St. Peter Port, Guernsey. — In the evening of the 7th of August, 1948, a Dutch yacht, the Duenna, an auxiliary ketch, with twin screws, of 140 tons, was anchored outside the harbour.

She had six on board, including her owner-master, a Dutch woman. She was on her way to South Africa. A strong gale was blowing from the south- east, with heavy breaking seas, and at 8.50 the signal station reported to the life-boat station that the yacht's anchor was dragging, but shortly afterwards she was seen to get under way and go north- wards. Only one of her engines, how- ever, was working, and her mizzen blew away. She was unmanageable, struck the Roustel Rock heavily, and was holed. She fired rockets, and at 9.45 the motor life-boat Queen Victoria was called out. The life-boat lies afloat, and the boarding boat in which her crew went out to her was swamped. It was.

not until 10.45 that she got away. She passed the Roustel Rock steering north.

The yacht had now passed the Platte Fougere Light, and when she was a little more than a mile north-east of it she fired her last three rockets. Water had got into the engine-room and the second engine had stopped. The yacht then drifted westwards with the tide.

The life-boat also passed the Platte Fougere Light, and shortly after the yacht's second engine failed and she started to drift to the west, the life- boat must have passed close to her.

But there were heavy rain squalls and the spume was being whipped off the seas. She did not see the yacht, but continued northwards for a while.

Then she turned southwards again until, a quarter of an hour after mid- night, she was once more off the Platte Fougere Light. There the coxswain remained, intending to wait for day- light. At that time the yacht was rather less than two miles north-west of the light,, and about the same dis- tance north of Lancresse Bay, where the Trinity House vessel Patricia was at anchor. The Patricia had had the yacht under observation by radar, and she could now see her lights. At eleven o'clock and again at 12.15 she gave radar bearings on the yacht to the life-boat by radio telephone, but the coxswain does not seem to have accepted the reliability of the informa- tion sent him. At 12.30 the owner of the yacht decided to abandon her, and a dinghy was launched with the six people on board. It made for the lights of the Patricia, but it capsized and broke up at the Braye Rocks. Five on board were drowned. One man cling- ing to a life-buoy, was carried through the rocks.

At two in the morning the honorary secretary of the station sent a message to the coxswain that he could rely on suggestions made by the Patricia and at 2.15 the life-boat left Platte Fougere Light. Under directions from the Pat- ricia, she steered north until she was clear of the Braye Rocks and then turned westwards. Once more she passed the Duenna (whose crew were now drowned though no one knew it) and then turned southwards and went round Guernsey. At 6.40 next morning she was oft St. Martin's Point, two miles south of St. Peter Port, and the honorary secretary instructed her to return to Platte Fougere Light and continue the search there. This she did and picked up the one survivor at 7.30. At nine o'clock she asked permission to return to her station, as the survivor appeared to be badly injured, and arrived at 9.40. She was refuelled, and at 1.45 in the afternoon she went out again with a fresh crew.

The weather had now cleared, but neither the life-boat nor an aeroplane could see any wreckage. The yacht had been seen by the mail boat at 6.15 and shortly .afterwards she had sunk.

She was then once more about a mile north-east of the Platte Fougere Light, for after the message from the Patricia to the life-boat to steer north and then west, the yacht had drifted eastwards again, and when she sank she was close by where her second engine had failed seven hours before. The life-boat re- turned to her station for the second time at 5.15 that evening.—Rewards, First Service, £23 17s.; Second Service, £10 16s..