ON the 17th of January this year—a night of a north-westerly gale and sleet showers—the motor vessel Tapti, of London, ran aground on the Eileen Soa rocks in the Gunna Sound between the islands of Tiree and Coll in the Outer Hebrides. She was a ship of 6,609 tons, bound for Newcastle in ballast with a crew of sixty-two.

Shortly after quarter to ten she wire- lessed for help; but not being sure of her position, reported that she was on Backmor Beg, Treshnish Islands. The coastguard at Duntulm telephoned the Barra Island life-boat station and the life-boat Lloyd's left her moorings at 11.0. Then about 11.15 the coast- guard got in touch with the life-boat station at Mallaig, and the Mallaig life- boat, Sir Arthur Rose, launched eight minutes before midnight.

The Mallaig life-boat journeyed over forty-five miles of rough, gale-swept sea, in continual showers of sleet, until about six o'clock next morning, she sighted the Tapti. While she was on passage, the coastguard had given her the Tapti's correct position, through Oban radio; and here she found her, lying with her stern to the shore and listing heavily. H.M.S. Wilton and two trawlers were standing by her, about a mile to seaward. Soon afterwards the Barra Island life-boat arrived and stood by.

The Mallaig coxswain took his life- boat among the rocks which broke up the sea round the wreck, and got to within thirty yards of her, using his lead-line. It was very dark still, and he decided to wait for daylight before trying to take off the crew. Telling the Tapti's captain by morse, he brought out the life-boat stern first, there not being enough room to turn her. Then he lay off for a couple of hours. The tide was falling all the time, and the Tapti, lifted considerably by the swell, listed to an angle of sixty degrees.

At half light, the coxswain came into action again. He took the life-boat under the Tapti's port (lee) bow along- side one of the lowered ship's boats, and made fast to a rope hanging from her forecastle. One by one her crew swarmed down the rope—among them several lascars—until all sixty-two were on board the life-boat. Then the cox- swain cast off, and made away from the Tapti again. It had been a strenu- ous job. The seas, very heavy to sea- ward of the wreck, were breaking up to her bows, and although they were not breaking under their lee, the life- boat was hampered in manoeuvring by the surge of the swell and the backwash of the rocks only sixty feet to leeward.

She had to keep using her engines to stay longside the Tapti while embark- ing the crew.

Accompanied by the Barra Island life-boat, the Mallaig life-boat made for Tobermory, where she landed the res- cued men at 11.30 that night. Alto- gether she was on service for nineteen hours, the Barra Island life-boat for twenty-five and a half. The Tapti eventually became a total loss.

The rescue was successfully carried out by fine seamanship and judgment and the Institution has made the fol- lowing awards: To Coxswain IAN B. WATT, its thanks inscribed on vellum and framed, and a special reward of £2, in addition to the ordinary scale reward of £5 5s.

To each of the seven members of his crew a special reward of £2 in addition to the reward on the ordinary scale of £5 5*.

Scale rewards, £40 5s.; additional rewards, £16; total rewards, £56 5s..