A fascinating glimpse of the Lifeboat archives 100 years ago The winter 1906 edition of the Journal revealed how John Owston, Coxswain of the Scarborough lifeboat, met King Edward VII after being asked by Lord Londesborough to assist a shooting party during the King's visit to the area. The Journal reports: 'After the King had performed the ceremony of planting a tree in the park, he saw Owston standing by, and noticing he was wearing the silver medal of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, walked up to him, saying, "That's a fine medal you've got, my man. It's for saving life."' According to the Journal, Coxswain Owston explained to the King that he had received his medal for going out in the lifeboat five times in one day, saving 28 lives. The king was reported to reply: That's good, that's good!' Under the services section, it was reported that the crew of Wexford lifeboat had launched to a ketch that had been seen signalling for help near the hazardous Dogger Bank - an area still causing problems to sea users today (see page 20 of this edition of the Lifeboat for details of a recent brave rescue by the Wexford lifeboat crew). The 1906 report reads: ' The Life-boat went alongside the vessel, which proved to be the ketch Elizabeth, ofBude, and succeeded in rescuing the crew of three hands, together with their dog, and landed them at the lifeboat station.' ... 50 years ago In a 1956 article titled 'Reminiscences of the Coast and Depot', former RNLI Coast Inspector Commander JM Upton recalled memories from his career. He remembers how he had helped take four new lifeboats in convoy in October 1939: 'On this passage we sighted the periscope of a submarine quite close, and one of the boats broke away to investigate. Fortunately discretion prevailed, and the boat sheered off before she caused any annoyance to the owner of the periscope.' After what was described as the best weather for six years during the summer, the Journal announced that the lifeboats had been 'two and a half times as busy as they were 20 years ago.'The hot weather had brought out some novel fundraising methods, including efforts from animals and children: 'DavidJones, an elevenyear- old boy of Boston, Lincolnshire, while on holiday at Runswick Bay, collected sea urchins and then cleaned and sold them. In this way he raised 12s. 7 Id. for the Institution.

... 25 years ago The winter 1980/1981 issue of the Lifeboat announced that The Maud Smith award for the most outstanding act of lifesaving by a lifeboatman was to be made to Number Coxswain Brian Bevan for a service he had carried out in 1979. Brian had already received an RNLI Gold Medal for Gallantry for the service, in which he helped save the crew of a cargo vessel in a violent storm: 'Coxswain Bevan took number's 54ft Arun lifeboat alongside the cargo vessel 35 times and took off her crew in extremely hazardous conditions with the ever-present threat of the casualty rolling on top of the lifeboat; the last man, the captain, was rescued minutes before the freighter sank.' The fundraising section showed that supporters often held pub game competitions to raise money for the RNLI, but the term 'mixed darts' took on a whole new meaning at one fundraising event: 'A number of the boating people of Corey, Jersey, got together for a darts competition. It has to be admitted that on the final evening, when the ladies played the men, the outcome became rather confused. For a stan all the ladies dressed as men and... yes, you are right, the men dressed as ladies. Then, no one knew who won.' Despite the confusion, the evening raised £150 for the Institution.

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