THE three life-boatmen who lost their ! lives when the crab boat Boy Jimmy sank a hundred yards off shore near Cromer were all members of the Cromer No. 2 life-boat.

One was the coxswain, James William Davies, who was aged 43.

Coxswain Davies began his service as a life-boatman at Cromer in 1926.

He was assistant motor mechanic of the No. 1 life-boat from 1934 to 1947, when he was appointed coxswain of the No. 2 boat. Another of the men drowned was his brother, Frank Davies, the assistant motor mechanic, who was aged 34. Frank Davies joined the crew in 1936 and was appointed assistant motor mechanic in 1948.

The third man, Edward Bussey, aged 21, had been a member of the crew for three years.

Coxswain Davies, who came from a family well known in Cromer and was himself a member of the Cromer Urban District Council, had had a most distinguished record as a life- boatman. He won the bronze medal three times. His first medal was won for his gallant conduct and endurance when the No. 1 life-boat rescued fifteen of the crew of the Dutch steamer Georgia in an easterly gale and a very heavy sea on the 22nd of November, 1927. His rescue work on that occasion lasted more than 28 hours. He won his second medal when the No. 1 life-boat rescued the crew of 29 from the Greek steamer Mount Ida, which was wrecked on the Ower Bank in a gale on the 9th of October, 1939. His third medal was won during the war, when the No. 1 life- boat rescued 44 from the S.S. English Trailer on the 26th of October, 1941.

Among the many people who saw the Hoy Jimmy sink was the famous ex-coxswain, Henry Blogg, who won the Institution's gold medal four times and its silver medal four times.

He rushed to help launch a crab boat, but in doing so collapsed and had to be taken home..