THE skipper of a fishing vessel, Mr. Leslie Richardson, and his crew member, Mr. Brian Joy, have both received framed letters of thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution, Admiral Sir Wilfrid Woods, G.B.E., K.C.B., D.S.O.

This was in recognition of the manner in which they saved the crew of two of a yacht off Hastings on llth July, 1968.

Their fishing vessel, Carol, was returning from the fishing grounds on an easterly course to Hastings when a red flare was seen at one o'clock in the morning. From the position of the flare it was evident that a vessel was in trouble close inshore. Mr. Richardson and Mr. Joy considered returning to Hastings to call out the life-boat, but because of the freshening wind and the proximity of the casualty to a lee shore they decided that a rescue must be attempted immediately. They agreed to try to carry it out themselves.

The Carol is an 18-foot boat powered by an 18 h.p. diesel engine. She turned northwards to investigate and her crew soon realised that because the casualty was so near to the shore, with cliffs 250 feet in height, the coastguard would probably not have seen the flares. Neither boat was fitted with radio telephone.

There was a southerly wind force 6/7 with a rough sea and a moderate swell.

It was cloudy and visibility was about five miles. Near the Govers Rocks the tide was setting in an easterly direction at about two knots with a counter eddy running close inshore causing confused seas.

The casualty was found a mile west of the Fairlight coastguard lookout. She was a 14-foot sailing boat with cabin and was anchored a little to the west of the Govers Rocks. Her outboard engine had broken down.

TOWED CLEAR The fishing vessel closed the yacht and succeeded in passing a towline. The rough seas made this a difficult operation, but the towline was secured and the yacht towed clear of danger. On the passage to Hastings the fishing vessel's engine stopped and she had to anchor until the engine was restarted. She finally reached Hastings with her tow at 1.45. The two people who had been aboard the yacht, a man and a woman, were landed, and the woman was taken to hospital suffering from severe shock..