Barrow, Lancashire. At 5.15 on the afternoon of the 17th December, 1961, the coxswain told the honorary secre- tary a local shipping agent had informed him that a member of the crew of the tanker Olivia Maersk of Copenhagen had fallen down a ladder and had in- jured his back. The tanker, which had anchored off Heysham, had asked for a doctor. As the Heysham pilot boat was due to visit the tanker, attempts were made to contact a doctor in Heysham, but no doctor was available. The life- boat Herbert Leigh was therefore launched at 6.10 with the honorary medical adviser on board. She reached the tanker at 7.5, and the injured man, who was believed to have a fractured spine, was transferred to the life-boat and landed at Heysham harbour, where an ambulance was waiting to take him to hospital at Morecambe. The life- boat arrived back at her station at 10.30..