100 years ago From the pages of THE LIFEBOAT February 1891 CIVIL SERVICE LIFEBOAT FUND At the annual meeting of the committee of this fund, held on the 16th January last, and presided over by Mr.

Charles G. Turner, Controller General of the Inland Revenue, Mr Charles Dibdin, the honorary secretary, reported that during the past year the fund had contributed to the National Institution the sum of £800 to complete the purchase and endowment funds of the lifeboat Ciuif Service No.6...

(Editor's note - The Civil Service has continued as a strong supporter of the RNLI, this issue contains an account of a passage in the latest Civil Service lifeboat The Princess Royal (Civil Service No.41), tuhich cost some £450,000! ADDITIONAL STATIONS AND NEW LIFEBOATS ATHERFIELD, ISLE OF WIGHT. - It having been considered that a Life-boat placed at Atherfield, on the south-west shore of the Isle of Wight, would be the means of affording material assistance to vessels which are not unfrequently driven on to the ledges of rocks off that dangerous part of the coast, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution decided last year to form a Life-boat Station there.

Accordingly a corrugated boat-house has been erected on the top of the cliff - here about 76 feet high - to the face of which a series of flat skids or sleepers have been securely fastened; over these the Life-boat is lowered by ropes, the incline being 1 in 3, and the distance to the beach about 240 feet.

When returning to the boat-house the Lifeboat is hauled up by means of a powerful winch...

...The slipway was found to work perfectly, while not the least difficulty was experienced in hauling the boat up the steep incline and placing it in the house. A launch can be effected in about a quarter of an hour; and altogether this lifeboat station is likely to prove a very efficient one.

(Editor's note - Despite the confidence expressed in hauling a lifeboat up and down a 76ft cliff, the station had a relatively short life. It was closed in 1915 due to 'launching difficulties'.) Swanage will soon be receiving a new Mersey class lifeboat.

One hundred years ago this charming engraving, from THE LIFEBOAT of 1891, accompanied the report of the naming ceremony of the second boat to be placed there - the 37ft pulling and sailing lifeboat William Erie. Today's Lifeboatmen Coxswain Fred Walkington of Bridlington joined the crew in 1965 and was appointed coxswain in 1975. He was also a member of the station's inshore lifeboat crew from 1982 to 1990.

Fred was awarded a bronze medal in 1979 in recognition of the courage, leadership and initiative he displayed when the lifeboat was launched on 15 February to the assistance of the West German cargo vessel Sunnannai/ which had broken down eight miles NE of Flamborough Head. Weather conditions were very severe, with a violent NE storm, extremely poor visibility in heavy snow, sub-zero temperatures and a very heavy sea.

Fred has been awarded three Thanks of the Institution on Vellum. On 4/5 February 1969 he was among crew members awarded a vellum for standing by the motor vessel Maria F and rescuing the female cook. The vessel was dragging onto a lee shore off Bridlington Harbour in a SE gale and very rough sea. The coxswain at the time, John King, was awarded a bronze medal for the service.

The second was on 13 September 1970 for a service to the cabin cruiser Tiger Moth II when he jumped from the lifeboat onto the cruiser to secure a tow line.

The third vellum was awarded in 1980 when the lifeboat rescued three crew of a fishing coble Three Fevers II, which sank off the Canch sandbank, and assisted other cobles into harbour in a strong NE gale and very rough sea on 31 January.

Fred is married with two sons - Craig joined the crew in 1989 and is now in the Royal Navy, his younger brother Grant enrolled this year. Fred's hobbies are photography and local history.

Facts and Figures Provisional statistics as at 29 January 1991 show that during 1990; The RNLI's lifeboats were launched 4,733 times (an average of more than 12 launches a day) More than 1,534 lives were saved (an average of nearly 4 people rescued each day) Nearly 7 per cent of all services carried out by lifeboats were in winds of Force 8 and above Almost 56 per cent of all services were to pleasure craft There are 266 lifeboats on station, with some 120 additional boats in the relief fleet 120,980 lives have been saved since the RNLI was founded in 1824.

Costs The cost of running the RNLI in 1990 was £37m.

The approximate current cost of building a lifeboat is: 16ft D class inflatable - £9,500 21ft Atlantic rigid inflatable - £45,000 12m Mersey £455,000.