Graham Hall on Saving Lives at Sea

Lisa: So when you joined as the Hon Sec, what was the Lifeboat vessel then?

I came … the ‘Jack Shaylor and the Lees’ which was an old Solent Class Lifeboat had just left and I joined the week later when the new Lifeboat, the ‘Max Aitken the Third’ had been donated by Sir Max Aitken who obviously was a Cowes man and his … the Beaverbrook Trust actually bought the Lifeboat but one of the stipulations they like, wanted to be as close to Cowes as possible. 

Well, it was a Time Class Lifeboat which is a slipway-launched Lifeboat. We were one of those boats that goes down the slipway as you know, as you can see, you know. That, he wanted it based as close to Cowes as possible and we were the obvious choice because with their super Lifeboat, I served all the way through its service here and I was here when the new Tamar Class Lifeboat came there, before I retired. We built a new Boathouse for that as you can see.