Hythe and Dungeness (Kent).

At 6.30 in the evening of llth November, with a 70-mile an hour gale blowing from the S.W., a very heavy sea running, and poor visibility on account of heavy rain, the Coxswain at Hythe received information from the Coxswain at Dungeness that a barge (afterwards found to be the Marie May, of Rochester, with three men on board) had parted her moorings and was drifting to leeward. In the absence of the Hythe Honorary Secretary, the Coxswain took charge, and kept a lookout.

One and a half hours later he sawa light about four miles to windward of his Station. The gale by this time had risen to a hurricane. He assembled the Crew and stood by. Shortly afternine o'clock he called up the Dungeness Coxswain, Dungeness being the weather boat, and reported a barge burning red flares about a mile off Dymchurch.

The Dungeness boat was then launched, but only with the greatest difficulty.Several times she was on the point of being driven broadside on to the surf, but was saved by the launchers going out into the undertow. The Life-boat got away at 10.30, and went in the direction given by the Hythe Coxswain, but she found nothing. She then went seaward again, and signalled the Trinity Pilot Boat. Following the information given, the Life-boat was taken right intothe shoal water, and here the Coxswain searched for the barge as well as he could in the blinding rain. The search was fruitless, and, as he got no response to his signals either from ashore or afloat, he decided to anchor. It was then one o'clock in the morning. For four hours the boat remained at anchor, communication with the shore being impossible owing to the heavy rain and driving spray. The wind having veered to N.W. and then moderated a little, the Coxswain decided to weigh anchor and continue his search, eventually discovering the barge at daybreak, only to find that its crew had already been taken off by the Hythe Boat. The Life-boat returned to her Station at 9.30 in the morning, having then been out on service for eleven hours.

Meanwhile, the Coxswain at Hythe had continued his look-out, and when, four hours after he had received notice that Dungeness had launched, he could still see the flares, but there was no sign of the Dungeness boat, he decided to launch the Hythe boat. She got away at 3 in the morning, and two hours later found the barge, about two miles west of the Station, in. broken water, only a quarter of a mile from the shore. The Life-boat was manoeuvred alongside and got a veering line on board. By this means the three men were rescued. By that time the barge had 18 inches of water in her, her crew were utterly exhausted, and they had burned all their spare clothing and bedding, and whatever else would burn as flares. The Life-boat reached her Station again at 6.45 in the morning.

She had been out nearly four hours.

The gallantry and perseverence shown in this difficult and dangerous service, in what the Honorary Secretary at Dungeness reported to be one of the worst gales he had ever known, were all the greater since both the Life-boats were Pulling and Sailing Boats.

The Institution awarded Coxswain Harry A. Griggs, jun., of Hythe (a son of the ex-Coxswain), its Silver Medal, in recognition of his skill and gallantry in the actual work of rescue. He had also shown excellent judgment throughout, from the momentwhen the first message arrived. To each member of the Crew the Institution awarded its Thanks inscribed on Vellum, and an additional monetary reward. It also awarded its Bronze Medal to Coxswain Douglas Oilier of Dungeness, in recognition of the way in which the Life-boat was launched in the face of a terrific gale, and the dogged courage with which he held the seas until he found the barge. To each member of the Crew, it awarded its Thanks inscribed on Vellum, and an additional monetary reward..