More Lifeboats at Dunkirk In your Autumn issue lifeboat enthusiast Jeff Morris states that 19 lifeboats from the RNLI attended the evacuation of Dunkirk during 1940. He is right to say that 19 lifeboats went to Dunkirk but wrong in thus assuming that 19 RNLI crews were there. They were not.

The lifeboats from Ramsgate (Coxswain Harold Knight) and Margate (Coxswain Edward Parker) both sailed directly for Dunkirk while others first put into Dover for orders from the Royal Naval people co-ordinating the evacuation. While there the coxswain of Hythe lifeboat demanded written agreement that any lifeboatmen losing their lives would be guaranteed a full pension from the government. He also refused to accept orders to take his boat onto the beach as the draught of his boat was too great and once loaded with troops he would be unable to leave the beach. He was later proved right when, under RN command, his boat was stranded.

The reaction of the Navy was to send the entire Hythe crew home without their boat which was requisitioned by a RN crew. The crews from Walmer and Dungeness were persuaded not to sail and also went home.

The Hythe coxswain, a man of 20 years RNLI service was, with his mechanic, subsequently dismissed from service by the Institution.

The Navy requisitioned the entire RNLI fleet at Dover except for the two lifeboats that had sailed directly for France.

Seventeen lifeboats set out from Dover manned by Royal Navy crews while many of the RNLI crews stranded at Dover when their boats were requisitioned, stayed there to help with repairs, refuelling and maintenance of the small craft helping in the evacuation.

They set up a workshop in a harbourside garage to do this work.

Of the 19 lifeboats that crossed the Channel for the coast of France only one was lost, the Hythe boat, which had to be abandoned after going aground on the shoals off Dunkirk, as predicted by her coxswain.

The Eastbourne lifeboat was abandoned by her RN crew but found adrift in the Channel some two days later after the evacuation and was towed home to be repaired.

Coxswains Harold Knight and Edward Parker were both awarded the DSM for gallantry.

The whole business was a sad affair, probably reflecting the pressures put upon all involved at that time by the stress of the task of evacuating Dunkirk's beaches.

Alec Beilby, author/Heroes All, the story of the RNLI.'Dunkirk lifeboats recalled Together with many other officers and men of the Border Regiment we waited for 48 hours in the dunes and in front of the great hospital which features in so many pictures of the evacuation.

The place was Bray Dunes, about three miles (I think) from Dunkirk, which we could see burning, but just inside the French frontier.

There were usually three ships standing by but a great shortage of boats to reach them. Needless to say the ships were frequently dive-bombed but seldom hit. Presumably the Stukas were afraid of running into the hail of flak which the ships put up, There were queues of men waiting for all the boats available and these were shelled from time to time. There was a nasty little aircraft directing their fire.

Occasional visits from our own fighters sent all the horrors scurrying but obviously our aircraft were at the limit of their fuel and could not stay.

At first light on 1 June, our third day, a good old British lifeboat appeared.

We marched down and waded out to it. The lifeboatmen were splendid and kind. 'Come on old soldier, up you come'. We were ferried out to HM destroyer Icarus and eventually got home.

We took the lifeboat as being from Margate, but I understand that it could have been Ramsgate, as both were operating that day.

Patrick Barnes, Osterley, Middx.Ireland and Scillies Information While reading the very interesting and informative article on Fenit and Kilrush in the Autumn issue, I was surprised by the caption to the photo at the top of page 229 which states 'Until 1969 Fenit's lifeboat launched from the boathouse in the foreground. Now 25 years later an Arun will lie afloat...' From 1928 to 1969 Fenit had three motor lifeboats - ON 561,42ft selfrighter John A. Hay 1928-32; ON 755, 51ft Barnett Peter and Sarah Blake 1932- 59; ON 889, 52ft Barnett Hilton Briggs 1959-69. All of these lay afloat. If they had been slipway launched, they (particularly the Barnetts) would have required a roller slipway. I have checked with other members of the Lifeboat Enthusiasts' Society and their unanimous verdict is that the motor lif eboats were kept afloat.

With regard to the letter of page 235 referring to the old lifeboat house and its contents at St Agnes in the Isles of Scilly, the boat concerned is a rather old motor launch which has been sitting in the old lifeboat house for several years.I did not visit the site on my annual visit to the islands this May but I have checked with a fellow LBES member who did and he confirms the comments above.

For your interest, there were three pulh'ng and sailing lifeboats stationed at St Agnes, ONs 275, 516 and 590, none of which are known to exist today.

Michael Searle, Honorary Publications Officer, Lifeboat Enthusiasts' Socictv ... and more about St Agnes The letter from Keith and Janet Morris in the last issue regarding the old lifeboat house on St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, has prompted me to write.

I have been a regular visitor to St Agnes since the mid 'fifties and throughout that time there has always been one or more boats in the old lifeboat house. Gradually they are restored and refloated. One such 1940's 30ft wooden launch is now owned by my younger son and is at Cardiff yacht club where he and his brother are continuing restoration.

The large boat currently in the lifeboat house is a recent acquisition of one of the islanders.

I believe I am correct in saying that the lifeboat house is a listed building and is in fact being re-roofed.

The St Agnes lifeboat ceased operation in 1920 when a new motor lifeboat arrived at St Mary's.

K.H. Hyatt, Llandovery, Dyfed.

Long, and appreciated, support I was interested to note in recent Your Letters some members comments relating to the length of involvement with supporting the RNLI. My family's involvement goes back prior to 1879 when on 13 November of that year my great great grandfather Edwin John Brett, a successful publisher, presented Southend with a lifeboat.

My great grandfather, grandfather, father, my father's brother (whose family still have the scale model of the lifeboat which was presented to Edwin Brett to mark the occasion) myself, my wife and one of our daughters have continued to support the RNLI fundraising activities.

I had not been a member of the RNLI but when advising your membership department earlier this year of the death of my father, I decided to become an annual governor (similar to my father) and your membership department thoughtfully suggested I might like to have my father's membership number.

While my father always indicated that he would like to leave a donation to the RNLI, he never actually specified his wishes in his will. However, my sister Mrs P. North and I would like the RNLI to accept the enclosed cheques in memory of our father Edwin Stewart Brett and I would ask you to forward them to your fundraising department.

John Edwin Brett, Totteridge, London.

Fireboat information I have read with interest the items published in your Summer/Autumn issues regarding the efforts of lifeboats during the Dunkirk Evacuation.

Our vessel, the Massey Shaw, was the only fire boat to be sent to Dunkirk to help with fighting fires in the town.

However, due to difficulties in reaching the port she, like many of the lifeboats, helped rescue troops from the beaches and bring them safely home to Ramsgate.

The Massey Shaw Society was formed to restore the vessel and we are endeavouring to compile a detailed history of her life. I would be grateful therefore if any of your readers might be able to help with information about the Massey Shaw during the evacuation or her 'stopover' in Ramsgate. We aim to produce a booklet to celebrate her 60th year in 1995.

We hope the vessel will be able to return to Dunkirk in May 1995 together with the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships.

David S. Rogers, Massey Shaw & Marine Vessels Preservation Society, 36 Hollyford, Billericay, Essex CM111EG Where is she now? Has any eagle-eyed reader seen the Barnett class ex-lifeboat William and Kate Johnston, last known to be named ]ymphanyl Any information please to: S. Voss, 33 Larches Road, Kidderminster, Worcs DY11 7ABLynmouth lifeboat history With reference to the letter from Mr Sexton in the Autumn issue regarding the former Lynmouth lifeboat Prichard Frederick Gainer which was purchased from the RNLI by my late father, R.J.

Nixon, who was indeed a member of the design team of the Mosquito aircraft and a senior designer with De Havillands, also being involved with other projects such as the Vampire fighter and the Comet airliner. It would appear that over the passage of the years he has been combined with W.E. Nixon (no relation) who was a director of the company.

My father purchased the vessel in late 1944 or early 1945 and a postcard was sent to him by Tom Bevan, the then secretary of the Lynmouth station to inform him that it left Lynmouth on the morning of VE day and was sailed to Watchet where it was craned out of the water and onto a railway waggon, arriving at Hatfield station five days later. Permission for its transport by road was refused by the Ministry ofWar Transport, only the short haul from Hatfield to site being permitted.

He worked on the conversion to a cruiser until his death in 1951. It was then subsequently sold, unfinished, to someone, I believe in the Cambridge area, although the vessel was moved to the yard of a Mr Sykes at Broxbourne, Herts, where I last saw it in the mid 1950s.

As a lifeboat it was built in 1906 by the Thames Ironworks (who in their day had pioneered the construction of iron/steel ships but had later succumbed to fierce competition from the shipyards of the Clyde), a 35ft by 8ft 6in beam self-righting pulling and sailing lifeboat. Strangely enough, Graham Smith of Newbury who brought this letter to my attention, had a grandfather who was an apprentice there at about this time and could well have been involved in its construction.

Perhaps through Mr Sexton I might be able to make a reacquaintance again.

Richard Nixon, Hatfield, Herts.Hampshire tales I am presently engaged on some research work concerning the sinking of HMS Hampshire in 1916 off Marwick Head on the west coast of Orkney, when Lord Kitchener was drowned.

A recent visit to Orkney, as well as one which I made some years ago, reveals the fact that although nearly 80 years have gone by, there are still stories being told about the events of that day, of the lifeboat at Stromness, the troops in the area, the local people, of political intrigues and why so few men were saved.I would be very grateful if any of your readers would write to me telling of their knowledge of such stories which they may have heard, perhaps from people of another generation, perhaps from some other source. It would be helpful if any letters could indicate the degree of reliability which can be given to the account and, if possible, where the person who told the story lived.

It may be that there are sources of information of which I am not aware and your readers may be able to direct me towards these.

Reverend J.M. Pennington, Cambois Church House, 7 Wansbeck Mews, Ashington, Northumberland NE63 8QH.