at the annual meeting of the R. N.L.I.

on 18th May, Mr. Derek Scott, of Mumbles, who holds the B.E.M., the Institution's silver medal and bar and the bronze medal, belongs to the new generation of life-boatmen. He was born in Mumbles, Swansea, in 1928.

He attended the local church school with his two younger sisters, until the age of 14 years, when he won a scholarship to the Swansea College of Art and trained as a commercial artist. At 18 he was conscripted into the 1st Battalion, Welsh Regiment.

Mr. Scott, whose father served as a lieutenant in the R.N.V.R. in the last war, said: 'My interest in the sea started as a young lad, helping the local boatmen along the foreshore. I also enjoyed fishing and sailing. I have always been a keen sailor and when I have the time I like to paint seascapes, mostly in oils.' Leaving the army after the war, Mr. Scott joined the Mumbles life-boat crew in 1947 following the local life-boat disaster on 23rd April. He became coxswain when he was 26 and was one of the youngest such appointments in the R.N.L.I.

Asked about his most exhausting life-boat service, Mr. Scott declared that the service on 18th November, 1963, to the Dutch m.v. Kilo, which was on fire and carrying sodium drums.

qualifies. The Mumbles life-boat was the third to be launched to the stricken vessel in extremel severe weather conditions, the waves at times being over 20 feet in height. When Coxswain Scott first sighted the Kilo in the light of flares dropped by a Shackleton, she was 'a mass of flames and there was fire over the sea ahead and down wind of her'. As he prepared to go alongside the Kilo spitting flames drove the life-boatmen back into the cockpit. However, the Mumbles life-boat, when the Kilo grounded, was able to approach her from the stern when her master believed she was in danger of blowing up. All the crew were taken off. Eventually, however, it was possible to return some of the crew to the Kilo and she berthed in Swansea Dock. An account of the service, which earned Coxswain Scott the Institution's silver medal, said: 'Some idea of the weather conditions may be gained from the fact that the coxswain had to use the drogue while entering the lock'.

Mr. Scott's more recent award—a bar to his silver medal—was for rescuing a boy clinging to an upturned canoe. He made the rescue, not from the Mumbles life-boat William Gammon (Manchester and District XXX) but singlehanded from a small dinghy in dangerous sea conditions.

Mrs. Scott supports the local ladies' life-boat guild whenever needed. Their daughter Nicola, who is 17, is interested in the sea. She first went sailing when still a baby in arms. Now she owns a 'Mirror' class sailing dinghy and is a keen competitor in her class at the local yacht club.

Nicola believes that 'certain aspects of sea rescue could be handled by women—for example, crewing of ILBs'.

Saving life is, of course, Coxwain Scott's main concern. But he has also been saved.

For he states: T can be seen on a B.B.C. (TV) test card about twice a week, being rescued by an ILB, at the Isle of Man while taking part in the Round Britain Power Boat Race, 1967.

I raced in a boat called Miss Bovril and nearly came to disaster in the Calf of Man Sound when the craft developed engine trouble. I shall remain extremely grateful to the local ILB for the assistance rendered.'—C.R.F...