75 years ago From the pages of THE LIFEBOAT May 1916 Life-boat crews on the Yorkshire Coast From time immemorial it has been the custom of the Life-boat Service not to maintain fixed crews for Lifeboats, but to draw volunteers as required from the seafaring population of the coast towns and villages where Life-boats are stationed.

The advantages of such a system over any in which men would be engaged permanently to form a Lifeboat's crew are manifold.

Not only is there the obvious economy of such a course, but what is more important, there is actually a greater efficiency; as the men, continuing to pursue their avocations as fishermen, boatmen, etc., and spending their lives in open boats, are kept in constant training for the particular class of work which is required in the Life-boat Service, the very nature of which is such that the occasions of use are few and far between; and a crew of men who did no other work would, it is feared, soon degenerate into loafers.

Fortunately, the conditions are such that in the great majority of places where it is necessary to keep a Life-boat the right sort of men are to be found...

Manning the boats ...The manning of the Yorkshire Life-boats is an easy enough problem, solving itself by the fact that wherever Life-boats are wanted the men to man them are at hand.

But south of Bridlington. the Life-boat Institution is confronted with a peculiar difficulty. Here and there on the coasts of this kingdom villages are found which formerly supported a population of fishermen, but where the industry has gradually ceased to exist.

The causes of this decrease are complex, and not easy to follow: the advent of steam trawling, the rural exodus into the great towns, the greater facilities which modern means of travel give the rising generation of finding work elsewhere, and the advantages which are to be found in other walks of life, all contribute; and that splendid figure, the inshore fisherman, is slowly but surely going the way of the hand-loom weaver and the driver of stage coaches… ...Yet, the proximity of the mighty Humber. with a greater actual number of vessels passing up and down it than any other river in the world, makes it imperative to guard its approaches, and two Life-boat stations are maintained on this coast. At Hornsea. the boat is manned by Bridlington fishermen who, on an alarm being given, drive over in three motor cars, while the local men get all ready for launching and take the boat to the water's edge.

Some things never change...

From the title page of THE LIFEBOAT Journal dated 1 February 1917: 'Note: The Editor will be grateful to Hon. Secretaries, and other subscribers, for any really good photographs of wrecks, or Lifeboats on service or exercise, for publication in the Journal.'.