Coxswain John William Bushell, of Blyth, who died on 24th September, at the age of 61, was for nearly twenty- four years the coxswain of the Blyth life-boat, and before that had been its second coxswain for two years. He won, by his gallantry, the Institution's silver medal, its thanks inscribed onvellum, and a silver medal and a silver cup from the King of Norway.

The first of these awards was the silver medal from the King of Norway, which he won in November, 1901, the first year of his coxswainship, for the rescue, in a very heavy sea, of seven of the crew of the Norwegian barque Haabet, just before she broke up completely. The Institution's silver medal was awarded to him for his gallantry on 10th December, 1915, when, in a whole gale, he put out with three other men in a shoreboat, as it was impossible to launch the life- boat, and rescued the crew of the steam trawler Naval Prince, which had run ashore. The King of Norway's silver cup and the Institution's thanks on vellum, he won in the following year, 1916, for the service to the Norwegian barque Auder, which had gone ashore on 28th February in a gale. It was not until the fourth attempt that all the crew were saved.

Coxswain Bushell retired in 1923, and was awarded a special gratuity by the Institution..