THE OPPORTUNITY to visit overseas lifeboat organisations is usually limited to the four-yearly International Lifeboat Conference; to be invited, and spon-' sored privately, to spend a week in the United States for what was to prove a valuable two-way conversation on lifesaving at sea was indeed a rare and exciting proposition.

In June, 1980, correspondence between Cdr Mike Badham, RN (Retd), now living in Maine, USA, and myself' began with the familiar questions: 'What is the RNLI?' 'How does it work?' and 'What is the function of HM Coastguard?'; not that Cdr Badham was totally uninformed—he had sailed an ex-RNLI lifeboat to the United States in 1960—but he wanted to be brought up to date in an effort to help solve a local New England problem involving serious loss of life at sea by the fishingcommunity. In particular he wanted to know more about the Institution's smaller lifeboats such as the rigid inflatable Atlantic 21. A number of letters were exchanged and when Cdr Badham visited this country privately in the autumn the problems of the New England coast became clearer.

From a search and rescue point of view, the Maine coastline is frightening.

From one end to the other as the crow flies it is about 300 miles, but with hundreds of deep inlets the actual coastline is more like 3,500 miles and there are many small islands lying off (see chart, north). The United States Coast Guard, a government service, has established four lifeboat stations along this coast, with helicopters at Cape Cod, but it cannot provide individual local cover for the many small and scattered fishing communities of Maine. It is a vast problem in a vast and often lonely terrain.

Unfortunately the distances involved are inevitably sometimes too great for a quick response to local incidents and after a series of fatalities in 1980, one small area, East Casco Bay, took the initiative by establishing Maine's first voluntary lifeboat organisation. It was an enterprise which has the full co- operation of the Coast Guard and the support of the area's Congressman, and at present it takes the form of cooperative self help. When information of an overdue fishing vessel is received,other local boats put to sea as an organised unit to complement the work of the US Coast Guard lifeboats or helicopters.

As we all well know, however, a voluntary lifesaving organisation costs money, and there is no state aid available as yet for East Casco Bay. Cdr Badham and the small group of other supporters of the idea have been putting forward their propositions with untiring energy, but it is uphill work. In an effort to give further publicity to the voluntary approach, Cdr Badham suggested an informal visit to the United States by a member of the RNLI who could speak with fishermen and extol the virtues (and problems) of the proven system which has worked so well in Great Britain and Ireland for more than 150 years.

One of the originators of the Maine lifesaving enterprise, already engaged in lecturing on cold water survival, is Robert Pratt, a marine biologist at the Darling Center in Walpole, and in late February this year he was authorised to offer to the RNLI a return air passage to Boston, funded by the University of Maine.

Having been sadly misinformed as to the likely dress requirement in a New England spring, and greatly concerned lest the RNLI films in my overloaded suitcase should be rendered sterile by Heathrow Airport x-ray machines, I made my first trans-Atlantic flight on March 8. Nor was my time in the air wasted; in flight I confirmed a fellow passenger as a Shoreline life governor.

Thus encouraged, I landed in Boston.

Cdr Badham was there to meet me and, after driving south to Hyannis, Massachusetts (see chart, south), a pleasantly informal first evening was spent in the company of a most gracious elderly lady, a family friend, who knew England well from wartime days.

Day two started with a visit to the Kennedy Memorial before attending the Hyannis Fishermen's Workshop on Cape Cod. This colourful gathering was a cross between boat show and trade fair and I was able to sound out opinion from fishermen, coast guards and those commercially promoting safety at sea.

As with most conferences, much interesting discussion took place out of hours and by 'lights out' at the Hyannis Motel I began to realise that fishermen and their safety problems are similar each side of the Atlantic. I learned that greater emphasis is placed on survival suits in New England than in the old country, because of the low water temperature, but that there is less emphasis on flares at present, perhaps because both land and sea are much more sparsely populated than they are over here. Radios are in common use, but the greater distances fished off the American shore have encouraged the use of pocket emergency position indicator radio beacons for locating survivors in the water.

Day three was a slight anticlimax because the planned discussion forum, relating to a recent fishing vessel loss, had to be curtailed for legal reasons. It did, however, give me the chance to show the RNLI films I had brought with me.

The technical film on Atlantic 21s, borrowed from Cowes base, caused much interest, as did the recently introduced 'Making of a Crew'. The day ended with an interesting six-hour drive northward through pine forests to the Casco Bay area home of my co-host. Bob Pratt.

Needless to say, 'the man who spoke funny' caused Bob's young family some amusement.

Houses in this part of New England are all built of wood. Both timber and land are relatively cheap and, away from the towns, most householders own a considerable amount of land which is either pine forest or open ground of fairly poor quality. Planning permission and building control seem to be unknown! The following day was spent on a visit to the US Coast Guard station at Southwest Harbor, where I was entertained to a wardroom lunch by the group commander.

Each Coast Guard station operates as a self-contained unit with workshops and a full maintenance staff.

All facilities for the 41ft and 44ft classes of lifeboat are available at the nearest commercial yard on a similar basis to that employed by the RNLI. The communications centre at the base is of a high calibre as it has facility to link into national services defence nets, if required.

Considerable interest was shown by the crews in the fact that the RNLI is still building Waveney lifeboats, the 44ft class first introduced from the USA in 1964, and the deputygroup commander provided me with two drawings of modifications they had made to the hull and rudder which he thought might be useful to the RNLI.

During the afternoon time was again spent driving around the coast where I was shown the degree of isolation of some of the small fishing communities.

By early evening we were returning down the coast to the home of my English host where I was to spend the night in splendid isolation in my own caravan, only yards from the water's edge. Any thoughts of an early night, however, were soon dispelled by the arrival of six house guests, all interested in discussing lifesaving by the RNLI and how any good ideas could be incorporated into a voluntary system in that part of the USA.

On Friday I had the opportunity of visiting Bob Waddell, the father of two young fishermen lost at sea in 1980 and the instigator of the only voluntary lifesaving organisation on the Maine coast.

Mr Waddell was a model of one of our own station honorary secretaries, devoting much of his time to arranging training for local fishermen in search patterns and survival at sea, and to campaigning for the carriage of the right equipment to alert the authorities, should a boat be in distress. It was a most heartening visit, and Bob's dedication following great personal and family loss should be a considerable encouragement to others.

During the day I was also taken to visit apprentice workshops at Bath, Maine (see chart, north), where traditional shipbuilding has been revived; a number of very old vessels are being repaired and replicas of past designs constructed using traditional tools and methods. Unfortunately, time did not allow as much detailed inspection of this most interesting industry as I would have wished.

Driving north east to Rockland on Saturday to attend the Maine Fishermen's Forum we encountered snow for the first time. Before the day was over, however, the weather had returned to more normal spring temperatures. The forum had attracted some 700 to 800 fishermen and their families and it took place in three or four conference rooms, each with its own programme of lectures, discussion or films. The content varied from fishing methods and new gear to search and rescue, government legislation and other general topics.

I was privileged to sit with the local Congressman during luncheon and he was interested to learn that I had been able to undertake the visit since his name had featured in earlier correspondence regarding the need for additional search and rescue facilities on the coast. I had an encouragingly large and interested audience for my film session and, when sitting with Coast Guard officers and fishermen on a discussion panel, a number of probing questions continued on page 242.