Medals Won by English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh Life-boatmen.

THE winter of 1935-6 will be remem- bered for the frequency and severity of its gales, for the heavy loss of life and shipping which they caused at sea, and for the great damage which they did on land.

Although these gales did not equal either in severity or frequency the gales of the winter of 1929-30, which were the worst of the present century, the past winter has been the busiest for the life-boat service for twenty years.

During the seven months from the beginning of September, 1935, to the end of March, 1936, there were 303 launches of life-boats to vessels in distress. That is the largest number of launches during those months since the second winter of the Great War, 1915-16, when the ordinary perils of the sea were increased by the perils of war, and there were 346 launches on service.

During those same seven months of 1935-6 the Institution gave rewards for the rescue of 437 lives—over two lives a day.

Ireland and Wales.

The winter of 1935-6 has been notable, also, for its services of special gallantry. There were seven services for which medals were awarded, two English, three Scottish, one Irish and one Welsh, and the number of medals awarded was twenty.

The outstanding service of the winter was the service by the Ballycotton motor life-boat Mary Stanford to the Daunt Rock lightship on llth Febru- ary to 14th, of which a full account will be found on page 58. It was one of the most exhausting and gallant in the history of the Institution, and Coxswain Patrick Sliney won the gold medal given only for conspicuous gallantry.

The last time that a gold medal was won on the Irish coast was in 1911, and a gold medal was won at Bally- cotton in 1829.

Second Coxswain John L. Walsh and Motor Mechanic Thomas Sliney (the coxswain's brother) won the silver medal, and the four members of the crew, one of them Coxswain Sliney's son, each won the bronze medal.

The next of the seven services was Welsh, the service by the Barry Dock, Glamorganshire, motor life-boat Prince David, to the French schooner Goeland on 17th September, 1935. This service was described in the issue of The Life-boat for last December. It was the finest service in 1935. Mr. A. C.

Jones, the honorary secretary of the station, who took command in the absence of the coxswain, won the silver medal, and each member of his crew the bronze medal.

England and Scotland.

In the other five services, two English and three Scottish, the bronze medal was in each case awarded to the coxswain. Coxswain William Mogridge, of Torbay, Devon, won it for the service to the French trawler Satanicle on 30th December, 1935 ; Coxswain Frank Blewett, of Penlee, Cornwall, for the service to the steamer Taycraig, on 27th January, 1936 ; Coxswain Thomas Sinclair, of Aberdeen, for the service to the trawler George Stroud on Christ- mas Day, 1935; Coxswain William Dass, of Longhope, Orkneys, for the service to the French trawler Neptunia on 21st February, 1936; Coxswain James Sim, of Fraserburgh, Aberdeen- shire, for the service to the trawler Evergreen on 18th January, 1936.

Coxswain Sim won the silver medal twenty-four years ago for an act of great personal gallantry when, as second coxswain, he went overboard from the life-boat with a line to the help of a trawler's crew, wrecked on the rocks, who could not be reached in any other way.

Of the twenty medals, one gold, two silver and four bronze were won by Irish life-boatmen; one silver and seven bronze by Welsh; three bronze by Scottish and two bronze by English.

iThe Torbay, Penlee, Aberdeen, and Fraserburgh Services were fully described in the issue of The Lifeboat for December, 1935. An account of the Longhope service will be published In the next Issue..