The next call came between 2 A.M.

and 2.30 A.M., when the coxswain received a telephone message that the life-boat was wanted, but at that moment the telephone lines were blown down, and no details could be got. At 2.40 A.M. a steamer was heard making SOS signals on her whistle. The crew of the motor life-boat Hearts of Oak were assembled, and at the same time it was seen that the yachts Viokt, of Southampton, and Grey Gull, of Yarmouth, had gone ashore inside the harbour, near the breakwater.

The boarding boat was found to have been swamped and sunk. She was raised, hauled up, and carried to the weather side of the quay. Five life- boatmen volunteered to man her, and with the aid of lines managed to haul themselves off to the life-boat, a feat needing great skill and courage. They got her under way, turned in the Solent, and came back alongside the quay to pick up the remainder of the crew. The life-boat then went to the help of the two yachts, found two women on board each of them and rescued them. The crew stayed in the life-boat until daybreak, and at 5 A.M. put her at moorings alongside the quay..