Mr. R. A. Oakley, M.B.E., M.R.I.N.A., the life-boat designer, who last year retired from full-time service with the Institution, received a letter in November, 1966, from Coxswain W. Sheader, of the Scarborough lifeboat J. G. Graves of Sheffield, telling him how well their 3y-foot Oakley behaved on the night of 16th November when they were called to the oil rig Neptune I in atrocious weather conditions (see page 20).

Coxswain Sheader says: "You will no doubt wonder who this letter is from but I thought I'd just like to let you know how we all feel about the behaviour of the boat. .. The weather—well, I think it was as crude as we will get it. We had the wind recorded at 102 m.p.h., N.N.W., and you will know what the conditions were like. We were out 12 hours and the boat never flinched ... She just took everything that came .. .".

The J. G. Graves of Sheffield, incidentally, was the first 3y-foot Oakley self righting boat. She was built in 1958..