Part 2...
RSL 1657
Built by Blackmore and Sons at Bideford having being ordered in 1955 under contract number 6/MC/1651/CB21(a) and taken on charge by the RAF on 4th July 1956.
She was allocated to Pembroke Dock, South Wales, on voucher number MC2/613/MC replacing Seaplane Tender (ST) 364 according to the chit but she also replaced RSL 1643 which moved on to Newhaven. Pembroke Dock was home to 1115 MCU and RSL 1657 was kept busy on range clearances for several months before the task was taken over by the Army. RSL 1657 was then transferred to 1105 MCU based at Porthcawl on the 20th February 1957 where she replaced ST 1593. After a couple of years at Porthcawl she returned to 238 MU at Calshot for repairs on the 15th January 1959. After her repairs she was placed into storage along with RSL 1658 before being allocated to the MCT&SU at RAF Mount Batten on the 10th February 1961.
After a year operating out of the South West of England, the craft was re-allocated for overseas service and was prepared for shipment to Cyprus. RSL 1657 was transferred on paper dated 18th October 1962 to 1153 MCU to be based at Limassol. The preparations took a while and the RSL was shipped overseas on the SS Tabor on the 6th May 1963. After a short period of service range clearing for the RAF aircraft based at Akrotiri she was involved with two rescues, however one rescue recorded by RSL 1657 in 1963 was when she rescued three men who had been missing in a small boat for three days. During the middle of the next year she was temporarily detached to the Marine Craft Unit at Tobruk, North Africa. Subsequent to her stay in North Africa she was recorded as being at Malta for repairs however the report was not dated. The RSL may well have returned to Tobruk or remained in storage at Malta but she was later re-allocated back to Limassol on the 13th July 1967. Here she remained for the next three years until she was required to be shipped back to the UK for survey and storage dated 9th January 1970 at RAF Mount Batten.
With surveys complete she was retained in storage with the Repair Wing at Mount Batten but was one the craft transported to Gosport around 1970/1. The RAF had run down its own servicing capability from 1969 and handed over all major servicing and storage of RAF wooden craft to the Royal Navy. The new facility was located at the Naval Gunboat Yard at Haslar, Gosport. After a period of storage at Haslar she was prepared for issue on voucher MC 4/74 dated 20th February 1974 for service at 1113 MCU at Holyhead where she remained until 13th August 1976. She returned to Haslar for storage and its perhaps likely that she was found to be beyond economical repair as not long after the survey she was declared for disposal on the 9th December 1978. She further deteriorated until it was decided that she was to be offered for sale by tender in Tender 3/78 (FDI No 343).
RSL 1657 still wearing her RAF insignia was subsequently advertised for sale by competitive tender in the April 1978 edition of Motor Boat & Yachting as part of tender 354/4/78/0205. She was advertised as lying at Clarence Yard, Gosport, complete with Rolls-Royce engine in fair condition and the hull as good. She was sold out of service on the 7th August 1978 leaving the Inner Camber at Portsmouth on a low loader. At that time she was observed to have massive lengths of seaweed hanging from her bottom including up to 3 feet long from her propellers all indicating that she had been unused for some time. Her destination is unknown however it is possible she may have been the craft subsequently sighted at a boat yard in Lymington.
Hope this helps for research into the history of this RSL.