At 2 o'clock on the morning of the 26th February, during a whole S.S.W. gale with a very heavy sea, signals of distress were ob- served from a vessel in the bay. The steam Life-boat Duke of Northumber- land was at once ordered out, and whilst on her way further signals were seen from another vessel near by. On reaching the vessels the crews requested the Coxswain to take them off as the anchors were dragging and they feared their crafts would not weather the storm. They were accordingly taken into the Life-boat which landed them at Holyhead about 3 A.M. Both vessels were schooners, the first being the Mary Annie, of Dublin, with three hands, bound from Arklow to Chester, and the other the Margaret Garton, of Castletown, with five hands, bound from Milford to the Isle of Man, with a cargo of coal..