NOV. 13TH. - MARGATE, KENT. At 6.54 P.M. a messagc was received from the coastguard that a vessel was burning flares near the Tongue Light-vessel. A fresh S.W.

breeze was blowing. The sea was smooth.

At 7.10 P.M. the motor life-boat The Lord Southborough (Civil Service No. 1) was launched andl went to the light-vessel, where three different distress signals were seen. The life-boat went to the nearest signal and found the S.S. Matra, of Liverpool, with her stern under water, sunk, it was thought, by enemy action. A ship’s boat full of men was alongside, and these were taken on boat the lifeboat.

Five of the life-boat’s crew boarded the steamer and helped the remaining survivors, many of them injured, into the lifeboat.

Meanwhile two other boats filled with survivors had drifted from the Matra. The life-boat rescued one boat-load and an oil tanker picked up the second. The life-boat spoke the tanker, satisfied herself that all the steamer's crew had been rescued, and returned to Margate where she landed fiftytwo rescued persons. It was a difficult service as many of the rescued were injured.

Doctors and ambulances were waiting to receive them. The life-boat then made for h e r s t a t i o n , a r r i v i n g a t 1 0 . 5 P . M . At 11.20 P.M. she was launched a second time, to search again near the Tongue Light-vessel.

By this time the Matra had drifted about two and a half miles in a westerly direction.

The life-boat heard shouts from the wreckedsteamer ; went alongside ; and found an injured lascar seaman. After making sure that no one else was on board, the life-boat returned with him to Margate. A doctor and ambulance were again waiting, and after landing the injured man the life-boat was moored in Margate Harbour at 2 A.M. on 14th November. An hour later the life-boat was again launched at the request of the naval authorities to search the area of the Tongue Light-vessel. She searched until daybreak.

The Matra had now gone aground on the Shingles Patch. Three life-boatmen went aboard her, but found no one except a dead man. Later that day a representative of the owners of the Matra arrived, visited the injured men in hospital, and, as he found that there were still some of the crew unaccounted for the life-boat was launched again at 5 P.M. with Mr. P. E. W. Gellatly, the honorary secretary, the representative of the owners and the captain of the Matra on board. The steamer’s stern was now completely under water, and all hope was abandoned of finding anyone on board alive.

The life-boat returned to her station at 8 P.M. - Rewards : first launch, £18 12s. ; second launch, £15 18s. ; third launch, £28 ; fourth launch, £18 12s. Total rewards, £80 16s..