Painting (acrylic). It shows what appears to be the radio-operator or navigator's post in the Cromer lifeboat, with a shaft of light (probably electric) coming through the open bulkhead door from the neighbouring space, which seems to be another internal one. In 1977 the painting was the first of 13 that the artist showed at the Royal Society of Marine Artists annual open exhibitions to 1985, the others being two each year in 1980, 1982 and 1984; four in 1983 and one in 1985. He was not a member of the Society, which has no further information on him, but is presumed to have been an East Anglian painter, since all these subjects were coastal ones from Norfolk down to the Blackwater estuary in Essex. The given (as-catalogued) title here alludes to the fact that lifeboats spend most of their time out of use until needed. There is another lifeboat subject by him in the Great Yarmouth collection, though whether one shown at the RSMA is unclear, but further information on him is as yet lacking. The form of the signature on this picture as 'Clifford JOHN' has caused confusion: it was originally recorded as 'Clifford John', but has been changed (August 2019) to 'John Clifford' in line with how he appears in the RSMA consolidated list of exhibitors 1946-2008, subject to any further clarification. [PvdM, second amend 8/19]