JUST before 10 o'clock on the night of the 18th January last, the Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Coxswain received a telephone message from the Coast- guard that a vessel was ashore on St-otstown Head, three-and-a-quarter miles north of Peterhead. She was the trawler Struan, of Aberdeen, with nine men on board. The night was very dark and extremely cold. There was a thick haze. A moderate westerly wind was blowing, and a very heavy easterly sea was running. The Motor Life-boat Duke of Connaught, was launched twelve minutes after the news had been received. As it was likely to be a difficult service the Coxswain took two extra men, making a crew of eleven in all.

Shortly after the Life-boat left Peterhead, one of the crew slipped and damaged the light connexions. Both the navigation and compass lights went out at once, and the searchlight was put out of action. With the excep- tion of a small hand signalling lamp the Life-boat was now in complete darkness.

She reached Scotstown Head at 10.40.

The wreck was showing no lights, as they had all been extinguished by the seas, but the Coxswain was able to get an idea of her position from the lights of the Life-saving Apparatus, which was trying to reach her from the shore.

She had run aground on the north side of an outlying reef which extends for half-a-mile from the shore. The tide being low, the Life-saving Apparatus had been able to get out for about five hundred yards among the rocks, but it was still three hundred yards from the wreck which was beyond the range of its rockets.

The First of Three Attempts.

The Coxswain studied the position very carefully. The moderate westerly wind which was blowing was offshore, but the heavy easterly sea was onshore, and the seas were estimated by the Life-boat's crew to be running ten feet high. They were breaking over the wreck as she lay on her side on the rocks. It was impossible for the Life- boat to get under her lee, as on that side there was hardly any water, so the Coxswain anchored about one hundred yards from her, to the north-east, or weather-side, just outside the broken water, and veered down. As she got near the wreck the Life-boat was caught by a strong tide and swept away to the northwards. The first attempt had failed.

It was now low tide. The trawler could be seen with her starboard gun- wale under water. She appeared to be badly holed and water-logged. The seas breaking over her starboard quarter were sweeping along her whole length, and her crew could be seen clinging to the bridge and on top of the wheel- house, calling for help.

The Coxswain knew that there was no hope of rescuing the trawler's crew from the shore. He judged it to be impossible to rescue them by means of the breeches buoy as, owing to the excessive yawing of the Life-boat in the heavy seas and the strong tide, the lines would prob ibly h ive parted under the strain. If he waited, the rising tide would sweep them away, and they would be drowned. He decided that, what- ever the risk to the Life-boat and her crew, he must get alongside the wreck.

He veered out more cable and went ahead with his engine.

The Coxswain Washed Overboard.

At one stage of this manoeuvre the Life-boat was broadside on to the seas, and a very heavy sea broke aboard her.

It completely filled her after-part and the canopy above the engine. It flung the Motor Mechanic, almost senseless, into the fore end of the canopy. It knocked the Coxswain away from the wheel and actually washed him over- board, but he seized the guard rope and was hauled aboard again. The one remaining lamp was put out of action.

The second attempt had failed.

A third attempt was made at once.

This time the manoeuvre was success- ful. The Life-boat got alongside. She was in very grave danger of being washed aboard the wreck. The greatest care had to be taken to keep her clear.

She was, in fact, slightly damaged by falling on the gunwale. She was in grave danger also of striking the bottom.

At times she can have had no more than a foot of water under her keel.

The Coxswain-kept her in position close to the wreck by working the engine, and six of the trawler's crew jumped into her. A seventh jumped, missed, fell into the sea, and was hauled aboard. There were still two men in the trawler, when the Life- boat was in danger of being struck by a very heavy sea. The Coxswain shot ahead on his engine to avoid it. The Life-boat escaped the sea, but struck the after-gallows of the trawler with terrific force. The gallows flung her back, and this undoubtedly saved the boat and all aboard her from being smashed on the wreck.

The Coxswain then set about the rescue of the remaining two men. The tide was rising; the sea was increasing.

This added to his difficulties, but with seas repeatedly breaking on board her, the Life-boat made ten more attempts to get alongside. They all failed.

The Coxswain then had two veering lines thrown on board the wreck. The two men fastened the ends round themselves, jumped into the sea and were hauled aboard the Life-boat. It had taken an hour-and-a-half to rescue the nine men.

The Life-boat weighed anchor and made for Peterhead. There she arrived at one in the morning, repeatedly cheered by a large crowd, which was waiting anxiously for her, for in getting near Scotstown Head at all that night, she had done what those who knew the coast believed to be impossible.' The master of the wrecked trawler held the same view. He thought that had it been daylight, and the Coxswain could have seen what was before him, he would not have made the attempt. He believed too, that when he and his crew were rescued they had little longer to live. They could only have clung on for a very short time before being swept away.

The Awards.

That this desperate attempt suc- ceeded was due to the conspicuous courage, and determination of the Coxswain and his magnificent seaman- ship, supported, as he was, by the courage and skill of the crew, and in particular by the closest understanding between him and the Motor Mechanic, who almost anticipated his orders in the hazardous manoeuvring of the Life-boat. The Committee of Manage- ment have made the following awards : To COXSWAIN H. J. STEACHAN, the Silver Medal of the Institution, accom- panied by a Vellum, signed by H.R.H.

the Prince of Wales, K.G., President of the Institution.

To DAVID F. WISEMAN, MOTOR MECHANIC, the Bronze Medal of the Institution, accompanied by a Vellum, signed by the Prince of Wales.

To each of the other nine members of the Crew, the Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum.

To each man on board an extra money award of £3, making, with the ordinary award of £l 17s. 6d. for a night service in winter, a money award of £4 17*. 6d. The total awards for the service were £52 17s. 6d..