FOWEY (POLKERRIS), CORNWALL. On the 27th March, 1872, the Dutch schooner Douro was seen in distress in St. Austell Bay, during a heavy southerly gale, and in a rough sea. The Rochdale Life-boat soon went to her assistance; and at the request of the master she remained alongside for upwards of three hours; when, as the gale was still increasing, and there was no chance of taking the vessel into port, while the lives of her crew of 4 men were in imminent danger, they gladly availed themselves of the Life-boat, and were brought safely ashore. The schooner after- wards broke from her moorings, drove on to the Par Sands, and became a total wreck. The Life-boat men were enthusi-astic in their praises of their boat while performing this arduous service.

MOELFRE, ANGLESEY. — The schooner Confidence, of Aberystwith, struck on the Dulas Rocks, about five miles from this place, during a heavy gale from the S.W., at one o'clock on the morning of the 14th Nov.,. 1871, and, on the tide receding, she was for several hours high and dry on them. The crew of 4 men got on the rocks; but 2 of them afterwards returned to the schooner, to fetch some goods from her, and the vessel floating, they were carried out to sea. Fortunately, the vessel was taken in tow by a steamer, and brought safely into Holyhead Harbour.

The two men who were left on the island could not possibly reach the mainland, a distance of over two miles, without a boat, and indeed any ordinary boat would hardly have lived in the rough sea that was then running. As the tide rose, the poor men were gradually surrounded by the sea, and were in imminent peril.

Happily, however, they had been observed from the shore, and a messenger was de- spatched on horseback for the Life-boat, which immediately put off to their assist- ance, and soon brought them safely to land.

KESSINGLAND, SUFFOLK.—During squally weather, on the 28th March, 1872, the barque Exe, of Exeter, went on the New- come Sand in a very dangerous position.

The Kessingland No. 1 Life-boat, the Bolton, was promptly launched to her assistance ; but before she could get to her, the vessel came off the Sands, and proceeded through the Stanford Channel, the aid of the Life-boat being declined. As the men could see, however, that she was leak- ing fast, the boat followed, and her crew were eventually employed to try and save the barque; but this could not then be accomplished, and she ultimately went down in Lowestoft North roads. The crew then took to their boats, and in leaving the wreck one of them capsized.

Fortunately the 2 men in it were saved by the Life-boat.

CAISTER, NORFOLK. — On the 22nd March, at 9,15 P.M., flares were seen from a vessel on the Barber Sand, by the beach- men. They launched the surf-boat Boys, and went to the Sand, but could not get within a warp's length of the vessel, as there was no water on the spot where she lay suffcient to float the boat. Failing to reach her from any quarter they anchored till the tide flowed, when, after various trials, they got along-side her-, and took out the crew of 6 men, with their clothes, &c., after about six hours' exposure to snow, squalls, and weather. The beachmen, being thoroughly wet and cold, and not expecting that the vessel could get off the Sand, returned home directly with the crew; but the next morning, being light, she came off, and the Scratby beachmen boarded her.

The Caister men then took the captain back to the brig in the Life-boat, and the vessel was taken into Yarmouth Harbour by the Scratby men. She was the brig Ark, of West Hartlepool, bound thence from London in ballast.

On the 10th Oct., the large Life-boat on this station put off, in reply to signals of distress, during a heavy gale from the S.S.W., and found the brig Eglantine, of Whitby, in a disabled state near the Cockle Lightship. She had broken from her anchor, and fouled another ship; and when the Life-boat reached her, she found she had carried away her toasts and was encumbered with the wreck of the masts and rigging. Four of the crew had taken refuge on the Lightship, leaving only the captain and a boy on board the brig.

The Life-boat took the 4 men back, and with the help of a steamer, she afterwards succeeded in taking the vessel and crew safely into Yarmouth Harbour.

Eight days afterwards, the same valuable Life-boat proceeded to the assistance of the ship St. Johanner, of Dantzic, which had gone on the Middle Cross Sand, during a strong wind from the south.

They found the sea was breaking heavily over the stranded vessel, which was full of water, but was kept from sinking by her cargo of deals. The Life-boat managed to near the ship, although the boat was whirled round and round three or four times by the heavy seas while crossing the Sands. Fortunately two steamers came up, and, with their help, the ship was got off the Sands and afterwards taken to London with her crew of 18 men.

Again, on the 5th Nov., the schooner Mary Grace, of Whitstable, went on the South Cross Sand, during a strong wind from the S.W. and in a heavy sea. As the tide made, the sea broke over her, and she filled with water. The large Life- boat went off to her, and, with the aid of two steamers, she and her crew of 7 men were rescued from their perilous situation.

On the 15th Nov. the surf Life-boat, the Boys, assisted by a steamer, saved the schooner Mediateur, of Nantes, and her crew of 6 men, from a dangerous position near the North Star Battery, Great Yar- mouth. The vessel was damaged in the stern, and was riding so close in-shore, with all her chain out, that on the turn of the tide she would in all probability have been driven on to the beach, had she not been thus rescued.

The last service rendered at the Caister Life-boat station in 1872 was that on the 10th Dec., by the Boys Life-boat, when she proceeded out, during a gale from E.N.E., to the aid of the brig Pallion, of Sunderland, which had been fouled by another vessel. With the aid of a steamer, the Life-boat succeeded in getting the brig and her crew of 8 men safely into Lowestoft Harbour. While she was pro- ceeding with that ship, signals of distress were shown from another vessel, the Lady Douglas, of London, which had sprung a leak, and had several feet of water in her hold, fortunately the Life-boat, being close at hand, went to her assistance reached her just in time, and, with the aid of a steamer, succeeded in getting her and her crew of 6 men safely into larbour.

PADSTOW, CORNWALL.—On the 2nd April, during a strong gale from the .W., and in a tremendous sea, the barque Viking, of Sunderland, went ashore n Harlyn Bay, near this place. The City of Bristol Life-boat, Albert Edward, was taken on its carriage to the bay and launched. After a severe struggle the wreck was reached, and the boat began to take off those on board from the bowsprit, ;he only accessible part of the vessel. An infant was first lowered on to the bows of the boat, one of the ship's crew holding it. The infant was saved, but the sailor was unfortunately washed overboard and drowned. The boat itself was at the same time driven away from the ship on the Tope parting, and by a succession of seas was forced ashore, where the infant was landed, and another and successful effort made to reach the wreck, The Master's wife and boy, and 4 of the crew, were taken into the boat that time and safely landed. One man missed falling into the Life-boat from the ship, but for- tunately he was washed ashore, although in an exhausted state. The remaining 3 men of the crew had been saved before the arrival of the Life-boat, with the praise- worthy and venturesome assistance of the persons on shore. This Life-boat service was indeed one of a very exemplary character, as will be at once conceived when we consider the length of time the service occupied, the difficulty of launch- ing the Life-boat from the flat sandy shore, and working her when afloat when she was never free from heavy seas and surf; the very great exertions the crew were required to make to reach the vessel, from the seas on either side of her meeting at the bow and driving her back; and from the boat having had to approach the wreck three times, in consequence of the connecting ropes having parted on two occasions. Accordingly, it should be men- tioned that double the ordinary reward was voted on this occasion by the Institution to the brave Life-boat men, together with the Silver Medal of the Society, and a copy of the vote, inscribed on vellum, to each of the two coxswains. It is also gratifying to know that Captain THOMAS GENTLES, the master of the Viking, wrote expressing his gratitude for the kind services and sympathy all had shown Mm on the occasion; and he added, " We are completely unable to express our grateful feelings to Coxswain CORKHILL. and the crew of the Life-boat, for their determined and gallant conduct on the occasion, in.

again and again bringing the Life-boat to the Viking, after being so many times driven back by the tremendous sea which so continuously broke around the ship." The boat was again afloat on service on the 27th Dec., on which day she was called out to the assistance of a vessel in distress at the mouth of the harbour, which proved to be the schooner Caroline Philips, of Padstow, and when she was instrumental in saving the crew of 8 men, a strong gale from the S.S.W. blowing at the time, accompanied by a heavy chopping sea.

NEW BRIGHTON.—The brigantiae Thomas, of Dumfries, drove on the Little Burbo Sand-bank, off the mouth of the Mersey, on the 21st April, during thick weather, and afterwards beat across it, and sank in deep water. The crew of 4 men took to their boat, but the sea was so heavy that one of them was washed out of it and drowned. The other 3 men were afterwards picked up by « pilot- boat, and then transferred to the Willie and Arthur tubular Life-boat, which had gone out to their assistance, and which brought them to New Brighton, whence they were taken on to Liverpool in a steam-tug.

On the morning of the 16th Nov., the services of the tubular Life-boat were re- quired by a large barque ashore on the West Middle Line. She proceeded out at once, and, at the request of the master, remained alongside the stranded vessel, which was striking heavily, to see if she would beat over the bank on the flowing tide, the ship's crew coming into the Life- boat during that time. Fortunately, as the tide made, the barque floated, when the crew were put on board again, and with the aid of the Life-boat men, some of whom went on board and assisted at the pumps, she was towed back into the Mersey. She was the barque Yah of Nith, of Liverpool, bound thence to Valparaiso with a general cargo, and having a crew of 21 men. Before the arrival of the Life-boat, the crew had launched their own long-boat, bat as goon as it was in the water, it broke adrift, and was knocked to pieces by the very heavy seas. The first mate had a narrow escape of his life, for he was nearly washed overboard, only saving himself by catching at the main- brace, BRIGHSTONE GRANGE AND BROOKS, ISLE Of WIGHT.—The brig L'Etoile, of St. Malo, from Oette, bound to Riga, laden with salt, got on the rocks a little to the east- ward of Sudmore, at 9'30 P.M., on the 3rd of May. The night was intensely dark, a fresh gale blowing from the S.W., with rain and a heavy ground-swell. The signal light of the vessel in distress was sighted from two separate points by the coastguard, who hastened to the Life-boat stations nearest their respective beats— the one at Brooke, and the other at Brighstoue Grange, upwards of three miles apart, and fired the signal gnus, so that both crews were summoned almost simultaneously. With great promptitude the horses were attached, and the Royal Victoria Yacht Club Life-boat, Meseue, at Grange, on her transporting-carriage, immediately left for the beach, and was thus conveyed along shore, a distance of a mile and a quarter, to nearly opposite to where the I'Stoile lay stranded. The tide being half-ebb, great difficulty was occasioned in launching, but eventually perseverance and prompt attention, to the commands of the coxswain proved successful, and in twenty minutes after the launch, the Life- boat was near enough to enable the crew of 8 men to escape to the boat by means of ropes, and soon afterwards they were safely landed on the shore. The Brooke Life-boat George and Ann arrived at the wreck about ten minutes after the crew had been taken off by the other Life-boat.

WlTHERNSEA, YORKSHIRE.—On the 14th July the Withernsea Life-boat went out during a strong breeze from the N.E. to the steamer Rotta, of Hull, which had gone ashore about two miles south of Withernsea. The vessel, however, succeeded in getting out of danger without the assistance of the Life-boat. The expense of this launch was defrayed by the owners of the steamer.