At 12.30 A.M. on the 7th November the Ramsgate Life-boat Bradford, and steam-tug Aid, proceeded to the Kentish Knock Sand, the master of a fishingsmack having reported that there was a vessel ashore there. The wind was blowing moderately from the W.N.W., and the weather was misty. The Life-boat spoke the Lightship, and was informed that a vessel had been burning a flare W.N.W.

of her. Shortly afterwards the captain and crew of the barque Duchess, of Shields, came alongside and were taken into the Life-boat. The captain stated that his vessel went ashore at 8 P.M., and that they had left her full of water. The Lifeboat went round the sands, saw the barque, and put the master and some of the Life-boat's crew on board. She then went to a schooner, and to the brigs Julia, of Folkestone, and Cornucopia, of Whitby, and found them all full of water and abandoned. The crew of the last-named vessel were afterwards rescued from their boat and taken on board the tug. A vessel then being seen drifting near the Long Sand, the Life-boat got alongside of her, and found she was the schooner International, of London, abandoned. A crew was accordingly put on board her, and the Aid towed her to Ramsgate harbour.

The Life-boat subsequently returned to the Duchess, where she found the Ramsgate steam-tug Vulcan and the Broadstairs Life-boat in attendance. The vessel's crew were then put on board, and her sails were set, and with the help of the steamer she was eventually extricated from her perilous position, and taken to the North Foreland, where she was anchored, being steered there by the Life-boat, her own rudder having become disabled.

On the following day, at 1.30 P.M., the steamers Vulcan and Aid again proceeded to the Duchess, and with much difficulty, as she again grounded twice, brought her into Ramsgate harbour. She was bound from Gothenburg to Newport with a cargo of pit props, and carried a crew of ten men.