THE presentation of the Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals awarded to the Coxswains and Crews of the Lowestoft Motor Life- boat and the Gorleston Pulling and Sailing Life-boat for the service to the s.s. Hopelyn on 19th-21st October, 1922, took place at Lowestoft and Gorleston on 8th and 9th February respectively.

At both ceremonies the Committee of Management were represented by Major General the Right Hon. J. E.

B. Seely, C.B., C.M.G., D.8.O., who is not only a member of the Committee, but a member of the Life-boat crew at Brooke, Isle of Wight, and who has been out on service on many occasions.

The ceremony at Lowestoft took place at the Marina Theatre, in the interval of a concert.

The Mayor (Mr. A. Jenner) presided, supported by Mr. F. Spashett, Chairman of the Local Committee, Mr. E. W. Seago, the Hon. Secretary, the Deputy-Mayor (Mr. S. Humphrey) and Commander B. 8. Carver, E.D., R.N.E., Inspector of Life-boats for the Eastern District.

In making the presentation General Seely said that the service to the Hopelyn was an act of great courage, but it had been preceded. by a long series of similar services by the men of the Lowestoft station, a station of which they well might be proud. The Motor Life-boat had only been at that Station for the last two years, and in that short time it had saved fifty-five lives. The Station itself was established in 1850, and from that day to this its Life-boats had saved 692 lives (Applause).

Life-boatmen on the South Coast recognised that the East Coast men had the hardest task, and that they performed it with every determination (Applause).

There was another interesting fact beyond that of the Lowestoft Station saving 692 lives.

Among the presentations that he was about to make was a Gold Medal to Coxswain SWAN, and that one man, as Cox- swain, had helped to save over 200 lives (Applause).

There was also a further act associated with the Lowestoft Station which he must mention, a previous act of Coxswain Swan and his crew, the news of which rang throughout the world, the services rendered to the crew of H.M. Sloop Pomona, a vessel which on 30th September, 1918, was in distress off Aldeburgh. There was a north-east gale, with high seas, and the Life-boat had to go a distance of seventeen miles to the rescue. Had it not been for the determination of that Life- boat crew nine valuable lives would have been lost, but through their bravery nine valuable men were saved to the British Navy (Applause). It was an extra- ordinary service on the part of those men, and he remembered reading of it when he was in France. Of that crew there were twelve members over fifty years of age, and two were jolly souk of seventy (Laughter and applause). It was a wonderful record that when the young men went to the war their fathers and grandfathers still.could come out and continue the splendid tradition of the Life-boat Service when lives were in jeopardy off Lowestoft (Applause).

General Seely then related the story of the Hopelyn rescue. He had seen some Life-boat service, and he knew the enormous difficulty of getting alongside a wrecked vessel with a breaking sea and other obstacles close by.

He thought it was a remarkable thing that the rescue was ever achieved at all. It was a service rendered by a Boat and a crew that had already done yeoman service in the great cause of saving human life.

It was a service rendered with the assistance of the official inspector, Commander Carver, who was really supposed to look on (Applause). It was a service rendered in co-operation with another brave Life-boat Crew 'at Gorleston. He need hardly say to all benevolent minded and good in all Life-boats in which they were required, and the Institution could guarantee to save many lives which would otherwise be lost. It was motor- power, combined with human valour, which enabled the Lowestoft men to achieve the service they did. On behalf of the King, who was a Patron of the Life-boat Institution, the Prince of Wales, its President, and on behalf of all fellow countrymen, he congratulated Coxswain Swan on the splendid results of his courageous effort. They were proud to count him as one of their heroes (Applause).

Pinning the Gold Medal on the breast of Coxswain Swan, Major-General Seely shook him by the hand, and said, " In pinning this medal on your breast I do so with the knowledge that the Gold Medal of the Institution is presented but rarely.

I congratulate you on the great many lives you have saved. We thank you for your splendid service, and wish you many happy years to wear this coveted decoration." General Seely then presented the Silver Medal to Motor - Mechanic RALPH A. W.

SCOTT and Bronze Medals to the Second Coxswain and Members of the Crew. Commander Carver replied on behalf of Coxswain Swan and the Crew, and the Mayor announced that he had received a cheque for £17 17s. 6d. from the owners of the Hopelyn to be distributed among the crew.

In the evening the Local Committee gave a dinner and General Seely proposed the health of Coxswain Swan and his Crew.

A few hours later the Lowestoft Boat went out to the help of the s.s. Linhope, also a Newcastle vessel, which had gone aground on the Holm Sands.

Presentation at Gorleston.

On the following evening the presentation to Coxswain Fleming and the Gorleston Crew took place at the Gorleston Pavilion. In the absence of Commander Addison-Williamson, the Chairman of the Local Committee, the Chair was taken by the Rev. Henry Edwards, the Vicar of Gorleston, who was supported by the Mayor (Councillor B. J. Middleton), Major-General Seely, Mr. A. D. Snell, Hon. Secretary, and Commander Carver.

Major-General Seely said the rescue of the crew of the Hopelyn, and the cat, was one of the most gallant services in the records of the Institution. He had been a Life-boatman for thirty years, because he lived in a little place where every able bodied man had to help, otherwise the Life-boat could not have a full crew. He therefore knew something of Life-boat work, and could say that the service was a notable one. It was not the first time the crew of the Institution's Life-boats at Gorleston had rendered valiant services. The first Life-boat at Gorleston was placed there in 1866, and since then the boats on the Station had saved 901 lives. Indeed, Gorleston was the centre of the most remarkable group of Life-boats in the whole world. There was nothing like its record anywhere. The lives saved by Gorleston, Lowestoft, and Caister Life-boats totalled more than 3,200 (Cheers). He congratulated the Life- boatmen of the three Stations on their wonderful services in years past as on their latest service. The Caister Crew, working upon a Sat beach, and up to their waists in water, strove their hardest to launch to the Hopelyn, but could not get their boat off. The Caister Station headed the list on the East Coast with 1,700 lives saved, and the Caister men would be the first to take off their hats to the men of Gorleston and Lowestoft (Renewed cheers). General Seely went on to describe the wreck and the ultimate rescue after thirty hours' struggle, under such conditions as would have made any rescue impossible without motor power, although the knowledge gained by the Gorleston men in their endeavours proved invaluable, the Hopelyn being in the immediate vicinity of sunken wrecks, while the sea was of exceptional violence.

Gorleston and Lowestoft men worked together, as he hoped they always would. He believed the task of Life- boatmen would be lightened by motor power, and the Institution appealed for funds to provide more Motor Boats. He asked the Chairman, the Mayor, and their M.P. to help. Gorleston Station had, General Seely concluded, previously received seven Silver Medals; now it would have one Gold Medal, seven Silver Medals with four clasps, and fifteen Bronze Medals (Loud cheers).

The Mayor read an interesting letter he had received that day from J. P. and D. P. Goddard, two of the men rescued from the Hopelyn, who wrote from Marske-by-the-Sea, Yorkshire : " A few words of congratulation to the crews of the Agnes Cross and Kentwell Life-boats from the steward and cook of the Hopelyn. May they long be spared to save other crews in danger, as we know all the members of the Hopelyn's crew, now scattered, wish. We wish we could be with you at the presentation of medals. Perhaps we may visit your fine town for a holiday some day, but we will come via York and Norwich, not via Scroby " (Laughter).

The owners of the Hopelyn had, the Mayor said, sent £30 for division among the men who took part in the final launch and rescue. He recalled the splendid services rendered by Yarmouth seafarers to their country, and was confident that in the future, as in the past, the men of Yarmouth and Gorleston would never be found wanting (Cheers).

The Mayor then presented the medals, and speeches were made by Commander Carver, Coxswain Fleming, Mr. Snell, and Alderman Harbord. The ceremony was followed by a smoking concert.