A Twelve Hours' Service in a Whole Gale.

AT 8.25 in the evening of 13th January a wireless message was received by the Coastguard at Portpatrick, Wigtown- shire, that a vessel was showing signals of distress off the Mull of Galloway, four and a half miles south-west of the Mull Light. Twenty minutes later the Motor Life-boat J. and W. put out. A whole gale was blowing from the west, with a very heavy sea, which was run- ning right into Portpatrick Harbour, and the night was bitterly cold. At no time is Portpatrick an easy harbour in bad weather, for the entrance is only 47 yards wide. On this particular night it was very treacherous with the sea running right in. Indeed, so likely did it seem that the Life-boat would not be able to get away that the District Officer of Coastguard sent the message across to Bangor in Northern Ireland, and the Donaghadee Motor Life-boat was also called out.

The "Camlough's" Ordeal.

The Coxswain, however, took out the Portpatrick Life-boat without hesita- tion, and got her safely clear of the harbour. That in itself was a very fine feat. Two hours and twenty minutes later the Life-boat found the vessel, the Camlough, a 520-ton steamer, of Belfast, with the s.s. Moyalla standing by. It was then just after eleven at night. The Camlough had left Belfast on the morn- ing of the previous day on her way to Birkenhead. Off the Isle of Man she had developed engine trouble, and the captain had decided to return to Belfast.

The weather was then calm, and by the following morning, the 13th, the Cam- lough was 'fourteen miles off the Irish coast.

Then it came on to blow a gale, and the Camlough was steadily driven back towards the Wigtownshire coast. For six hours she was knocked about the ;ea, helpless in the gale. At last the Moyalla was sighted, answered her signals of distress, and took her in tow.

This was at 11.30 on the morning of the 13th. When the Portpatrick Life-boat arrived, nearly twelve hours later, the Moyalla was making a seventh attempt to take the Camlough in tow. Six times the tow had parted. By the light of the Life-boat's searchlight the tow was made fast. It was the Moyalla's last rope, and the Coxswain signalled that he would stand by until the two steamers were in safe waters.

Half an hour after midnight the Donaghadee Motor Life-boat, William and Laura., which had been launched ten minutes after Portpatrick, arrived.

She also stood by, but after half an hour, her Coxswain, seeing that the services of a second Life-boat were not needed, returned to his Station.

The Seventh Tow Parts.

For five hours the tow held, while the Moyalla made for the comparative safety of Luce Bay. Then, for the seventh time, the tow parted. The Camlough dropped both anchors, but they would not hold, and she was quickly carried towards the rocks.

The Life-boat at once ran in. It was impossible to get under the Cam- lough's lee, owing to the rocks, so the Coxswain anchored and then dropped down, stern first, to the weather side. A line was fired from the Life-boat across the Camlough, and by means of a heavier rope the Life-boat was then hauled near enough to her for the steamer's crew to jump aboard with the help of the line. Three of them, got safely into the Life-boat.

As the third swung himself down, the Life-boat rose on a sea ; the rope went suddenly slack ; the man lost his grip and fell into the sea between the steamer and the Life-boat, where he was in danger of being crushed between the two. At grave risk to himself of being crushed also, the Coxswain leant over, and, with the help of the Crew, dragged the man aboard unhurt. The remaining four men of the Camlough's crew of eight were then rescued, and the Life-boat drew clear. She had been alongside for fifty minutes, and so skilfully had she been handled that she had not even scratched her paint.

She made for home at full speed against very heavy seas, and reached Portpatrick at 8.30 in the morning. She had been out for nearly twelve hours, and had travelled about seventy miles.

It was a service carried out with great skill and courage on the part of the Coxswain—who had been at the wheel the whole time—in waters very dan- gerous in a gale, for the Life-boat was working in the worst of the tide rip where the Solway and North Channel tides meet. Coxswain John Campbell has, therefore, been awarded the Institu- tion's Bronze Medal, and he and each member of the Crew has been awarded £1 more than the usual awards under the Institution's scale. The total awards amount to £27 16s. It is note- worthy that Portpatrick has an un- usually young Crew. Coxswain Camp- bell is thirty years' old, and the average age of the Crew is just over thirty-two years.

Additional awards of £1 each were also made to the Coxswain and Crew of Donaghadee, who were out for over eleven hours. The total awards to Donaghadee amount to £28 9s..