• Tenby's first lifeboat, a 10-oared self-righting vessel, costing £125, was sent to the Welsh port in 1852 by The Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Benevolent Society which, two years later, handed over all its lifeboats to the RNLI. Structural alterations to Tenby's first boat were paid for by the Institution, at a cost of £105, to bring her in line with their own self-righting craft and her first service thereafter occurred on December 30, 1855. Jeff Morris, in his station history, Tenby Lifeboats, records that at 3.30pm that day, in a strong south-easterly gale and snowstorm, the unnamed lifeboat rescued three men from the schooner Agenoria.

of Bideford just before she broke up.

At 10pm that night the lifeboat was launched again, this time to the schooner Alexandre of Nantes, ashore near Giltar Point, two miles south of Tenby.

The crew of five and a young boy were taken off the stricken vessel and Lt Richard Jesse. RN, Chief Officer of Coastguard (in command of the lifeboat for both services) and Coxswain Robert Parrott, at the helm each time, were each awarded the Institution's silver medal. Since then a further eight silver and five bronze medals have been awarded to Tenby's lifeboatmen and each service is chronicled in Jeff Morris' familiar and thorough style, together with detailed histories of all the station's dozen lifeboats, up to and including the current boat, RFA Sir Galahad, a 47ft Tyne class which arrived there in 1986.

Copies of Tenby Lifeboats, costing £1.80 (plus 20p p&p) are available from Mr Eric W Bancroft. Chantilly Hill Park, Tenby, SA70 8HX.—NH • Two slim volumes from the pen of the Rev Bertie Troy, cc, of Kanturk, Co. Cork, Ireland set out to record the history of wrecks and rescues at Ballycotton during the 19th century. The small community's first lifeboat was not stationed there until 1858, but the fishermen and coastguards ("waterguards" as they were first known) of the area had by then built up a tradition of life-saving unequalled along Eire's rugged southern coast. Their exploits are chronicled in Ballycotton Wrecks & Rescues 1800-1855, beginning with the first recorded rescue, on December 23, 1803 when fishermen Dennis Flynn, his two brothers and four other local men plucked the eight survivors of the ship Sovereign from their dismasted vessel as she broke up on Smith's Rocks, Ballycotton Bay during a raging storm. In the second volume, covering the period 1855-1900, the author concentrates on the services carried out by Ballycotton's lifeboat crew in the four boats to be stationed there during the latter half of the century, giving lucid and stirring accounts of some of their more heroic rescues. Copies of both these excellent books, costing IR£2 each, plus 50p p&p are available direct from the Rev Troy or local booksellers in Ballycotton.—NH • Passenger Ships of the Orient Line by Neil McCart (published by Patrick Stephens, £16.95) details all the Orient liners that were operated from the company's inception in 1878 to its amalgamation with P & O some 82 years later in 1960. The book is full of interesting facts relating to the building, launching and service lives of these well known ships. It is well illustrated and contains anecdotes from both passengers and crew members of the ships described. I reviewed the book with considerable nostalgia, having served as a deck cadet aboard Oriana when she was at the peak of her popularity in the mid sixties. This contrasted heavily with my final experience of the Orient Line as second officer aboard Orsova on her final slow voyage to Kaohsiung to be scrapped in February 1974. The book is good and interesting reading for maritime enthusiasts and those interested in the good old days of the British merchant passenger liners.—KMV • Dag Pike, author of Challenge of the Atlantic. (Patrick Stephens Ltd., £6.99) was employed by the RNLI for nine years, as assistant divisional inspector in the south east, divisional inspector in the south west and finally as assistant staff officer (operations). Flowever, he is probably more well known to the public as Richard Branson's navigator on his two, ultimately triumphant. Virgin Atlantic Challenger attempts upon the surface speed record. In his book Dag Pike examines the relationship between man and the Atlantic Ocean from the early voyages of exploration, the great ocean liners and the recordbreaking exploits of modern sailing and power boats, amply demonstrated by his own experiences as a merchant seaman and navigator. He is planning two further record-breaking crossings of the Atlantic this year.—MG • Malory Maltby's new film Beside the Seaside, commissioned by the RNLI to celebrate the 25th anniversary of inflatable lifeboats, is now available in both a 16mm and VHS video format. This fast moving 28 minute film, tells the story of the development and success of inflatable and rigid inflatable lifeboats since their introduction in 1963. It can be hired from Viscom Ltd (Film Distributors).

Unit B l l , Park Hall Road Trading Estate, Dulwich, London SE21 8EL, or can be bought on a 50 minute video cassette also featuring Mr Maltby's earlier film How do you say thank you?, price £9.95 from his company, Freetime Television Ltd, 8 Carvers Lane Industrial Estate, Ringwood, Hants BH24 US. The RNLI receives £1 for each video sold..