Clacton-on-Sea, and Walton and Frin- ton, Essex. At 5.10 on the afternoon of the 4th November, 1961, an antici- patory message was received at Clacton from the coastguard that two men in a local rowing boat were overdue. They had set out from Holland Haven at 7.30 that morning to fish off shore. A light north-westerly wind was blowing with a smooth sea. A number of en- quiries had to be made, as nothing was known of the whereabouts of the boat, and at 9.10 the life-boat Sir Godfrey Baring was launched at nearly high water. Because of the offshore wind it was thought that the boat might have drifted into the area covered by the Walton and Frinton life-boat, and a request was passed on to the station asking for her help in the search. The Walton life-boat was launched at ten o'clock, and the two life-boats searched a wide area until daylight. The Clacton life-boat then searched the south side of the Gunfleet Sands, and at eight o'clock she found the rowing boat secured to the Gunfleet Spit buoy. The two men who had been aboard her were found inside the bell cage of the buoy. With considerable difficulty, as there was by now a heavy sea, the life-boat was brought alongside the buoy. The second coxswain managed to climb on to the buoy and help the two men into the life- boat. They were very exhausted. The life-boat returned with the men im- mediately to Clacton pier, and an ambulance, which had been summoned, took them to hospital. The life-boat reached her station at 9.15. The rowing boat had been left secured to the buoy, and the Walton life-boat picked it up and brought it to Clacton pier. She then returned to her station, arriving at 11.5..