Dunmore East, Co. Waterford.—At two o'clock on the morning of the 1st of February, 1956, a message was re- ceived that the steam trawler Deeside, of Milford Haven, was sending out SOS messages on her wireless ten miles west-south-west of Hook light- house. She stated that her engine room was flooded, and that she was leaking badly, and she asked for the life-boat. At 2.45 the life-boat Annie Blanche Smith was launched. She made for the position in a rough sea.

There was a strong north-east wind, and it was low water. The night was said to be the coldest for nine years.

The life-boat found that a drifter had taken the Deeside in tow. The two vessels made for Dunmore, with the life-boat standing by, but the wind had freshened and made it impossible for the drifter and the trawler to enter the harbour. It was decided that the trawler should be taken up-river and beached, so the life-boat escorted her and the drifter as far as Creadon Head. She then returned to her station, arriving at 7.50.—Rewards to the crew, £11 15s.; reward to the radio operator on shore, 17s..