AT 4.15 on the afternoon of the 13th of May, 1953, the honorary secretary of the Valentia, Co. Kerry, life-boat station heard from the Valentia radio station, that the French trawler Liber- ator, of Calmaret, had lost her propeller and urgently needed help. The posi- tion was given as three miles south of the Blasket Islands and thirteen miles north-west-by-west from the life-boat station. The Liberator was a trawler of 58 tons, and had a crew of nine.

The sea was rough and confused, and continuous drizzle made visibility poor. A strong breeze was blowing from the south-east.

The Valentia life-boat A.E.D. left her moorings at 4.30 and began to search. The search lasted for eight hours, and it was not until 12.30 that the Liberator was found some six miles west of the Blaskets and some twenty miles from Valentia. During the search the life-boat had been given four different positions of the casualty from the Blaskets, varying from three miles south to ten miles west-north- west. None of these was accurate.

The life-boat found the Liberator lying in the trough of a confused sea and rolling heavily. The night was dark, and the wind continued to blow strongly from the south-east. The trawler had no boat, and the coxswain decided that it was safer to try to take her in tow than to risk damaging the life-boat by going alongside and taking off the crew. He took the life-boat close under the stern of the trawler, and after receiving a line, passed his manila cable to her and took her in tow.

The question of the best course to follow in towing the Liberator the twenty miles which separated her from Valentia was not easy to decide. The coxswain at one time seriously con- sidered going north of the islands because of the strength of the flood tide. However, in the end he decided to steer to the south-eastward and then to pass south of the islands. The life-boat and the trawler finally reached Valentia at 8.5 on the morning of the 14th of May, having made a speed of some three knots during the tow. The life-boat was undamaged and returned to her moorings at 9.45.

For the sound reasoning and judg- ment which he exercised, and the determination and initiative he showed, the coxswain, JEREMIAH O'CONNELL, was awarded the thanks of the institu- tion inscribed on vellum. The French Ambassador in Dublin expressed his thanks, stating that "the generous gesture made by the Valentia branch of the Royal National Life-boat Insti- tution is greatly appreciated and worthy of its long-standing tradition and devotion." The owners made gifts both to the life-boatmen them- selves and to the funds of the Institu- tion.

Scale rewards totalling £35 3s. were paid..