On the 29th January the services of the Caister No. 1 Life-boat, the Birmingham, were called into requisition. She had been summoned to the aid of an Italian barque, then on the " Cross " Sand, where lights and flares were seen to the N.E., and she at once proceeded to the spot whence they came, and found a large ship, the Oriental, of North Shields, seriously damaged by collision with a steamer, and with her bowsprit carried away. With the aid of a steam-tug and some of the Life-boat's crew she was taken safely to Harwich..