefit of the delegation. In another exercise which was arranged a 44-foot life-boat took the 1,300-ton Sassafras in tow. Using a nylon line the life-boat maintained a speed of nearly six knots.

The next visit was to Newark where the Institution's delegation were given a very impressive demonstration of the so-called Ratan system, which has recently been introduced on an experi- mental basis. The word Ratan is an abbreviation of Radar and Television Aid to Navigation. The equipment uses a picture provided by a shore based radar which is then transmitted by television for reception aboard ves- sels in the area. One important advan- tage of this to small boat sailors is that they require only a low priced television as opposed to an expensive radar equipment and no special training is required for them to benefit from the picture transmitted.

SAW SMALL CRAFT The delegation then embarked in an 82-foot Coast Guard cutter which has a speed of 22 knots, and reached Base Manhattan, where they were greeted by Rear-Admiral Ross, the comman- der of the Eastern District. Here they inspected various types of small craft, spent some time at the Search and Rescue Co-ordination Centre and visited the AMVER Headquarters.

MORE LIFE-BOAT TRIALS The Atlantic Merchant Vessel Re- port system (AMVER) is operated by the United States Coast Guard. It is a maritime mutual assistance scheme which provides help in developing and co-ordinating search and rescue efforts in the off-shore areas in the North Atlantic and other waters around the coast of the American continent.

After a visit to the New York boat show the delegation visited the life- boat station at Eatons Neck on Long Island, from which further trials of a 44-foot life-boat were carried out. As at Cape May opportunities were affor- ded for frank discussions with the group commander and the crews op- erating boats of this type. Discussions with the enlisted men, who have carried out many courageous and diffi- cult services, were extremely valuable; the instructions given by Vice-Admiral Morrison that every facility should be given to the R.N.L.I. delegation were carried out to the full, and the crews were frank in their criticisms.

The delegation were most impressed by the way in which the Coast Guard service took detailed note of the men's observations which arose from their operational experiences.

TRIBUTE TO LATE PRESIDENT Before beginning their detailed ex- amination of the work of the U.S.

Coast Guard the delegation attended a number of other functions. On Sunday, I9th January, Captain Wyndham- Quin and Commander Swann, accom- panied by Captain R. R. Smith and Commander J. D. McCann of the United States Coast Guard and Lieut.- Commander Dutton, laid a wreath on the grave of the late President Ken- nedy at Arlington National Cemetery.

On the same day they visited the tomb of the Unknown Warrior. On the Sun- day evening Vice-Admiral Morrison held a reception at his home for the R.N.L.I. delegation. The arrange- ments made for the delegation's visit were flawless throughout. They re- ceived much generous hospitality and and during the whole of their visit Commander McCann, the administra- tive aide to Admiral E. J. Roland, the commandant of the United States Coast Guard, was assigned to help them.

ADMIRAL INVITED In the course of the visit Captain Wyndham-Quin invited Vice-Admiral Morrison to be the guest speaker at the Institution's annual general meeting.

Admiral Morrison accepted the invita- tion but was unfortunately prevented by illness from fulfilling it. Rear- Admiral William Shields therefore deputized for him.

COMMITTEE DECIDED On returning to London the delega- tion reported to the Committee of Management, which then decided that a 44-foot United States life-boat should be acquired for evaluation pur- poses. Lieut.-Commander Dutton later returned to the United States for further trials of the boat, and arrange- ments were made to ship her to the United Kingdom in May.

For many years there has been close and friendly co-operation between the R.N.L.I. and the U.S.C.G. In 1928, for instance, the R.N.L.I, provided U.S. Coast Guard with a Watson cabin life-boat which a Coast Guard dele- gation considered the most suitable for their purpose of any European life-boat they had seen.

The United States Coast Guard was created in 1790 soon after the Ameri- can nation was born.

HOW SERVICE DEVELOPED The first United States Congress accepted 12 lighthouses along the Atlantic sea border and authorized 10 light, fast 50-foot, two-masted schoon- ers to enforce customs and revenue laws. Although both the revenue cutter service and the lighthouse es- tablishment operated independently under the Secretary to the Treasury for over a century, they became part of the Coast Guard in 1915 and 1919 respectively.

In 1852, with the advent of the steam engine, the marine inspection service was established in the Treasury Department with authority to license engineers and pilots and to inspect hulls, boilers, life-boats, signal lines and fire fighting equipment. This was followed some years later by the creation of the Bureau of Navigation to admin- ister the nation's marine laws. This, like the marine inspection service, was eventually transferred to the Coast Guard.

SEARCH AND RESCUE DUTIES The Coast Guard is a military ser- vice at all times and constitutes a branch of the armed forces of the United States. It operates under the Secretary of the Treasury during peace time and under the navy in time of war. Some of its more important duties are: law enforcement, search and rescue, aids to navigation, marine inspection, oceanography, weather ocean stations, international ice patrol, merchant marine safety, ice breaking and reserve personnel training.

This is, indeed, a comprehensive service, of which search and rescue in- cludes the operation of 138 life-boat stations and nine air stations with 14 air detachments..