The future of maroons Sir - Are we to witness the total phasing out of the firing of maroons at our lifeboat stations? This issue must have been the subject of much debate during my periods at sea away from the UK, but I sincerely hope that my fears and those of countless supporters of the RNLI are unfounded.

Of course, the use of the radio pager, and any subsequent technological device which can improve the efficiency of saving life at sea, must continue to be used, but I cannot help feeling that the Institution, if it phases out maroons, will have missed a popular feature with the general pub'ic, to whom they look for support, by withdrawing perhaps their most spectacular advertisement. The maroon is designed to attract attention, and must surely be one of the most effective and economical crowd-pulling attractions known. It has become synonymous with lifeboats, stirring the imagination to think about them and their crews.

Mr D. Phillipson of Redcar raised some genuine arguments for retaining the practice of firing maroons in his article in a recent Lifeboat Enthusiast's Society Newsletter and I reproduce here, with his kind permission, some salient points which deserve 'hoisting in' by all who have the interests of the RNLI at heart.

'It is possible that the phasing-out of maroons will have a detrimental effect on public relations for the RNLI. As well as an alarm system, maroons have served to remind a community that it has a lifeboat station in its midst. At seaside resorts thousands of summer visitors have been alerted by the explosion and have watched the launch of a lifeboat on another rescue mission. The spectacle has underlined for them the ever-present dangers at sea, and the vital purpose of the RNLI. How many legacies have been the result of witnessing such dramatic events? The increasing use of radio pagers has meant that lifeboats often go about their work anonymously, with perhaps little more than a paragraph in the local paper.' How true Mr Phillipson! Surely no other financially dependant organisation in the world possesses such advertising potential for so little outlay.

Two further points are worthy of consideration. The first concerns the shore helpers, who turn up as and when they can to assist with launching and recovery.Admittedly there are far fewer stations these days where manpower supplements the primary launching and recovery apparatus, even if it is just the placing of skids. I remember as a youth one very difficult low-water launch on a winter's day at Flamborough, which could not have been effected by the crew alone. Those helpers responded, as my father and I did, to the sound of maroons.

The second concerns the enormous psychological effect of encouragement that those in distress may experience if they hear that their plight is recognised and help is at hand.

I may be considered a romantic and a traditionalist, but in losing the sight and sound of the maroons, I fear that with them will disappear far more than mere nostalgia.

Lt Cdr Timothy P. Appleyard HMS Ark Royal BFPO Ships Boat tests would not solve problems Sir -1 would like to pen a few thoughts on Stephen Dean's few thoughts on boat safety (Your Letters, Spring 1989).The problem with boat tests is twofold: first they cannot be enforced, and second they do not do any good anyway.

Car MoT and aircraft airworthiness certificates can be enforced to some extent because cars and aircraft operate on well defined areas like roads and airports. Boats can be launched on any beach and sailed over a large area where there are no policemen.

Tests do not do any good because the ownership of flares and radio (what about lifejackets?) are only useful after the boat gets into trouble. The ownership of items in the RYA recommended list should be encouraged, but what is more important is a sense of responsibility with boat owners.

It should be obvious that it gets rough with a wind strength over Force 4 (yes, only Force 4) and the weather forecast usually gets it right. The RYA training scheme should be encouraged, but at the end of the day it is not possible to make anybody take heed of what they have learned. It is no use forcing people to take exams, because there is still no guarantee that the foolish will be any less foolish.

A parallel problem is the one of drinking and driving. It has been illegal for many years, but is was not until an advertising campaign was started that the problem began to be taken seriously by many drivers. Perhaps the only answer to •irresponsible boat use is a similar advertising campaign.

Terry Hughes RYA Instructor Reading, Berks.Farewell and thanks Captain Hans Hansson recently retired as Chairman of the Swedish Lifeboat service. The Swedish service has a long history of co-operation and friendship with the Institution and in writing this letter to THE LIFEBOA T Captain Hansson addressed his letter 'To my friends at the RNLI'.

Sir - In March 1937 when I was first employed as administrator of the Swedish Lifeboat Institution I received some information about the RNLI in the report of the Fourth International Lifeboat Conference held in Gothenburg in 1936.

In 1947 I met the RNLI delegates at the Fifth International Lifeboat Conference in Oslo, and ever since that meeting I have had the honour and the pleasure to co-operate with your excellent service.

I have met very much kindness and help from all the RNLI representatives and I have learned a lot from your lifeboat construction, and from our mutual efforts to get a world-wide co-operation between the lifeboat services and to get a final decision about the rules for rescue craft how to inform warships and planes that our lifeboats are protected by the Geneva conventions in armed conflicts.

I read your lifeboat journal with great interest and follow your work and some of the dangerous rescues by your brave and well trained crews.

I take my hat off to these crews and for your generous donations and I send my best wishes for a happy and prosperous future Captain Hans Hansson Gothenburg, SwedenArethusa reunion planned Sir - For several decades the Arethusa training ships have provided a home, education and opportunity of a seagoing career to thousands of young men.

We at The Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa are anxious to contact, through THE LIFEBOAT, all those who served on the ship and might now be interested in the work of The Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa.

The training ships and the boys who served on them are an important part of the history of this country. We know that many who served on the ship went on to receive the highest honours in the world wars and achieved high office in government.

We want to reach as many 'Old Boys' as possible and record and keep the story of Arethusa.

We intend to hold an open day on Saturday 2 September at Upnor on the Medway. All those who started their careers on the Arethusa, or are interested in any way in the work we do should contact me at the address below.

Gwilym Evans- The Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa The Arethusa, Lower Upnor, Near Rochester, Kent.

Help on the cards Sir - As an adjunct to talks on lifeboat affairs I am trying to collect coloured postcards of various types of boats recently in service with the RNLI.

Unfortunately most of the older types, while still in service, are no longer listed in the souvenir catalogue so 1 would be grateful for help in locating cards of the following: 70ft Clyde; 52ft Barnett; 50ft Thames; 48ft 6in Solent; 47ft Watson; 37ft Oakley; 37ft 6in Rother; 46ft 9in and 47ft Watson.

I am willing to pay 56p plus postage for good specimens of each.

E.J. Butler Chairman North Chingford Branch 6 Forest Glade, Walt ham Forest, London E4 9RH The Sheffield Shoreline Sir - After the closing of the Shoreline clubs last year I thought it might be worthwhile to remind readers that we continue to exist. We have a new name, Sheffield Shoreline Group, but in fact we are very much as before - with all our members being national members in someway, Shoreline, Governors etc.

We have kept strong links with Sheffield branch and the local guilds and continue to help with flag days, collections and other fund raising events.Our basis is, as always, our social meetings and over the past year we have had a varied selection of speakers. We have also had another visit to the lifeboat museum in Bristol and visits to local firms and organisations such as the police and fire service.

Our meetings are held on the second Monday in the month at the Club 197, Brook Hill, Sheffield, and any Shoreline members in the South Yorkshire area would be most welcome to come along, or they can get in touch with me at the address below or telephone Sheffield 583679. An alternative contact is our social secretary, Rita Baker, on Sheffield 345058.

Ann Kisby Chairman Sheffield Shoreline Group 16 Arnside Road, Sheffield S8 OL'XSir - It is with great interest and some nostalgic excitement that I read in the Spring journal (Your Letters) about the Eastbourne lifeboat and the Dunkirk evacuation in May/June of 1940.

Coxswain Bryant and I, as Second Cox, brought that boat into Dover harbour with a reserve lifeboat and subsequently prepared her for a towing passage to, I believe, Rowhedge.

At that time we in Dover had a very old relief boat, the Agnes Cross (the fast station boat being under refit). By order of the naval authorities this boat did not go to Dunkirk, she was to be retained on station for air/sea rescue, very little else then being available.

During the evacuation, and for a period after it finished, on numerous services the Agnes Cross brought into Dover a number of British, French and Belgian soldiers, some had been wounded, and some were in considerable distress having been adrift in very small boats for some days in the southern North Sea and the Straits of Dover. It should be realised that these services were carried out with some danger to the crews from enemy action.

The Agnes Cross did yeoman service for a comparatively short period, of which I have never seen even a mention in any RNLI publication relating to Dunkirk - or for that matter any other publication on the subject.

Although only remotely relevant to the foregoing I would like to add a note regarding the fast Dover lifeboat Sir William Hillary. This craft was requisitioned by the Admiralty in the late summer of 1940 for air/sea rescue and became His Majesty's Rescue Vessel SWH, never returning to Dover.

In January 1941 I joined her as a volunteer RNPS and served in the craft until the end of the war in 1945 - in command from December 1941 to August 1945 with a crew of nine naval ratings. Of all the boats I subsequently experienced the 'Hillary 'was the boat of my life.

Sid J. Hills BEM Retired Staff Coxswain Cowes, IOW.