Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland.

At 9.30 on the night of the 9th Decem- ber, 1961, the coxswain received a message from a director of the Boston Sea Fishing Company that the skipper of their trawler Blacktail had reported that a deckhand had been injured in the throat. The trawler, which was a hun- dred miles north-east of Berwick, was due to arrive there between eight and nine o'clock the next morning. After consultation with the honorary medical adviser it was decided that a doctor should be taken to the trawler by the life-boat. The life-boat William andMary Durham was launched at 3.4 in the morning in a gentle westerly breeze and a smooth sea. It was almost high water. The life-boat came up with the Blacktail six miles north-east of Ber- wick, but a freshening south-easterly wind prevented the doctor from being put on board. As the man did not need immediate medical help, both the trawler and the life-boat continued to- wards Berwick. A mile offshore the man was transferred to the life-boat, which landed him at nine o'clock. He was then taken to hospital..