In the month of March the following excellent services were also rendered by the Caister small Life-boat, the Boys:— "While on a voyage from Newcastle to Dublin, the schooner Punch, of Carnarvon, was wrecked on the Barber Sands, off Caister, about midnight of the llth March.

It was then blowing hard at E." These sands, partially uncovered at low water, are quicksands as the tide flows, and a ship once fairly entangled on them has little more to hope for, except that the crew may be saved by a Life-boat, though it were but by the "skin of their teeth." The crew of the schooner soon lit up a great flare light on the deck of their doomed vessel, and by plentiful supplies of tar and oil contrived to keep it going, notwithstanding the avalanches of water that from time to time broke on board.

The glare of the light on the troubled sea served to show the crew of the Life- boat, who had eagerly launched from Caister on seeing the signal, that while the vessel was quickly disappearing in the sand, there was not water enough to float the Life-boat within reach of her; and three several attempts from different directions to get close to the wreck having failed, it seemed that the Life-boatmen would have to look on while ship and crew were gradually engulfed. Brave men in earnest are not easily put off their quest. The Life-boat was secured by her anchor to a part of the sandbank that still remained above water, a part of the crew were ordered to remain by the boat, and then PHILIP GEOBGE, the coxswain, leaped overboard, " heaving -line " in hand, and, followed by the rest of his men, went staggering and stumbling across the treacherous sands, at one mo- ment with the water only ankle-deep, at the next up to the shoulders, with the life-belts alone to trust to; and in this way these men waded for a hundred yards, in that cold night and storm! They had arrived as close to the vessel as was pos- sible without being certainly washed away by the deepening water, when a line thrown from the wreck by one of the crew was fortunately clutched by one of the rescuers, and, a communication thus esta- blished, the schooner's crew were one by one hauled through the broken water and quicksand, and eventually got into the Life-boat. The most difficult task was the saving of the master of the wreck, who had been struck by the tiller and had three of his ribs fractured. The whole number, 6 in all, were saved, how- ever, and landed by 8 A.M., by which time the wreck itself had wholly disappeared.

A more gallant and devoted service than this has seldom been performed.

While the crew of the Life-boat were thus employed, they had observed the lights of another vessel in dangerous proximity to the sands, and every effort was made to warn her off, as was sup- posed with success, her lights having dis- appeared ; but the light of morning showed the floating fragments of a wreck, that of the Elizabeth, of Yarmouth, which having, alas! no Life-boat at hand, had been sucked under by the quicksands, together with all her crew. The crew of the Life- boat had barely got to their houses when the discovery of this second wreck was made; but they promptly leaped from their beds, again launched through the storm of the winter's morning, and eagerly scanned each floating fragment of wreck to see if perchance some poor fellow might still be floating on it. But no more than the name and port painted on the headboards, drifting about amorg the breakers, with planking and broken spars, was ever found even to show what the name of the vessel had been..