100 Years Ago The following item was first published in THE LIFEBOAT of August, 1886.

A NIGHT ON THE GOODWIN SANDS.

ON the 20th of April last a grievous disaster occurred on the Goodwin Sands, which resulted in the loss of a Norwegian brig. The Auyuste Herman Francke, with six hands out of a crew of seven all told.

All day on the 20th a strong breeze from the N.E. had been blowing, with a heavy sea, on Deal beach.

The weather at the same time was so thick that nothing could be seen of the Goodwins or of the Lightships which surround them to warn the mariner from the deadly sands.

About 5 or 5.30 P.M. the fog lifted, and keen watchers on Deal beach averred they saw, by the aid of a powerful telescope, a man running wildly to and fro on the Goodwins which it should be remembered are treacherous quicksands, separated from the mainland by four miles of deep water, and in the direct highway of ships bound to and from London, the- North of England and the Baltic. Almost at the same time the wrecked vessel was also discerned by the distant East Goodwin Lightship, which at once began to fire signals to inform the Life-boats that a vessel was on the Goodwins There were hundreds of the Deal and Walmer boatmen eager to man the Lifeboats ; bat at the very time when the wreck was made out a lee-tide had begun to run, and would not ease until 10.30 P.M. In a lee-tide it should be understood that no boat of light draught would be equal to the task of beating to windward successfully.

The wind and tide running in the same direction (for this is the meaning of a " leetido ") would force the boat in each tack further from the point she aimed at.

Hence the noble boats and the men anxious to man them were absolutely compelled to wail The Deal coxswain wired to Ramsgate that Deal was helpless; Walmer being further to leeward was still more helpless, and the Ramsgate Lifeboat and crew, the heroes of a hundred rescues, were, owing to most unusual circumstances, placed in the same position.

Hundreds were now assembled on Deal beach, and around mo were gathered pilots, boatmen, and tho coxswain of the Life-boat. Efforts were made to signal a passing tug-boat, that she might tow the Life-boat to the wreck: a flag was dipped, a light was burned at the end of the pier, but all to no purpose. Anxiously we discussed every alternative, and it was sorrowfully decided that nothing more could be done until the lee-tide had run, which would be about 10.30 P.M.

It was evening, and the hour of tho service for Boatmen held by the "Missions to Seamen " Chaplain, and the men as usual trooped in and joined in our service. Stirred by the occasion, we sang as one of our hymns " Rescue the perishing." The coxswain and some of the men who subsequently formed the crew of the Life-boat ere present—men who had taken part in many rescues—and I know that at any rate Borne of the company were deeply touched by the scene, the glorious message of the Gospel and the surrounding circumstances.

Service over, we again consulted; standing low down in the darkness on the beach, and close to the white line of grinning surf, it was decided by myself and the coxswain that we should launch the Life-boat about 9.30. I went home to dress, and meantime the bell was rung, and a rush of many brave boatmen was made to secure the belts, the possession of which by the first fifteen entitles them to form the crew. So eager were the men, that the Life-boat was launched, to my great regret, just before I got back, and away she went on her errand of mercy into the darkness.

It was a noble sight. The Life-boat and her crew having reached the inner edge of the Goodwins, which is about four miles from land, met the weather tide, which helped them to windward as they tacked along the edge of the broken water on the sands. About 2 o'clock iu the morning they drew near the place where the vessel was, but as it was pitch dark, with heavy .sea, and they could neither see nor hear any signal, they anchored and waited till the day broke.

Here we may explain what befel the ship and her crew since 8 o'clock the preceding morning when she struck:— As the tide rose over the Goodwins, each mighty sea broke over the wreck and lifted her, weightily laden as she was with ice, and then hammered her down on the sand. The mainmast went, and crawling forward under the remains of tho weather bulwarks, the captain and crew lashed themselves—seven in number —to the foremast. The foremast and rigging soon went over the side, carrying with it six of the crew to a watery grave before the eyes of the captain; one poor boy clung to the jib-sheets and struggled bard for life, calling to the captain to save him. A heavy sea dashed him against the side, and then swept him away for ever! And now the captain was left alone. All this time, owing to the dense fog, neither the Lightships nor a soul on the shore knew that there was a vessel in distress on the sands. The tide fell, and half crazed, he got on the sands now bare of water, and ran about waving a piece of canvas lashed to a pole. By God's mercy he was seen at Deal, but he knew nothing of this, and as the cruel sea again covered the Goodwins, he had to return to his lonely perch as night came on, and again to lash himself to the stump of the foremast, having only a platform of three feet square to stand on. Who can imagine the horrors of that night to him ? He had expected to find, and looked for his comrades' bodies on the sands; and now, what visions must have been depicted to his mind! But the Life-boat, though he knew it not, was close at hand —close to him in the darkness! "For His mercy endureth for ever." And when the day dawned, the gallant crew of the Deal Life-boat, burning with eagerness to save him, got up anchor and ran their boat right at him through the surf, as close as they could get to the wreck.

The poor fellow at last, seeing the Life-boat, rushed in his weakness into one of the treacherous " fox-holes " of deep water—as the Deal boatmen call them— which lay between him and the Boat, and over which surf was breaking, and but that one of the Life-boat men with a line round him gallantly jumped in, he might have been drowned after all. Thus the solitary survivor was saved at last.

The scene on Deal beach as the Lifeboat returned was very touching. Crowds were assembled to see the returning boat, and I led the poor tottering stranger— overwhelmed with the scenes he had witnessed, and with the mercy of Almighty God, who had spared his life—to the Boatmen's Rooms at N. Deal, where hot coffee and friendly sympathy awaited him.

T. S. TREANOR, Chaplain "Missions to Seamen." Hon. Sec. " Goodwin Sands and Downs" Branch of The ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION.