Motor Life-boat.

ON the 1st January the Motor Life-boat at Stromness, in the Orkneys, performed a fine service which illustrates very clearly the value of motor-power. At 9.15 A.M. the news was received at Stromness from Birsay that a vessel was in distress off Costa Head, over twenty miles round the coast. She was found, later, to be the trawler Freesia, of Grimsby, homeward bound with a large catch of fish. Within twenty-five minutes the Life-boat was launched, and the Honorary Secretary of the Branch immediately left by car for Birsay, which he reached to find that the vessel had already sunk, but that men from her had been seen on a small raft drifting towards the island of Eynhallow, where a very heavy sea was breaking. He placed signalmen round the cliffs to guide the Life-boat when she should arrive, but fearing that she would be too late, he appealed for shore boats to put out. Two put out from Evie and one from Rousay, but, though they made a splendid attempt, they were forced back by the heavy sea.

The men from Evie, however, landed on Eynhallow in order to give what help they could should the raft be driven ashore.

By this time it was about 1 P.M., and the Life-boat was in sight. Guided by the signalmen, she found the raft, which was no more than a few planks, and rescued two men, utterly exhausted, only a few minutes before they would have been carried to certain death.

They were the only survivors of a crew of eleven. The Life-boat transferred them to one of the shore boats, and they were at once taken to Evie. She then started back on her rough return journey of twenty-five miles, and did not reach her Station again until 6.30 P.M. On the way she picked up the bodies of two of the Freesia's crew. The service had lasted nine hours, and during the whole of that time the Coxswain had not left the wheel. The Life-boat had travelled fifty miles, all the while on a lee shore, with a strong wind and a heavy sea. She was continually swept by the waves, her crew blinded at times by the rain, wet to the skin, and perished with the cold, while the actual rescue was performed in a channel made dangerous by a number of reefs.

In recognition of the skill with which the Life-boat was handled, and the long exposure of the crew, the Committee of Management have decided to award the Bronze Medal to the Coxswain, together with the Vote inscribed on Vellum and framed. In addition, extra monetary rewards have been given to the crew and signalman, and monetary rewards to the fourteen men who went out in the shore boats from Evie and Rousav..