from page 58 no doubt be true to say that this fourth period—say the last 20 to 25 years— has seen the greatest and most far reaching changes in the history of the RNLI.

These changes include the advent of the small inflatable and rigid inflatable lifeboats, and the setting up of an almost duplicate set of lifeboat stations with their own techniques and responsibilities.

The building of cruising rescue craft on the continental pattern.

The change to faster lifeboats with characteristics very different from those of the Watson type and stemming from the US Coast Guard 44ft steel lifeboat. All giving very much better protection from the weather for crews.

The fitting of very expensive and highly sophisticated navigational equipment and the decision that all lifeboats must have self-righting ability. This last requirement perhaps needs some explanation.

The original self-righting boats owed this characteristic to the shape of their hulls. They were narrow beamed with high end-boxes, a sort of modified crescent shape lying on its back. This configuration made it impossible for the boat to remain in the capsized position but the shape of the hull made it a difficult boat to handle in heavy weather. To some extent it may be said that the very features which gave it the self-righting ability also gave this design a tendency to capsize. But a series of disasters in which crews were trapped underneath lifeboats which did not have a self-righting capability led to the decision that self-righting was a necessity. So new designs were produced, first with self-righting obtained by transfer of water ballast and later by watertight superstructures, combined with hull forms giving maximum stability.

These are the lifeboats of today, of which the Arun class is an outstanding example.

It is not the purpose of this short article to dilate on the various new classes of lifeboat or their particular characteristics, but there are two points which must be made: One is that for the period from the end of World War II until the present day the cost of running a continually expanding and improving lifeboat service has risen from £600,000 a year to over £12,000,000 a year.

The other is that without the brave, efficient and dedicated crews who man the boats, all other efforts would be useless..