A Fine Cromer Service.

" 'Tis not in mortals to command success," though none deserve it better than a Life-boat crew, battling with the elements for the lives of their fellowmen.

It is our pride that in most cases the victory is with the Life-boat; but it cannot always be so, and the following case is one in which the most strenuous exertions of a fine crew only availed to save one of a ship's company of fourteen.

During terrible weather on the Norfolk coast on the 13th and 14th January, the steamer Havfru, of Christiania, whilst bound from Goole to Amsterdam with a cargo of coal, was j totally wrecked on the Hasboro' Sands, ; with a sad loss of life. The vessel was observed by the Life-boatmen on the j look-out at Palling, but the tide was ] very high, and in the exceptionally heavy seas it was impossible to launch their boat. A message was sent through to Cromer reporting that a vessel was on the sands, and the crew of the Lifeboat Louisa Hartwell were summoned, but such a tremendous sea was running , there also that no succour could be sent from the shore. The Life-boat crew " stood by " throughout the day in the hope that the weather would moderate, but as darkness came on, the gale in-! creased and the seas became worse than ! ever. It was, therefore, decided to wait until daybreak before making a further | attempt to launch. The gale continued through the night. As daylight ap- ' proached it began to abate, and as it was thought possible that some of the crew of the ill-fated vessel had survived that terrible night it was decided to launch the boat. Even then the task j which the Cromer Life-boatmen undertook was no mean one. It was only after considerable difficulty that the Louisa Hartwell was got afloat. The tide was coming in, and although the sea was nothing like so high as on the previous day there were heavy breakers, and the helpers were obliged to go waist-deep into the water to assist to get the boat clear. The boat made straight for the Hasboro' Light-vessel for the purpose of obtaining further information, but the Master of the Light-vessel informed Coxswain Blogg that he had seen nothing of any wreck, nor any signals of distress.

Undeterred by this lack of information the Life-boatmen decided to search the sands, and about three hours after they left Cromer they sighted the mast of a vessel with a man still on it. The hull of the vessel was completely submerged, and some difficulty was experienced in approaching the wreck. This was overcome, and the survivor was eventually taken off in a very exhausted condition.

His hands and feet were terribly swollen, he having been lashed to the mast for the previous thirty-six hours under most painful conditions of cold and exposure.

When he had sufficiently recovered he told the Coxswain that the remainder of the crew, thirteen in number, had been washed off the wreck at different times the previous day, the last man dropping from the rigging at 9 P.M. on the previous night. He also stated that after the vessel stranded, attempts were made to get the ship's boats afloat, but they were quickly smashed up, and it became necessary for the men to take refuge in the rigging. Before the Lifeboat reached the vessel she had broken in half, but fortunately the mast on which the man took refuge did not go by the board. As soon as the man had been rescued the Life-boat made for Cromer, being picked up by a collier, which towed her part of the way towards the shore. Once ashore, the man was taken with all speed to the Cromer Cottage Hospital where, with wounded soldiers in neighbouring cots, he was interviewed by the representative of the Eastern Daily Press, and the following is an extract of the account which appeared in that paper :— " He was in wonderfully good condition, and though a Dane he was able to speak fairly good English. He said his name was Niels Nielsen, a single man, and aged twenty-three, hailing from Copenhagen, and that he was donkeyman on the wrecked vessel, the steamship Havfru, registered at Christiania, tonnage 860. She hadfourteen souls all told on board, in-; Wednesday night the waves washed eluding Captain Berg, and three of them ; away several of the crew, but on were Russians, two Dutchmen, two Thursday morning the second engineer Swedes, a Dane, a Spaniard, and the rest Norwegian's.

" Nielson said their last port of call was Hull, which was left at eight o'clock on Wednesday morning. The same night, a b o u t t e n o'clock, the vessel struck on the Hasboro' Sands, and it was quickly recognised in the increasingly bad weather that her fate was sealed. An attempt was made to launch a small boat, but the terrible seas quickly smashed it to pieces, and the three men who were in it were thrown into the water. Two were dragged back to the ship, and the other was quickly carried away and drowned. During I'hoto b COXSWAIN HENRY G. BLOGG.

managed to jump into a boat, cut the r o p e t h a t fastened it to the ship, and getaway. When the last was seen of him the frail little craft was nearly full of water, and Ni-elson considers it could not have lived for long.

"At last all that were left alive were the captain, chief m a t e , two sailors, and himself, and when the ship went in two a tremendous sea washed away all but Nielson and a sailor. These two hung on to the rigging of the mainmast, but at nine o'clock on Friday morning the sailor could last out no longer and he fell into the sea. Nielsen must bepossessed of wonderful vitality, for when the Cromer Life-boat at last canie on the scene he was able to climb down the rigging unaided.

"It appears that the Cromer Lifeboat, when homeward bound, was taken in tow off Palling by a collier, whose captain, curiously enough, was a native of Palling.

* -::- -::• •» * "When at last she was in the Lifeboat house, Sir T. F. Victor Buxton climbed into her and expressed cordial thanks to all who had assisted in the launching and beaching of the craft.

| All agreed, he said, that the people j who had done the most splendid work I that day were the Life-boatmen. Cromer i was proud of them, and especially their Coxswain, and he called for three hearty cheers for them. These were given with great heartiness, with another for Sir I Victor, who is the new president of the Cromer branch of the ROYAL NATIONAL ; LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION.".