THE LIFEBOAT. The Journal of the Royal National Life-boat Institution. VOL. XXVII.-No. 299.] SEPTEMBER, 1929. [PRICE 6d. Inaugural Ceremonies of Motor Life-boats. Southend-on-Sea, Essex and The Humber, Yorkshire. LIEUTENANT H.R.H. PRINCE GEORGE, tenant of Essex (Brigadier-General R. B. E.G., G.C.V.O., R.N., named the Motor Colvin, C.B., T.D., J.P.), and the Mayor Life-boat which was sent last autumn of Southend (Mr. R. H. Thurlow Baker). to Southend-on-Sea, on 8th July last, The Mayor presided at the Ceremony, the name given to the boat being Greater and among those taking part in it were London. It will be remembered that the Right Hon. Lord Southborough, just a year before, Prince George went P.C., G.C.B., G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O., specially to the Orkneys to name the K.C.S.I. (Chairman of the Civil Service new Stromness and Longhope Motor Life-boat Fund), the Countess of Iveagh, Life-boats. C.B.E., M.P. for Southend, the Earl of There has been a Life-boat Station at Iveagh, C.B., C.M.G., D.L., the Bishop Southend since 1879, and it has the of Chelmsford (the Right Rev. H. A. record of 160 lives rescued from ship- Wilson, D.D.), the Hon. George Colville wreck. The present boat is the sixth to (Deputy-Chairman of the Committee of be built for the Station. She is of the Management), Alderman Sir John Eamsgate type, specially designed in Francis, J.P. (Chairman of the Southend 1926 for those Stations where the Life- Branch), Mr. George F. Shee, M.A. boats may have to travel considerable (Secretary of the Institution), and distances and to work over sands, and Captain Howard F. J. Rowley, C.B.E., is a combination of the Watson, a R.N. (Chief Inspector of Life-boats). cruising type, and the Norfolk and The singing was led by the Choir from Suffolk, a shallow-draft type. She is Prittlewen Church and the Pier Band. 48 feet 6 inches x 13 feet, with twin When the Prince arrived at the pier a screws and two 40-h.p. engines. She has number of presentations were made to a speed of 8£ knots and a radius of him, including the Coxswain, Mr. George action of over 70 miles. Murrell. The Prince then presented to She is the gift of the Civil Service Life- Alderman F. Britain (Honorary Sec- boat Fund, which, since it was estab- retary of the Branch), the inscribed lished in 1866, has contributed over Binocular Glass which had been awarded £78,000 to the Institution, and is the to him by the Institution. eighth Life-boat to be provided and The Ceremony opened with the hymn endowed out of the Fund. Of the eight, " Eternal Father, Strong to Save," five are Motor Life-boats, and are and Lord Southborough, on behalf of stationed at Margate, North Deal, the Civil Service Life-boat Fund, pre- Maryport, Dun Laoghaire (Kingstown), sented the Life-boat to the Institution. and Southend-on-Sea. During the sixty- In doing so he spoke of the late Mr. W. two years of the Fund, 1,266 lives have Fortescue Barratt, the Honorary Sec- been rescued from shipwreck, and 54 retary of the Fund, who, even after he boats and vessels saved, by Civil Service retired, continued to work whole- Life-boats. heartedly for the Life-boat Service. Prince George, who travelled down by This new Life-boat, the first to be pre- road from London, was received at the sented to the Institution by the Fund borough boundary by the Lord-Lieu- since Mr. Barratt's death, would carry 306 THE LIFEBOAT. [SEPTEMBER, 1929. an inscription plate, recording the ser- not merely the heroism of these men, but vices of their friend and colleague to the the seamanship and the skill with which Life-boat Cause. He then presented the they carry out their arduous duties. boat to the Institution on behalf of the " Secondly, it fell to me last year, at Civil Servants of the country, in full the special request of His Majesty, to confidence that she would carry on the go from London to the Orkneys in order great traditions of the Life-boat Service. to name two Life-boats in those distant In accepting the boat Mr. Colville ex- islands, at Stromness and Longhope— pressed the deep gratitude of the Insti- two splendid Motor Life-boats, one of tution to the Civil Service. He then them of the very latest type. In this formally entrusted her to Alderman way, I might say I was initiated into the Francis (Chairman of the Branch), and Life-boat Service and it was, I think, a after Captain Rowley (Chief Inspector happy arrangement that I stayed in the of Life-boats) had described the boat, Flagship of the Atlantic Fleet in order the Bishop of Chelmsford dedicated her to carry out my pleasant duty. to the glory of God and the service of " These are, I am sure you will agree, mankind. very good reasons why I should welcome the invitation to name this fine boat THE PRINCE'S SPEECH to-day. But there is a third which may Prince George then named the boat, not have occurred to you, but which is breaking a bottle of wine on her bows. very interesting to me. I have recently In doing so he said :— been appointed to the Civil Service and " There has always been a close and it is my privilege—and one which I friendly link between the Royal Family value very highly—to be a member of and the Life-boat Service, ever since the the staff of the Foreign Office. My Royal National Life-boat Institution acquaintance with the duties of the was established in 1824, when King Civil Service and my brief contact with George IV. became the first Patron. some of its members have already con- These ties have been strengthened firmed the reputation which this great throughout the century, as the Institu- body of men holds in the mind of the tion has developed the great national nation for their devotion to duty and service entrusted to it, and the Life-boat their high integrity of character. In Crews have shown, by the constant this way I feel that I have some claim, example of their heroism and human- however slender, to be here to-day as ity, their readiness at all times to launch one of the great body of men and women, their boats to the assistance of those in who, by their generosity and in the peril on the sea. spirit of public service, have presented " At the present moment, His Majesty this magnificent boat to the Royal the King is the Supreme Patron of the National Life-boat Institution. As I Institution, and the Prince of Wales, the said on a previous occasion, I think few President, has always taken the keenest things are more highly creditable to the interest in the Institution and the wel- Civil Service than that they should have fare of the Service. (Cheers.) decided many years ago that there was " This would be quite a sufficient one great national object, characteristic reason why I should be pleased to be of the best qualities of our race and present to-day at the inauguration of yet carried out on a purely voluntary this splendid Life-boat which bears the basis, which deserved their steady name Greater London. But, as a matter support, namely, the Life-boat Service. of fact, there are three reasons which (Cheers.) add very definitely to my pleasure. " As a result of that decision, they "As a naval officer, I have been have, in the course of years, presented to brought into close touch with the tradi- the Institution and maintained, a little tions of the Senior Service. I know how fleet of Life-boats, always the best of deeply the Royal Navy sympathise their respective kind and type, and with the spirit that animates the Life- always maintained by them at the boat Crews and how much they admire highest standard of efficiency. This is SEPTEMBER, 1929.] THE LIFEBOAT. 307 By courtesy of I \Central H.R.H. PRINCE GEORGE NAMING THE "GREATER LONDON." By courtesy of] [The Yorkshire Observer. 'CITY OF BRADFORD H." Sir William Priestley at the helm. On his left, Mrs. Moss Howson ; on his* right, the Lord Mayor of Bradford and the Lady Mayoress ; behind him, Mr. G. G. Stephenson. Lord Deramore is on the left of the picture, and Coxswain Cross on the right. In the background (wearing his chain of office) the Mayor of Bridlington. 308 THE LIFEBOAT. [SEPTEMBER, the eighth Life-boat which the Civil Orkneys last summer. In that year the Service has presented, and, like its challenge shield for Scotland was won immediate predecessors, it is a Motor by a girl in the Orkneys, and two boys Life-boat of the latest type. In this from Orkney schools won certificates, boat, which bears a great name, the only thirty-five of which are given in each Greater London, the Civil Service has a of the six districts. (Applause.) This boat worthy of tLe Life-boat Service, year, I hear, the Challenge Shield for worthy of the Crew which is called upon Scotland has been won by a boy in the to man her and worthy of the great body Shetlands, and the Orkney schools have of men and women—the Civil Service won no fewer than seven of the thirty- of Great Britain and Ireland—whose five certificates awarded.