Bembridge, Isle of Wight. At 4.1 on the afternoon of the 23rd December, 1961, the coastguard informed the honorary secretary that the s.s. Cheshire Coast had reported that she had a small fishing vessel in tow eight and a half miles south of Nab Tower. The Cheshire Coast continued towards the Needles,but at 4.55 the tow parted, and the coastguard told the honorary secretary that the steamer was having great diffi- culty in reconnecting it. At 5.50 the life- boat Jesse Lumb put out from Cowes, where she had been moored after her annual visit to the Nab Tower light- house with Christmas fare, in a strong east-north-easterly wind and a rough sea. It was low water. The life-boat came up with the Cheshire Coast and the fish- ing vessel Patience of Dieppe, which had a crew of eight and whose engine had broken down, ten miles south-east of St. Catherine's lighthouse. At 10.30 the life-boat took the Patience in tow and made for Spithead escorted by the Cheshire Coast. On reaching the lee of the west side of the Isle of Wight, the Cheshire Coast left as she was no longer needed, and the life-boat towed the Patience to a safe berth at Cowes, which was reached at 11.55 the next morning.

Because of the severe weather the life- boat remained at Cowes until she re- turned to her station on the 27th December..