THE small fishing-village of Cresswell, in Northumberland, lies about twenty miles north of the mouth of the Tyne.

It is not easy of access to visitors, for the nearest railway station on the main line, between Newcastle and Berwick, is four miles away. Few people have ever visited it, but those who have consider it as one of the most beautiful places on the north-east coast.

Over 90 per cent, of the villagers are named Brown, and from time immemorial they have been renowned for their hardihood and giant stature.

In the days of the sailing ships many i traders making to and from the busy Tyne were cast ashore here, and many gallant rescues have been performed by the men and women of Cresswell.

The village has been the nursery of many daring seamen, for its fisher- folk have been trained in courage, resource, and knowledge of the sea by ! the hard and dangerous conditions under which they gain their livelihood.

Cresswell lies on a rocky point near the southern extremity of Druridge Bay, which is seven miles across. The shapeof the land appears to aggravate the movements of the sea, and when an easterly breeze is blowing a heavy swell and surf beat upon the shore.

Such is the village in which Margaret Brown was born, and after her school- days were over, at the age of thirteen, her life was devoted to helping her fatherand brothers in their fishing, .her lot being to dig for bait, mend nets, make crab pots, and help to haul up the fishing-cobles when they came ashore.

At daybreak one summer's morning, after a calm and peaceful night, a gale sprang up very suddenly from the east and caught the fishing-boats out at sea. As the storm grew in intensity the women anxiously lined the shore, where the wind was howling and great seas were breaking. At last one of the cobles was seen by the watchers to be running for the shore, but when she was within a short distance of the outstretched hands of those who were waiting to receive her, a tremendous breaker caught the boat and instantly overturned her. A few minutes later Margaret and the other women desper- ately rescued from the surf the bodies of her father and three of her brothers—all dead. The horror caused by this calamity led to an appeal to the Institution to provide a Life-boat I Station. The request was granted, and with commendable promptitude, twelve months later, in October, 1874, the Station's first Life-boat, christened the Old Potter, was launched in brilliant weather.

The second launch of the Old Potter took place under very different cir- cumstances. At 2 A.M. on the 5th January, 1876, the villagers were aroused by the sound of a gun at sea, and a large steamer—which later proved to be the Gustaf, of Gottenburg, with cargo for the Tyne, and fourteen people on board, three of whom were women— was seen to be totally out of control and driving towards the shore in Druridge Bay, a mile north of the Station. A bitterly cold south-east gale was blow- ing, and the rain was coming down in torrents.

An answering rocket was fired from the Life-boat Station, and the brave crew, under Coxswain Thomas Brown, consisting of the whole active male population of Cresswell, assembled to launch the Life-boat. It was found that owing to the state of the tide it was impossible to make a launch directly opposite to the Station, and horses, men and women together, dragged the Boat and carriage along the soft sands for half a mile before a suitable place for launching could be found.

By this time the Gustaf hud struck the rocks, and of the two boats that she carried, one had been smashed by the falling wreckage, and the other had broken loose from the hands of the half-drowned crew with four men in it, before the women could take their places. This boat, on clearing the wreck, immediately overturned and was driven through the breakers, finally stranding on a rock some little distance from the shore.

The women, after having launched the Life-boat, congregated at a spot opposite to the wreck, and noticing the men clinging to the keel of the overturned boat, these brave souls four times formed a living chain into the sea by inter- locking their hands. Margaret Brown was at the extreme end of the chain seizing hold of the helpless sailors.

Most of the women were at times swept completely off their feet, and Margaret herself was entirely out of her depth.

The Life-boat, after several strenuous and courageous attempts to reach the wreck, was at last driven back to the shore. The Coxswain then decided to give his exhausted crew a rest, and to send at once for the help of the Rocket Life-Saving Apparatus. The nearest Rocket Station was at Newbiggin-by- Sea, five miles to the south, and as none of the men could be spared, he called for volunteers from among the women.

Margaret, together with two other girls named Mary Brown and Isabella Armstrong, immediately stepped for- ward, and the Coxswain, knowing the dangers of the journey, chose Margaret, his own niece, who was twenty-five years old, to take charge, although he noticed that she was already much exhausted. Without a moment's hesi- tation the three girls took off their shoes and stockings and started to run on their lonely journey along the coast.

After two miles the track led over the River Lyne, which was, and still is, spanned by a plank bridge. The river had become so swollen that the bridge had been partly swept away, and, owing to the overflow of the river, there was a gap of fast-running water, several yards in extent, between the land and each end of the bridge. Margaret's first attempt to reach the bridge was a failure, the force of the current carry- ing her some distance past the near end ; but, struggling ashore, she again waded into the river, this time at a spot some distance higher up, and as she was carried down by the current she managed to clutch some of the planks of the bridge and drag herself up on to it. Crossing the remains of the bridge on her hands and knees, she dropped into the water on the other side, and was swept to the opposite bank in safety. Mary and Isabella, following her lead, also safely crossed the danger- ous river.

Their path lay across Newbiggin Moors, but the gale was sweeping against them with such violence that, in their now exhausted condition, they could not battle against it. The only alterna- tive was to travel along the shore, which, in places, passed under the cliffs and was partly shielded from the full blast of the wind and rain. No time was to be lost, so the daring girls scrambled down on to the shore. Buffeted by the furious wind, time after time nearly swept away by the bigger waves, with their feet cut and bleeding, and with practically all their clothes torn from them, they fought their way along the shore, until at last they reached the outskirts of Newbiggin. Mary and Isabella were now so completely ex- hausted that they could go no farther, so Margaret hastily knocked at the door of the first house they reached, and leaving the two young girls to be cared for by the inmates, went on her way alone.

With a final effort she reached the Newbiggin Coast-guard Station, where she collapsed, unable even to speak.

But the Coast-guard knew her, and guessing that her arrival in this state could mean only one thing, immediately sent the Rocket Apparatus by horses to Cresswell. In the meantime, however, the Cresswell crew had made a second and successful attempt. After a hard struggle they reached the Gustaf, and took off the three women and seven men who were still on board.

The courage and endurance of these simple fisher-girls so deeply impressed the officers of the Coast-guard Service responsible for the Life-Saving Ap- paratus, that they conferred on them a unique distinction by presenting Mary and Isabella with inscribed brooches, and Margaret with a handsome silver teapot, together with an illuminated album bearing the signatures of the subscribers. Upon the teapot were inscribed the following words :— "Presented to Margaret Brown, of Cresswell, by Captain Hickley, R.N., the Commanders and Lieutenants of Division in the Hull Coast- guard District, for her gallant conduct in getting assistance to the Swedish steamer Gustaf, wrecked off that place on the cold and stormy night of 5th January, 1876." Special awards were also given to the three girls by the Institution.

i Isabella died at Cresswell about two years ago. Mary married, and is now called Mary Jefferson. She has been a widow for many years, her home being at Amble, where she is highly respected by all who know her. Margaret, who also married, is now over seventy, and, with the exception of the ability to move rapidly, retains her full faculties.

She is still one of the leading helpers attached to the Cresswell Life-boat, and to this day at the sound of the rocket she runs to the Boat House to help in the hauling of the ropes to speed the Life-boat on its mission. She has not on any occasion missed a quarterly practice or service launch since 1874.

Her life at times has been dimmed by great sorrows. Among the large number of her kith and kin who have been drowned, while earning their daily bread, are her father, her four brothers, and her son.

She deserves a high place among the heroes and heroines whose daring deeds make the heart beat fast with pardon- able pride and joy, when one reads the records of the heroic self-sacrifice of these men and women living round the 5,000 miles of our stormy coasts, who accept it as their simple, natural duty to risk their own lives for the succour of others in peril at sea.

When this account of Mrs. Arm- strong's long service to the Life-boat Cause was laid before the Committee of Management, they decided at once that it deserved some special form of recogni- tion. They therefore awarded her the Gold Brooch and the Institution's Record of Thanks. The announce- ment of this award, and of the services ', which had earned it, was communicated I to the Press, and was published every- where in the British Isles. It has also been published in Australia and South Africa. Photographers and film operators visited Cresswell to photograph Mrs. Armstrong and the Cresswell Life- , boat and Crew, and it is not too much ' to say that tens of thousands of British ; men and women have now been made familiar with this little, isolated fishing- village on the Northumbrian coast, and | with the splendid work and courage of its inhabitants.

And not only British men and women.

Shortly after writing the article on Mrs.

Armstrong, Mr. Hunter resigned the Honorary Secretaryship of the Cress- well Branch, to the great regret of the Committee of Management, as he was leaving England to take up a post in Rangoon. The Secretary has just re- ceived a letter from him, and we are sure that Mr. Hunter will allow us to quote from it the following most inter- esting passage :— . " It may interest you to know that j the ' Royal' Cinema, Rangoon, has this week" (the letter is dated the 22nd February) " a big placard put up infront of the theatre having the inscrip- j tion 'A Second Grace Darling of seventy- four Launches Life-boat.' I went to the show last night, and I must confess it made a lump come into my throat to see the Cresswell Life-boat Martha launched (on the screen) by all my dear old friends the crew and helpers.

Several of my Chinese and Burman friends who were with me were delighted with it when I explained the idea of a Life-boat to. them." The Gold Brooch and the Record of Thanks were presented to Mrs. Arm- strong on the 14th January by Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt., the Deputy Chair- man of the Institution, who visited Cresswell on purpose to attend the ceremony. The following is an account of it which has been received from a Life-boat worker who was present:— " In the little Recreation Hall of the small village of Ellington, dimly illuminated by oil light and festooned with Christmas decorations, members of the Life-boat crew, with their women folk, and other representative villagers, had assembled to do honour to Mrs.

Margaret Armstrong, aptly christened by the Press " the second Grace Darling," and to the Deputy Chairman of the Institution. On the platform Sir Godfrey Baring was supported by the greatly respected Vicar of the Parish (Branch Chairman), and by the aged Countess of Ravensworth, who, with perfectly white hair and a Gains- borough hat, appeared a living repre- sentation of a bygone age. Sir Godfrey's address, powerful, eloquent, and sym- pathetic, gave infinite pleasure, and his handing over of the awards to Mrs.

Armstrong evoked loud cheers. In a short speech Lady Ravensworth responded for Mrs. Armstrong, who, whilst she had never expected the awards, would prize them very highly, and related how she, also, on more than one occasion, had helped to launch the Cresswell Life-boat.".