Launches 50. Lives rescued 152.

AUGUST 1ST. - HOLY ISLAND, NORTHUMBERLAND.

At 4.14 P.M. the coastguard telephoned that the Longstone Lighthouse had been bombed by a German aeroplane and that the life-boat was required.

A fresh northerly wind was blowing, with a choppy sea. The motor life-boat Milburn was launched at 4.35 P.M., reached the lighthouse at 5.30, took on board the three keepers and landed them at Seahouses at 7 P.M. The life-boat reached her station again at 8.0 P.M.

At 12.30 next morning a message came from the coastguard that the naval authorities wanted a bomb disposal squad and the chief keeper taken out to the lighthouse. The life-boat was launched at 11 A.M., and landed the party at the Longstone at 1.15 P.M. by means of a small boat which she had towed from Seahouses. She left the lighthouse again at 2.30 P.M., put the bomb disposal squad ashore at Seahouses, and returned to her station at 4.15 P.M. - Rewards : first launch, £7 15s. 6d. ; second launch, expenses defrayed by the Admiralty.

AUGUST 2ND. - DONAGHADEE, CO. DOWN;. At 5.40 P.M. the police telephoned that a small yacht had overturned about half a mile out at sea, and that three persons were clinging to it. A light squally N. wind was blowing, with a choppy sea. The motor life-boat Civil Service No. 5 left her moorings at 5.50 P.M, the honorary secretary, Mr.

David McKibbin, going out as assistant motor-mechanic, as the regular man was absent. The life-boat found the overturned yacht with all sail set, but there was no trace of the crew. A message was then received that another boat had rescued them and had taken them to Millisle. The life-boatmen cut the yacht’s halyards so that the saildropped, and towed the yacht to Donaghadee harbour, where she arrived at 7.15 P.M. One of the three people who had been on the yacht sent a subscription to the life-boat station. - Rewards, £5 16s. 6d.

AUGUST 5TH. - PEEL, ISLE OF MAN.

At about 8 in the morning the coastguard reported that the fishing boat Emulate, of Kirkcaldy, was in difficulties about four miles W.N.W. of Peel, and the motor life-boat Helen Sutton was launched at 9 A.M. A N.W. wind was blowing, with a rough sea.

The life-boat soon saw that the Emulate had been taken in tow by another fishing boat, the Protect Us, and returned to the bay.

There she stood by until all the fishing boats had got in safely, and returned to her station at 2.35 P.M. - Rewards, £7 13s.

(See Peel, ” Services by Shore-boats,” page 100.)

SILVER MEDAL SERVICE AT FLEETWOOD AUGUST 5TH. - FLEETWOOD, LANCASHIRE. On the 4th of August, 1941, a half gale was blowing from the north-north-west, with squalls and a rough sea. A three-masted motor schooner of 300 tons, the Stella Marie, manned by Faroe Islanders, arrived off the harbour. She was loaded with fresh fish from Ireland to the value of £10,000. She anchored near the examination vessel, some four miles from the harbour, and could be seen there, riding uneasily to her anchor.

During the evening the weather got worse, and the Stella Marie tried to weigh anchor with the intention of making the harbour, but either the windlass broke down, or the anchor was fouled. She had to remain at anchor all night. Next morning her cable parted and she began to drift.

Then her main engine broke down.

Her crew, who had been working all night, were tired out, and they were very glad to accept an offer from the examination vessel to give them a tow. Unfortunately the hawser parted and the schooner started to drift again.

At last, at 10.30 in the morning, seeing that the schooner was again adrift, the resident naval officer asked the life-boat crew to stand by. The crew in fact had been standing by, in the life-boathouse, since early in the morning. They were all Fleetwood fishermen. They knew very well whatwas likely to happen. They uneasily watched the unavailing efforts which were being made to help the schooner, and they were not too pleased at the delay on the part of the resident naval officer in calling out the life-boat, for they well knew that time was very important, and that every minute’s delay was making their own job, when they were called out, more difficult and dangerous.

Shortly after asking them to stand by at 10.30 the resident naval officer asked them to launch, but at the last moment he cancelled it. Half an hour later he again asked the life-boat to launch, and again cancelled it. It was not until 12.45 in the afternoon that the word was finally given, and at last the motor life-boat Ann Letitia Russell got away. She had a crew of six instead of the usual eight men.

A strong gale was now blowing, and the ebb tide was running against it, causing a high and very confused sea.

While he had been waiting for the order to launch the coxswain had thought out how he would act, knowing that speed would be imperative, and he drove the life-boat as hard as he could through the heavy seas at the grave risk of washing his own crew overboard. The life-boat was so enveloped by the seas that those who were watching her from the shore could hardly follow her on her journey.

In half an hour she reached the schooner, but by that time the schooner had drifted on to a sandbank.

She was hard and fast on it. The seas were breaking right over her decks.

Her crew of eight men had been forced to climb into the rigging.

As the coxswain came close to the wreck he knew that he must act at once. He reckoned - and this was confirmed by the men of the schooner afterwards - that he had not more than ten minutes to rescue them, before they would fall, exhausted, out of the rigging.

There was no time to carry out the usual manoeuvre of anchoring, and then dropping down on the cable to the wreck. The coxswain took the life-boat alongside without anchoring.

Nearly all the time she was under water. One heavy sea turned her completely round, and drove her stern against the schooner, bending the steel pintle of the rudder, forcing the rudder up as high as it would go, and jamming it there. In spite of this the coxswain, after much manoeuvring, brought the life-boat close to the schooner, and, although the schooner’s crew were exhausted, shaking, and in a state of collapse, and although the life-boat’s crew were two short, the eight men were very quickly rescued.

Some jumped ; some were dragged through the seas ; some found themselves on board the lifeboat without knowing how they had got there. So quickly was it done that those watching on shore, when they saw the life-boat on her way back, thought that she had been unable to rescue anyone.

On the return journey the coxswain had great difficulty in steering the life-boat, but he brought her safely in, arriving at two in the afternoon, and it was only when the boat was hauled up into the boathouse that he found that the rudder was jammed.

It was a difficult and very skilful rescue carried out with great dash and promptness, and the eight men were rescued only in the nick of time.

The Institution made the following awards : To COXSWAIN JEFFREY WRIGHT, the silver medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To SYDNEY HILL, the motor-mechanic, the silver medal, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To JAMES LEADBETTER, the secondcoxswain, R. WRIGHT, the assistant motor-mechanic, and W. HOUSTON and D. WRIGHT, members of the crew, the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum ; To the coxswain and each member of the crew a reward of £1 in addition to the ordinary scale reward of 12s. 6d.

Standard rewards to crew and launchers, £5 8s. ; additional rewards to crew, £6 ; total rewards, £11 8s.

AUGUST 5TH. - NEWCASTLE, CO. DOWN. At 4.10 P.M. a message was received from the Newcastle coastguard that a local fishing boat was in distress three to four miles east of the coastguard station, and at 4.30 P.M. the motor life-boat L. P. and St. Helen was launched. A westerly wind was blowingand the sea was choppy. The life-boat found the fishing boat John Francis at the mouth of Dundrum Bar. John Smith, her owner, a former life-boat coxswain, and another man were on board. Her engine had broken down, and the sails which had been set had blown away. The men had then anchored and made signals of distress. The life-boat rescued them and towed the John Francis into harbour, returning to her station at 6.35 P.M. - Rewards, £21 13s. 6d.

GOLD AND SILVER MEDAL SERVICES AT CROMER AND GREAT YARMOUTH AND GORLESTON AUGUST 6TH. - 7TH. - CROMER, GT. YARMOUTH AND GORLESTON, AND SHERINGHAM, NORFOLK, AND LOWESTOFT, SUFFOLK.

On the night of the 5th of August,, 1941, a convoy of merchant ships, escorted by naval vessels, was making its way down the east coast. A gale was blowing from the north-north-west, with a rough sea and squalls of wind and rain. Visibility was very poor. In the early morning of the 6th the convoy was off the Norfolk coast, and six of the steamers went on the Haisborough Sands, where the seas were breaking heavily. The steamers were the Oxshott, of London, the Deerwood, of London, the Gallois, of Rouen, the T a a r a , of Parmu, Esthonia, the Aberhill, of Methil, Fife, and the Paddy Hendly.* It was not until just after eight in the morning that the Life-boat Service heard that the six steamers were wrecked and their crews in danger.

The first news was received at Cromer.

It said that several ships were aground at the southern end of the Middle Haisborough Sands. The Cromer No. 1 life-boat H. F. Bailey put out at once under the command of Coxswain Henry G. Blogg. An hour and forty minutes later the life-boat reached the Haisborough Sands. The six steamers were close together on the * The names of the steamers, as given by the life-boatmen when they returned ashore, were checked by Lloyd’s Register. All were found there, except the Paddy Hendly. No steamer with that name, or any name resembling it, could be found in the register, and as all the rescued men were transferred at once by the life-boats to naval vessels, and none was brought ashore, there were no other means of checking the names.

sands, and, in the heavy seas, were going rapidly to pieces. Naval ships were standing by in deeper water.

There was an R.A.F. patrol overhead.

Twelve men of the six steamers had been drowned, in attempts at rescue, and most of the crew of the Taara were rescued by the whaler of one of the destroyers, “ in steep breaking seas “, as the Admiralty wrote, ” in which it was not to be expected that any boat could live “. The whaler had set to work at eight in the morning, and carried on until noon.

The H. F. Bailey made first for the Oxshott, which had only her two masts, and her funnel and upper works amidships, showing above water. The coxswain could see no sign of life on board her, so he made for another steamer across the sands, but, as he approached her, he saw about sixteen men, roped together, hanging behind the funnel of the Oxshott. He realised that their position was the more precarious so he returned to her at once.

There was nowhere in the steamer where a rope could be made fast, but he could see, in her cracking upper works, a wedge-shaped opening. He steered for that opening, taking the life-boat right over the submerged deck, and drove her bow into it. The sea kept washing her out of it, but again and again he forced her bow into this opening, and held it there, until the sixteen men who remained of the steamer’s crew had all been hauled into the life-boat. All the time heavy seas were breaking over her, and twice she bumped heavily on the submerged deck.

The coxswain then took the lifeboat alongside the second steamer, the Gallois. She was above water.

With his engines working, the coxswain held the life-boat alongside, head to wind, while some of the steamer’s crew jumped aboard and others slid down ropes. One man fell into the sea, but the life-boatmen hauled him aboard unhurt. From the Gallois the H. F. Bailey rescued 31 men.

She then left the sands and transferred the 47 rescued men to a destroyer.

It was now about noon.

While she was transferring the men, the other Cromer life-boat, the HarriotDixon, arrived. She came alongside the H. F. Bailey, and Coxswain Blogg put his second-coxswain, J. J. Davies, aboard her in command, for he had already taken part in two rescues, and was fully acquainted with the state of the seas on the sands.

The H. F. Bailey then returned to the sands and approached the third steamer, the Deerwood. She had only her bridge above water. There her crew were gathered. The coxswain again drove the life-boat right over the steamer’s bulwarks and the submerged deck. With his engines working, he held her against the bridge while the nineteen men who remained of the steamer’s crew jumped aboard.

The H. F. Bailey had now rescued three crews. She made for a fourth.

the Aberhill, but found that the Great Yarmouth and Gorleston motor lifeboat, the Louise Stephens, had arrived, and was already engaged in rescuing the crew. The Louise Stephens had had the message at eight in the morning.

She had set out at 8.25. She had reached the Haisborough Sands at 11.30. She found that the crew of the first steamer which she had approached had already been rescued, so she made for another, the Aberhill, which was lying in the surf with her back broken. With great difficulty the Louise Stephens went alongside on the steamer’s lee side, amidships ; ropes were thrown ; the life-boat was held close to the steamer ; and the entire crew of 23, as each man saw his opportunity, jumped into the life-boat.

Then life-boatmen cut the ropes and the life-boat made for another steamer.

But she found that her crew had already been rescued.

Meanwhile the H. F. Bailey had gone on to the Taara, but the Harriot Dixon was already alongside her.

This steamer, too, had had her back broken, and both her bow and stern were under water. The coxswain of the Harriot Dixon held the life-boat against the steamer’s bridge, with his engines working, head to wind and sea, and the eight remaining men of the steamer’s crew jumped aboard her.

The H. F. Bailey had gone on to the sixth of the steamers, the Paddy Hendly, and the Harriot Dixon, having rescued the eight men from the Taara, came and stood by. The Paddy Hendly had also had her back broken.

Again the coxswain took the life-boat alongside and held her against the steamer, with his engines working, head to wind and sea, while the 22 men of the crew jumped aboard. The water was so shallow that twice the life-boat bumped on the sands. As she was moving clear of the wreck, she ran right aground, but the next sea refloated her. It was now about one in the afternoon.

119 LIVES RESCUED The Harriot Dixon transferred her rescued men to a destroyer and made for Cromer. The Louise Stephens was already on her way to Gorleston. The H. F. Bailey, with 41 rescued men, made for Yarmouth. On her way she examined the wreck of a trawler which could be seen with only one mast and some of her upper works above water.

There was no-one on board. The lifeboat continued on her way until she met a destroyer. She transferred the 41 men to her and then, at the destroyer’s request, went to another trawler, H. M.

Arkwright. The Arkwright transferred to her two dead bodies, and she continued on her way to Yarmouth.

There she arrived just before five in the afternoon. The Louise Stephens had already reached her station at Gorleston an hour before. So ended this memorable service. The H. F.

Bailey had rescued 88 men, the Louise Stephens 23 and the Harriot Dixon 8.

Two other life-boats had also been called out, the Foresters Centenary, of Sheringham, and the Michael Stephens, of Lowestoft. They had arrived at the sands to find that the rescue was finished, and returned to their stations.

When the H. F. Bailey reached Yarmouth, she was found to be severely damaged. She had twice been driven over sunken decks. She had been bumped severely on the sands.

She had run aground. The result was that she had three holes in her port bow. Twenty feet of her port fender had been torn off. Her bow pudding had been torn off. Her stem had been torn off. Its bolts had been forced right through six or eight inches of thedeadwood and had punctured some of the air cases inside the hull. Such was the price she had paid for those 88 lives rescued.

What the Navy thought of this service was shown by the signal received at the life-boat stations from the flag officer in charge at Great Yarmouth congratulating the coxswains and crews of all the life-boats.

The signal said : “ I have been instructed by the Commander-in-Chief, Nore, to convey his sincere congratulations and admiration for the superb seamanship and courage displayed by them on the morning of Wednesday, 6th August.

The flag officer in the Yarmouth Command and all those in the Yarmouth Command wish to associate themselves in this highly deserved commendation.” THE REWARDS It was a service of great difficulty and danger, carried out with splendid skill and courage, and the Institution made the following awards : To COXSWAIN HENRY G. BLOGG, of Cromer, a second clasp to his gold medal, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum. He was also awarded the British Empire Medal ; To SECOND-COXSWAIN JOHN J .

DAVIES, of Cromer, who took command of the Harriot Dixon when she reached the sands, the silver medal for gallantry with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To COXSWAIN CHARLES A. JOHNSON, of Great Yarmouth and Gorleston, the silver medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To SECOND-COXSWAIN LESLIE J. HARRISON, of Cromer, who was in the Harriot Dixon, a second clasp to his bronze medal, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To HENRY W. DAVIES, of Cromer, the motor-mechanic of the H. F.

Bailey, a second clasp to his bronze medal, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To H. V. LINDER, of Cromer, the motor-mechanic of the Harriot Dixon, the bronze medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To G. F. MOBBS, the motor-mechanic of the Great Yarmouth and Gorleston life-boat, the bronze medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To the other eighteen members of the three crews, the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum : WILLIAM T. DAVIES, of Cromer, bowman of the H. F. Bailey, JAMES W. DAVIES, assistant motor-mechanic, HENRY T. DAVIES, signalman, W. ALLEN, signalman, and J. R. DAVIES, R. COX and C. HARRISON, life-boatmen ; W. H. DAVIES, of Cromer, assistant motormechanic of the Harriot Dixon, and J. J. DAVIES, JNR., R. C. DAVIES, G. COX, C. BRAKENBURY and L. HARRISON, life-boatmen ; J. WRIGHT, second-coxswain of the Great Yarmouth and Gorleston life-boat, T.

MORLEY, bowman, A. BUSH, assistant motor-mechanic, W. PARKER, signalman, and L. SYMONDS, life-boatman ; To the coxswain and each of the nine members of the crew of the H. F. Bailey, a reward of £2 in addition to the ordinary scale reward of 12s. 6d.

Standard rewards to crew and launchers, and other payments, £11 1s. 6d. ; additional rewards £20 ; total rewards, £31 1s. 6d.; To the second-coxswain and each of the seven members of the crew of the Harriot Dixon, a reward of £2 in addition to the ordinary scale rewards of 12s. 6d. Standard rewards to crew and launchers, £7 16s. 6d. ; additional rewards to crew, £16 ; total rewards, £23 16s. 6d. ; To the coxswain and each of the six members of the crew of the Great Yarmouth and Gorleston life-boat, a reward of £2 in addition to the ordinary scale reward of 12s. 6d.

Standard rewards to crew and helpers, £4 18s. 6d. ; additional rewards to crew, £14 ; total rewards. £18 18s. 6d.; To the coxswain and each of the six members of the crew of the Lowestoft life-boat, a reward of 30s. in addition to the ordinary scale reward of 19s. Standard rewards to crew and helpers, £6 1s. ; additional rewards to crew, £10 10s.; total rewards, £16 11s.; To the coxswain and each of the seven members of the crew of the Sheringham life-boat, a reward of 30s.

in addition to the ordinary scale rewardof 12s. 6d. Standard rewards to crew and helpers, £15 14s. ; additional rewards to crew, £12 ; total rewards, £27 14s. ; Total rewards and other payments for the service, £118 1s. 6d.

A number of gifts were received in gratitude. Messrs. William France Fenwick & Co. Ltd., the owners of the Deerwood, sent £50 to the Cromer crew ; Messrs. Hudson Steamship Co.

Ltd., owners of the Oxshott, sent £10 10s. to the Cromer crew, and £5 5s. to the Cromer branch ; survivors of the Oxshott’s crew and relatives sent £5 2s. to the Institution through the Seaham branch ; the Tredegar Associated Collieries and Shipping Co. Ltd., owners of the Gallois, sent £10 10s. to the Cromer branch.

On the 7th of August the Great Yarmouth and Gorleston life-boat was launched at three in the morning, at the request of the flag officer in charge at Great Yarmouth, and took out an Admiralty salvage officer to survey the wrecks. She returned at 9.30.

- Rewards, £14 13s.

AUGUST 13TH. - EASTBOURNE, SUSSEX.

At about 1.30 in the afternoon the Langney Point coastguard telephoned that seven men working on the wreck of the S.S. Barnhill should be taken off at once.

A strong S.W. breeze was blowing, the sea was rough, and the wreck would soon be awash. The Barnhill had been bombed in March 1940, and a salvage party was working on her in Pevensey Bay. At 1.50 P.M. the motor life-boat Jane Holland was launched, as no other suitable boat was available, rescued the seven men, and returned to her station at 2.50 P.M. - Rewards, £6 13s.

(See Eastbourne,“ Accounts of Services by Life-boats 1940,” page 57, and Hastings, “Accounts of Services by Life-boats 1940,” page 134.) AUGUST 15TH. - BARROW, LANCASHIRE.

At 10.35 in the morning a message was received from Hoylake coastguard that a Blenheim bomber was down off Walney Island, and the motor life-boat N.T. was launched immediately. A light wind was blowing and the sea was slight. The lifeboat found the bomber two miles N.W. of Fort Walney. She also found a rowing boat with one man on board which had put out from Barrow, and a motor boat with two men on board which had put out from Haverigg.

The man in the rowing boat helped the five airmen, one of whom was badly hurt, from the wing of the aeroplane into the life-boat.

The life-boat then took him on board and AUGUST 21ST. - PORTHDINLLAEN, CAERNARVONSHIRE. At 6.24 P.M. the R.A.F. asked for the help of the life-boat to search for an aeroplane off Porthysgaden, and the motor life-boat M.O.Y.E. was launched at 6.51 P.M. A light westerly breeze was blowing and the sea was smooth.

The life-boat found the motor boat Pal towing a rubber dinghy and wreckage. On board she had the body of a man. The flood tide was strong, and the life-boat towed the motor boat to Porthysgaden. She then returned to Porthdinllaen, searching as she went, and when she was off Porthdinllaen Look-out a boatman told her that a rubber dinghy had been seen some two miles out. Here she round wreckage of an aeroplane, but there was no sign of the dinghy, and as it was now dark the life-boat returned to her station, arriving at 10.20 P.M. - Rewards, £9 12s.

took his boat in tow. The engine of the motor boat from Haverigg had broken down, so the life-boat rescued the two men and took the boat in tow. She arrived back at her station at 2.15 in the afternoon and landed the rescued airmen who were taken away in a naval ambulance. - Rewards, £4 19s. 6d.

(See Barrow, “ Services by Shore-boats,” page 100.) (See Bardsey Island, and Porthysgaden, Carmarthenshire, “ Services by Shore-boats,” page 101.)

AUGUST 23RD. - APPLEDORE, DEVON.

During the morning several of the crew of the life-boat were at the boat-house when they saw the small pleasure boat Busy Bee, of Barnstaple, in difficulties and shewing signals of distress. A strong S.E. wind was blowing, with a moderate sea. The motor life-boat Violet Armstrong was launched at 10.10 A.M. and found the small boat on the rocks abreast of the Pulleys, with one man in her. He was taken into the life-boat and, with the small boat in tow, the life-boat returned to her station, arriving at 11.25 A.M.

A letter of thanks was received from the rescued man. - Rewards, £2 10s.

AUGUST 23RD. - TENBY, PEMBROKESHIRE.

At about 10.30 in the morning the coastguard reported that the motor boat belonging to the monks on Caldy Island had broken down and was drifting on to the rocks at the back of St. Catherine’s Fort. A strong S.E. wind was blowing, with a rough sea.

The motor life-boat John R. Webb was launched at eleven o’clock and found the drifting motor boat. She rescued the five men on board, and towed their boat to a buoy, where she moored it. The five men she landed at Victoria Pier. The life-boat then anchored, as, in the rough seas, she could not get back on the slipway. At about 12.50 P.M.

the motor boat parted from the buoy and drifted ashore. The life-boat put off again at 3.5 P.M., got a rope aboard the boat and towed her into harbour, arriving at 5 P.M.- Property salvage case.

AUGUST 2 7TH. - PORTHDINLLAEN, CAERNARVONSHIRE. At 12.16 P.M. thecoastguard reported that a small rowing boat was in difficulties off Porthdinllaen Point.

A moderately strong S.W. wind was blowing, with a rough sea. The motor life-boat M.O.Y.E. was launched at 12.45 P.M. Her crew was completed by the inclusion of four golfers who were all on holiday at their native town of Nevin. The life-boat found the small boat, the Rover, several miles N.E.

of Porthdinllaen Point. She was half full of water and had one boy on board, a visitor from Manchester. The life-boat rescued him, and, with the small boat in tow, returned to her station at 1.30 P.M. - Rewards, £3 6s.

AUGUST 29TH. - TOBERMORY, ARGYLLSHIRE.

At 3.15 P.M. the local doctor asked for the help of the life-boat to take a young woman, suffering from acute appendicitis, to hospital at Oban, as there would be no steamer until the following morning. A fresh N.W. wind was blowing, with a heavy sea.

The motor life-boat Sir Arthur Rose took the patient on board and sailed at 4.25 P.M., reaching Oban at 7.25 P.M. Leaving for home again at 9 P.M. the life-boat arrived at 12.45 A.M. next morning. The patient’s condition was so serious that she had to have the operation at once, and her life was saved.

- Rewards, £7 10s.

AUGUST 30TH. - APPLEDORE, DEVON.

At 3.45 P.M. a message was received from the resident naval officer at Appledore, that an aeroplane had crashed into the sea between the Bar and Haire Point off Saunton Sands, and the motor life-boat Violet Armstrong was launched at 3.35 P.M. A moderate N.W.

breeze was blowing and the sea was smooth.

The life-boat found the body of an airman, and her crew attempted to revive him, hut without success. The life-boat returned to her station at 5.40 P.M. - Rewards, £4 17s. 6d.

The following lifeboats were launched, but no services were rendered for the reasons given : AUGUST 1ST. - MINEHEAD, SOMERSET.

An aeroplane’s dinghy had been reported, but nothing was found. - Rewards , £10 18s. 6d.

AUGUST 3RD. - CROMER, NORFOLK.

An aeroplane had been reported down in the sea, but the life-boat only found wreckage of a balloon and, learning that no aeroplane was missing, returned to her station.- Rewards, £5 14s.

AUGUST 6TH. - WALTON AND FRINTON, ESSEX. A burning aeroplane had been seen to crash into the sea, but only oil and smashed timber were found. - Rewards, £14 1s. 6d.

AUGUST 8TH. - BERWICK - ON - TWEED, NORTHUMBERLAND. An object, thought to be a man floating, had been seen in the sea, but nothing was found. - Rewards, £5.

AUGUST 8TH. - MINEHEAD, SOMERSET.

A number of soldiers had gone out in a boat and could not make any headway against tide and sea, but they were picked up by a steamer. - Rewards, £5 14s.

AUGUST 9TH. - CAISTER, NORFOLK.

During an air raid at night an aeroplane had been seen burning at sea, but it disappeared before the life-boat could reach it and only a patch of oil was found. - Rewards, £17 17s.

AUGUST 9TH. - BARROW, AND FLEETWOOD, LANCASHIRE. An aeroplane had come down in the sea off Walney Island, but no trace of her crew could be seen and it was learned later that her crew had been landed. - Rewards : Barrow, £10 12s. ; Fleetwood, £10 16s.

AUGUST 11TH. - RHYL, FLINTSHIRE. An aeroplane had been reported down in the sea, but nothing was found. - Rewards, £10 8s. 6d.

AUGUST 15TH. - SCARBOROUGH , YORKSHIRE. An aeroplane had come down in the sea on fire, but only wreckage was found. - Rewards, £19 4s. 6d.

AUGUST 19TH. - NEW BRIGHTON, AND HOYLAKE, CHESHIRE. An R.A.F. aeroplane had been reported down in the sea in the estuary of the River Dee, but nothing was found. - Rewards : New Brighton, £9 5s.; Hoylake, £17 10s.

AUGUST 20TH. - CROMER, NORFOLK.

An aeroplane had been reported down in the sea in flames six miles N.W. of Cromer, but nothing was found. - Rewards, £17 10s. 6d.

AUGUST 21ST. - ABERYSTWYTH, CARDIGANSHIRE. An aeroplane had been reported down in the sea, but nothing was found. While the life-boat was searching, another aeroplane was reported in the sea, and a third in distress, and a motor boat was sent out to her help. - Rewards, £8 9s. 6d.

(See Aberystwyth, “ Services by Shoreboats,” page 101.)

AUGUST 21ST.- SENNEN COVE, CORNWALL.

An aeroplane had been reported down in the sea off Cape Cornwall, but nothing was found. - Rewards, £14 1s.

AUGUST 21ST. - WICKLOW. A vessel had been reported on fire, but nothing was found, and later it was learned that the crew of the vessel had got the fire under control. - Rewards, £5 7s 6d.

AUGUST 23RD. - CADGWITH, CORNWALL.

An R.A.F. aeroplane had been reported down in the sea, but nothing was found. - Rewards, £25 19s. 6d.

AUGUST 25TH. - GIRVAN, AYRSHIRE.

A coble had broken down, but reached harbour unaided. - Rewards, £9 1s.

AUGUST 25TH. - CLOGHER HEAD, CO. LOUTH. A woman had been carried out of her depth while bathing, but she was drowned before the life-boat could reach her,and her body was recovered from the shore.

- Rewards, £8 12s.

AUGUST 26TH. - FLEETWOOD, LANCASHIRE.

A steam drifter had been reported ashore and showing signals of distress, but it was found that a mistake had been made in the signal and that she was not in any difficulty. - Rewards, £4 13s. 6d.

AUGUST 27TH. - EASTBOURNE, SUSSEX.

A naval vessel, towing a target for the army, was reported to have fouled some buoys, but she got clear without help.- Rewards, £13 16s.

AUGUST 27TH. - CADGWITH, CORNWALL.

A Sunderland flying-boat had come down in the sea, but was taken in tow by a motor boat. - Rewards, £10 1s.

AUGUST 27TH. - BLACKPOOL, LANCASHIRE.

Two aeroplanes had collided and fallen in Blackpool, and two airmen had been seen to fall into the sea, but nothing could be found. After the return of the life-boat a party of life-boatmen and firemen recovered the body of one airman which was floating near the shore. - Rewards, £6 1s.

AUGUST 28TH. - BALTIMORE, CO .

CORK. A vessel had been reported in distress by Valentia Radio Station, but no trace of her could be found. - Rewards, £14 2s.

AUGUST 2 8TH. - PORTHDINLLAEN, CAERNARVONSHIRE. A British bombing aeroplane had come down in the sea about 11.30 in the morning, off Rhosneigr, Anglesey, twenty miles away on the other side of Caernarvon Bay, and at 12.36 P.M. a message was received from the naval officer at Holyhead asking that the life-boat should be sent at once to the rescue. The motor life-boat M.O.Y.E. was launched at 12.48 and arrived off Rhosneigr at about 2.30. A moderate gale was blowing and the sea was rough. It was now three hours since the bomber had come down, and in the meantime very gallant efforts to rescue the aeroplane’s crew of three men had been made from the shore. All the attempts were unsuccessful, and eleven of the rescuers, as well as the three airmen, had been drowned. When the lifeboat arrived there was nothing to be seen except two aeroplanes overhead, and the life-boat searched for nearly an hour, but found nothing. She then returned to her station, arriving at seven in the evening.- Rewards, £4 12s.

(See Rhosneigr, “ Services by Shoreboats,” 1942, page 60.) AUGUST 29TH. - GREAT YARMOUTH AND GORLESTON, NORFOLK. A British fighter aeroplane had been reported down in the sea to the E.N.E. of Gorleston, but the lifeboat was recalled when it was learned that the aeroplane had come down sixty miles away. - Rewards, £4 15s. 6d.

AUGUST 29TH. - DONAGHADEE, CO. DOWN. Signals of distress had been reported, but the life-boat found nothing, and later it was learnt that the signals had come from a fishing boat whose engine had failed, but it had started again and she had got safely home. - Rewards, £8 18s. 6d.

(See Donaghadee, “ Services by Shoreboats,” page 101.)

AUGUST 30TH. - CLACTON - ON - SEA, ESSEX. A British bombing aeroplane had crashed into the sea, but another boat had saved four of the crew from a rubber dinghy, and the fifth man could not be found.- Rewards, £12 16s. 6d.

AUGUST 31ST. - RHYL, FLINTSHIRE.

The pilot of a British aeroplane had wirelessed that he was baling out about 3 miles N.W.

of Rhyl, but the life-boat was recalled before she reached the position given. - Rewards, £16 11s. 6d.

AUGUST 31ST. - MONTROSE, ANGUS.

A flare and flashes had been reported, but nothing could be found. - Rewards, £9 17s.