A night launch of Hoylake's 37ft 6in Rather class lifeboat, Mary Gabriel. Hoylake is one of the RNLI's 23 stations where a lifeboat over ten metres in length is launched by tractor and carriage. The tractor in this picture is the first of a new type of tractor specifically designed for the task of launching carriage lifeboats. It is fully waterproof and is driven by a diesel hydraulic system using a 200hp Caterpillar 3208 NA engine. The photograph was kindly supplied by M. A.

Bigland (Preparations) Ltd of Knighton, Powys, who built and developed the tractor in co-operation with the RNLI..