RAMSEY, ISLE OF MAN.—The schooner Pausillipo, of Ramsey, while on a voyage from Whitehaven with coals, was caught in a gale off Ramsey, and after losing her mainboom, and having her mainsail split, went ashore, in a leaky state, to leeward of the North Pier, on the 29th of October, 1871, when she soon became waterlogged, the sea breaking heavily over her. The Life-boat Two Sisters put off, and, after some difficulty, on account of the strength of the wind and sea, succeeded in bringing the crew of 3 men safely to shore. It was said that no ordinary boat could have kept afloat under such circumstances, but that the behaviour of the Life-boat was ad- mirable on the occasion.

HOWTH, DUBLIN BAY.—The Life-boat on this station went out on the 31st  October, during a fresh gale from the E., and saved the crew of 5 men of the schooner Adelaide, of Malahide, which had gone ashore on the Baldoyle Sands. The position of the vessel was most dangerous, a very heavy sea breaking on the Bank at the time, and it was not without some difficulty that the Life-boat was enabled to effect the rescue of those on board.

THEDDLETHORPE, LINCOLNSHIRE. — On the 15th November the Life-boat Dorinda and Barbara on this station, put off, during stormy weather, to the assistance of the schooner Excel, of Goole, which had stranded on the Knock Sand. On reaching the vessel, which was in a sinking state, the Life-boat took off the captain's wife and 3 children, and afterwards assisted to get the schooner out of her dangerous position.

PEMBREY, SOUTH WALES.—On the same day a French schooner, the Pierre D6siree, got on the Hooper Sands, off Llanelly, during a moderate gale, with a heavy sea.

On her signals of distress being seen, the Life-boat Stanton Meyrick of Pimlico was taken out to her assistance, and was suc- cessful in saving the vessel and her crew of 4 men. Unfortunately, one of the crew of the Life-boat had his leg seriously in- jured while helping to launch the boat.

BROOKE, ISLE OF WIGHT.—Again, on that day, during a gale from the W.N.W., the barque Cassandra, of Liverpool, was wrecked in Compton Bay, near this Life- boat Station, while on a voyage to the Thames from Madras. The Life-boat George and Anne was taken to the Bay, launched abreast of the ship, which was rolling heavily, and brought ashore 6 of the crew and an invalided seaman; it being arranged that should the services of the boat be again required, a signal should be made. About an hour afterwards, the signal of distress was exhibited, and the boat—which had been returned to her house—was got out again, immediately transported on her carriage to the scene of the wreck, and launched, under consi- derable difficulties, the sea breaking up the cliff at that time. The remainder of the shipwrecked crew, 14 in number, were then taken into the Life-boat and safely landed. There was a heavy sea running on both occasions, especially at the second launch, when it was making a clean breach over the ship, but the Life-boat behaved very well.

BURNHAM, SOMERSET.—At daylight on the 17th November, the barque Storm, of Cardiff, was observed ashore about six miles from this place, with a signal of dis- tress flying, the wind blowing strongly at the time from the N.N.E. The Life-boat Cheltenham was promptly taken out to the vessel in tow of the steam-tug Victor, when it was found she had parted two anchors and drifted on the rocks. At the time there were only the mate and 4 seamen on board, and, at their request, the steamer and Life-boat remained by them until the ebb-tide, when they re- turned to shore.

HAUXLEY, NORTHUMBERLAND.—The brig Osborne, of Hartlepool, bound from London to Granton, in ballast, went ashore at Hadstone Scarr during a strong southerly wind, and in a heavy sea, on the 20th November. As soon as the vessel was observed to be in danger the Life-boat Algernon and Eleanor put off, and was for- tunately the means of saving the crew, numbering 8 men.

BRAUNTON, NORTH DEVON.—The brigan- tine Nigretta, of New York, drove on the Saunton Sands, in Barnstaple Bay, early on the morning of the 15th November, in a strong W.S.W. wind. The coxswain and crew of the Braunton Life-boat George and Catherine, being on the watch, at once pro- ceeded in the Life-boat to the rescue, and were instrumental in saving 7 of the Ship- wrecked crew. The second mate of the vessel unhappily perished.

PALLING-BY-THE-SE A, NORFOLK.—On the 7th December the schooner Samuel and Ann, of Great Yarmouth, went on the Horsey Bank while it was blowing a fresh gale from E.N.E., the night being intensely dark at the time. The Palling No. 1 Life- boat Parsee was launched with difficulty, and brought safely to shore the schooner's crew of 4 men. The heavy seas were making a clean breach over the wreck at the time.

LOWESTOFT.—During a heavy snow squall on the evening of the 7th December the fishing-luggers Alexander, of Yarmouth, and Musselburgh, of Lowestoft, came ashore on the beach south of the harbour of Lowestoft. The crew of the first-named vessel were rescued by the rocket appa-ratus, and the 11 men belonging to the Musselburgh were saved by the Pakefield No. 2 Life-boat, the Henry Burford, R.N.

Before the Life-boat could be launched she had to be drawn along the beach on her carriage, and there being several inches of snow on the ground at the time the horses could not have managed it, had they not been vigorously aided by a large number of the beachmen, by whose help the boat was quickly and successfully launched.

RAMSGATE, NORTH DEAL, BROADSTAIRS, AND KINGSDOWNE.—Two large vessels went on the Goodwin Sands on the 18th De- cember. They were the barque Albert, of Bremen, 750 tons, bound thence to the East Indies, and the barque India, of Shields, 700 tons, bound to that port from Quebec, with a cargo of timber. The vessels got on the Sands, within a short distance of each other, before daybreak, while the wind was blowing strongly from the S.W. On the signals of distress being observed, the Ramsgate Harbour steam-tug Aid and Life-boat Bradford, and the North Deal, Kingsdowne, and Broadstairs Life- boats, promptly proceeded to the sands, and efforts were made to get the vessels off, but without success, on account of the very heavy surf running all day on the Goodwin.

On the tide flowing the India broke her back and sank, her crew of 16 men being however saved by the Ramsgate Life-boat, which transferred 6 of them to the Kings- downe Life-boat. The crew of 16 men of the other vessel were saved by the North Deal Life-boat, together with 5 Broadstairs men, who came out to the wreck, and un- fortunately lost their boat alongside. While the steamer Aid was towing out the Brad- ford Life-boat in the morning, the paddle- shaft of the starboard wheel broke, and the steamer had to return to the harbour, working her port engines and paddle- wheel ; but the Life-boat pursued her way to the Sands under sail. When the dis- abled steamer got into Ramsgate, her con- sort, the Vulcan, immediately got up steam, proceeded out, and falling in, on their return, with the Ramsgate and North Deal Life-boats, which had on board the ship- wrecked men, she took them in tow, and all were safely landed in Ramsgate Har- bour about five o'clock in the evening.

Thus 37 Shipwrecked persons were saved by the Life-boats from an inevitable death.

On this occasion the Kingsdowne Life- boat, while in search of the vessels in dis- tress, crossed and re-crossed the Goodwin Sands four times, and in such crossings the boat was repeatedly filled by the heavy surf. When the India was sighted, the anchor was let go, and the boat veered down to the wreck, again filling several times from the tremendous sea on. The weather during the whole of the time the Life-boats were out was most terrible, the wind blowing a heavy gale, and the sea at the Sands running mountains high.

The crew of the Kingsdowne boat started in the dark, with only such clothes on them as they could snatch up at the in- stant, and were nearly twelve consecutive hours wet to the skin and exposed to the fury of the gale, and had no other food than a few biscuits on board.

On the previous day the Kingsdowne Life-boat had gone out to the Goodwin Sands, in reply to signals of distress, and had found the barque Veritas ashore there. On account of the state of the weather, the shore boats that had gone off to her help were compelled to return, and at the request of the master, the Life-boat remained alongside for about five hours, when the vessel floated, and the Life-boat returned to her station.

MARYPORT, CUMBERLAND.—The brig Wanderer, of Maryport, was being towed into that harbour during a south-westerly gale on the 18th December, when the tow- rope broke, and she drove ashore behind the North Pier. The Life-boat Henry Nixson, No. 1, promptly put off through a heavy sea, and saved the whole of those on board the stranded vessel, 10 in number.

SWANSEA.—The Life-boat Wolverhamp- ton went out on the 20th December, during a heavy gale from S.W., and took off the captain and 2 men from the smack Charles Philip, of Watchet, which was in a distressed condition in Swansea Roads, and had hoisted signals for assistance.

The Life-boat also rendered valuable ser- vice to the vessel, which held to her anchors, and was taken safely into port after the storm had abated.

CLOVELLY, NORTH DEVON.—The schooner -B. B., of Bayonne, had anchored in Clo- velly Roads on the 19th December, and it was ascertained that she was partially dis-abled from loss of sails, spars, and both boats. On the following morning, in a very severe gale from the W.S.W. and heavy sea, she was observed to be dragging her anchors, and going rapidly to leeward.

When it became evident that if she con- tinued to drag she must inevitably go on shore, and become a total wreck, the Life- boat Alexander and Matilda Boetefeur was launched, and, after four hours of most dangerous service, the crew of 7 men were taken off the schooner, and brought ashore.

The weather at the time this rescue was accomplished was described as being the worst experienced on this coast for many years; nevertheless the Life-boat men came forward with the utmost readiness; indeed there were sufficient volunteers to have manned two more such boats. The crew of the endangered vessel were very thankful to leave her, they having given themselves up for lost, as, independently of the risk their ship ran of being wrecked, they were in great danger of death from cold, and exhaustion, they being nearly helpless from those causes when they were landed. After they had been taken off, their vessel drifted along before the gale, but happily, when day broke the next morning, she was discovered riding in safety, although in dangerous proximity to the lee shore ; and when the weather had moderated the seamen were returned to their ship, which was then taken into Bideford Harbour for repairs.

ALDBOROUGH, SUFFOLK.—On the night of the 20th December, the Life-boat George Hounsfield, stationed at this place, put off, during a gale from the S.W., in reply to signals of distress, in the shape of burning tar-barrels, from a vessel which proved to be the schooner Hose, of Ipswich, and which had gone on the Whiting Sand.

On arriving alongside, the crew of the Life-boat found that the men on board were about to leave in their own boat, but, with the assistance of the Life-boat, the vessel and crew of 4 men were sub- sequently taken safely to Harwich, and then on to the port to which they belonged.

NEWQUAY, CORNWALL.—On the follow- ing day, the Greek brig Calamidas was in a very perilous position in Newquay Bay, during a strong N.N.W. gale, accompanied by a very heavy sea. The Coast Guard attended with the rocket apparatus, but the ship was too distant from the shore to be reached by the rocket lines. The Life-boat James and Elizabeth was launched, and proceeded as quickly as possible to the spot, a distance of about six miles.

Before, however, she arrived at-the wreck, 10 of the crew had taken to their boat, and rowed along the shore outside the breakers, seeking a place where they could best try to beach their boat. Arriving abreast of Mawgan Porth, they turned to run the boat in, and in a few minutes every man would inevitably have perished, owing to the tremendously heavy cross- seas running in the Cove, and the resist- less under-tow. At this moment the Life- boat was running up the coast under canvas on her way to the brig, on an opposite but parallel course to the ship's boat, and about 300 yards further from the shore-. The boats were passing each other at the time the ship's boat turned to run for the beach, but the sea was then running so high that the crews of the two boats could not see each other, although so near, despite the signals from the people on the cliff. At this juncture, when a minute later would have been too late, the ship's crew caught sight of the dark-brown sails of the Life-boat, as she was lifted on the crest of a wave. They at once pro- ceeded towards her, and were speedily on board the Life-boat, which was then only about a hundred yards from the brig. A few minutes afterwards the ship's boat, although a very fine boat, was struck by a heavy sea, which turned her over, filled her with water, and sent her among the rocks in fragments. The 10 rescued men were all Greeks. They were safely landed at Newquay Pier. Just before they reached the shore, the master gave the coxswain of the Life-boat to understand, by signs, that one of the crew had been left on board the ship, he declining to leave at the time the others made for the land. Having put the 10 men ashore, the Life-boat there- fore again proceeded to the brig, and, after an absence of three hours, returned with the man in question.

[The services performed by the Life- boats of the Institution during the past year (1872), will be found detailed in the List of Rewards given in the Annual Report of the Institution, published on the 1st May last, pages 421-8.].