XII.—GROOMSPORT.

The Florence, 32 feet long, 7 feet 6 inches beam, ! 10 oars. j A LIFE-BOAT was first stationed at this small i fishing port by the Institution in 1858; in 1867 it ! was replaced by the present boat, the funds for which were presented to the Institution by an Oxfordshire lady.

Groomsport is on the north coast of County Down, at the north-east extremity of Belfast Bay.

Immediately to the east of the port and Life-boat Station there runs out from the general lay of the coast, which is east and west, & series of rocks, ter- minating in a shoal called the " Briggs"; the extremity is marked by a buoy, which is a mile northward from the shore. A slight indenture of the coast between these shoals and Ballycormick Point is known as Groomsport Bay. Coasting vessels find anchorage in the bay with long-shore winds; but it is open to the north.

Two miles east of the Briggs is Copeland Island; and a mile north of that is Mese Island, on which is a lighthouse of the utmost value to shipping passing southward or eastward from Bel- fast Lough. Before the era of lighthouses these islands and the adjacent mainland of Foreland Point, north of Donaghadee, were the scenes of many fatal wrecks. Wrecks, however, of late years, have not been numerous, as the water be- tween the islands is of a safe depth, and the coast is sufficiently lighted.

The Life-boat at Groomsport might be useful as far east as these islands, as well as give her aid to 442 THE LIFE-BOAT.

[FEBRUARY 1,1876.

vessels stranded on the Briggs and other reefs nearer home.

The boat-house is built close to a small tidal camber, into which the boat is launched from her carriage when the tide is above half flood. To- wards low water the boat has to be launched off the open beach, a short distance to the eastward.

There are a great number of fishermen and pilots resident in the town, of a hardy and fine type, who are not slow to risk their lives in their own boats, in which they have great confidence; and thus the occasions on which the Life-boat's crew are called on to distinguish themselves are not numerous. They have been found ready and eager to try their utmost when needed.

The Rev. A. H. MCCAUSLAND, Rector of Grooms- port, is the active Hon. Sec. of this Branch.

XIII.—NORTH BERWICK.

The Freemason, 30 feet long, 7 feet 7 Inches beam, 10 oars.

THE station in Scotland next to Dunbar (which was described in the November number of this Journal) is North Berwick.

North Berwick is one of the watering-places within convenient reach of Edinburgh, and seems likely to attain large proportions before very long.

It is also a favourite fishing-station, and a consi- derable number of deep-sea fishermen make it their headquarters.

This town is in Haddingtonshire, and is by sea about 8 miles west of Dunbar, and 18 miles eastward from Leith Roads.

Immediately east of the sandy bay, on the shores of which the town is built, and which faces the north, there projects a small rocky promon- tory ; on this neck of land, there about 30 yards wide, is built tjie boat-house for the Life-boat Freemason, which is kept on a carriage, and can be launched either in a sandy bay to the eastward, or in the before-mentioned bay to the westward.

Immediately northward of North Berwick, and a mile off shore, is Craig Leith, a rocky islet of considerable height; while 3 miles to the north- east is the famous Bass Rock,' a prominent object seen from both sides of the Firth of Tay. The Island of May is distant 8 miles.

A short distance inland is the hill called North Berwick Law, another well-known feature in the scenery of this coast.

Shipping passing to and from Leith Roads, southward and eastward, approach this coast closely, the Bass and Craig Leith being safe and easily identified landmarks.

The zealous Hon. Sec. of this Station is "WALTER MALCOLM, Esq., who, with the assistance of the Local Committee, has been able to raise funds sufficient to defray the expense of keeping up the establishment hitherto.

The funds for the present boat were presented to the Institution by the Freemasons of England, in 1871. Twenty-three lives have been saved at the station since its first formation in 1860.

XIV.—HOLY ISLAND.

The Grace Darling,) both 32 feet long, 7 feet 4 — • j inches beam, 10 oars.

HOLY ISLAND, or Lindisfarn, on the coast of Northumberland, is contiguous to that portion of the county marked in the maps as " part of the county of Durham," Lindisfarn abbey and island, together with the adjacent mainland, having in old times belonged to that see. The trend of the coast hereabouts is north-west and south-east.

Holy Island conforms generally to the lay of the land, being about 3 miles long from its north-west to its south-east extremity, and a mile wide in its broadest part. The north-west end fines away to a low sandy point. The southern part is rocky and bold, crowned at the south-eastern extremity with a remarkable-looking tower and castle. Be- tween the island and the mainland is a shallow sound, 2 miles broad, wnich is for the most part nearly dry at low water. Off the south end of the island, however, is a clear pool, with 4 and 5 fathoms of water in it at low tides, which is completely sheltered, and this is Holy Island Harbour.

In the centre of the island, on its south-west shore, and overlooking the harbour, is the town of Lindisfarn, and the ruins of the old abbey.

The Institution has here placed the Life-boat Grace Darling, the cost of which was presented to the Institution by LADY WATBOK, through Sir W. G. ARMSTRONG, F.R.S., in 1865. The Grace Darling has been launched thirteen times to vessels in distress and has saved 53 lives.

In 1868 the Bombay was presented to the Insti- tution by the late J. G. FRITH, Esq., and Mrs.

FRITH, and stationed on the seaward face of a sandy point, projecting from the mainland oppo- site the south end of the island, and which forms the southern shore of the before-mentioned harbour.

The Grace Darling can proceed under the lee of the island, either north or south, when the tide is up, and is kept in a boat-house, on a carriage, not far from the water. At low tide her operations are limited to the south end. ( Vide p. 430.) The Bombay, on the other hand, launches off her carriage on to the open beach. She has the disadvantage of a heavy sea to contend with whilst launching, but is independent of tides; and is immediately on the spot most likely to be the scene of wrecks. Her crew, however, reside on the island, and have to cross the harbour in an ordinary boat, before they get to her. This is one of the occasional difficulties this Institution has to deal with, as the most advantageous sites for Life-boats, are sometimes far removed from the dwellings of fishermen and boatmen.

On the bar of Holy Island is 8 feet of water at low water, spring tides: the course in is tolerably straight and easily discerned. It is narrow, how- ever, and there are shoals on either band. To the north are the Burrows, Ploughseat, and Willgate, while eastward are the Goldstone, Stiel, and Guzzard, all isolated dangerous rocks or reefa.

On the south side of the entrance are the Parton Stiel rocks, and the Bat shoal.

Holy Island possesses an especial interest to North-countrymen, as the abode and refuge of the missionary Aidan, sent from the island of Ions at the request of the Saxon King Oswald for the reconversion of the Northumbrians, then fast lapsing into barbarism, after their first conver- sion by Paulinus in the time of King Edwin.

Aidan and his successors in later times found it expedient to have a still more secure asylum in which occasionally to retreat, and they found it in the lonely Fame Islands, which are 5 miles off to the south-eastward.

It was on one of these Fame Islands that the steamer Forfanhire was lost in 1838, and was the occasion of the noble display of devoted courage on the part of Grace Darling, who in company with her father saved the 9 survivors from the wreck, after they had been exposed in that position in a gale of wind for many hours.

FEBRUARY 1, 1876.] THE LIFE-BOAT.

443 Insight,a few miles to the south,is the gigantic fortified cliff of iiamborough, the stronghold of the Saxon kings from the beginning of their rule in the north.

XV.—TENBY.

The Florence, 33 feet long, 8 feet beam, 10 oars.

THE next Life-boat station in Wales—westward from Carmarthen, of which we gave some account in the number of this Journal on 1st November, 18T5—is at Tenby, where a Life-boat was first placed in 1852.

The boat-house is built close to the water's edge, facing to the eastward. Behind the boat-house rise-steep cliffs, on the top of which the town is built. A road leads up from the boat-house through a gap in the cliffs to the town, and by this means the boat has access to the roads for travelling along the coast. Extensive sands at the foot of the high ground extend from the boat- house several miles southward, and except at high water, the boat could be conveyed along them close to a wreck before launching.

Two miles south of the Tenby Life-boat House ! is Caldy Island, under the lee of which is an an- | chorage known as Man-of-war Roads. Caldy Is- land is the southern extremity of Carmarthen Bay. Four miles north of the Life-boat House is the small tidal harbour of Saundersfoot. At • Tenby there is also a small tidal harbour.

, Immediately in front of the sandy cove into which the Life-boat usually launches, is a rocky , islet, called St. Catherine's, and this affords great I protection to the launching-place as a rule; but from the confined space between two little rocky headlands at certain times of the tide, a dangerous i bubbling sort of sea sets into the cove. Ships find ' shelter under Caldy Island with south-west gales, 1 and wait there until an opportunity offers of getting to sea, or running into one of the har- bours on the north side of the Bristol Channel ; C. H. WELI.S, Esq., of Tenby House, is the able ' Hon. Sec. of this Branch.

The Life-boats on this station have been called , out on service twenty-one times to vessels in dis- , tress and have saved 56 lives..