Lerwick, Shetlands.—At 2.10 P.M.

** on the 20th October, 1939, a message was received from the senior naval officer that the s.s. Sea Venture had been sunk by enemy action fifteen to twenty miles east of Flugga, and that the crew were in the ship's boat. A light S.W. wind was blowing. The sea was smooth. The motor life-boat Lady Jane and Martha Ryland was launched at 2.35 P.M. and went to the position given. She flashed her signal lamp and an answering red flare was seen, but no further signal. The life-boat continued to search until midnight. She then went into Balta Sound. At daybreak she searched to the north and east of Flugga and when fifteen miles from the lighthouse received a message that the crew of the steamer had landed on the beach at the Island of Skaw. The lifeboat went there, took them on board, and landed them at Lerwick. She found that the men had made no further signals, as they had thought that the life-boat, whose engines they heard, was a submarine. The life-boat returned to her station at 5.35 A.M. the next morning. She had been away for twenty-seven hours.—Rewards, £30 13*..