COXSWAIN/MECHANIC Eric T. Offer, of Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, has been awarded the bronze medal of the Institution for a shore boat service in which he rescued two men who got into difficulties at night in the harbour.

At about 10.30 p.m. on 15th June, 1969, Coxswain/Mechanic Offer of the Dun Laoghaire life-boat and his wife were sheltering from a heavy rain squall when Mr. P. Tyson ran up shouting for help. He said that a Mr. Hanratty had been rowing across the harbour to board his yacht at moorings when a heavy squall and a torrential downpour of rain had overturned his small fibre-glass dinghy.

At the same time Mr. Tyson himself, who had also been crossing the coal harbour to moor his 12-foot dinghy, suffered the same fate. Mr. Tyson had swum to Mr. Hanratty, a man of about 60 years of age and weighing 18 stone, but, on account of his weight, had been unable to do anything to help. He had,therefore, tied Mr. Hanratty to a 20-foot motor cruiser and himself swum ashore for help.

Coxswain/Mechanic Offer immediately ran down the west pier with Mr. Tyson, crossed the railway line, and getting into a car they drove round to the coal pier.

The wind was south west backing to south east, force 6 and gusting to force 7 in squalls. The weather was overcast with very heavy rain and it was very dark.

The tide was threequarters flood.

On reaching the coal pier Coxswain/Mechanic Offer climbed down to a dredger, which was moored alongside, crossed a 28-foot motor boat lying alongside the dredger, and boarded a 15-foot dinghy which was outboard of the motor boat. Mr. Tyson, a man aged 28 and weighing 15 stone, attempted to follow the coxswain, but he was so completely exhausted by his previous exertions that he fell into the water. As Mr. Tyson appeared to be completely lifeless the Coxswain went to his assistance first and with difficulty dragged him into the 15-foot dinghy.

DINGHY WENT DOWN Mr. Offer then sheered the dinghy off in the direction of the 20 foot motor cruiser to which Mr. Tyson had previously tied Mr. Hanratty and, having reached it, with great difficulty, managed to get hold of Mr. Hanratty and haul him into the dinghy. Unfortunately, at this point the combined weight of the three men, together with the amount of water which had been shipped in pulling the survivors aboard under squally conditions, caused their dinghy to sink.

The coxswain then swam with Mr. Hanratty to the 28-foot motor boat which was alongside the dredger, but finding it impossible to board this, he tied Mr.

Hanratty to it with its mooring line before searching for a place where it was possible to get out of the water. He found that an 18-foot boat was secured to the coal pier astern of the dredger. With great difficulty he managed to pull himself into this and from there boarded the dredger, from which he was able to get back into the 28 foot motor boat.

SECOND TIME Coxswain Offer was by this time exhausted himself, but he managed to pull both Mr. Tyson and Mr. Hanratty on board. After resting, all three men were able to climb ashore and went to the Coxswain's house where hot drinks and warmth revived them. Mr. Hanratty suffered a dislocated left shoulder and subsequently had to attend hospital.

The Inspector of Life-boats for No. 10 Area, Mr. G. R. Walton, who investi- gated the service, said: 'Coxswain/Mechanic Offer is an extremely modest man and but for the fact that the honorary secretary happened to hear of the matter casually from an outside source some days after the event, nothing would have been known of this incident. This is the second time that Coxswain/Mechanic Offer has rescued people from the harbour. The previous occasion was recog- nised by the Royal Humane Society. I consider he acted heroically under circum- stances of great difficulty and not a little danger'.

Grace Darling Museum Cmdr. B. H. Dunn, the honorary curator of the Grace Darling Museum, in his annual report for the year ended 30th September, 1969, recalled that the museum was established 31 years ago and, during the curatorship of 17 years of Cmdr. W. M. Phipps-Hornby, 'a very large number of articles and documents pertaining to Grace Darling' had reached the museum. It was believed that the large number of articles already received represented the majority in private hands and that henceforth the flow of additional items was expected to decrease..