ON the evening of the 2nd of Apfil a strong south-westerly wind was blowing at Weymouth. The sea was rough; there was a heavy driving rain; there were dense banks of fog. At a quarter past six the coastguard telephoned to the honorary secretary of the life-boat station, "small craft, apparently a steam tug, in difficulties about one mile west of [Portland] Bill, blowing siren continuously." At 6.35 the lite-boat William and Clara Ryland had slipped her moorings and was moving out of the harbour.

The "small craft", so it was learnt later, was an old dockyard steam tug, H.L.S. 161, of about fifteen tons. She had been bought in Plymouth, and her new owner, with three others, was taking her to London. One of the three was his father, a man of sixty, and another was a boy of seventeen. They were making for Portland, but in West Bay their boilers began to fail, and they lost their way in the rain and fog.

The Search in the Fog Ten minutes after leaving harbour the coxswain received a radio-telephone message from the coastguard that the vessel was now one and a half milesnorth-west of Portland Bill, and was drifting northwards. That is to say, she was drifting towards that famous and dangerous bank of shingle, Chesil Beach. The life-boat went round Port- land Bill, and at 7.50 the coxswain sent a message that he had seen the vessel, but he lost her again at once in the fog.

The district inspector of coastguard with his men, a searchlight and the life-saving rocket apparatus, was on top of the beach. A mile inland was the coastguard station at Wyke Regis, with radio-telephony, and the coast- guard on shore and the life-boat in the bay were able to talk to one another throughout the search. The tug was moving about slowly, but very erratically. She would be seen or heard, by the life-boat or the coast- guard, only to disappear again, and for nearly half an hour the search went on in the fog and the rain.

Found When the life-boat found the tug she was broadside on to that dangerous beach and not more than fifty yards from it. A long swell was coming from the south-west and on top of it a short steep sea which was breaking heavily on the beach; and all knew that very few have ever got ashore alive on that beach in a heavy sea. It was everyone's opinion that if the tug went ashore she would break up in an hour and all on board be lost, and the coastguard signalled with their searchlight to the tug—whose skipper said later that he had intended to beach her—warning her to keep off.

Not a Moment to Spare The tug's boilers were giving so little steam that she could do no more than crawl, and the life-boat coxswain saw that he had found her only just in time, that in a few minutes she would almost certainly strike the beach. He ran the life-boat straight alongside. But the tug's skipper was sick; the others seemed dazed and apathetic. They would not leave the tug. They seemed to think that they could be rescued by the rocket apparatus or walk ashore.

There was no time for argument. If they would not leave the tug the only thing to do was to tow the tug off, and at once a rope was passed on board the tug where there was one man ready to make it fast.

The coxswain at the wheel, the mechanic at his engines the crew with the rope, alj acted with superb skill and speed, and in spite of the heavy breaking seas it was only a few seconds before the life-boatmen had secured a rope from the life-boat's stern to the tug's bow, and the life-boat was towing the tug clear of the surf. It was then 8.20.

About two hours later they reached Weymouth again.

" A Very Gallant Piece of Work " The district inspector of coastguard, who saw the whole rescue from the beach, called it "A very gallant piece of work," and the coxswain said of the motor mechanic, who was without his regular assistant mechanic, that he "performed wonders with his en- gines'," and that "the lives of all on board were in his hands." The Institution has made the fol- lowing awards: To COXSWAIN FREDERICK J. PALMER, the silver medal for gallantry, and a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum and framed. In 1948 he won the bronze medal.

To J. McDERMOTT, the motor mechanic, the bronze medal for gal- lantry, and a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum and framed.

To the coxswain and each member of the crew a special reward of £1 3*.

in addition to the reward on the ordin- ary scale of £l 7s. Additional rewards to coxwain and crew, £9 4*.; scale rewards, £10 8*.; total rewards, £19 12*..