One of the most outstanding services in the history of the Life-boat Institution is described in this number of THE LIFE-BOAT. It was carried out by the Holyhead and Moelfre life-boats and led to the award of two gold medals. Coxswain Richard Evans, of Moelfre, is now the only man living to have been awarded the gold medal twice. Lieutenant-Commander Harold Harvey has the distinction of being the only inspector of life-boats ever to receive the gold medal for gallantry. The last occasion on which a medal was conferred on an inspector was in 1926 when the late Commander P. E. Vaux, D.S.C., R.N., who later became Chief Inspector of Life-boats, received the bronze medal for a service off Galway.

Some idea of the rarity of this award may be gained by the fact that since the end of the war in 1945 it has been conferred only five tunes in all. The other two post-war gold medallists were Coxswain Thomas King of St. Helier, Jersey, and Coxswain Hubert Petit of St. Peter Port, Guernsey, who received their awards for services in 1949 and 1963 respectively. Thus, of the five gold medals awarded since the war three have been for services by life-boats from Anglesey and two for services by life-boats from the Channel Islands.

A YEAR OF DISTINCTION The rescue from the Greek vessel Nafsiporos, for which two gold medals were awarded, may be regarded as the culmination of a year of outstanding distinction.

One measure of this was the number of awards for gallantry conferred for services in 1966. These included five silver medals and 17 bronze medals in addition to the two gold medals.

It was a year of exceptional activity for both life-boats and inshore rescue boats all round the coast, and an all-time record for launches on service was once again established. Life-boats were launched 1,054 times and saved 489 lives.

Inshore rescue boats, which were launched 729 tunes, saved 328 lives. Evidence that the service grows busier every year is afforded by the fact that the previous record for launches was established in 1965.

The year 1966 was also a period of record expenditure, total payments amounting to no less than £1,846,000. Unfortunately, ha spite of tremendous efforts made by voluntary workers everywhere, income did not quite match expenditure, amounting in all to £i ,722,000. A very high level of expenditure must be expected for some time to come, for orders placed for the construction of new life-boats and engines, which have not yet been met, now amount to approximately £1,135,000.

LIFE-JACKETS AND PROTECTIVE CLOTHING After four years of research the Institution is to introduce a new type of lifejacket and protective suit. A thousand two-piece suits of protective clothing and a similar number of life-jackets will be bought in the first instance, the total cost of which will be rather over £18,000.

The Institution's requirement was for a life-jacket which crews would readily wear and would not impede them in their work; which would automatically bring a man who had fallen overboard face upwards in the water; which would, through its initial buoyancy, support him for a reasonable time in the water; and which could be inflated by die mouth so that there was a total buoyancy of 48 Ibs., thus ensuring that the wearer would remain afloat for many hours.

The life-jacket is fitted with an amber light, a whistle, a lifting becket, and a life-line.

NEW FAST EXPERIMENTAL CRAFT A new type of experimental craft has been developed by the Institution and has carried out successful trials. This is known as the Hatch boat.

The Hatch boat serves a dual purpose. She can be used as a boarding boat to take life-boat crews from the shore to life-boats which remain afloat. She can also be used for rescue purposes.

In recent years the R.N.L.I. has found that its boarding boats are quite frequently towed by the life-boat to the scene of an inshore or cliff casualty. The Hatch boat will be faster than any other craft in the R.N.L.I.'s service and is a self-contained inshore rescue unit.

The boat has a hull form on similar lines to that of modern fast off-shore power boats. She has a moderately high freeboard and a flared bow. In calm water the boat can reach a speed of up to 26 knots. Her overall length is 20 feet 6 inches and her beam 6 feet 11 inches.

The designer of this new boat is Mr. George N. Hatch, A.M.R.I.N.A., a senior draughtsman on the Institution's staff. The prototype has been built in wood by Messrs. William Osborne Ltd. at Littlehampton and was displayed on this firm's stand at the International Boat Show at Earls Court from 4/i4th January, 1967..