ON 27th February, 1874, the life-boat St. George, at Stonehaven, Kincardine- shire, was launched in a gale to the help of the barque Grace Darling, of Blyth, which was flying signals of dis- tress. As the life-boat approached her the signals of distress were taken down, for what reason was never known, for the barque sank some miles farther north and fourteen of her crew were drowned, only one man being saved.

Meanwhile the life-boat, unable to return to Stonehaven against the gale, continued her way northwards, and ran for Aberdeen harbour. Crossing the bar, she capsized. Her coxswain and three of her crew were drowned.

The boat herself was smashed beyond repair against the pier.

A fund for the support of the relatives of the men was raised, to which the Royal National Life-boat Institution contributed £250, and a memorial to them was erected in Cowie churchyard.

It was recently brought to the notice of the Institution that the stone was very worn and the inscription had become defaced. As the stone was too soft for repair to be possible, the Institution has replaced it with a new stone, of granite, bearing the same inscription.

This stone, it is hoped, will be a per- manent memorial to these brave life- boatmen..