Debut of the Mersey fast carriage boatThe RNLl's latest class of lifeboat was named the Mersey when the new, fast carriage-launched lifeboat was unveiled at a special press launch at Hastings lifeboat station on 14 July.

The 12m (38ft) Mersey is capable of 17.5 knots, twice the speed of the Oakley or Rother class boats which she will replace, and was described by the RNLI's Director, Lt Cdr Brian Miles, at the press launch as 'the final piece of the jigsaw in our plan to complete the introduction of fast lifeboats by 1993'.

The Mersey class continues the RNLI's policy of naming new classes after rivers, and is particularly appropriate because stations on the approaches to the Mersey are among those in line to receive the new boat.

The class name also continues the links with the maritime traditions of the area, once reinforced by the name of the Liverpool class lifeboats.

The Mersey demonstrated to the press at the unveiling was 12-002 (to be called Sealink Endeavour), the first aluminium-hulled boat built by the RNLI. She had been on station evaluation trials at Bridlington, Hastings and Dungeness before being officially allocated to Hastings to replace the station's 37ft Oakley.

Two further Merseys are under construction, one in aluminium - which has been allocated to Bridlington and is to be named Peggy and Alex Caird - and the other in fibre reinforced plastic (FRP), another first for the Institution.

The boat has been designed entirely by RNLI staff and has full offshore capabilities.

She is designed to be self righting as a result of the buoyancy of the superstructure, rather than through the use of shifting water ballast, and is powered by two 285hp turbochargedCaterpillar diesels with propellers and rudders in tunnels for protection when launching and recovering.

When the fast, semi-planing Mersey is in full production the Institution plans to build nine boats a year for the next four years to replace the current displacement- hull boats.... And farewell to the Clyde and McLachlanThis year, which saw the introduction of a completely new class of lifeboat also signalled the end of two classes, each of which has seen some 20 years' service.

When the 70ft Clyde class lifeboat Grace Paterson Ritchie sailed from Kirkwall in July, to be replaced by a 52ft Arun, and City of Bristol left Clovelly on August 15 when the station closed, no Clydes remained in service.

The last 18ft 6in McLachlan was also taken out of service at Falmouth in late April, bringing to an end a chapter in the development of small, fast lifeboats.Both boats were a product of the needs of the middle to late 1960s. The Clydes were introduced in 1965 to meet the need for a long-range lifeboat, and the McLachlans in 1969 to extend the operations of the new Inshore Rescue Boats (as they were then known).

The Clydes broke new ground as the largest boats ever built for the RNLI, the first modern lifeboat to be built of steel and the first to be designed to stay at sea in a 'cruising' role.

The McLachlan boats came into service in 1969, to a design by J. A.

McLachlan of the Glasgow designers G.L.Watson and Co, and also featured several firsts for the Institution.

Their glass reinforced plastic (GRP) hulls were 'ragged chine', and they were powered by two inboard engines driving outboard motor-type drive 'legs'.

The increased operational abilities of the latest generation of fast boats reduced the need for the long-range, 11 knot Clydes, and the development of the 'rigid inflatable' 21ft Atlantics overtook the need for the McLachlans..