Early on the morning of the 7th April, 1866, signals of distress were seen by the beachmen in the direction of the Cockle Sand. The weather was hazy, with a strong breeze blowing from E.N.E.

The Birmingham No. 2 life-boat, the James Pearce, was soon launched, and proceeding in the direction in which the lights were seen, found the steamer Carbon, of Newcastle, bound from that port to Havre with coals, in an unmanageable state, and drifting about with the tide. She was totally disabled, as she was waterlogged, and her engines were damaged. The life-boat men boarded the vessel, and with the assistance of the Scratby beachmen, who had also put off to her assistance, the steamer, and her crew of 12 men, after many hours' exertions, were brought safely into Yar- mouth Roads.