Rear Admiral Desmond Hoare has been accorded the Institution's sincere thanks on vellum for the experimental design work he did for rigid inflatable lifeboats while Provost of the United College of the Atlantic, as well as for his work as a member of the Committee of Management, (above) HRH The Prince of Wales at the helm of an early Atlantic 21 rigid inflatable lifeboat during a visit in 1971 to Atlantic College, St Donat's Castle, South Wales . . ..