Pass them on...

The letters regarding 'passing on' THE LIFEBOAT interested me as I too have done this for a number of years, taking the journal to our local doctors' surgery and, more recently, sending them on a journey of 6,000 miles! A very good friend of mine who resides on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, has long had an interest in our lifeboat organisation, and has contributed many stamps for the RNLI stamp appeal.

She has been reluctant to dispose of the journal by throwing it away so she now takes each copy to her local library.

Just recently I received a further batch of stamps from a lady who reads the journal and who lives in Victoria, Vancouver Island. So it seems as if our journal is getting some good publicity in a very far away land.

The stamp project at Dartmoor Prison, was the brainchild of Senior Officer Les Blake and in the ten years they have been collecting used stamps he, and his helpers, have raised over £90,000 for the Institution.

Ken Eyre, Sheffield.

... I always give my copy of THE LIFEBOAT to my splendid public library which has a stand for just such a purpose.

Joan Morgan, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon.Thanks from the crews of two casualties Monday 31 May 1993 was a busy day for Walton and Frinton lifeboat, and her efforts were appreciated as these two letters to the station show:I am writing to express my sincere thanks to the coxswain and crew of the Walton and Frinton lifeboat who came to my assistance on Monday 31 May 1993.

My 10m yacht Jay ]ay was dismasted approximately three miles of Walton Point, unfortunately at the same time suffering from an engine problem.

You will appreciate, laying side on to a rolling sea, this was not the easiest place to try and recover our rig.

It would be an understatement to say how pleased we were to see the lifeboat approaching. The very professional manner with which the two crew members who boarded us completely took over the situation was very reassuring and it is with great respect to you all that sailors like myself can sail relaxed in the knowledge that you are never far away.

As a long standing sailor I have always donated willingly to the RNLI but will certainly dig further into my pockets in the future and ensure that all members of my club do the same.

In conclusion I again express my sincere thanks and will be eternally grateful to you all.

C. Nugent, Billericay, EssexMy boat Flying Tackle was the second casualty looked after by Coxswain Kemp and his crew on Monday afternoon. They were marvellous.

There was a strong wind warning in force but I was quite confident that the three of us could cope given past experience of the boat which though four-and-a-half-years-old is well maintained by a yard. We reached a point about one mile N of Gunfleet, intending to sail to Bradwell but one of the crew felt very queasy so we decided to return to Shotley.

All seemed to be going well when a combination of two large waves and a particularly strong gust laid us flat or nearly so. The rudder fractured and jammed so we could not steer. We tried to steer by oar but that was quite useless. We were being blown inshore and so I called the Coastguard and then anchored.

The Coastguard were quick, helpful and reassuring and we were greatly relieved to hear your lifeboat on the air and then see her moving from Walton Pier.

We had some difficulty in recovering our heavy anchor but Coxswain Kemp helped to pull it clear and we were back in Shotley by 1900.

It is almost a cliche nowadays to praise the crew of lifeboats. The public at large and yachtsmen in particular know what fine men man our lifeboats.

We have become accustomed to the image of the unflappable, courteous, determined seamanship and brave lifeboatmen.

I have no doubt that the eleven men who looked after us so well fully justify that image.

The crew of Flying Tackle are most grateful to you and your crew of the Walton and Frinton lifeboat. I gave a cheque to the coxswain as a contribution to the crew funds and I now enclose a donation to the RNLI, together with a promise that my wife and I will try even harder in our local collecting efforts next lifeboat week.

Again our thanks to the crew, to you and to the RNLI.

I.G.S. Groundwater, Peterborough.Information required.

As a member of the Lifeboat Enthusiasts' Society I have recently completed a model of Good Shepherd. I am now endeavouring to compile a pictorial history of her career in the relief fleet. Whilst many station honorary secretaries have been able to help with photographs, some were unable to locate any at all.

I am hoping that your readers will be able to assist me with photographs from the following places R Wright & Son, Derby (now closed) Jan 1985 - July 1986; William Osborne's boatyard, Littlehampton July 86 - Dec 87; Poole 40 hour trials Feb 88; Angle May 89 - Sept 89; Barrow Dec 90 - May 91; Baltimore Oct 91 - Feb 92; Arranmore March 92 - Sept 92; Wicklow Feb 93 - March 93, plus any of the boatyards that have carried out work on her. To help with identification the number on her hull is 47-012.

I will, of course, be happy to receive photographs or information from any of her relief duty stations. Any other facts about this particular lifeboat will be most welcome.

David Cottrell, 160 Sherrards Way, Barnet, Herts ENS 2BNOn the small screen I must congratulate the RNLI and ITV for the excellent series on the Salcombe lifeboat shown recently.

As a regular visitor with a mooring there, I am a little upset that you have given the game away, now everyone knows what a beautiful place it is.

I may be able to help any other readers who purchased the superb colour print of Baltic Exchange 2 and her crew, and are now struggling to find a frame to fit it. The answer I found after much searching is a certificate frame which comes at 11 3/4in x 8 1 /4in and needs only minimal trimming to the surround.

J.H. MacDonald, Coventry.

(A video of the first three episodes of the series is available from RNLI Sales, West Quay Road, Poole BH15 1HZ at £10.99) and can also be hired from the RNLI's agency - Education Distribution Service) Congratulations to the Sennen Cove lifeboat station in producing such a superb video*, the best ever produced.

My wife bought it for my birthday present, the best I've ever had, and to know the money goes to such a worthwhile cause. Anyone interested in the RNLI should purchase a copy - it's worth every penny.

G.A. Watkins, Thame, Oxon.

*The video, 'Boat's Wanted', was reviewed in our Summer 1993 issue.The mystery photographs published in People and Places in our Summer 1993 issue generated a large number of letters and phone calls - with the consensus being that the subject was Lynmouth in Devon.

Our thanks to everyone who took the trouble to write or phone, and our apologies for not being able to include every letter which we received.

The place is Lynmouth on the Bristol Channel, between Ilfracombe and Minehead. The name of the lifeboat is Prichard Frederick Gainer.

I would suggest the occasion for the lifeboat to be on the quay and not in the boathouse would be the inspector's visit or Lifeboat Day which was the biggest day of the year in Lynmouth. I would say the date would be around 1928-1933.

The old capstan with which we hauled the boat up is still situated on the quay.

The hill in the background of the middle picture is the North Foreland which is one of the highest sea cliffs in England. The hill in the background of the bottom picture is the valley of Rocks.

Ray Davey, Kingsteignton, Devon.

... the place is Lynmouth and I would agree that the costume suggests the twenties or early thirties. ...the lower photograph has been printed in reverse - the Foreland has swopped sides! Grahame Farr's list of RNLI official numbers shows that the Lynmouth lifeboat for the period 1906-1944 was No.

558, a standard self-righting design named Prichard Frederick Gainer. Unless a reserve boat has been photographed I would hazard a guess that the boat depicted is No. 558.

R.G. Todd National Maritime Museum, V The photos show the Lynmouth lifeboat Prichard Frederick Gainer, a 35ft pulling and sailing self-righter which served at Lynmouth from 1906 to 1944.

... the photos were certainly taken some time after about 1911 when the RNLI flag began to be introduced on the bows of the lifeboats and one can clearly be seen in the top left-hand photo.

Jeff Morris, honorary archivist, Lifeboat Enthusiasts' Society ...the location appears to be Lynmouth on the North Devon coast... the capstan just visible in front of the lifeboat carriage is still there, though the breakwater was rebuilt after the 1952 flood disaster... a historic rowing lifeboat in the information centre serves as a reminder of the famous rescue in 1899 when the lifeboat Louisa was manhandled up Countisbury Hill and thirteen miles across Exmoor to Porlock Weir.

Martyn Nicholls, Bexley, Kent.

... yes, it is West Country, in fact Lynmouth and I agree about the 20s as I remember as a boy being at Lynmouth for Lifeboat Day held in August each year...

my grandfather was a member of the lifeboat crew when it was dragged over Exmoor to Porlock in 1899, and his brother John (Jack) was coxswain.

Ronald Short, Taunton, Somerset.Was The Queen a pilot boat in Lagos? After World War 2 I went to work in British West Africa and spent the 1950s in Lagos.

The Lagos pilot used an ex-UK lifeboat reputed to have been on the Mersey. As almost all the major trading and shipping firms at this time were Liverpool-based this is quite likely.

As I recall she was quite a big boat with typical self-righting end boxes, a slender fairly steeply raked funnel rising from a deckhouse amidships and a steering position at the after end.

Even after the construction of the east and west moles at the Lagos harbour entrance, the Lagos bar could be quite nasty and to watch the pilot go out with a strong southerly trade wind against a rainy season ebb tide running at around 6 knots was quite spectacular.

I do not know if this boat was The Queen and it seems to me unlikely that she was pre-1923, but I thought you might find this snippet of interest.

Intheearlyl960'slleft Lagos so I do not know how long the old pilot boat remained in service.

Geoffrey Price Lymington, Hants.

I was most interested in the letter from Mr Dixon regarding the New Brighton lifeboat Queen.

I spent a number of years in the employ of Elder Dempster Lines on the West African service. When I first sailed with them in 1955 the pilot launch at Lagos, Nigeria, was reputed to be the ex-New Brighton lifeboat, presumably the one about which Mr Dixon enquires. The vessel had the line of a lifeboat and stood up well to the heavy swell encountered outside the port when delivering or picking up her pilots. I regret I do not know the name she went under at that time but she was owned and operated by the Nigerian Marine - the port authority for Nigeria.

She was painted in the standard grey hull and cream upperworks of their fleet and had a tall funnel and canvas tilt over the stern cockpit.

By the end of 1956 she had been replaced by a purpose-built modern style pilot boat named Patience.

What happened to the old launch I cannot say except that she was to be seen laid up for a while in Lagos.

Please find enclosed a snapshot (left) of the old lifeboat leaving the ship in which I was serving in early 1956, just before she was replaced.

J.F. Powell, Salisbury, Wiltshire.That was the man...

The letter from Mr Watts in the Summer edition caught my eye and being from Sussex I well remember the disaster of the Mary Stanford in November 1928.

The answer to his question prompted me to look through the pages of the 'Mary Stanford Disaster' written by Geoff Hutchison and published in 1984. (the book is being updated at present - Ed) It stated that 'Major W.B. Hacking, a committee member, lived in the village of Udimore and it was his practice on hearing the maroon to leap on his horse... But this morning the sound of the maroon could not be heard above the roaring wind and he too missed the fateful launch when so many lives were lost'.

John Pratt, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex.

... I believe the person to be a Mr Hacking who lived at Cadberaugh Farm, Udimore Road, Rye. He was killed by a flying bomb which demol- ished the farmhouse in 1944.

M.F. Strickland, Pett, East Sussex..