confer the decoration of the Albert Medal of the second class on Sub-lieutenant LIONEL ANDROS DE SAUSMAREZ, R.N., of Her Ma- jesty's ship Myrmidon. The following is an account of the services in respect of which the decoration has been conferred:—At about 10-30 on the night of the 1st June, 1868, while Her Majesty's ship Myrmidon was lying in Banana Creek, River Congo, Western Africa, WILLIAM TOERENCE, able seaman, fell overboard. Mr. DE SAUSMAREZ was officer of the watch, and although a strong current was running at the time, and the river was infested with sharks, he imme- diately jumped overboard, secured TOR- RENCE (who could not swim), swam with him to the pier, and supported him there until assistance came.

It would be difficult to conceive an act of more cool and collected courage than the one in question. It is just one of those deeds of daring and of noble self-devotion for which the coveted Albert Medal, or the Gold Medal of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, should be reserved.

To swim to the aid of a drowning man in a rapid stream and in the night, with the pos- sibility of being clutched by him you go to save, is itself a work of danger; but to do so in an African river, abounding with the terrible shark, is fourfold more so. Indeed, fully to realize the heroism of such an act, it is almost necessary that one should have himself beheld those ravenous monsters of the deep, should have watched the ominous black fin cleaving its way along the water's surface, or in the night have seen the luminous track which alone betrays his vil- lanous presence, and warns the unwary mariner of the terrible fate that awaits him should he loose his hold, and fall thus lite- rally into the very jaws of death.

These Western African rivers, moreover, abound with the ground-shark, which, as the name implies, lives chiefly in their lowest depths, where it subsists on other fish, and on the carcases of land animals that have been drowned or thrown into the stream, but which will rise in a moment, and drag down to its fell retreats any hapless living creature which it may descry above, swim- ming or struggling for life on the water's surface, at the very verge of its own domain.

What must have been the mingled feel-ings of this gallant young officer!—feelings of hope, of trust, of firm resolve, possibly interrupted by a brief and silent prayer—as he bore his precious freight before him to the pier, yet knew that at any moment on his way both he and his helpless charge might be dragged mercilessly down to the depths below, and dye the river's stream with their hearts' best blood.

If the gallant soldier who has done a deed of glory on the battle-field may prize the medal or the cross which marks approval of his patriotic act, so may the brave fellow who thus " leads a forlorn hope," as it were, for another's weal, proudly receive a similar recognition of his equally heroic deed of love.