JANUARY 29TH. - PEEL, ISLE OF MAN.

The Isle of Man Steam Packet Passenger and Mail Boat, Rushen Castle, with 150 passengers and crew on board, left Liverpool at 10 A.M. on the 27th January, 1940, and arrived in Douglas Bay at 5 P.M. A southeast gale was blowing, with snow and a very rough sea. It was impossible to land any passengers. The steamer went on to Peel, arriving there next morning, Sunday, the 28th January. Here too it was found to be impossible to land, and the steamer anchored about two miles out. The manager of the steamship company then asked that the life-boat should go out in case food and water were running short on board, and at 10 A.M. on the 29th January, the motor life-boat Helen Sutton was launched. Nothing was wrong on board the steamer, but provisions were getting low, so the life-boat took out supplies. She then brought ashore twelve passengers, including a medical specialist who had come to the Isle of Man for a consultation. After they had been landed the life-boat remained afloat in case she should be needed, as about thirty vessels had sought shelter at Peel. She was not rehoused until 3 P . M . on 30th January.

The Rushen Castle had then been safely moored at Peel, her voyage from Liverpool having taken three days instead of the usual four hours. - Rewards, £14 17s. 6d.