• Wooden Boats and Men of Steel tells the story of Withernsea lifeboats from 1862 to 1913 when the station was closed and the lifeboat transferred to Easington. Paul Baker is very much involved with the present day Withernsea lifeboat station which was reopened in 1974 with a D class inflatable boat. To help pay for a new boathouse which has just been completed he has written this book which mixes historic photographs and drawings with a chronological compilation of newspaper reports about the station and the services carried out by its various lifeboats. The newspaper reports are interspersed with the author's own comments and narrative and the effect is to produce a detailed and interesting account. Apart from the rescues themselves, one learns, for instance, that when Coxswain George Hodgson retired in 1910, in all the 27 years of his service on the lifeboat he only missed one call, and that was for a practice when he was laid up with influenza.

The book costs £2 plus 50p postage and packing and is available from Paul Baker, at Hazebrouck, Hollym Road, Withernsea, North Humberside, HU19 2PL. - E.W-W.

• Prolific lifeboat historian Jeff Morris has recently added to his library of station booklets by producing The Story of the Dover Lifeboats and The Story of the Swanage Lifeboats. Both these books are filled with the usual meticulously researched information and intriguing photographs, taking the reader from the time when the first lifeboat was placed on station, up to the present day boats.

Dover Humane Society introduced the very first lifeboat at Dover in 1837 and it was not until 1855 that the RNLI took over the running of the station. In January 1930 a lifeboat, Sir William Hillary, capable of 17.25 knots was sent to Dover after the increased aeroplane traffic crossing over to France made the RNLI decide a faster boat was needed to rescue victims of air crashes. The next lifeboat to be capable of that speed would be the first Arun, built some forty years later. Dover has always been a busy station and the rescues recounted by Jeff Morris make fascinating and sometimes chilling reading.

This is no less the case with his history of Swanage lifeboats. It was, in fact, a gallant rescue in 1875 by 13 coastguards of the crew of six from the wreck of the brigantine Wild Wave off Peveril Point that showed up the need for a lifeboat at Swanage. A petition was sent to RNLI headquarters and in September of that year Charlotte Mary, a 35ft 9in, ten-oared self-righting lifeboat was put on station.

Both booklets cost 75p plus 25p postage and packing. The Dover story is available by post from Mr B. Sackett, 41 Mayfield Avenue, Dover, Kent. The Swanage booklet can be ordered from Mrs Joan Hardy, 38 Priests Road, Swanage, Dorset. - E.W-W..