AT 10.20 on the night of the 25th of October, 1960, two coastal tankers collided near the entrance to the dock at Sharpness on the Rivern Severn.

One was the Arkendale, which was loaded with 206 tons of diesel oil. The other was the Wastdale, which was carrying 340 tons of petrol. Each vessel had a crew of four, and both were bound for the Gloucester-Sharpness Canal. The weather was calm at the time, but there were thick fog patches, and visibility ranged from nil to only about a hundred yards. It was nearly an hour before high water.

The two tankers were locked to- gether by the collision, and they drifted upstream before the last of the flood tide. They struck one of the piles of the Severn railway bridge, causing two arches to collapse, and they were then locked by a length of railway line, which fell across them. Fire broke out on board both vessels, and shortly after- wards they grounded on the Gloucester- shire side upstream of the railway bridge. Fuel leaked from the tankers, and fire quickly spread on the river.

Violent Explosion Heard Another tanker had berthed at Sharpness, and her master, Mr. Thomas Carter, on hearing a violent explosion from the direction of the river, immedi- ately went ashore to look for a dinghy in the hope of picking up survivors.

Shouts for help had been heard at Purton, and Mr. John Shipp left Purton for Sharpness to see whether he could help. He met Mr. Carter, and it was agreed that Mr. Shipp should go back for a lorry. Meanwhile Mr. Carter commandeered a 12-feet clinker-built dinghy, which had to be lifted nine feet from the canal. He took some oars and an Aldis lamp from his own tanker, and these, together with the dinghy, were loaded on to the lorry which Mr.

Shipp had procured and taken to Purton.

Mr. Charles Henderson, a carpenter from Glasgow, who had arrived at Purton only the day before, volunteered to put out with Mr. Carter in the dinghy, although he was a stranger to the locality and had virtually no experi- ence of boats.

Pockets of Fire About 11.45 Mr. Carter and Mr.

Henderson launched the dinghy into the river. By this time the tide was ebbing around Purton Point at about one knot. The two men carried out a search, during which the level of the water fell 13 feet and the rate of the ebb tide varied between two and eight knots.

The heat around the tankers was intense, and pockets of fire and burning debris and railway sleepers extended over a wide area of the river.

Mr. Carter pulled a zig-zag course across the tide, but he soon found that the tide was taking the dinghy close to the burning tankers, and at one stage the two men were hardly able to keep the dinghy clear of the area of fire. The dinghy was carried into the main ebb- stream, drifted under the railway bridge, and grounded in shallow water. Both men were exhausted by their efforts.

Man Found Swimming About one o'clock Mr. Henderson heard a shout, and the two men decided to investigate further. Mr. Carter pulled on the oars, while Mr. Hender- son used the Aldis lamp as best he could in the fog and smoke. After about ten minutes they found a man swimming. He was covered in oil fuel and wearing a life-jacket over a boiler suit, with a leather belt around his waist outside the suit.

Mr. Carter and Mr. Henderson grabbed him by the belt and hauled him on board with considerable difficulty, knowing the dinghy might at any moment capsize. With the rescued man lying in the bottom of the boat Mr. Carter made down tide for Lyd- ney, but the dinghy fouled some sal- mon net stakes, and the rescued man was not landed until 2.30 in the morning.

For this service silver medals for gallantry have been awarded to Mr.

Thomas Carter and Mr. Charles Hen- derson. A letter of thanks was sent to Mr. Shipp..