Troncs SNSM

Just like the RNLI, the French lifeboat organisation has collecting boxes in the form of old-fashioned pulling lifeboats. Both have those characteristic whalebacks at bow and stern to ensure righting in the event of capsize. If anything, the French ones seem to predate the Barnet-Watson era, and represent, as an archaism, the very earliest attempts at lifeboat design.

At the moment, we have three of the boxes at home, awaiting a visit by fellow Welshman (albeit Hwntws) Spike Jenkins and Yours Truly (Gog) to the various haunts of the large, Anglophone deckhand community here. We'll temporarily hide our differences. It's in a good cause, after all...

Looking up the regulations on the net, I note that our boss, Admiral Lagane, has warned against fraudulent use of these SNSM collecting boxes. Apparently some people have been placing suborned examples in public places and pocketing the proceeds. I wonder how they feel when a lifeboat crew risks (or loses) their lives in a rescue.