AT twelve minutes to six on the evening of the 23rd of April, 1947, the life-boat station at The Mumbles, Glamorganshire, received a message from the coastguard that Burnham Radio had picked up a call from the British steamship Samtampa, "Rapidly drifting towards Nash Shoal." The shoal is on the other side of Swansea Bay, twelve miles to the south-east of The Mumbles. In answer to the honorary secretary of the station, the coastguard said that he thought the steamer to be in grave danger. The life-boat crew were summoned and at ten minutes past six the motor life-boat Edward, Prince of Wales, was launched.

The weather at The Mumbles, though severe, was not exceptional. A gale was blowing from the south-west with a rough sea, and the tide was at half flood. But on the other side of Swansea Bay, where the Samtampa was, both the coastguard at Porthcawl and the Air Ministry reported later that the gale •was blowing at hurricane force, over sixty-five miles an hour.

Ten minutes after the life-boat had gone another message came from the coastguard. The Samtampa had wirelessed: "Have both hooks down and hope to keep off shoal, but doubtful." At the same time the Burnham Radio gave the steamer's position as 2 miles west-north-west from Porthcawl Light.

At 6.30 the coastguard at The Mumbles attempted to flash this new position by Morse lamp to the life-boat, but she had no signalman on board and put back to get the message by word of mouth. The position was shouted to the coxswain as the life-boat lay off the slipway, and she turned seawards again.1 It was now ten minutes past seven. She could be seen for about three miles, travelling south-eastward. Then she was lost to sight, and nothing more was seen of her until dawn next morning, nearly eleven hours later.

Attempt at Rescue by the L.S.A.

Meanwhile the Samtampa (an American- built steamer of just over 7,000 tons, registered in London, belonging to the Holder Line, and on her way to Newport in ballast), had struck on Sker Point about seven o'clock. In an hour she had broken up. Men could be seen on her, and the coastguard called out the rocket life-saving apparatus. Three rockets were fired, the first about quarter-past eight, but all fell short and the district officer of coastguard described the third as i As a result of the life-boat putting back to get this message, a story was widely circulated, next day that she bad returned from the wreck and been ordered out again. In this story there was no truth.

" seeming to stand still in the air before it was blown back." Even had a rocket reached the wreck, and the; breeches buoy been fixed, it would, he thought, have been impossible to haul.

any of her crew ashore alive. No more could be done until two o'clock next morning, when the tide had fallen and a police officer was able to cross the rocks and go on board the after part of the steamer. He searched it, but found no one. The whole crew of 41 men had been drowned.

The Life-boat Found at Dawn All night long there was anxious lookout, by coastguard and police, for the life-boat, and at quarter-past five next had cuts about the head, probably caused by the rocks. They were all found with their life-belts on and properly fixed. Three of them were on the rocks close to the life-boat.

The other five had been carried up the coast and were found on a sandy beach beyond Sker Point.

What had happened during the night and how and when the life-boat li:id capsized can never be certainly known, but from the careful investigation which was carried out by the Deputy Chief Inspector, the Western District Inspector, the Surveyor of Life-boats and the District Engineer, the facts can be established with only a little less than certainty.

SWANSEA BAY Chart showing the Mumbles Life-boat Station and the wreck of tlie Samtampa.

morning, as nothing had been seen or heard of her, the honorary secretary telephoned to the Chief Inspector of Life-boats in London. He in turn telephoned to the Deputy Chief Inspector and the Western District, Inspector, who were inspecting stations in the Isle of Man, to go at once to The Mumbles.

Daybreak next morning was about six o?clock, and as soon as it was light a police inspector saw the life-boat bottom up on the rocks of Sker Point.

During the day the eight bodies of the crew were found. Most of them were smothered in fuel oil, and three of them On a Plateau of Rock That part of Sker Point where the lifeboat was found is a plateau of rock, with many high jagged points and huge loose boulders lying on it. On the seaward side it drops abruptly to a small boulder-strewn beach 25 feet below. On the landward side of it is a line of sand-dunes and behind them grassland. From the seaward edge of the plateau to the sand-dunes is about 120 yards. Except in very bad weather, combined with an abnormally high spring tide, the sea does not rise over the plateau.

The Samtampa was found broken in three parts. One part was in the .sea below the rocks. The other two had been flung right on top of them.

The life-boat herself lay 60 yards from the plateau's seaward edge, and was 480 yards south-east of the two parts of the Samtampa. High tide on the night of the disaster was about ten o'clock.

It was an abnormally high tide, and as the life-boat was found high and dry it was probably about high tide when she was flung ashore.

A Mile of Oil and Wreckage For a distance of about a mile the coast was coated with black fuel-oil and thickly littered with all sorts of wreckage. The track of the life-boat across the plateau of rock, could be clearly seen. It was marked by rubbings of white paint on the higher rocks, by pieces of mahogany and rock elm from the deck caught in the fissures of the rocks, and by .a trail of things torn out of her—trie capstanhead, part of the capstan's bedplate, two hatches from the engine-room, the jib downhaul bull's-eye, a bolt end, a nut, and a brass screw.

The damage to the inside of the boat was very severe. The mast had been broken off two feet above the pin which held it in its tabernacle. The tabernacle itself had been torn clean out of the boat and was lying a little way from her. Near it was the anchor in a tangle of rigging. Almost everything above deck had been torn away—the forward end-box and the canopy-over the engine-room, the gunwhales and the topsides, cleats and bollards, even parts of the deck itself, and some of the aircases vmder the deck. But the outside of the boat was undamaged. The bottom of the rudder and the propeller showed no mark. From keel to fender on either side there was not even a scratch on the paint.

Engines in Working Order It was the same with the engines.

There was ample petrol in the tank.

The controls were correctly set, the throttle was at a little over half speed.

Everything showed that when the boat capsized the engines were in good order and were running.

It was clear that sail had not been made, for the rigging was lashed round the mast, and that the anchor had not been used, for had it been it would not have been found tangled in the rigging.

The wreck of the Samtampa was also carefully examined, but there was nothing, such as broken life-boat ropes hanging from her, to show that the life-boat had made contact with her.

It seems, then, almost certain that shortly before high tide at ten o'clock, with her engine running at just over half speed, in the neighbourhood of the Samtampa, the life-boat was suddenly struck by an exceptionally big sea, was turned completely over, and flung her crew into the water. She was then carried bottom upwards on to the plateau of rocks. The evidence of the doctor at the inquest was that the eight men had died of asphyxia from drowning, with head injuries as a contributory cause of death in three cases.

The asphyxia had been hastened by the oil clogging the men's noses and mouths.

The Inquest The inquest was opened at Porthcawl on the 26th of April, and completed on the 6th of May. The Institution was represented by the Deputy Secretary, the Deputy Chief Inspector of Life-boats, and the Honorary Secretary of The Mumbles Station.

The verdict was that the men had been accidentally drowned. Tributes were paid to their gallantry and the court stood in silence for a minute.

The Eight Men The eight men who lost their lives were: William John Gammon, coxswain, aged 46.

William Noel, second coxswain, aged 42.

William Gilbert Davies, motor mechanic, aged 42.

Ernest Griffin, assistant motor mechanic, aged 51.

Willirfm Richard Scourfield Thomas, bowman, aged 48.

William Lewis Howell, aged 32.

William Ronald Thomas, aged 34.

Richard Smith, aged 35.

The Coxswain The coxswain, William John Gammon, had a very distinguished record. He was one of the seven men who during the war won the gold medal of the Institution for conspicuous gallantry.

This was in October, 1944, when he rescued forty-two lives from the Canadian frigate Cheboque- in a fierce gale, by night. He had already won the bronze medal, in January, 1941, when, in order to rescue the crew of a steamer driven ashore, he took his life-boat in the darkness right among the coast defences of steel railway lines driven into the sand beneath the water.

In his seventeen years as an officer of the life-boat he took part in the rescue of 127 lives.

The Funeral The eight men were buried in Oystermouth Cemetery on the 29th of April after a funeral service for seven of the men in All Saints Church, Oystermouth, and a requiem mass for the second coxswain in the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady Star of the Sea. All the shops in Mumbles were closed, and though it was a day of pouring rain thousands of people were at the cemetery, in the churches and along both sides of the two miles of road between All Saints Church and the cemetery.

Each coffin was covered with the house flag of the Institution, and on each, was a wreath in the form of the Institution's crest, with the inscription "In proud and grateful memory from the Committee of Management, officers and staff of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution." The:Institution also sent two larger wreaths, one from the Committee of Management in the form of the Institution's house flag, the other from officers and staff in the form of the Institution's crest. The pallbearers were twelve ex-life-boatmen in the jerseys of the Institution. Among the mourners were life-boatmen from neighbouring stations.

The funeral service at All Saints Church was conducted by Archdeacon Harold S. Williams (Archdeacpii of Gowcr and Chairman of The Mumbles Life-boat Station) and the Rev. W. D.'G.

Wilkinson, Vicar of Oystermouth. The requiem mass was said by Father Harrington'.

At the service in All-Saints, and-at the burial were present the Mayor of Swansea (Alderman H. Davres, J.P.) who is President of the Swansea Branch of the Institution, the Town Clerk, the Borough Treasurer (Mr. H. K.

Greaves, F.S.A.A., F.I.M.T.A..

A.L.A.A.), who is the, Honorary Secretary of the Institution's Swansea Branch, the Chief Constable, the Mayor's secretary, and Mr. G. E. Libby, Councillor for the Oystermouth Ward.

The Institution itself was represented by Admiral of the Fleet the Earl of Cork and Orrery, G.C.B., G.C.V.O., and Captain Guy D. Fanshawe, R.N., members of the Committee of Management, Colonel A. D. Burnett Brown, M.C., T.D., M.A., Secretary of the Institution, Major C. Stewart Watson, R.M., Deputy Secretary of the Institution, Commander T. G. Michelmore, R.D., R.N.R., Deputy Chief Inspector of Life-boats, Lieut.-Colonel V. M.

Lewis, M.C., District Organizing Secretary for Wales, Commander E. W.

Middleton, R.N.V.R., Western District Inspector of Life-boats, and Mr. II. J.

Kluge, Honorary Secretary of The Mumbles Life-boat Station.

On the following Sunday, the 4th of May, a memorial service was held at All Saints Church, at which the address was given by Archdeacon Williams, and the Institution was represented by Commander Henry Strong, R.D., R.N.R., a member of the Committee of Management, and Lieut.-Colonel V. M. Lewis, M.C., District Organizing Secretary for Wales.

The Dependents On the day after the wreck the Deputy Secretary of the Institution went to The Mumbles to visit the families of the men, to provide them with money for any immediate needs, and to arrange for pensions to be paid them, The eight men left dependent on them seven widows, eleven children, a mother and a mother-in-law. The Institution has pensioned them, as from the day of the loss of the life-boat and her crew, on the same scale as if the men had been sailors, soldiers or airmen killed in action. It also paid the funeral expenses. The coxswain and the motor mechanic were full-time paid men. and their wrages were paid up to the 3rd of May.- To the relatives of each of the other men the Institution gave £5 10s., double the rewards which the men would have received had they returned. The total rewards, including the payments to the helpers, were £41 C s. To the widows of seven of the men, and to the mother of the eighth man, the Institution has awarded a certificate " in recognition of his devotion to duty and of the supreme sacrifice which he made." The Mayor of Swansea's Fund To supplement the Institution's pensions the Mayor of Swansea opened a Treasurer of Swansea, as the fund's Honorary Secretary-Treasurer. Among the other members are the Mayor of Swansea, the Mayor of Port Talbot, Sir William Jenkins, representing the Swansea Chamber of Trade, Mr. George Thomas, the president of the Swansea Chamber of Commerce, Councillor Harry Libby, and representatives of the Western Mail, of Cardiff, the South Wales Erening Pout, of Swansea, Lloyds Bank, the Midland Bank and The Mumbles branch of the British Legion.

fund. Contributions came to it from all over the country, and the Institution gave £500. So many were the contributions that the fund was closed on May 10th, less than three weeks after the disaster. It had then reached a total of £50,583. Contributions, however, continued to come in for a long .time afterwards, and the present total is £91,115. A committee was set up to administer the fund, with Alderman Harry Davies, the present Mayor of Swansea, as a permanent member, and Mr. H. K. Greaves, F.I.M.T.A., A.S.A.A., the Borough The Institution is represented by Archdeacon Harold Williams, the Chairman of The Mumbles Life-boat Station, and Mr. H. J. Kluge, its Honorary Secretary.

The actuaries appointed to advise the Committee are Messrs. R.

Watson & Sons, of Reigate. The Committee paid £100 to each of the eight families, and, pending the official submission of a scheme under the Charities Acts, it is now making provisional allowances of £4 a week to each widow with a home to maintain, and £1 a week for each child and each old parent.

Messages of Sympathy The Duchess of Kent, President of the Institution, telegraphed to the honorary secretary of the station asking him to convey her deepest sympathy to the families of all the crew in their terrible loss, and the Right Hon. Alfred Barnes, M.P., Minister of Transport, wrote personally' to the Secretary of the Institution: "I was very shocked and deeply grieved to learn of the tragic loss of the crew of The Mumbles lifeboat in their gallant attempt to save the crew on s.s. Samtampa. Would you please convey my sincerest sympathy to the bereaved relatives and friends of these men who, notwithstanding the known peril of launching their boat in the great storm that was raging last night, did not hesitate but, in the finest tradition of their service, went out to the aid of those who were in distress." Among others who sent messages of sympathy were the Shipping Federation, the Northern Lighthouse Board, the North and South Holland Lifeboat Society, The South Holland Life-boat Society, the Norwegian Lifeboat Society, and the National Lifesaving Association of Iceland.

The Institution also received gifts, amounting to over £500, from people wishing to show their sympathy or to help provide the pensions.

Previous Disasters This is the third accident to a lifeboat at The Mumbles—where the station was established in 1835—with loss of life. In 1883 a pulling and sailing life-boat was flung against the wreck, and then carried on to the rocks. Four of her crew of thirteen were drowned.

In 1903 another pulling and sailing life-boat, returning to Port Talbot, capsized on the bar. Six of her crew of .fourteen were drowned.

The last occasion on which a life-boat was lost with all her crew was on the 15th of November, 1928, when the pulling and sailing life-boat at Rye Harbour, with seventeen men on board, capsized in the surf as she was returning to her station. Since then there have been three capsizes, two at St. Ives in 1938 and 1939, and one at Cullercoats in 1939.

The St. Ives life-boat which capsized in 1938 was the first motor life-boat to capsize. Five of twenty-three men whom she had just rescued were lost, but none of her own crew. In the second capsize at St. Ives seven of the eight men were lost, and at Cullercoats.

six of the ten on board.

In the eighteen years, five months, and seven days from the day after the disaster at Rye, up to and including the wreck at The Mumbles, life-boatshave been out on service 8,840 times, and have rescued 11,423 lives. In those services over 70,000 life-boatmen took parft Of those 8,840 life-boats, at sea in every sort of weather, three have capsized. Of those 70,000 men 21 have lost their lives through the capsizing of their boats -1 In the same time 16 other life-boatmen have lost their lives in other ways.

The End of The Mumbles Life-boat The work of salving The Mumbles, life-boat would have been very difficult and very costly. It was not attempted,, but the propeller, the coolers, petrol tanks and some pipes and miscellaneous fittings were removed. Then, on the 21st of May, the National Fire Service at Porthcawl, after placing about twotons of dunnage from the beach under the boat, and soaking it in paraffin, set the pile alight with incendiarybombs.

In two and a half hours the boat was consumed.

The Institution's Thanks Among the many who gave the Institution their help, in all the enquiries, and arrangements to be made, it isgrateful to Alderman Harry Davies, the Mayor of Swansea, Archdeacon Harold Williams, the Chairman of The Mumbles Life-boat Station, Mr, H. J. Kluge, the Honorary Secretary of the Station, and the Station's Committee, Councillor Harry Libby, Mr.

H. K. Greaves, F.I.M.T.A., A.S.A.A., the Treasurer of the Borough of Swansea and Honorary Secretary of the Swansea Branch of the Institution, the Fire Force Commander and the officers and men of the National Fire Service of Swansea, the Chief Constables i The life-boat at Cullercoats did not capsize in one of these , i 0 services, bat while on exercise.

It seems right, howe. er, to include in the total of 21 men lost, the six Cxulercoats men.

of the Glamorganshire County Constabulary and the Swansea Borough Police and their officers and men, and the officers and men of H.M. Coastguard.

The Watson Type The Edward, Prince of Wales, was of the Watson type and was built in 1924. She was 45 feet long by 12 feet 6 inches wide and had a six cylinder 80 h.p. petrol engine, giving her a speed of 8J knots. She was equipped with an electric searchlight and a line-throwing gun, but, being an open boat with no cabin, she had no wireless. Although of comparatively old design, she was one of the finest sea boats in the fleet, equal in that respect to any of the more modern boats of the Watson type, with their higher free-board, cabin, twin-engines and two propellers.

The first of the Watson boats was a pulling and sailing life-boat, designed in 1888. In the sixty years since then many modifications and additions have been made, and the modern Watson motor life-boat is larger, heavier and much more powerful than that first boat, but in essentials of the design, and in the quality of seaworthiness, there is little difference between the first and last boats of the type. At the present time 86 of the Institution's fleet of 154 motor life-boats are of this type and in the sixty years there have been altogether about 150 of these boats. They have been out on service hundreds of times, and they have rescued hundreds of lives. This is the first time that one of them has capsized.

A New Boat for The Mumbles A new boat for The Mumbles was ordered in 1942—a Watson cabin boat 46 feet 9 inches by 12 feet 9 inches, with two 40 h.p. diesel engines—• but owing to the delays in building caused by the war she could not be laid down until the end of 1945. She arrived at her station on the 28th of July. Meanwhile another Watson boat, from the reserve fleet, had arrived there on the 6th of June. A new crew had already been enrolled, all of them men of The Mumbles. Eight weeks after the wreck of the Edward, Prince of Wales, the station was open again, ready for service, with the reserve boat and the new crew..