JANUARY MEETING LITTLEHAMPTON, SUSSEX. Three boats were out fishing on the 11th November, 1939, off Littlehampton, when the engine of one, the Margaret, broke down. Another boat, the Duchess of York, promised to tow her in after she had set her lines. The weather was calm, but when the time came to return it was dark, and the fog was thick, and the Duchess of York and Thelma, the third boat, could not find the Margaret. Later the weather cleared and the missing boat answered signals from the coastguard.

Manned by a crew of three the Thelma put out at about 9 P.M. and brought the Margaret into harbour. - Rewards, £2 5s., and 5s.

for fuel used.

PETERHEAD, ABERDEENSHIRE. On the morning of the 1st December, 1939, news was received at Peterhead that a ship’s boat, belonging to the S.S. Mercator, of Helsinki, which had been sunk by torpedo, was missing.

The Peterhead life-boat was launched to search for her, and four men in the motor fishing boat Bread Winner also put out to help in the search. The life-boat missed the boat, but the Bread Winner found her three miles E.N.E. of Peterhead. There were 19 men in the boat and four on a raft alongside her. The sea was choppy, with a fresh S.E.

wind blowing. The sea was washing over the raft, but the four men on her could not be taken into the boat as she already held as many as was safe in that sea. Nor could the men in the boat, who were rowing, do more than hold their own against the sea. The Bread Winner took all 23 men on board and brought them into Peterhead. - Rewards, £4, with £5 for loss of fishing, and 5s. for fuel used.

(See Peterhead, “Accounts of Services by Life-boats,” 1939, page 88.) PETERHEAD, ABERDEENSHIRE. About 4 in the afternoon of the 15th December, 1939, it was reported that the motor fishing boat Hope, of Banff, with a crew of three on board, was in difficulties, off South Head, Peterhead, with her engine broken down. A fresh southerly wind was blowing, with a moderate sea. The motor boat S e i n e r , manned by a crew of six, put out. The Hope had been driving on to the South Head, but by slipping anchor and taking to the oars, her crew had managed to clear the Head, and when the Seiner arrived they had hoisted sail. The Seiner took them in tow, and brought them into harbour. - Rewards, £3, and 1s. 4d. for fuel used.

WHITSTABLE, KENT. About 4.30 in the afternoon of the 15th December, 1939, the coastguard at Whitstable saw what was thought to be a collapsible boat from an enemy aeroplane. It was about one hundred and fifty yards off the shore, near Tankerton, and was drifting east. At the request of the coastguard the motor boat Ocean Gift, of Whitstable, put out,. but she could. not find any boat and returned an hour later. - Rewards , 1 5 s .

FILEY, YORKSHIRE. At 11.15 A.M. on the 28th December, 1939, the motor fishing boat, Margaret Ann, of Filey, with a crew of three on board, was drifting under sail in Filey Bay towards Speeton Cliffs. She had shipped a heavy sea, which had put her engine out of action. A fresh N.E. wind was blowing, with squalls. The sea was rough and it was snowing. The second-coxswain of the life-boat and two other men were returning in the motor fishing boat Bluebird II when they saw the Margaret Ann and towed her into harbour. - Rewards, £1, with 10s. for use of boat and fuel.

FILEY, YORKSHIRE. At about 5 A.M on the 2nd. January, 1940, the coastguard reported flares four miles S.E. of Filey Brigg.

The weather was calm. Instead of launching the life-boat, the coxswain and three other men, who were about to go fishing, put out to search. They found nothing.- Rewards, £1, with 10s. for helpers on shore.

ABERDEEN. At 8.30 in the evening of the 9th January, 1940, it was learned that the S.S. Feddy, of Copenhagen, which had been bombed by German aeroplanes was on fire off Girdleness. A S.S.W. wind was blowing, with a heavy swell. The weather was cold.

Three men put out in the pilot cutter Wm.

Porter and picked up one of the ship’s boats with eight survivors. The captain and an engineer had remained on the Feddy, and refused to leave her. The pilot, cutter then searched for and found the other ship’s boat, the men from which she put aboard a mine sweeper. The two men on board the steamer still refused to leave, and the Wm. Porter returned to port at 7 P.M. One of the rescued died in the cutter before she reached port. The Aberdeen life-boat rescued the captain and engineer. - Rewards, £3.

(See Aberdeen, “ Accounts of Services by Life-boats,” page 21.)

REDCAR, YORKSHIRE. Early in the morning of the 9th January, 1940, a French steamer Montauban, of Nantes, stranded on the Salt Scar Rocks while bound in convoy with a cargo of coal from Newcastle to Marseilles.

The weather was calm. The Redcar life-boat. rescued 35 of the crew of 39, and the motor boat Supreme, with a crew of five, helped by taking the rescued men ashore from the life-boat. - Rewards to the crew of the Supreme, £3 15s., with 2s. 6d. for fuel used.

(See Redcar, “Accounts of Services by Life-boats,” page 20.).