Thurso.

Shortly before 10 P.M. on 18th March the news reached Thurso that a schooner, the Pet, of Chester, had gone ashore on the rocky headland of Brims Ness, five miles away. The night was foggy and very dark, with a heavy ground swell, which made the conditions on shore very bad. Half an hour after launching, the Life-boat picked up the flares of the wreck, anchored to windward, and veered down until about 60 yards away.

Nearer than that the Coxswain felt it unsafe to go, owing to submerged rocks and the remains of an old wreck which lay between the Life-boat and the schooner. By the light of the Lifeboat's searchlight, a line was fired over the wreck from the line-throwing gun.

For the first time on service a night tracer was used, fitted on the projectile which carries the line, in order to show by its sparks the flight of the line. This was very successful. A breeches buoy was then rigged and sent aboard the wreck, and one of the schooner's crew was hauled into the Life-boat. He told the Coxswain that the other three on board were old men, the skipper being seventynine.

They were already exhausted, and he feared that it would kill them to be hauled through the cold water.

On learning this the Coxswain decidedto veer the Life-boat in over the rocks and the remains of the old wreck, and to get under the lee of the schooner.

There was the greatest danger that the Life-boat herself would strike, but she was very coolly and skilfully handled by the Coxswain. By the light of her searchlight he took her safely alongside the schooner, which was rolling and grinding on the rocks. There the Lifeboat lay, rising and falling in the swell.

At times she had no more than a foot of water under her, and the tide was falling. The rescue had to be carried out as quickly as possible, or the Lifeboat herself might have been left on the rocks; but with the wreck rolling, and the Life-boat rising and falling on the swell all the time, it took half an hour to lift the three men off the wreck.

The Life-boat then hove in on her cable, drew clear of the rocks, and reached Thurso again at midnight. By next morning the schooner had started to break up. Had the Life-boat waited for daylight and a rising tide, she would probably have been too late.

For this fine service the Institution awarded its Bronze Medal to Coxswain Angus McPhail, its Thanks Inscribed on Vellum to Second-Coxswain Adam Mc- Leod, and extra monetary award? to them and to each member of the Crew..