Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.—At 9.41 in the morning of the 13th of September, 1948, the coastguard telephoned that the sailing barge British Oak, of London, had sunk on the Buxey Sands.

Her two masts could be seen. The motor life-boat Edward Z. Dresden was launched at 10 o'clock, in a strong north-west wind with a heavy swell.

She found the two members of the barge's crew lashed to the mizzen mast.

They were exhausted, for they had been exposed to heavy rain throughout the previous night and had burned clothes soaked in paraffin as a signal of distress, but the bad visibility had prevented the signal from being seen. The life- boat rescued the men and returned to her station at 12.15 that afternoon.— Rewards, £11 3*. 6d..