ON Sunday, the 15th January, a south-easterly gale was blowing, with blinding snow-storms. A heavy sea was breaking on Holy Island, and the j weather was bitterly cold. Just before eight o'clock in the evening a flare was seen, and was located on False Em- i manuel Head on the north side of the Island. The crews of the Life-boat and ! of the Coast-guard's Life-saving Ap- paratus were summoned, and the Ap- paratus was hurried across the Island.

It found a vessel—the trawler James B.

Graham, of Hartlepool—on the rocks of j the Head. She lay in a very perilous j position with a heavy list, and the seas ' were breaking along her decks. The Apparatus was taken as near as possible, but it was' too far away by a hundred yards. No rocket could reach the vessel.

Meanwhile the whole of the village, men and women, had turned out in the dark and snow to launch the No. 1 Life-boat. I The tide was low and the wheels oi the ' carriage sank deep into the mud. It was only with extreme difficulty that the Boat was launched at all, and it needed sixty helpers to do it. Unde- terred by the bitter cold, the women waded out waist-deep into the sea, and by their gallant efforts the Boat was got afloat just forty minutes after the alarm had been given. The distance round the Island to False Emmanuel Head was nearly four miles, and it was nearly ten o'clock before the Life-boat reached the stranded vessel. She lay surrounded by dangerous rocks and the iron remnants of an old wreck. Among these the Life-boat would have to make her way, in the pitch darkness and the blinding snow-squalls, if she was to reach the trawler. The Coxswain made the attempt, but owing to the rocks he was compelled to pull out again. The Life-boat then lay off for two hours waiting while the tide rose. The Cox- swain then tried to approach the wreck from the otter side. Again he had to pull out. The rocks were too dangerous.

He waited another hour, and then, with his anchor dropped, veered the Boat slowly and cautiously down towards the vessel, and in between two rocks, before he could reach her. By skilful and daring seamanship this dangerous manoeuvre succeeded, and all nine men on the trawler were safely taken aboard the Life-boat. She was hauled out from among the perilous rocks, and reached her Station again at two o'clock in the morning. In recognition of the splendid seamanship and courage of Coxswain and crew the Committee of Management awarded to the Coxswain, George Cro- marty, a Bar to his Silver Medal which he was awarded for a fine service in November 1916, when the Holy Island No. 2 Life-boat rescued fourteen persons from the Swedish barque Jolani; and the Bronze Medal to the Second Cox- swain, William Wilson, and the Bow- man, Thomas A. Stevenson. The crew received extra monetary awards, and a special Letter of Thanks was sent to " the Women of Holy Island." The Honoray Secretary of the Station, Mr. Hollingsworth, was also specially thanked.

The letter sent to each of the twenty- five women who took part in this gallant launch was as follows :— DEAR MADAM,—The Committee of Man- agement have entrusted to me the pleasant duty of conveying to you and the other women who took part in the launch of the Life-boat Lizzie Porter, on the 15th January, 1922, to the trawler James B. Graham, their very sincere and cordial thanks for the fine spirit of humane and helpful service which you and they showed on this occasion.

Great difficulty was experienced in launch- ing the Boat owing to the soft mud, but the women of Holy Island, acting in accordance with the noble traditions of a coast which will ever be associated with the name of Grace Darling, overcame these difficulties by exerting themselves to the utmost, many entering the water waist-deep, and thus shared, to a notable extent, in the rescue of the nine hands of the trawler which was in jeopardy.

It is gratifying to the Committee of Management to feel that the mothers, wives, and daughters of the Life-boat men of Holy Island are eager to assist in the noble task so often and so honourably carried out by the crew, and they feel that the action of the women of Holy Island reflects infinite credit, not merely on themselves, but on the women of our maritime race. With honourable greetings, I am.

Yours very faithfully.

GEORGE F. SHEE.

Secretary.

The following graphic and moving description of the launch appeared in the Berwick Journal for the 9th Feb- ruary, after a full account of the awards made by the Institution :— " THE SPIRIT OF GRACE DARLING.

" Have you ever been to Holy Island ? If not, take my advice and pay a visit to the island where Great Souls dwell, that inherit the spirit of Grace Darling, who believed with great enthusiasm in the eternal treasures which are found where neither the moth nor rust corrupt. A modern writer has described Holy Island as 'but a small isle fashioned of a little sand, a few grasses, salt with the spray of an ever- restless wave, a few rocks that wade in heather and upon whose brow the sea wind weaves the yellow lichen." But it is the brave woman of Holy Island I want to write about. I once heard one say to a gentleman visitor : ' Your city girls may be better dressed, but braver or better looking— Never ! ' All the world is a stage, we are told, and we the actors. So I will take for my stage Holy Island, and its dwellers the actors. Ring up the curtain on the 15th January, 1922. One actor of keen type, looking across towards Sandam Bay, through the sleet and snow, the wind howling from the north-east, sees a flash of light illuminate the angry sea, telling the terrible news—a ship in distress. The Longstone Lighthouse flashed out its light like a star of hope. The actor in this drama runs to the village and gives the alarm : ' Man the Life-boat ! Brothers in distress ! " House doors seem to open like magic. Men, women, and children run past the ancient ruin of the Priory, where the spirits of the faithful rest secure, towards the Life-boat House. The work of a few minutes, the Life-boat is launched. But the tide is low, and the wheels of the Life-boat carriage stick in the soft mud. Undeterred, the women—Grace Darlings every one—wade out waist deep, and by their gallant effort the Life-boat is got afloat and sails away into the darkness on her great mission. The silent prayers of the brave woman, the howling of the angry sea, mingled with the cries of the curlews flying against the storm, speed the trusting Life-boat on her journey out into the open, angry seas. The wreck was sighted, which proved to be the James B. Graham, of Hartlepool, with nine men on board. The Life-boat battled with the storm for three hours, but brave Holy Island hearts, that never pull down their flag, rescued the trawler's crew. But for the gallant action of the women-folk at this famous island, a jewel on the rocky coast of Northumberland, the Committee of Management of THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION would not have been able to gain honour themselves, in honouring the gallant and great-spiritedwoman of Holy Island. If you are not able to visit the island, take down your map of Northumberland and put a ring with your pen around the spot that marks the island, and write : ' (Jrace Darling. Britannia Rules the Waves.'.