Thurso, Caithness-shire.—At 8.30 on the evening of the 4th of October, 1954, the Wick coastguard telephoned that the motor fishing boat Fisher Boy had run ashore at Brimsness. At 8.45, at low water, the life-boat //. C. J. was launched. The sea was rough, and a south-westerly breeze was blowing.The life-boat found the fishing boat hard aground, but her crew of five had been taken ashore by lines. The life- boat returned to her station, which she reached at 10.45.

The fishermen later asked to be put aboard the Fisher Boy again in order to try to refloat her. The life-boat embarked them at midnight, but found that the weather was too bad to transfer them. She therefore took the men back to her station, arriving at 4.15 on the morning of the 5th. The five men then returned to Brimsness by road.

The life-boat went again to the Fisher Boy to help get a line on board, but this time she found that a salvage vessel was trying to refloat her. By then the crew had reboarded the Fisher Boy from the shore, and the life-boat stood by while the salvage vessel tried to refloat her about 10.30. The weather deteriorated, and the life-boat re-embarked the men and took them back to her station.

The life-boat later put out a fourth time and stood by again while the salvage vessel tried to tow the Fisher Boy clear. The tow rope parted, and all attempts to refloat her were aban- doned, the life-boat finally returning to her station at 3.30 in the afternoon.

The life-boatmen had been on service for nearly twenty hours. The Fisher Boy became a total wreck.—Rewards, £46 Is. Qd..