ON the 8th of August of last year the Shoreham Harbour Life-boat went out in a strong south-westerly gale to a yacht which could be seen three miles out at sea, and pursued her for twelve miles along the coast as she drove before the gale. At Newhaven the yacht made a desperate attempt to enter the harbour, but as she gybed the seas washed right over her, and she drifted past the harbour entrance into shallow broken water. There the life- boat followed her and- rescued her crew.

A full account of the rescue was pub- lished in The Life-boat for October of last year. Another account, written by one of the rescued—the "Geoffrey" of the account—was published last spring in Graya, a magazine for circula- tion among members of Grays Inn.

It is reproduced in The Life-boat by kind permission of the author and the editor of Graya.

A Crew of Six The yacht was the eighteen-ton cutter Gull, of Southampton. There were six on board her, the owner and a friend, both members of Gray's Inn, the owner's son and daughter, the friend's son and a girl friend of the daughter.

At eight in the morning of the 7th of August, the Gull sailed from St.

Peter Port, Guernsey, for Southampton, with the promise of a light to moderate wind from south to south-east and a .sea calm to slight. All went well during the day. It was after tea that the first warnings came.

"George and David went below to hear the six o'clock weather forecast and they were soon on deck again with the announcement 'Gale warning— Portsmouth area.' . Down came the topsail and we luffed up into the wind to take a double reef in the mainsail.

This having been done we turned on to our course again and awaited events with every confidence. We had a fine boat and did not doubt its ability to weather any storm which we were likely to encounter.

" We soon ran into a lot of heavy rain squalls, but the wind remained moderate south-east and we continued to make steady progress. It was about dusk when we decided that it was nearly time that we should see the St. Cather- ine light, which has a visibility of fifteen miles. It seemed rather a long time coming into view, but it was not yet really dark and perhaps we were a little impatient after having done forty miles on a dead reckoning course.

We were all right, however. A flash every five seconds on our port bow— that was St. Catherine's and, as we kept our course, gradually the dark outline of the Isle of Wight, the lights of Ventnor and the red glow of Portsmouth behind on the mainland came into view.

We were, of course, still many miles out, but visibility in between the rain squalls was at that time good. As full darkness descended, however, many things began to happen. The wind in- creased in force and the sea became very rough. The staysail was taken down.

GWfcommenced to yaw considerably and it became extremely difficult to steer a steady course and impossible to steer the course desired owing to the danger of gybing with the wind astern. It was unfortunate that the next light to pick up was the Nab, which has a visibility of only five miles. We never saw it.

The waves began to increase in height, making visibility from the deck very poor and things generally were be- ginning to get rather uncomfortable.

George was at the tiller while David went below for a rest. His youthful energies would be needed again later.

The younger members of the crew were also below.

Mainsail Gone "While eyes strained through the darkness and over the wave tops for a glimpse of some light which would remain visible for only those few seconds required to read its code, Gull ploughed her way through heavy seas without any complaint from her timbers, like the good ship she was. Many waves broke right over us, drenching thoseon deck and we noticed how warm the water was. Then all of a sudden Gull was caught unawares by one large wave which, filling her mainsail while she was heeled over to port, ripped the sail from head to foot and left it as a tangle of shreds hanging over the side. The boom swung free and the gaff went heavenwards. Geoffrey called down to David, who had felt the tremendous lurch which Gull gave as the sail took the wave, and he came running up on deck. As far as we could see in the darkness there was a sorry mess aloft about which nothing effective could be done in such a stormy sea. The torn canvas was ripped away and cast over- board as far as possible and there was no option but to run before the wind under the sole remaining jibsail. And so it was that in the dark and stormy night we passed outside the Owers light and round Selsey Bill.

Baling All Night "David had reported when he came on deck that there was a fair amount of water down below and Geoffrey and Jeanne set to work to bale with a bucket on a rope. How long that baling went on nobody knows. Jeanne worked valiantly down below until she fell from exhaustion. Geoffrey worked away with one foot on the companion way, the other foot on the lavatory door handle, and a shoulder firmly wedged over the main hatch combing, until he nearly fell asleep in that posi- tion. Every now and again it was necessary to pull the hatch cover over to prevent one wave putting more water down below than was being baled out. George and David together held the tiller with grim determination.

"Dawn came and found us opposite a part of the coast which in the half light and mist defied all recognition.

Soon, however, we ran swiftly past a buoy which enabled us to recognise our position as approaching Littlehampton.

George calmly assessed our chances.

The storm continued to rage and showed no signs of abating. There was much water down below, and we had no power to steer any course except substantially as the wind dictated.

With young lives aboard George decided " send up distress rockets. As we passed Littlehampton he fired these off. . We had, of course, no means of knowing whether anyone would see them and we had to keep going. We decided that of all the harbours along the coast, Newhaven was the only one which was at all possible and here Richard, who like the girls had uncom- plainingly suffered throughout the night the periodic discomfort of cascades of water pouring in through the cabin lights (even when closed), became alert.

He had been at prep, school at Seaford and knew all about the entrance to Newhaven Harbour. His local know- ledge was very valuable. Our rate of progress under jib sail alone in this heavy sea was the astonishing speed of nine knots. We did not then know that the wind velocity was about seventy miles an hour.

The Attempt to Enter Newhaven "It was about lt).15, therefore, that we came abreast of Newhaven. George, David and Geoffrey were on deck hang- ing on like grim death, for the waves here were forty feet high. The en- trance to the harbour faces east and it was therefore necessary to try to swing Gull at least to a north-west course.

David turned the boat and Geoffrey went forward to ease the jibsail across.

Gull could not manage the new course, however, and she lost her way. Un- broken seas came right over us. Real- ising the dangerous position we were in, George calmly gave the order to those below,' Put on life-belts and come on deck.' With commendable speed Jeanne in her life-belt popped her head out of the main hatch and involun- tarily exclaimed: 'Oh! I didn't know it was like this!' It was indeed an awe-inspiring sight with the grey waves as high as houses.

"At this moment, while Gull was on the crest of a wave, we saw for the first time the life-boat standing about a hun- dred yards away and seemingly far-below us. Help was at hand. We were not alone. An R.A.F. rescue launch skim- med past us and a figure from the cabin window shouted 'Do you want any help?' but before the obvious answer could be made the launch had wisely made for harbour again and the last glimpse of it was rushing down a steephill of water between the breakwater and the pier. Gull broached to again and took another wave over her decks, but those on deck held tight.

The Rescue "Suddenly the life-boat appeared again and with seas streaming over her deck she came sliding down the side of a wave as if she were going to pass right over us. 'Royal National Life- boat Institution. Rosa Woodd and Phyllis Lunn.' Why should one read and remember those words on the hull at that moment ? The life-boat levelled out and bore heavily against our port gunwale and the coxswain called to 'Let's have you!" In a matter of seconds and to the heartening shouts of the life-boat crew Janet, Jeanne and Richard were tumbled aboard the life- boat. 'Will you give us a tow?' shouted George. 'No! Leave your boat' replied the coxswain. ' Come on, Geoffrey!' called George, as he and David were grabbed by the life-boatmen.

Geoffrey who was still on the fore-deck, ready for a line, ran round the rigging to where the life-boat lay alongside.

But in that brief second the waves parted the two boats and the life-boat disappeared from sight. Of course it would have been a miracle if all six had been taken off in one go. But there was never any question that the lifeboat would come back. The great thing was to hang on. Over the wave top came the life-boat again, this time on the starboard and seaward side, and as soon as it was within reach Geoffrey gripped the chain safety rail.

The boats immediately parted again and Geoffrey was safe—hanging down outside the life-boat. 'Gra4 him!' shouted the coxswain and Geoffrey was seized by all parts of his anatomy and with heaves and grunts hauled over the rail and into the life-boat. A quick count verified that all six were rescued.

Richard was thrilled as only a school- boy could be, first to have been rescued by a life-boat and then to see all the 'works.' There was two-way radio- telephone communication with , the shore and a running commentary of the rescue was being passed back. We learnt that we were on the Shoreham Harbour life-boat which had been chasing us for twelve miles unable to catch us up even with full power and two sails set! Of course, we never saw the life-boat behind us owing to the height of the waves, although she could see our tall mast ahead.

'Have You Anything to Declare' "The life-boat put out a drogue astern and with some difficulty man- aged to enter Newhaven Harbour where after handshakes all round with the crew we were landed to be greeted with welcoming terms known to all sea travellers including the inevitable 'Have you anything to declare?' " George's clerk fortunately lived not far away and a telephone call to him brought speedy assistance. His house was turned upside down to produce towels and four complete sets of mas- culine and two of feminine attire, with other appropriate comforts by way of food and drink. Our spirits were high but we were very tired, although after a meal and a short sleep we soon re- covered. Our main thoughts were of thankfulness that we were all safe and that, incredible as it seemed, no one had suffered any injury or was any the worse for the adventure.

"Later in the day we found our Gutt lying up against the esplanade in Sea- ford Bay, battered and broken. Alas! she would never sail again. We felt it very deeply that our fine boat which had borne us safely through the night, had had to be sacrificed for us.

At the Institution's Annual Meeting "On the 27th October some of us were present when the Duchess of Kent presented the R.N.L.I. silver medal to James • Upperton, coxswain of the Shoreham Harbour life-boat, for his gallantry in effecting our rescue.

Speaking to the coxswain after the ceremony, we fully learnt for the first time his side of the story. His boat had hit the bottom on leaving Shoreham Harbour and it was a grim chase which he and his valiant crew had to catch up with us. At one time he thought that half his crew had been washed over- board and he himself had been washed away from the wheel. He alone knew the full extent of the danger we werein at the moment of our rescue and it was only his quickness of thought and action which enabled him to take us off without courting disaster for his own boat. After our talk with him, he shook us firmly by the hand and said how pleased he was that we had come along to see him receive his award and he hoped to see us all again soon. To which the answering chorus was 'Yes, certainly, but we hope that next time it will be in different circumstances!'.