THE above well-known motto of the British "Royal Marines " has been nobly illustrated by the deeds of that dis- tinguished corps in every part of the globe, and wherever, on land or sea, its services have been required, its famous motto has been remembered, and its prowess has been maintained.

We have now, however, to record a valiant deed, equally illustrative of British pluck "by land or sea," although on a smaller scale, and performed by those whose courage is, in the ordinary course of .their careers, only called into action and only expected on the land.

All the more, however, is credit due to them, and all the more we welcome their alliance with that valiant band of heroes, our Life-boat men, whose victories over the winds and waves, to rescue their fellow-men, are like the stormy petrel of the sea, the almost certain accompaniment of every winter's storm.

To proceed, however, with our narra-tive. On the night of the 27th October last, the schooner Robert Brown, coal- laden, and with a crew of four men, was overtaken by a gale from E.N.E., with a heavy sea, and, becoming unmanageable, was driven ashore near the Pigeonhouse Port in Dublin Bay. Before striking the ground, one of the crew was washed overboard by a heavy sea and drowned, and immediately after her grounding another was swept away and lost, the two survivors securing themselves to the rigging. Without any means of making known their perilous condition, they were undiscovered until after daylight on the morning of the 28th, when they were first seen by a Coastguardman from the shore.

Unfortunately, the Coastguardmen who form the usual crew of the NATIONAL LIFE-BO AT INSTITUTION in the neighbour- hood were absent on board H.M.S. Belleisle, the Coastguard ship at Kingstown, under- going their periodical drill. Hence there was a necessity for extemporizing a crew of the most competent men who could be obtained, or to allow the two poor fellows to perish within a short distance of the shore.

In the effort to do so, considerable time was lost, and a sufficient number of- sea- faring men, or practical boatmen, could not be found. Fortunately, however, though " blue-jackets " were scarce, "red-jackets" were at hand, and quickly a number of soldiers from the Fort, led by Lieutenant J. A. W. O'Neil Torrens, of the Second Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys), and Dr.

H. L. Cox, of the Army Medical Depart- ment, together with a few boatmen, dragged the Life-boat from its house to the shore, where, with great difficulty and some risk of life, it was launched, Lieutenant Torrens taking the helm and command, and three private soldiers, viz., Wm.

Smith, bombardier Royal Artillery; P. Howard, private 57th Regiment, and F. Eeilly, private Army Service Corps, .together with five fishermen and three seamen, forming the crew.

Before leaving the shore the Boat was badly stove, the spot where it was neces- sary to launch being thickly strewed with boulder-stones, and abounding with stumps of broken piles projecting through the beach. In fact, the mere getting it afloat and clear of the shore was a most dangerous work, not only to those in it, but to the large number of soldiers and others who, under the guidance of" Dr.

Cox and Mr. B. W. Jackson, chief engineer of the Government hired steamer Stanley, strenuously worked, often up to their waists in water. The Boat, at one moment floated high by the sea, was the next dashed again on the stones, and only saved from destruction by its great strength and peculiar build, whilst those who stuck manfully to it ran serious risk of losing their lives by being drowned or crushed beneath it.

But, through indomitable pluck and energy all round, the Boat was got at last afloat, and, after half an hour's severe struggle with the waves, reached the sunken craft and rescued the two sur- vivors of her crew, who, half dead from exposure and cold, were safely lauded and carried by the soldiers to their barracks, where they received every possible atten- tion, and were so far recovered on the following day as to be able to proceed on their way.

The Managing Committee of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, con- sidering this gallant service doubly credit- able to men wholly inexperienced in Life- boat work, or the management of boats in heavy seas, yet who, be the danger what it might, hesitated not a moment to encounter it in the absence of the Boat's practised crew, voted the Society's Gold Medal to Lieutenant Torrens, and its Silver Medal to the three soldiers who accompanied him, and to Dr. Cox; also its thanks, on vellum, to Mr. Jackson, and thanks and pecuniary payments to the non-commissioned officers and private soldiers who launched the Boat.

These well-earned honours have been presented through His Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, who, like the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in Ireland, has taken great interest in this case; and we have no doubt the medals presented to Lieutenant Torreus and the three brother soldiers of his crew, will be as much prized by them as if they had been won on the battle-field.