No Sea Room from page 18 and one man was clinging to the gunwale and the other two were just inside the bulwarks clinging to his legs. Of course you always wonder what's going to happen to the last man off, because there will be nobody to hold on to him.

But you think, '/' come to that later'.

We held off, waiting for the right moment.

The idea was to arrive in a trough, rise up the ship's side, snatch the man off, plenty of power, skewer her off.

bang her astern and wait for the next opportunity. A Waveney has got all that power, you know what I mean? You've got to keep the lifeboat at an angle of 45 degrees and you have got to pin her in.

Well, invariably what happens is she starts running up and down the side of the ship because either you've put too much way on or taken too much off and the sea has swiped you back, so you've drove her up again. And of course you can get a running-up-and-down-thesteps situation. And no way could I layalongside Mi Amiga once the sea had started coming over her gunwale. If I had gone aboard, capped the top of her gunwale, she would have rolled up taking me out of the water and tipping me on my side. Well, we took one man off, did all the business and went in for the next. One man is crouching up on top of the bulwarks, holding on to the stanchions with the other man behind him holding on to him. We grab him off.

Then the fourth man comes running along the deck with this canary in the cage and throws himself on board. In the wheelhouse of a Waveney you are like a goldfish, the old mouth is opening and shutting behind the window and the crew up forward going, 'What's he saying?' I mean, forget all about the intercom.

You bang, bang, bang on the wheelhouse window. 'Get him down into the cabin!' The lifeboat's coming up Mi Amiga's gunwale—stick her off astern.

This canarv, I could see it in the light of the searchlight—he's pressed up against the side of the cage and there's gales of wind blowing through his feathers.

We put the man and the canary down in the cabin. By now the lad had come off the radar and he's handing them down into the cabin and shutting the door behind them so that, if we were capsized, we would right again.

Then we took the last man off, backed off and I took the nearest direct line to Black Deep. You don't need an echo sounder on a Waveney when you are" running in about ten feet of water because two big seas start following you up on each quarter. And I'm winding her up and there are these two great big seas following me. 'Hurrv, Chas. Get us out of here!' Once we'd got clear of the banks I opened the door to look down the cabin to talk to this bloke who was responsible for the ship. And they were all down there, smoking away, and the cabin was black with smoke. And this old canary is on the table wheezing and coughing and his eyes are popping. I said 'That's going to have a cardiac arrest if ou don't get it out of here'.

Portchmouth: Mouth to mouth resuscitation could be delicate.

Bowry: Yes. Anyway, we got clear and when we were about four miles off, all of a sudden all Mi Amiga's lights went out and she was gone. That's what happened to us.

Johnson: We had almost the exact situation —except for the canary. The Waveney was rising and falling and. as you say, Charlie, you can only go in at 45 degrees, just keeping her head in, because of the flare of the bow. That was the danger, that the whole lot would come down on top of the dredger's bulwark and the lifeboat would be turned on her side. And the same situation again. You are in the wheelhouse with half your lads up on the bow and you cannot talk to them. You haven't got time for the intercom. So I had a lad at the side of the wheelhouse, just to give me a couple of seconds to shout to them. And we did it exactly the same way as you, Charlie: went in in the troughs and then took the men off as she came up. The lads were inside the guardrail with their lifelines on and hard hats. But one little fellow, he took off just as we were coming up, without waiting to be instructed. The next time I see this wee fellow, he didn't look as if he'd touched the deck; he was on top of the coachroof there looking at me through the window. All I could see was his head. I couldn't see what was happening to the rest of the boys. You have got to think of your boys up there. They know what you want but things keep going on in your mind that you want to alter, just slightly, for their safety.

Bowry: Before you get to a job, you are always a jump ahead of yourself. When you are driving down to the boat you are not thinking about going down the slip or getting under way, you are thinking about the conditions five miles out; and when you are five miles out you are thinking about ten miles out; you have got to keep ahead of yourself all the time. Then, as we are approaching a job, maybe two miles off, I work out what I think will be the plan of action and I get all the lads into the wheelhouse and say, 'Right. This is what we will do'. But when you reach the casualty you will probably have to modify your plan to meet the actual situation.

It's horses for courses once again.

The conversation went on, but that seemed a good point to switch off, leaving the last word with Charlie . . . .

Old postcards, particularly those showing a bit of history like centenary celebrations or old scenes of towns, are sought by collectors. Please send any cards you can spare to, RNLI, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset, to be auctioned for the lifeboats..