LIFEBOAT MAGAZINE ARCHIVE

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A Boat (1)

On the South and East Coasts.

On the south coast the Weymouth Motor Life-boat was out for nearly six hours, from 6.30 in the evening until after midnight, in response to the S.U.S.

of the steam-tanker M. Arnus of Barcelona, but the tanker got safely into Portland Roads under her own steam.

On the East Coast the Cromer Motor Life-boat and the Sheringham Pulling and Sailing Life-boat were both out for half the night searching for a missing motor fishing boat. They both passedwithin a few yards of her in the darkness, but she had no means of signalling, and the matches of her crew were soaked through. The Life-boats returned without having found her, but in spite of the fact that her engine had broken down she succeeded in making the shore, her crew taking to the oars.

Later in the day, two more Life-boats, both on the Welsh Coast, the Motor Life-boat from Mumbles and the Pulling and Sailing Life-boat from Ferryside, were out searching for a small boat, reported to be capsized with a man clinging to her, but nothing could be found, and it was discovered later that what had appeared to be a boat was a buoy which had broken adrift.

So ended these eight days of storm.

There have been weeks in which more lives have been rescued, but in the violence of the gales, the dangers faced and overcome, and the gallantry and endurance of the crews, this last week of October, 1927, may rank with the greatest weeks in the history of the Service.

There is one other fact of interest to be added to the summary of the week given at the beginning of this article.

There were seventeen launches of Lifeboats, and the total number of lives rescued, including those rescued by the three shore boats from Bryher, was sixty. In awards to the Life-boatmen and other rescuers who took part in these services, and to the launchers of the Life-boats, and in compensation to the Moelfre Crew who were incapacitated by their long and terrible struggle, the Institution has paid over £800. In addition to this the pension granted to the widow of the Moelfre Life-boatman who died of exposure, would, if purchased as an immediate annuity, cost some £700. This sum may be fairly added to the capital cost of the gales, and makes a total of about £1500. It includes nothing in respect of the other expenses of those services, such as the repair of the damaged Moelfre Life-boat.

It consists simply of the awards, monetary and other, which have been made to those who took part in the work of rescue during this one week of gales..