A FRAMED letter of thanks, signed by the Chairman of the R.N.L.I., Admiral Sir Wilfrid Woods, G.B.E., K.C.B., D.s.o., has been addressed to each of the crew of the Lerwick, Shetlands, life-boat for the escort service they provided to three Norwegian fishing vessels on 15th March, 1969. The men are: Coxswain John Sales, B.E.M., Second Coxswain William Buchan Sales, Acting Bowman Peter Leith, Motor Mechanic Peter Hewitt Paterson Clark, Assistant Mechanic John Aitken Mouat, Crew member H. A. Hughson, Crew member A. Fraser and Crew member J. Smith.

At 8.55 a.m. Mr. Magnus M. Shearer, the honorary secretary, was informed by the Lerwick coastguard that several Norwegian fishing vessels were in difficulty about 60 miles south of Shetland and required escort to a safe harbour.

The maroons were fired at 9.55, and the Lerwick life-boat Claude Cecil Staniforth slipped her moorings. She made for the area at 10.10, a course being set due south from Bressay lighthouse.

There was a south easterly gale with a very rough sea. Visibility throughout the service varied from nil to half a mile in the almost continuous squalls of snow and sleet. It was one hour before high water. The conditions on the morning of 15th March were reported by experienced observers to have been 'the worst for many years', it being noted that on this occasion the height of the sea was such that it was breaking across the causeway connecting the North and South Havens in Fair Isle for the first time for over 25 years.

At 10.48 news was received that the fishing vessels were steering north at four knots and for the next five hours the life-boat continued on a southerly course, maintaining the maxi- mum speed possible in the prevailing conditions.

Throughout this period the pitching and pounding motion of the life-boat was violent in the extreme. Coxswain Sales, a life-boatman of long experience, described the sea as 'phenomenal'.

It was undoubtedly as a result of falling into the trough behind one such sea that the bilge keels of the life-boat were sprung, causing flooding in some of the double bottom compartments.

Throughout the early part of the service it proved virtually impossible ashore to establish the exact position of the distressed fishing vessels. Messages from the vessels concerned were being passed in Norwegian to Rogaland radio which relayed by telex to Wick radio, but con- fusion was caused by the fact that other Norwegian fishing vessels were in difficulty in the same area. At the same time R.A.F. Shackleton aircraft and a Norwegian warship had also been asked to take part in the search.

BRESSAY LIGHTHOUSE At 12.35 p.m. the life-boat reported her position as 18 miles south of Bressay lighthouse, and at 12.55 Lerwick coastguard informed her of the position of the fishing vessels. They were still steering north at four knots.

By 3.2 the life-boat had reached a position 38 miles south of Bressay lighthouse and, by dead reckoning, was estimated to be in the vicinity of the distressed vessels.

Visibility at the time was almost nil, and the radar was affected by the snow and the height of the seas. Coxswain Sales feared he might pass the fishing vessels without sighting them, particularly as it had not then been firmly established whether the various estimates of their position could be relied on. Accordingly, the honorary secretary decided that the life-boat should turn back if no contact had been made by 3.30, and the life-boat duly altered course to north at that time.

At 3.45 the Strallaug II, one of the fishing vessels concerned, contacted the life-boat direct, giving her estimated time of arrival at Lerwick as 7 to 8 p.m. It was then obvious that the life- boat and fishing vessels were very close to one another and a careful radar watch was maintained.

At 6.15 the life-boat passed Mousa Island, and, after consultation with the honorary secretary by R/T, Coxswain Sales decided to lie close by Bressay lighthouse until the boats had been sighted and then to escort them into Lerwick harbour.

At 7.40 three small fishing vessels were finally sighted heading north just to seaward ofMousa Island. The life-boat immediately started to fire parachute flares to assist them, and a rendezvous was made at 9 o'clock. The life-boat finally escorted the vessels to a berth in Lerwick harbour, arriving at 9.30..