ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, who was killed in his motor yacht while on holiday last August, will be remembered, as is his wife, the Countess Mountbatten, as a very good friend of the lifeboat service.

Whereas, however, Lady Mountbatten is particularly remembered for the active part she took in fund raising—she became Vice-President of the Ladies' Lifeboat Guild in 1925 and was its President from 1944 until her death in 1960—Lord Mountbatten will be particularly remembered for his close connection with lifeboats in the Isle of Wight, of which he was Governor and Lord Lieutenant. He was patron of the appeal which funded Yarmouth's Arun lifeboat, at whose naming ceremony he accompanied HRH The Duke of Kent. Some years earlier he had himself performed the naming ceremony of Bembridge lifeboat.

It is appropriate, therefore, that the first of a new type of intermediate lifeboat, the RNLI Medina 35, being designed and built on the Isle of Wight, should bear Lord Mountbatten's name, Mountbatten of Burma. He himself had welcomed the proposal and, shortly before his death, he had approved the details for an appeal being launched by Romsey and District branch, of which he was also patron, to provide funds for this new boat. The appeal was in fact launched a week before his death and was continued with the agreement of his family.So many people have chosen to honour the memory of Lord Mountbatten by supporting this appeal that the response has been overwhelming. Contributions have not only come from all over the British Isles and Ireland, but also from many other parts of the world. After three months the appeal stands at about £60,000.

Mountbatten of Burma, the prototype of the experimental RNLI Medina 25 intermediate lifeboat, was launched in the autumn, since when she has been undergoing trials. The Medina 35 is designed by the Institution's Cowes Base team under the leadership of David Stogdon, MBE, and the prototype was built by W. A. Souter and Son of Cowes..