THE LIFE-BOAT FLEET 154 Motor Life-boats 1 Harbour Pulling Life-boat LIVES RESCUED from the foundation of the Life-boat Service in 1824 to May 31st, 1950 - 76,899 Twenty-Four Spanish Sailors Rescued A Service by Ilfracombe, Appledore and Clovelly Ox the night of Saturday, the 12th of November, 1949, a full north-westerly gale was blowing on the north coast of Devon. It was the worst sea that had been seen on that coast for years.

That night a Spanish steamer, the Monte Gurugu, of Bilbao, bound from Newport for Genoa, with 5,000 tons of Welsh coal, was making her way down the Bristol Channel. She was labour- ing heavily in the huge seas. They broke off her rudder, she began to founder, and just before five o'clock on the Sunday morning she sent out an SOS call. She was then sinking fast, and her captain wirelessed that he was abandoning ship. At five minutes past five the Hartland Point coastguard rang up the life-boat station at Clovelly, and told the honorary secretary that the Monte Gurugu was in distress between Lundy Island and Hartland Point. The life-boat's crew were called out at once, but it was low water; the gale had piled up a bank of stones across the gap through which the life-boat was launched; and it was two hours before the William and Cantrell Ashley was afloat. Unfor- tunatelv there was some confusion about the position of the Monte Gurugu, and the Clovelly life-boat was sent to search to the south-west of Hartland Point. Then she was directed north- eastwards to Morte Point. She searched for over two hours in that gale, but found nothing, and at 9.30 she was recalled to her station. She arrived back at 10.45.

Two More Life-boats Put Out Meanwhile the Croyde coastguard had telephoned to the Appledore life- boat station at 6.32 that flares had been seen fifteen miles north-east of Hartland Point, that is in the neigh- bourhood of Woolacombe Bay, and ten minutes later the Ilfracombe coastguard had telephoned a similar message to the Ilfracombe life-boat station.

The Appledore life-boat Violet Arm- strong left her moorings thirteen minutes after the message was received. She had a perilous crossing of the bar, in very heavy broken seas, but she came safely through and set her course for Baggy Point and into Woolacombe Bay. Tremendous seas were running. The life-boat searchedoff Woolacombe Bay, and at 8.45 she found a ship's life-boat, badly broken and empty. A quarter of an hour later she picked up a body. She con- tinued her search, and found four more bodies and one man alive. By this time her crew were exhausted by the fight to cross the bar and by the toil of hauling the bodies aboard in such seas. To cross the bar again would have been very dangerous. The coxswain would not attempt it. He made instead for Ilfracombe where the life-boat arrived at 11.45. She had then been out for five hours. It had been a most arduous service.

The Ilfracombe life-boat, Richard Silver Oliver, which had received the message ten minutes after Appledore, was launched at 7.18. The seas were breaking over the pier, and twice before she left the harbour they had filled her to the gunwale. She passed round Bull Point and through the race off Morte Point and into Woolacombe Bay.

Her coxswain kept her close inshore.

His plan was to watch for, and to intercept, anything that was coming towards the shore, before it reached the breakers. If he saw nothing then he would move out to sea. It was a bold plan, possible only for a fisher- man who knew every rock on the coast.

Something Ahead It was also a most fortunate plan, for just before nine o'clock one of the life-boat's look-outs called out "some- thing ahead " only about twenty yards from the breakers. The life-boat made for it. That "something" was one of the Monte Gurugu's boats. As the life-boat came near her, the life-boat's crew could see that she had two oars out on each side. The men were trying to keep her head to wind and sea, but they could not do it. In a very little while they would have been carried into the breakers, and that would have been the end of the boat and all on board.

The coxswain took the life-boat be- tween the boat and the breakers, where the life-boat herself was only ten yards from them. He threw a grapnel, but it missed, and he thought that the Spanish boat was now in the breakers.

He tried again, this time driving his boat up on her weather side. The grapnel was thrown. It caught, and the life-boat was able to turn the Spanish boat's head to the seas, and draw her clear. When she was out of her immediate danger, the coxswain took the Spaniards on board the life- boat. There were twenty-three of them. They were all utterly exhausted.

They had then been fighting the gale in their small boat for over four hours.

The coxswain's one thought was to get them ashore as quickly as possible.

He turned for Ilfracombe and there the life-boat arrived at 10.30. As soon as she had landed the rescued men she put out again and continued her search until 3.30 in the afternoon, but she found nothing more.

So ended this long, arduous and gal- lant service, in weather as tempestuous as could be remembered on that coast.

Twenty-four lives had been rescued but thirteen of the Monte Gurugu's crew had perished.

The Gratitude of Spain The warmest expressions of gratitude were received from Spain. The owners of the Monte Gurugu, the Naviera Aznan S.A., telegraphed: "We have followed with immense interest and emotion the vital and risky part taken by the personnel of your Association in the search and rescue of members of the crew of our steamer, Monte Gurugu. Allow us to express to you personally and convey to your courageous men the testimony of the profound and unextinguishable grati- tude." The Duke of San Lucar La Mayor, charge d'affaires at the Spanish Em- bassy in London, wrote to the secretary of the Institution: " I wish to express my deep gratitude to the Royal National Life-boat Insti- tution, a gratitude which I should appreciate your conveying as well to the crews concerned at Ilfracombe, and surrounding districts, for the mag- nificent efforts which they made to save my compatriots on board the ill- fated vessel Monte Gurugu. The gal- lantry of the life-boat crews and theirwonderful seamanship are beyond praise." Even more touching than these messages of thanks was the action of the twenty-four rescued men them- selves. They sent a gift of flowers to the Duchess of Kent, as President of the Institution, with this message: "The survivors of the Spanish ship Monte Gurugu present these flowers to the Duchess of Kent, President of the Royal National Life-boat Institution, and request Her Royal Highness to accept them as an expression of their gratitude for the magnificent behaviour of the National crews of Ilfracombe, Appledore and Clovelly, thanks to whom we are still alive." The Spanish Society for Saving the Shipwrecked awarded silver prize me- dals to Coxswain Cecil Irwin of Ilfra- combe, Coxswain Sydney Cann, of Appledore, and Coxswain GeorgeLamey of Clovelly, and diplomas to the crews of the three life-boats. It also made a number of awards to those on shore who had cared for the men when the life-boats brought them ashore, and the owners of the Monte Gurugu sent £1,000, in gratitude for this care, to the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society.

The Institution's Awards The Institution made the following awards: To COXSWAIN CECIL G. IRWIN, of Ilfracombe, the silver medal, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum and framed ; To the coxswain and each of the six men of the crew a special reward of £5 in addition to the reward on the ordinary scale of £2 15s.; ordinary rewards, £38 14s. Qd.; special rewards, £35; total rewards, £73 14*. Qd.; To COXSWAIN SYDNEY CANN, of Appledore, a clasp to the bronze medal for gallantry which he won in the war, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum and framed; To the coxswain and each of seven men of the crew a special reward of £5 in addition to the reward on the ordin- ary scale of £2 10s.; ordinary rewards, £27 6s. Qd.; special rewards, £40; total rewards, £67 6s. Qd.; To the coxswain and each of the six men of the Clovelly crew, a special reward of £2 in addition to the reward on the ordinary scale of £1 10s.; ordinary rewards, £25 2s.; special rewards, £14; total rewards, £39 2s.

Total rewards for the service, £180 3s..