In consequence of information brought into this port by the fishing smack Summer Cloud, at noon on the 12th April, the steam-tug Vulcan left the harbour with the Life-boat Bradford in tow, and made for the Long Sand, a shoal at the entrance of the Thames, about 20 miles from Harwich, and 30 nautical miles from Ramsgate.

The iron barque Atlantic, of Swansea, with a crew of 16 men, was found stranded on the shoal. Two Harwich fishing smacks and the Harwich steamtug Liverpool were in communication with her. It was blowing hard from the N.W., with a considerable sea running.

The Life-boat Bradford, having slipped from the steam-tug on arriving at the shoal, about 4.30 P.M., boarded the distressed barque, and the crew were at once engaged to assist in throwing overboard the cargo of coal, and the steam-tug Vulcan to tow the vessel off the Sand as the tide rose.

Soon after midnight the combined effect of lightening the cargo, towing, and the flood tide, produced the desired results, and the Atlantic drove off into deep water, after bumping heavily. The Ramsgate tug then towed her to a safe anchorage in the Downs, and the Harwich party returned to their own port.