This series of descriptive articles on visits to life-boat stations was begun by Margaret Peter. It is being continued by Stephen Mogridge, who writes about Plymouth in the first of his contributions.

WITH the Navy watching on one side and the R.A.F. on the other, Plymouth life-boat station has very strong incentives to keep on its toes. Not that any incentives are needed from outside - the keenness of Plymouth's life-boatmen and the efficiency of their station is at once apparent to a visitor.

A good part of this keenness and efficiency is undoubtedly due to the enthusiasm and selfless devotion of its honorary secretary, Mr. Allen S. Hicks, M.B.E., whose records are so meticulously kept, and whose annual reports are quite outstanding masterpieces.

From his bungalow garden overlooking Plymouth Mr. Hicks can see the maroons fired, Qn his orders, to call the lifeboat crew. He can reach the life-boat station on the quayside in Millbay Docks in a matter of minutes.

PERMANENTLY AFLOAT Plymouth life-boat, the Thomas Forehead and Mary Rowse is kept permanently afloat in the harbour. If some _people think that keeping the boat afloat makes things easier they would get a surprise when faced with realities. When a gale is blowing into the dock entrance the task of embarking from the slippery steps, taking the boarding boat and transferring to the life-boat, can be a dangerous and difficult operation. And keeping the life-boat spick and span at her moorings entails a great deal of work not needed in a life-boat house, because of the dusty conditions of dockland. Wind in one direction brings coal dust, from another direction it carries grain dust.

Plymbuth was one of the first places on the coast of Britain to have a life-boat.

One of the thirty-one boats built by Henry Greathdad of South' Shields was stationed at Plymouth in 1803; (The first'life-boat on GUI' coasts was stationed at South Shields in 1789.) The Plymouth boat'Was a gift to the city from Philip Langiriead, M.P., who was Mayor in 1801.

Unfortunately there is no record of the service of this first Plymouth lifeboat, or of the one which followed. Records have only been kept since 1862, though it is known that the R.NiL.L, which was founded in 1824, at once placed at Plymouth Captain Manby's mortar apparatus for firing lines to ships in distress, and iri the following year sent a life-boat. The station lapsed between 1846 and 1862.

In 1861 it was decided'that the best place for a life-boat house was on the western side of Mill Bay and one was constructed "at a cost of £159".

Miss Burdett Courts presented the life-boat which was stationed there in i862jthe Prince Consort. The last service of this life-boat, in December 1872, was one of the finest in the history of the station.

A gale of almost hurricane violence was blowing. The brigantine Eliza and the brig Fearful had gone ashore in Batten Bay. The Prince Consort was towed out by the Admiralty steam tug and went to the rescue of the Eliza's crew of four, which she accomplished, but was badly damaged by being flung against the rocks. In spite of this damage the life-boat went out again at once and, at great risk, rescued the crew of eight from the Fearful. The Prince Consort was so badly damaged that she was shortly afterwards replaced by a ten-oared life-boat, the Clemency. This boat was present on I9th August, 1879, at the laying of the foundation stone of the new Eddystone lighthouse by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Coming back to our own days, the present Duke of Edinburgh included a call at the life-boat station when he made a crowded six-hour visit to Plymouth on 22nd July, 1965.

WIVES GIVEN VANTAGE POINT The crew were lined up outside the station house and their wives given a special vantage point only 25 feet away, so that they could watch as the Duke spoke to every member of the crew, to the honorary secretary, and had a few words with the former coxswain, Walter Crowther, who was awarded a bronze medal for an outstanding rescue in 1942.

The variety of the men's occupation surprised the Duke. Only two of the crew are professional seamen, the coxswain, Peter White, and the mechanic, Bill Rogers. The others follow all sorts of trades, from carpenter to railway men and electricians.

TIMED BY NAVY Plymouth station takes pride hi its speedy launches - timed by the Navy from the Longroom, the Naval signal station which is responsible for firing the maroons. On the occasion of the visit by the Duke of Edinburgh an all-time record was established. When the maroons were fired, to demonstrate for the Duke the launching drill, the nine-man crew put to sea in 2 min. 15 sec. This special occasion apart, the Plymouth crew are proud of the fact that their average launching tune for the past 12 months has made another record, being a fraction under u minutes from the firing of the maroons to the Thomas Forehead and Mary Rowse slipping her moorings. That, and the fact that every task set the boat and crew was successfully completed, reflects great credit upon coxswain Peter White and his crew.

The Thomas Forehead and Mary Rowse is now in her twelfth year. She is still as good as ever, thanks to the Institution's policy of thorough, regular maintenance and refits. To her crew she is second to none. She is a Barnett Stromness cabin type 52-foot boat. The naming ceremony was performed by the Duchess of Kent on i6th May, 1952 and the boat was provided out of a gift from Miss A. Charlton Rowse of Birmingham. Miss Rowse has made a second gift, of £20,000, to the Institution, The total sum of over £40,000 is one of the largest gifts that the R.N.L.I. has ever received.

Though the life-boat isn't fast - especially when compared with the powerful craft of the i9th Group Search and Rescue Station, R.A.F., Plymouth - she can dp her nine knots in nearly any weather and when it's too rough outside for fast craft it is the plodding, steady boat that is needed for rescue work.

Plymouth life-boats have been kept afloat since the first power-driven boat, Robert and Marcella Beck, went to the station in 1926. In 1943 this boat was taken over by the Admiralty for service in Iceland and the Minister Anseeis, a Belgian life-boat lent to the R.N.L.I. by the Belgian government, was stationed at Plymouth until the Robert and Marcella Beck returned in 1947.

The present life-boat has had her unusual adventures, too. In May 1958 she was taken to the Bath and West Show and stood, in the memorable words of the honorary secretary's report, "in Central Park, remote from her usual moorings and surrounded by the unfamiliar noises of the farmyard." Her unusual "service" was extremely successful, the life-boat stand collecting a record sum.

CONVERTED SHELTER An air-raid shelter has been converted to make the present life-boat stores in Millbay Docks. It is perched on the edge of the quay and from its window there is an excellent view of the life-boat riding at her moorings. Everything about the stores and assembly room, from the lifejackets oa their holders, remijfiscent of the saddle room of a stables, to the up-to-date boards outside which record notable services in the station's history,, is spick and span. For this inspiring state of affairs the genial and active motor mechanic, William H. Rogers, is very much responsible. Appointed in July 1957, he was previously motor mechanic at Tenby, 1951-1957 and was awarded a bronze medal in 1953.

He has a fund of reminiscences, but characteristically prefers most of the time to prompt the honorary secretary into telling of occasions grave or gay.

The schoolboys and the breeches-buoy affair, for example.

This followed a talk given by Mr. Hicks on the life-boat service - illustrated talks are a speciality of his and given freely in the. cause of the R.N.L.I. Some boys from a boarding school were present at this talk and some nights later their housemaster sensed that something unusual was afoot in one of the dormitories.

He went up and found the beds had been pushed together, one group at one end of the long room, the other group at the other. Suspended between the "lifeboat" beds and the "wreck" was a small boy in a breeches-buoy made of dressing- gown cords. He was having a rough trip, but the "exercise" was working.

Surely a testimony to the effectiveness of the talks Mr. Hicks gives in the cause of the life-boat service! All his talks are illustrated by colour slides, projected by his wife. Mr. Hicks has given over 400 of these talks, to audiences ranging from Townswomen's Guilds to Plymouth Brethren. He and his wife are very much in demand and willing though he is he has to ration his public appearances. The marvel is that he finds time and energy to do so much over and above his duties as honorary secretary, which of necessity keep him tied to the telephone day and night.

Plymouth was the busiest station in the South West last year, and, like other life-boat stations, finds the number of calls constantly increasing.

The explosive bang of the maroons echoes over Plymouth more frequently than ever, and the volunteer crew dash down to the boat that lies quietly waiting on the water. Unlike Sir Francis Drake they never delay to finish a game of bowls..