LIFEBOAT MAGAZINE ARCHIVE

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Jane Cameron and Gleaner, and Mermaid

BROADSTAIRS.—On the 25th November, the Samuel Morrison Collins Life-boat was taken to Margate Roads in tow of the Ramsgate Harbour steam-tug Aid, during a strong N.N.E. gale and heavy sea, when she succeeded in saving the crew of 5 men from the schooner Jane Cameron, which had sunk on the Nailer Bock near Margate.

In conjunction with the Aid and a London steam-tug she also saved the distressed schooner Gleaner, of Southampton, and her crew of 4 men, and the derelict brigantine Mermaid. The two latter vessels were towed safely into Ramsgate harbour.

The Gleaner was bound from London to Plymouth with a cargo of wheat; and the Mermaid, with a cargo of coal, was on a voyage from Newcastle to Guernsey.

The crew of the Jane Cameron had a narrow escape, and they were only saved with great difficulty and danger; they were in the rigging of the wreck which was rapidly breaking up, a very heavy sea breaking over it at the time the rescue was accomplished by the Life-boat.