Again on the 27th October were the noble life-boat Bradford, and her consort, the steamer Aid, taken out on their mission of mercy. This time it was in response to signals of distress from the barque Emilie, of Swinemunde, which had drifted from her moorings off the North Foreland, close to the edge of the Goodwin Sands, on that night. She was on the point of striking when the life-boat arrived alongside, but the crew paying out more chain, she held by her anchors. The pilot at first re- fused to have anything to do with the life-boat, and fired off rockets for a steam- tug. The boatmen, however, knowing the vessel's danger, remained alongside until three o'clock in the morning, exposed all the time to the bitterly cold wind and the raging sea, when they threatened to leave the vessel to her fate. The pilot then consented that the ship should be taken in tow by the steam-tug Aid, and her anchor being slipped, she was brought safely into harbour with the life-boat.