The Samtampa remembered On browsing through the Summer 1992 edition of THE LIFEBOAT I saw an article refering to the Mumbles lifeboat and Samtampa tragedy.

At that time I was stationed at Porthcawl with the RAF No. 1105 Marine Craft Unit. I was the wireless operator and we were based at what I suppose is now the yacht club - I haven't been back since 1949.

That particular evening the weather was so terribly bad that I decided not to go into Porthcawl and stayed on the base amusing myself with the radio and tidying things up.

A really loud transmission broke through and I realised it was an SOS.

The vessel was the Samtampa so I immediately informed the CO at home and recalled all our airmen who were in town.

We only had two 37ft sea plane tenders at Porthcawl and we were willing to go out to help, but the seas were so bad that it really would have been suicide to try.

The seas were so bad that night that the water was going completely over the pier at Porthcawl and sometimes over the lighthouse - the worst weather I've ever seen in my life, and I'm nearly 68 now.

The ship could not have been more than about 200 yards from the shore, though it is hard to estimate in those conditions, and the tragedy is that if she had been about another half-a-mile to the east she would have stood a better chance on the beach at Coney.

In the days after the incident our lads had the sad task of helping the police with the deceased washed ashore. Your article brought back some sad memories but also at the same time we should all as a maritime nation, be grateful that there are unselfish, devoted people who will never hesitate to help others in distress, irrespective of race, colour or creed.

O.L. Atterbury Catford, LondonThanks to St Abbs I should like to thank all those involved in the brilliantly swift rescue of five canoeists off St Abbs Head on Sunday 11 October 1992.

Ten canoeists, some very experienced and some relatively inexperienced, set off after careful consideration with the intention of exploring local caves.

There was quite a heavy swell and a NE Force 3-4 wind so we decided to go a short way out and then see what conditions were like. About 300 yards out conditions deteriorated, there were 10ft waves and some were rebounding off the rocks creating a very heavy and treacherous swell.

As we turned to go back three canoes capsized, including mine. The conditions were such that none of us three were able to get back into our boats. While some of the group managed to get back safely, including my 15-year-old son (a fact I did not know about for 45 minutes), two of us clung on for dear life to colleagues' canoes and a third managed to reach an isolated crag which, as an experienced climber, he managed to climb.

After about ten minutes the alarm was raised with the St Abbs lighthouseman and flares went up so we knew there would be a rescue. By this time the waterlogged canoe that I was clinging to was being swept southwards almost parallel to virtually sheer cliffs several hundred feet high. Fortunately we were all well equipped with wet suits, without which things would have been much worse.

During the last few minutes we watched our slow drift towards rocks with waves crashing against them and when the lifeboat from St Abbs arrived we were between 20 and 30 yards from them.

I shall never forget the "sight of the lifeboat coming towards us to save us.

Four of us were helped aboard the lifeboat and the fifth was winched aboard a helicopter from Boulmer which arrived a couple of minutes later.

After saving two of the canoes we were taken back to St Abbs where one of our party was treated in hospital for hypothermia and shock but later released. The rest of us were unharmed.

The lifeboat was apparently launched within seven minutes of the alarm being raised and reached us in a few minutes, preventing a real tragedy. We had then been in the water between 20 and 30 minutes.

The speed, efficiency and excellent co-ordination of the whole operation was brilliant and we are greatly indebted to all involved.

Iain Edgar Newcastle-upon-TyneOn the March I wonder whether any reader can help me? I am due to present an evening's programme during April at our local record club, and should like to include Arnold's 'Padstow Lifeboat March', written in 1956 to mark the opening of Padstow's new boathouse and given its first performance in - perhaps rather oddly - London.

I know that the piece was included in a record entitled The Music of Malcolm Arnold' and there may well be other recordings.

However, I have so far been quite unable to trace one and there is nothing currently available in the catalogues.

Should any reader have a recording of this composition I should be most grateful to hear from them.

Philip Threlfall 10 Clifford Terrace, Wellington, Somerset TA21 8PQ Ancestor recorded In reply to a letter from Arnold Brown in the Spring issue regarding his ancestor William Christian of Ramsey, Isle of Man.

The recently published The Ramsey Lifeboats 1829-1991' records that the RNLI took over jurisdiction for Ramsey on 18 November 1868 and the initial minutes entry book, dated 11 December 1868, refers to the first lifeboat service which occurred that day and William Christian is listed in the crew.

There are also photographs of the Two Sisters and crew, helpers and committee outside the then boathouse in 1869, the crew in 1887 and the Mary Isabella crew in 1896. William Christian is in both these photographs. He is also mentioned as a member of the crew in the final service of 1899 when four men were rescued from the schooner Ruby of Aberystwyth. Captain W.E. Clague HPRO Ramsey BranchDonaghadee kindness remembered Nine years ago, as an auxiliary coastguard, I co-ordinated the rescue of a Dutch yachtsman when his yacht was dismasted off North Berwick. He stayed with me for several days while we sorted out his problems and I sailed back to The Netherlands with him.

Every year he now sails to the Forth and I crew back to The Netherlands with him.

This year I discovered that Groningen has an excellent ship museum and paid a visit. I had a RNLI brooch pinned to my T-shirt and was a little surprised by the very warm welcome from the curator. He explained that he had served on container ships from Ireland to Scotland, and in 1958 his ship drove hard aground in thick fog on a reef near Larne, tearing the ship's bottom open. He was thrown down on to the cargo deck and was quite badly injured. The crew were rescued by Donaghadee lifeboat and he had never forgotten the tremendous care and kindness shown by the crew.

He refused to accept any payment and I was treated as an honoured guest as he accompanied me around the museum, pointing out facets which I would almost certainly have missed otherwise, and made to feel that I held VIP status.

I thought that Donaghadee might be interested to know how vividly they remain in the curator's memory and with such high regard. That memory made my visit something to be remembered with great pleasure.

Groningen museum is well worth a visit. It has been put together with imagination and also has a fascinating tobacco museum incorporated in it. It is one of the best museums I have visited and should not be missed.

Len Groom Hon Sec, North Berwick Transport of Delight The Institution's advertisement entitled 'Your treasure is needed urgently' on the inside rear cover of the Summer 1992 issue prompts me to put into writing an idea that has been in my mind for some while that could perhaps be of mutual benefit to both the Institution and myself.

I have an interest in road passenger transport history and as such keep an eye open for any items of historical transport interest. Something that is of particular interest is printed material.

However, this sort of thing is not easy to come by, but items do occasionally come to light.

I was therefore wondering if it was worth enquiring if any members might have tucked away old - say pre-1960 UK bus or tram timetables, staff rule books, printed ephemera such as leaflets, tickets etc which they no longer wish to keep and would be happy to pass on, in return for which I would be more than pleased to make a donation to the Institution's funds and also cover their postage costs.

Terence Jones 17 School Lane, Herne, Herne Bay, Kent.Any old oilies? I am a Shoreline member as well as an officer on board the Cutty Sark at Greenwich. I am writing to your readers hoping that they have old yellow oilskins (mainly children's) tucked away in their lofts, or at the back of their garages which they do not want.

We need them for school projects so the children can dress up and keep dry in the bad weather when on deck doing their projects.

Our problem is that we do not have the money being a charitable trust with no government subsidy and a large restoration bill at least £2m over the next ten years.

Mr M.W. Joy 43 Fieldside Road, Downham, Bromley, Kent BR1 4LA Seeing the Light I am currently researching the history of lightvessels throughout the world.

All aspects of the design, construction and operation are in the process of being recorded.

It is also important that an individual's working life, including incidents that have happened during the vessel's time on station, are recorded. Your readership will, therefore, be in a position to relate such incidents where lifeboats were involved.

Whilst I have the assistance of the information office at Trinity House and access to the official records these, for various reasons, are not complete.

This is particularly so where the vessel was operated by a port authority or other body.

Peter Williams Haven Lightship, Milford Marina, Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire SA73 3AFScale pressure The article 'Statistically speaking' in the Summer 1992 issue, prompts me to comment how scales of wind speed can mislead. The most sophisticated anemometer does nothing more than measure how fast the air is moving.

Apart from measuring the speed of the wind one must also consider its effect. One of the first to consider the effect of the wind on a vessel was Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort in 1508 who devised the scale we still use today. The Beaufort scale is not a haphazard collection of figures and Beaufort assessed each increment according to its effect on his man-of-war. It is an assessment of the power of the wind.

The interesting thing about these figures is the relationship between them - the ratios are precisely the cube of the wind force. For instance, Force 6 exerts 216 times the pressure of Force 1 (6x6x6 = 216).

A wind at Force 5, although blowing only 9 times as fast as Force 1, exerts 125 times as much pressure. It can also be seen that the wind pressure at Force 6 is roughly 3.5 times that of Force 4, the force at which dinghy sailors are hiking and trapezing - not for nothing is Force 6 known as the yachtsman's gale.

The addition of the column of ratios to the Beaufort Scale reveals in a most dramatic way the effect increasing wind speed has on a vessel. David Lewin Colchester, Essex Force /Description Pressure Kg/m2 0 Wind speed too low to move the ship 0 1 Steerage way 2 Sails fill 3 All sails set close hauled at 4 knots 4 Ship has good list 5 Sails begin to strain 6 Single reef 7 Double reef 8 Treble reef 9 Close reef 10 Furled sails 11 Hove to 12 Storm - no sails at all Ratio 0.05 0.4 1.3 3.2 6.3 11 18 26 36 50 68 85 1 8 27 64 125 216 343 ; 512 : 720 1000 1331 1728.