• 'In the lifeboat service people are all important.' With this, the opening sentence of his foreword, Patrick Howarth sets the pattern of his latest and most intriguing book on the RNLI, Lifeboats and Lifeboat People (White Lion Publishers, £1.95). People come first, and although it would be easy to suggest that this is merely a manifestation of expertise in public relations, those who have known the author over the 20 or more years of his pre-occupation with the lifeboat service will testify that his interest is intensely human.

We begin by meeting an attractive cross-section of people who are deeply involved in lifeboat work and from the details of their lives it is easy to trace the ties which bind them all together.

The selection of biographies must have been extremely difficult, for the lifeboat service has attracted the allegiance of so many intensely interesting people.

Indeed, for those of us who meet old friends here there is no little regret on reaching the end of Part One. For those to whom 'The people' come as strangers it will be a happy occasion to meet the representatives of coxswains, honorary secretaries, fund-raisers, RNLI staff and boatbuilders, all of whom contribute an essential part of the work of the lifeboat service.

The lifeboats themselves are briefly but clearly dealt with in Part Two, which in some 20 pages reviews the progress of design and construction from the 'Original' of 1790 to the Arun Class of the 1970s, together with the ubiquitous inshore lifeboats including the new 21' Atlantic type. The tremendous advances made in the last decade or so are emphasised and there are some very impressive illustrations.

Part Three deals with the equipment of modern lifeboats and here the great changes that have taken place in recent years are even more apparent. From the compass, leadline and drogue with which crews were content not many years ago the boats now boast a mass of sophisticated instruments. Hardly the sort of thing generally associated with horny-handed seamen perhaps, but lifeboatmen have taken all the electronic complications in their stride and have still kept their traditional hardiness.

The final section of the book deals with the essence of lifeboat work, the actual rescues. It must have been very difficult to make a choice from the many outstanding examples of fine seamanship and courageous endurance in the long history of sea rescue. The services to the Rohilla, fine as they were, might perhaps have been omitted on this occasion in favour of some lesser known epic. The story of the Indian Chief, however, insists upon a place. The rescue of 11 men from the stranded vessel in January 1881 must rank as one of the most courageous and determined services ever performed and the account published in The Daily Telegraph at the time was an inspired piece of fine writing. By an unusual navigational error Mr Howarth has put the Indian Chief on the Goodwin sands; in fact she stranded on Long Sand head.

The rescue of the crew of the Greek vessel Nafsiporos by the Holyhead and Moelfre lifeboats could hardly have been excluded on any count. Two gold medals were awarded for this outstanding service, Dick Evans, coxswain of the Moelfre boat, gaining a bar to the one he won in the service to the Hindlea.

In his account of this really remarkable co-operation between two lifeboats Mr Howarth tells the story of the only English-speaking member of the Moelfre crew who remarked on the courtesy of his Welsh-speaking shipmates who confined themselves to English for his benefit. A former coxswain of Moelfre was once describing the rescue of some foreign seamen and ended with the remark, 'Proper heathens they were; didn't speak a word of English'! You need a sense of humour in lifeboat work.

All those enthusiastic supporters of the lifeboat service, ashore and afloat, at home and abroad, will certainly get much pleasure from reading this book.

In this 'Year of the Lifeboat' it is to be hoped that many other people, having read it, will become equally enthusiastic and valuable supporters, too.—E.W.M.

0 Boating Britain, by Peter Johnson (Nautical Publishing, £4.90) is indeed a highly entertaining, up-to-the-minute review of the yachting and boating scene and contains a great deal of fact and a certain amount of amusing fable.

Even the most knowledgeable of sporting seafarers may undoubtedly glean much of interest from its pages and the comprehensive index will serve toensure its place on many bookshelves as a work of reference.

The general plan of the book is a little uneasy, although the author's line of thought is clear. Possibly a rather more explanatory list of contents would help the browser. From the tremendous achievements of the lone ocean voyagers the text reverts to the (comparatively) humble dinghies and their helmsmen and on to the single-mindedness and expertise of high-speed sailing.

The cruising chapters make excellent reading and contain sage advice. Except that the author's remarks on safety at sea leave his meaning somewhat obscure, as if he nearly went a little farther but thought better of it. Certainly it will be generally agreed that safety at sea does not mean liferafts, lifebelts, flares and other emergency equipment. These are the last resort.

Safety begins before proceeding to sea, with seamanlike inspection of gear, careful navigational planning and thought for the comfort and well-being of the crew. In fact, the forethought which is second nature to the professional seaman but which still needs fostering in the amateur sailor.

The chapter on yachting journals and journalism will no doubt help to add to the reader's interest and enjoyment of articles on sea subjects. And for good measure there are some splendid illustrations.

—E.W.M.

• Motor Yachting and Boating, by Peter Heaton (Pelham Books, £5), is a very comprehensive study of the subject and provides a good deal more than disinterested advice to the man or woman with a growing urge to own a motor yacht. Peter Heaton has considerable experience not only of the yachting scene but of writing about it, too. He has set out to give the uninformed enthusiast all the details necessary to help him make the right decisions and, having made them, go afloat with a reasonable chance of avoiding disaster.

It would be churlish to complain of the book containing too much information or dealing with too many aspects of the endless ramifications of seafaring for pleasure but there must be some people who will end up by saying, 'It can't be necessary to know all that!' Of course it is necessary and although the introduction suggests that it is not essential to use seafaring terms like port and starboard the beginner would be well advised to become familiar with the terminology of the sea. The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea uses them and a thorough knowledge of the regulations is essential for the master of any seagoing craft. All the literature of the sea also uses the same terms.

An old—not to say ancient—hand found a great deal of interesting up-todate information, some of which came as a surprise. As, for instance, the sort of speeds now considered necessary for 'a family cruiser', one version claiming34 mph! It is to be hoped that father does not allow little Willie to take the wheel unless there is plenty of sea room.

Many attractive vessels are described in some detail and the lines of the sturdy Cheverton work-boats will catch many discerning eyes.

Not everyone will agree with the suggestion that having bought a boat you proceed to find somewhere to keep her. A prospective owner would do well to explore the possibility of getting a mooring in a reasonably suitable place before buying a vessel. The exercise may well affect his decision. Harbours are not getting crowded; they have got! Some excellent illustrations together with chapters on every aspect of motor yachting and boating, including powerboat racing, make this a handsome addition to any sea-library—in spite of the author's rather pessimistic forecast of the speed with which books go out of date.—E.VV.M.

Lifeboat Enthusiasts' Society January Newsletter MEMBERS ARE advised that due to production difficulties distribution has been delayed..