TWENTY-ONE nations were represented at the llth international life-boat conference, which was held in New York City from 16th to 20th May, newcomers to the conference being the Bahamas, the Philippines, and South Africa.

The hosts at the conference were the United States Coast Guard, whose organisation was as meticulous as their hospitality was warm.

The chairman of the conference, Vice- Admiral Thomas R. Sargent, III, Assistant Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, guided the discussions with skill and a happy sense of timing. The keynote address to the conference was made by the United States Under-Secretary for Transportation, who read a message of greeting from President Nixon.

The conference discussions all took place in the Hotel Commodore, and the programme was varied by visits to the U.S. Coast Guard station at Fire Island and the U.S. Coast Guard base at Governors Island. At Fire Island delegates, after inspecting the station and talking to the fulltime personnel, were able to see demonstrations of the U.S. 40 ft. life-boat, an 18 ft. self-righting daughter boat which had been brought to the conference by the German Life-boat Society, and the R.N.L.I.'s 'Bravo' 1KB. Lieut. E. D.Stogdon was in charge of the IRB which aroused considerable interest. At Governors Island delegates were shown over the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Vigorous and saw something of the immense complexity of the AMVER ship reporting centre.

Papers on new types of rescue craft were presented by the North and South Holland Lifeboat Society, the Swedish Life-boat Society and the R.N.L.I. One of the Dutch boats described was a fast rescue launch built at the yards of Messrs. Vosper Thorneycroft in England, with a speed of 28 knots. The other was a smaller shallow draft launch built in a Dutch yard and designed for close inshore rescue work. The Swedish paper described a 46 ft. 10-ton rescue boat with a speed of 19 knots. One of the R.N.L.I. papers was on the prototype 52 ft. lifeboat built at Littlehampton, which is at present undergoing extensive sea trials.

A subject to which attention has been increasingly paid at recent international conferences, that of boat-building materials, was again considered at some length, and the following conclusions were presented in a paper by Mr. Peter A. Silvia, Chief of the Boat Technical section at the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters.There is very little direct competition between the various boat-building materials. The properties of each suit a different type of boat and service: Plywood is best for very light boats in lightduty service where they get careful handling and tender loving care.

Plank-and-frame wooden construction really isn't good for much, except boats owned by diehard timber sailors with the time and money to invest in upkeep, or for boats that are considered to be expendable and are quickly written off.

The U.S. shrimp fleet with an average wooden boat life of five years is a good example of the latter philosophy.

Fibreglass reinforced plastic is excellent for boats in light to moderateservicewherespeedand appearance are important. In the hands of a reasonably careful operator, a well-built fibreglass boat should last indefinitely requiring little more than an occasional polish or coat of paint.

Aluminium is best suited for boats in moderate to rough service where speed is important but cosmetics are secondary and where occasional major impact damage must be anticipated. Its adaptability makes it a good choice for one-ofa- kind or prototype boats.

Steel is best in very rough service where speed, appearance and corrosion are secondary considerations. It is approximately twice as heavy as fibreglass or aluminium when designed to equal deflections and any attempt to match their weight will create a tremendous upkeep problem. Its principal advantage is that it can stand up under extreme abuse.

Fern-cement is a good substitute for heavy.