Pwllheli, Caernarvonshire. — On the night of the 2nd March, 1938, a message was received from the coastguard at Porthdinllaen that a vessel off Criccieth was burning flares. A moderate breeze was blowing, with a moderate sea.

It was not known at first if the vessel was signalling for a pilot, but as she continued to send up flares, it was decided to launch the motor life-boat William Macpherson. She put off at 11.80 P.M., with the district engineer and travelling mechanic on board, and found the motor schooner Solway Lass, of Portmadoc, at anchor about two hundred yards off shore west of Criccieth. She was bound home from Belfast with a part cargo of potatoes, and a crew of three on board. The life-boat found that the skipper and one of the men had been poisoned by exhaust fumes from the engine. The skipper was already dead and the other man unconscious.

This man and the remaining member of the crew were taken into the life-boat, which made for Pwllheli, and landed them at 4 A.M. The life-boat returned to the Solway Lass. She had to stand by for some time, until there was enough water to float the Solway Lass.

Then three of the life-boat crew were put on board and the life-boat towed her, with the skipper's body on board, to Pwllheli. The life-boat returned to her station at 9 A.M.—Property Salvage Case..