AT 10.20 on the night of the 27th of July, 1952, the Flamborough Head coastguard telephoned the Flam- borough life-boat station that a young man had reported a friend of his in difficulties on a cliff near the Stacks Rocks at Flamborough Head. These rocks are about a quarter of a mile from the coastguard station and some two miles from the life-boat station.

At 10.30 the life-boat Howard D was launched. The sea was rough, with a strong northerly breeze blowing, and the night was very dark.

In heavy rain the life-boat searched the cliff with her searchlight, but there was a heavy swell breaking on the rocks, and the coxswain realised that he was too far off shore for the search- light to pick out a body. He there- fore decided to try to put a man ashore who would be able to walk along the beach. He took the life-boat to a place where there was a lee, and an- chored some sixty yards from the shore.

The assistant motor mechanic, Robert Leng, volunteered to swim ashore. He went over the side fully clothed with oilskin and sea boots and wearing a life-belt. There was little sea but he had to land on rocks in darkness. Guided by the searchlight he landed safely, although carried some distance along by the strong tide.

About a quarter of a mile from where he landed Leng found two coastguard- men with the body of the young man.

He had apparently fallen from the cliffs on to a ledge of rock just under water. Artificial respiration was applied, and Leng helped the coast- guardmen to carry him on a stretcher to the top of the cliff up a path made extremely difficult by the pouring rain and pitch darkness. In spite of these efforts the young man died of his injuries.

The assistant motor mechanic re- turned to Flamborough by road, and the life-boat returned to her station, arriving at 1.15 in the early morning of the 28th.

The landing on the rocks in the strong tide and darkness had called for both courage and severe physical effort on the part of Robert Leng, and the Institution awarded to him its thanks inscribed on vellum and framed and a special award of £2 in addition to the reward on the ordinary scale of 19s.

In 1951, a similar incident occurred at Flamborough, when the motor mechanic, E. A. Slaughter, won the bronze medal of the Institution for swimming ashore in even more diffi- cult conditions to the help of a boy who had fallen down the cliffs.

Rewards, £21 8s. Gd..