Troon, Ayrshire.—Early on the 21st of February, 1949, H.M.S. Puncher, a naval landing ship with a crew of eighteen, left Troon for Port Glasgow, in tow of two tugs. A south-westerly gale got up, with a very heavy sea, and the Puncher snapped her towing cables and went ashore one and a half miles north of Irvine Harbour. At 1.10 the Troon pilots reported the accident, and at 1.35 the life-boat Sir David Richmond of Glasgow was launched, only to learn from the Clyde pilot who was in charge that there was no immediate danger and that the crew were remaining on board. After offering to take the men off at high water, if necessary, the life- boat returned to her station, which she reached at four o'clock in the after- noon. Arrangements were then made with the tug captain that the life-boat should go out again in the morning.

She left at 4.25 with the tug Chieftain and at 5.15 they met the tug Forager.

They all stood by until daybreak, when it was decided that in the high seas running it would be impossible to make communication between the tugs and the Puncher. The Puncher's crew re- fused to abandon her, and the tugs and the life-boat returned to Troon, the life-boat arriving at 8.45.

An attempt to get the Puncher off was to be made the following morning, the 23rd, and the life-boat put out for the third time at 6.45. This time it was possible, with the line-throwing gun, to throw a line aboard the Puncher and with some difficulty a wire rope was made fast, but the efforts of the tugs to move her on the high tide failed, and they returned to Troon. The Puncher's crew again declined to leave and the life-boat got back to her station, at 11.10. Another attempt was made on the 24th, by the tugs alone, but the tow parted and the effort failed. On the 25th the life-boat was asked to try and get another rope aboard before high water at 11.22 at night, but the risk was too great on account of the gale, heavy seas, and anti-invasion obstructions. Next morning, the 26th, the life-boat left at half past seven on her fourth and final trip, in a •west-north-west gale, •with very rough seas. She again got a line to the Puncher with her line-throwing gun, the tugs made fast, and at high water, shortly before midday, the Puncher began to move. The tugs then started to tow her, stern first, to Port Glas- gow, the life-boat going as escort as far as the Cumbraes. In an excep- tionally heavy squall the tow parted, but by skilful seamanship the tug Chieftain got the Puncher in tow again, and, when the tugs reported they could manage her, the life-boat put into Millport at 5.40 in the afternoon as her crew had had nothing to eat since early morning. She left Millport at 6.20,reached her station at 8.50 and was ready for service again by half past nine that night.—Rewards: first service, £9 7s.; second service, £12 19*.; third service, £12 19s.; fourth service, £31 8s..