Second Coxswain William Mowat, of Longhope, and Mr. Edward Bensley, of Gorleston.

Two life-boatmen died last October, each of whom had the remarkable record of fifty-three years' service in the life-boat. One was Second Coxswain William Mowat, of Longhope, in the Orkneys, and the other Mr. Edward Philip Newson Bensley, of Gorleston, Norfolk.

Second Coxswain W. Mowat, who died at the age of seventy-three, began his career as a life-boatman at the age of sixteen. He was a member of the Longhope crew for twenty-five years, and was then appointed second cox- swain. As second coxswain he served for twenty-eight years, retiring in 1930 at the age of sixty-nine. During his fifty-three years of service the Longhope life-boats rescued 107 lives. The prin- cipal service in which he took part was the rescue on 5th January, 1930, of the crew of the trawler Braconmoor. A gale was blowing, and the men were rescued in the middle of the night with the trawler lying close to rocks and from time to time completely smothered in the heavy surf. For that dangerous service the coxswain was awarded the silver medal and Second Coxswain Mowat and each member of the crew the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum.

Mr. Edward Bensley, of Gorleston.

Mr. Edward Bensley died at the age of seventy-six. During his fifty-three years as a member of the crew the Gorleston life-boats rescued 940 lives.

His outstanding service was on the night of 29th March, 1916, when the famous pulling and sailing life-boat Mark Lane went out to the help of the schooner Dart, of Jersey. A gale of exceptional violence was blowing, with a very heavy sea. It was a night of severe frost and thick snow. The Dart had sunk. Only her masts were above water. Her crew of four men had lashed themselves in the rigging, two on the mainmast and two on the foremast.

The coxswain anchored, and veering down, got close to the wreck, but the four men—one of them over eighty-one years of age—had been exposed to the bitter cold and driving sleet for twelve hours ; they were, by now, scarcely conscious, and unable to do anything to help themselves. Edward Bensley jumped into the main rigging, untied the two men there and, helpless though they were, got them into the life-boat.

She was then manoeuvred close to the foremast. Bensley again got into the rigging and, with the help of another life-boatman, untied and rescued the other two men. For this act of per- sonal gallantry he was awarded the Institution's silver medal. He also won the vellum of the Royal Humane Society, in 1892, for saving three persons in danger of drowning. In December, 1933, he was awarded a life-boatman's certificate of service by the Institution..