DOCTOR TAKEN TO BADLY INJURED SEAMAN Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. At seven o'clock on the evening of the 9th April, 1962, the police at Avonmouth dock informed the honorary secretary that a man had been seriously injured on board a ship in Walton bay. As no other suitable boat was available to take out a doctor, the life-boat Calouste Gulbenkian was launched at 7.18 with the honorary medical adviser on board.

There was a strong westerly wind and a rough sea. It was two hours after high water. The life-boat reached the s.s.

Pilcomayo, and the doctor and two members of the life-boat crew who were qualified in first aid went aboard her.

A seaman on board was found to have a compound fracture of the tibia and was bleeding profusely. The injury had occurred when he had been operating one of the electric winches to pull up the steamer's derricks before entering port. A wire had become wrapped round his left leg. As the sea was rough and as the Pilcomayo would be able to dock in about an hour and a half, the doctor decided to keep the patient on board the ship and land him at Avonmouth, where arrangements were made for his reception. In the meantime the life-boat returned to her station, which she reached at 11.30, but conditions prevented her from being rehoused until the next day..