At 9.30 A.M. on the 8th February the Coastguard re- j ported that the Girdler Light-vessel was firing distress signals, and shortly after- wards a message was received by wire- less telegraphy from a steamer stating that the Girdler Light-vessel had re- ported to her that a schooner was ashore on the Sands, and that a steamer was standing by. The No. 2 Life-boat Civil Service No. 1 was launched without delay and proceeded to the vessel, which proved to be the schooner Cimbria, of Tromso, bound from Oivita Vecchia to London with a cargo of carbide of calcium.

On the Life-boat reaching the vessel the captain at once employed the crew to try and get her clear of the Sands and to man the pumps, as she was leaking very considerably. Ten Life-boatmen were placed on board, and rendered very valuable assistance; they then ran out an anchor with a steel hawser attached, by which the vessel was secured in her position. In the mean- time the pumps were kept constantly working; and later, when the tide had risen, the vessel was hove off the sands, and the steamer, which was in the vicinity, towed her to a safe anchorage for the night. The Life-boat lay by the schooner all night, eight of the crew remaining on board the vessel to keep the pumps working. At 9 A.M. the vessel was towed into the Thames and the Life-boat returned to her station.

When the Life-boat first reached the schooner a whole S.S.W. gale was blowing with a very rough sea, but after the vessel had been extricated from her perilous position, the weather moderated somewhat..