Fire A CABIN CRUISER on fire with two men and a boy on board was reported to the honorary secretary of The Mumbles lifeboat station by Swansea Coastguard at 1614 on Sunday August 21, 1983.

Maroons were fired and at 1618 The Mumbles 15ft 6in D class inflatable lifeboat, manned by Helmsman Arthur Eynon and Crew Members Michael Jeffries and Huw Mathias, was launched from her slipway.

The 18ft GRP cabin cruiser was moored about 40 metres due north of the Watson lifeboat's slipway. It was later learnt that she had caught firewhen her owner tried to start her engines. By the time the D class lifeboat arrived the cruiser was burning ferociously and belching out thick clouds of black smoke. All three of her crew, two of whom had been thrown into the water by the force of two explosions on board, had been picked up by a nearby speedboat.

The weather throughout this service was fine and clear. There was only a light south-easterly breeze, force 2, and a slight sea, so that the inflatable lifeboat was able to cover the quarter of a mile to the casualty at full speed. It was two hours before high water and the tide was setting south by east at l'/2 knots.

Having quickly established that everyone on board the speedboat was safe and well, the lifeboat returned to the Watson lifeboat slipway and moored. Dr P. Lloyd Jones, honorary medical adviser and also a crew member, was on the slipway. He thought that the three people who had been aboard the burning boat should be examined and so the inflatable returned to the speedboat, taking out the doctor.

Anthony Lewis, a first aider, was at the helm, and Huw Mathias was the third member of the crew. Apart from slight singes to the owner's hair and eyebrows, none of the cruiser's people had suffered any ill effects; as no further treatment was needed, the D class lifeboat returned alongside the Watson's slipway and Dr Lloyd Jones was landed. Arthur Eynon returned to the lifeboat as a crew member, leaving Anthony Lewis as helmsman.

The lifeboat left the slipway again but kept a safe distance from the still burning craft. It was expected that she would burn out at her mooring, but before this could happen the mooring line itself burnt through; with a IVi knot tide threatening to carry the boat directly to the underside of The Mumbles Pier a potentially dangerous situation had thus been created.

The crew members on board the D class lifeboat knew that two explosions had already taken place aboard the burning boat, but, fearful of the consequences should the drifting boat reach the pier, they decided to try to avert the danger. Anthony Lewis quickly stripped off all his outer clothing and entered the water. Keeping a careful eye on the burning cruiser he swam the ten metres distance separating the two boats. Despite the choking black smoke and occasional spitting out of molten glass fibre which caused burns to his hands and shoulders, he quickly made fast a heaving line to the only accessible point, the propeller shaft of the outboard engine. Returning on board the lifeboat, Anthony Lewis resumed the helm and, with Arthur Eynon tending the line, he towed the cruiser quietly in an arc, taking advantage of the tide, to a position about 200 metres east of the pier. Here speed was increased in order to sink what was left of the burningboat. The manoeuvre was successful, the boat sinking in deep water well clear of anything to which she could have caused danger. The lifeboat returned to station at 1645 and by 1715 was once again ready for service.

For this service the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum were accorded to Helmsman Anthony D.

Lewis. Vellum service certificates and letters of appreciation signed by Rear Admiral W. J. Graham, director of the Institution, were sent to Crew Members Arthur G. Eynon and Huw Mathias..