On the 1st March the s.s.

Commandant Charles Meric, of Bay- onne, ran aground on the Cross Sand while bound from the Tyne to Bordeaux with a cargo of coal. She carried a crew of thirty. There was very little wind, but the sea was very heavy on the sands, and there was a thick fog. She wirelessed for help, the coastguard passed the news to the coxswain, and the motor life-boat John and Mary Meiklam of Gladswood was launched at 4.50 P.M. With some difficulty the life- boat got alongside the steamer, and some life-boatmen were put on board.

Her master thanked them and gave over the command to them to get the vessel off the sands. After much manoeuvring the steamer was refloated on the flood tide, the life-boatmen piloted her clear of the sands, and she went on her way. The coxswain then took his men off and the life-boat returned to her station, arriving there at 10.47 P.M.—Property Salvage Case..