Photographs are very much part and parcel of THE LIFEBOAT of today - but in Victorian times matters were very different. Barry Cox, the RNLFs Honorary Librarian, on loan from the National Westminster Bank, looks back at the very early journals …The first edition of THE LIFEBOAT was published in March 1852, but it was not until issue number 7, in December of that year, that the first 'illustration' appeared. This was a very simple woodcut of the crosssection of a lifeboat, to illustrate stability.

Apart from a Wreck Chart, which appeared annually as an insert from 1854, the next illustrations did not materialise until January 1856.

The Victorians were great innovators, and many of the early journals contain articles on inventions connected with life-saving. A full page lithograph of Clifford's boat-lowering apparatus was published as an insert in January 1856.

In October 1876 we find the first engraving, to illustrate the inventions of a Mr Francis of New York. Drawings of his 'Metallic Army Bateau' and a 'Life-Car' are followed by a dramatic representation of 'The Life Car saving the Passengers and Crew of the Ship Ayrshire in January 1850'.

Pictorial illustrations Only in 1861 do we have the first pictorial illustration of 'a lifeboat service', taken from a painting by Samuel Walters of a rescue on the Yorkshire coast. The first illustration of a specific lifeboat service appeared in October 1861, an insert showing the rescue of the crew of the Lovely Nellie of Seaham by the Cullercoats (Percy) lifeboat, but we have to wait until 1865 for the second specific service - this time the Tynemouth lifeboat Constance at the wreck of the SS Stanley on 24 November 1864 .

Over the years some illustrations appeared more than once, and a most interesting example of this occurs in August 1871 with an engraving by 'WWM' showing a paddle steamer in tow proceeding to a wreck. This same engraving appears again in February 1881 as the 'Wreck of the Indian Chief, and services of the Ramsgate Lifeboat' - a considerable, if improbable, scoop which was repeated in four subsequent issues! One of the most interesting features of the early journal illustrations is the manner in which the seaman is depicted. In July 1860 we have the first appearance of the angelic young sailor awaiting rescue, praying for deliverance. Drawn by F. Walker, this engraving originally accompanied a poem 'God help our men at sea'. The picture appeared regularly thereafter, particularly in the Annual Reports with an appeal to donors.

The sailor who demonstrated life saving apparatus was invariably handsome, and usually with curly side whiskers. The first such appearance was in October 1857 where the cork waist lifebelt manufactured by J.

Birt of London is shown. A similar sailor was still around in 1893 when the same lifebelt was still being advertised by the firm in the Lifeboat Saturday Illustrated.

The first all-colour illustrations appeared as early as April 1864 when the Annual Report edition carried a full page insert of 'The Life-boat', reproduced from 'Sunday at Home'. This experiment was not repeated, and very little colour appeared until well into the 20th Century.

The principal medium of early illustration was the engraving, sometimes copied from other publications. Many of the engravings are unattributed, but one oddity appears in 1903 with an engraving of 'The Lifeboat is coming', showing a ship's crew in the rig-ging. The signature, HSAN. J, suggests that the item was reversed when printed! Some of the engravings were very moving - full of Victorian pathos. In July 1865, the poem' No lifeboat there!' by Nicholas Michell is accompanied by a very touching picture of a large dog standing over his drowned master. A young girl searching the sea for the return of a ship and 'The Return of the Missing Crew' from the same period are similarly designed to touch the heart.

Firsts There are naturally several other 'firsts' to consider. The first person to appear in the journal was Greathead, followed much later in 1899 by the then Prince of Wales. The first naming ceremony to be illustrated was in February 1891, possibly at Swanage, the first specific lifeboat house design, which looked more like a chapel, appeared in 1870.

What, you may be asking, of the men who man the lifeboats? Surprisingly, no clear representation of a lifeboatman appeared until January 1867, when a full page engraving from 'Good Words' appeared with the title 'Two men from the lifeboat climb on board, and the passengers crowd around them, seize them by the hand, and even cling to them'.

These two men are exceptional, being young and not wearing lifejackets. A more conventional view of the Victorian lifeboatman appears in 1871 in an illustration to an excerpt from R.M. Ballantyne's book 'The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands'. An older man, and bearded, he wears a cork lifejacket.

Only in 1894 do we have a clear picture of a lifeboat crew, eight men, of whom seven are bearded.

Let us not forget the ladies. In the predominantly male orientated service, any female who appeared was usually helplessly awaiting rescue or the return of her loved ones. An exception, however, in 1901 shows 'The Runswick women launching the lifeboat' - a full page illustration to a poem extolling the bravery of these helpers.

Photographs The coming of photography and the reproduction of photographs gradually changed the style of illustrations in the journal. Possibly the first reproduction of a photograph is of the naming of the lifeboat / McConnel Hussey at Folkestone in 1894. The next photographs appeared in 1898, full page, of the steam lifeboat Queen.

Early reproduction of photographs on the paper of the journal was not good. The first really clear picture appeared, as an insert on better quality paper, in 1911 - from the Daily Mirror of the then Prince of Wales and Prince Albert in the Newquay lifeboat.

Once photographs were introduced, their importance increased in the dissemination and illustration of news to readers, and engravings were no longer used. The Victorian illustrations with, at times, endearing artistic licence, gave way to instant, on the spot photographs..