JANUARY Launches 71. Lives rescued 221.

JANUARY 3RD. - ARRANMORE, CO. DONEGAL. A fishing boat was caught in a S.E. gale with a very rough sea. The motor life-boat K.T.J.S. was launched at 10.20 A.M., found the boat five miles off, and escorted her to safety. She returned to her station at 12.10 P.M. - Rewards, £8 8s.

JANUARY 6TH. - SCARBOROUGH, YORKSHIRE. At 5.15 P.M. information was received from an escort vessel, through the coastguard, that a fishing boat was in distress seven miles to the N.E. It was very cold, with a moderate wind and sea. At 5.45 P.M. the motor life-boat Herbert Joy II was launched. She found the motor fishing boat Sceptre, with a crew of three. Her engine had broken down, and she was in danger from mines and sea traffic in the darkness. The life-boat towed her in, arriving at 9 P.M. - Property salvage case.

JANUARY 10TH. - HOLYHEAD, ANGLESEY.

At 2.8 A.M. the coastguard reported a ship ashore in Cymeran Bay, near Rhosneigr.

A N.E. breeze was blowing, with a smooth sea. It was bitterly cold. The motor life-boat A.E.D. was launched at 2.40 A.M., and found the motor vessel De Ruyter, of Rotterdam. The life-boat stood by until, just before 7 A.M., the vessel refloated. She then guided her out to sea and, after receiving the thanks of the master, returned to her station at 9.30 A.M. - Rewards, £17 1s. 6d.

JANUARY 13TH. - SKEGNESS, LINCOLNSHIRE.

At 2.26 P.M. the Admiralty salvage officer at The Humber asked for the services of the life-boat to take him and his party out to the wreck of a collier, the S.S. Grey Friar, of Newcastle, which had been bombed at Chapel St. Leonards. Survivors of her crew had been rescued by a minesweeper, but two bodies were on board, and tugs were standing by. A light N.N.W. wind was blowing, with a ground swell. The life-boat Anne Miles was launched at 3.30 P.M., put the party on board, and returned to her station at 6.15 P.M. - Expenses paid by Naval Authorities.

JANUARY 15TH. - CROMER, NORFOLK.

The coastguard reported a steamer ashore half a mile N.E. of Palling, and at 10.10 A.M. the No. 1 motor life-boat H. F. Bailey was launched. A strong easterly wind was blowing, with a moderate sea, and the weather was cold. The life-boat reached the vessel about noon to find that she had got off and that a tug had her in tow. She was the S.S. Lieutenant Robert Mory, of Belfast, formerly of Boulogne, a vessel of over 3,000 tons, in ballast from London for Sunderland, with a crew of twenty-seven. A second tug 14 arrived and joined in the tow. After towing northwards for a time the tugs altered course for Yarmouth Roads as it was feared that the steamer would not keep afloat long enough to reach The Humber. The life-boat kept with them and at 1.30 she took on board eleven of the steamer’s crew. From them she learnt that the Lieutenant Robert Mory was one of six vessels that had grounded on the Haisborough Sands, and that all of them had refloated on the rising tide. At about 5 P.M. ten more of the crew were transferred to the life-boat, followed later by the captain and five officers. They reached Yarmouth Roads at 10.15 P.M. where a salvage tug, which had been summoned by wireless, came out to take charge of the steamer. The lifeboat landed nineteen of her crew and put the other eight on board again. She then made for Gorleston, as the weather was too heavy for her to be taken up the slipway at Cromer. - Property salvage case.

JANUARY 15TH. - WELLS, NORFOLK.

At 11.49 A.M. the coastguard reported a ship apparently aground about four miles east of the look-out at Wells. A strong E.N.E. wind was blowing, and the sea was rough. The motor life-boat Royal Silver Jubilee 1910-1935 was launched at 12.15 P.M.

and found the S.S. Faxfleet, of Goole, ashore north of Stiffkey. She had gone aground on the Haisborough Sands, and had got off, but she was leaking so badly that her master had beached her at Stiffkey to save her from sinking. She had a crew of sixteen. The life-boat took off seven of them and landed them at Wells life-boathouse. She returned at once to the wreck and stood by until after high water. The seas had then moderated and the captain decided to remain with his ship. The life-boat returned to her station at 9.45 P.M.. - Rewards, £35 8s.

JANUARY 15TH. - SOUTHEND - ON - SEA, ESSEX. During the afternoon the Naval Control informed the life-boat coxswain that a barge was burning flares close to the Grain Spit,. Half a gale was blowing from the N.E., with a rough sea. The motor life-boat J. B. Proudfoot, on temporary duty at the station, was launched at 4.45 P.M. She found the barge Ferret, of London, with a crew of two, but she did not need help. The life-boat stood by until the Ferret was in a safe position, and returned to her station at 6 P.M. - Rewards, £10 11s. 6d.

JANUARY 15TH . - THE HUMBER, YORKSHIRE. At about 10.5 P.M. the Royal Naval Shore Signal Station reported a vessel sounding S.O.S. to the N.W. of the Gate Ship.

A moderate N.W. breeze was blowing, with a slight sea. It was very cold. Accompanied by the naval salvage officer, the motor lifeboat City of Bradford II put out at 10.20 P.M.

She spoke several vessels all of which hadheard an explosion and the S.O.S., and at 11.45 P.M. came up with the minesweeper Lady Stanley, which had on board the crew of eleven men of the steam trawler Stalker, of Grimsby. The trawler had been damaged by a mine dropped by parachute from a German aeroplane. The life-boat took the eleven men off the Lady Stanley and landed them at Grimsby. The trawler herself was taken in tow by a tug and beached in a sinking condition. The life-boat returned to her station at 7.10 A.M. - Paid permanent crew : Rewards, 18s.

JANUARY 18TH. - LERWICK, SHETLANDS.

At 10.25 A.M. the naval officer in charge at Lerwick asked for the services of the life-boat to bring three wounded German airmen from Fair Isle, where their Heinkel bomber had been  shot down. The day before an R.A.F. launch had gone to Fair Isle, but had been unable to return owing to bad weather. A moderate E.S.E. gale was blowing, with a heavy sea and snow showers.

The motor life-boat Lady Jane and Martha Ryland was launched at 11.10 A.M. and reached Fair Isle at 4.45 P.M., to find that the launch had made a second attempt to leave, had had to put back and had been wrecked.

The life-boat took on board the three German airmen, a naval master-at-arms and guard, one army officer, one sick-bay petty officer, two sick-bay attendants and four bags of mail. Leaving at 5.30 P.M. she reached her station again at 11.20 P.M. When she was south-east of Noness Head she saw a floating mine and reported it by wireless. - Rewards, £22 16s.

JANUARY 18TH . - FRASERBURGH, ABERDEENSHIRE. While the fishing fleet was at sea an E.S.E. gale had come up, with a heavy sea, and the harbour entrance was dangerous. At 1.30 P.M. the motor lifeboat John and Charles Kennedy was launched, escorted all the fleet into the harbour, and returned to her station at 4.20P.M. - Rewards, £8 1S. 6d.

south-easterly gale was blowing, with squalls of rain and snow ; the night was very dark ; a heavy sea was running dead on shore. The motor life-boat E.M.E.D. put off from her moorings at the end of the pier at five minutes past two, and in a quarter of an hour she found the barge Martha, of Rochester. The barge had anchored, but her anchor had not held, and she had gone ashore stern first.

There she lay in six feet of water, with the seas breaking right over her. Her crew of three men could be seen in the fore rigging. Handling the lifeboat very skilfully the coxswain brought her alongside the barge, and in spite of the high seas held her there long enough for the three men to jump aboard her from the barge’s rigging.

Then he brought her safely out of the breakers, undamaged, although in the shallow water her keel had struck the bottom three times. She was back at her station again just before three in the morning.

JANUARY 18TH. - PETERHEAD, ABERDEENSHIRE.

An easterly gale was blowing with a heavy sea, and at 2.20 P.M. the coastguard reported that some small fishing boats were still at sea. The motor life-boat Julia Park Barry of Glasgow was launched at 2.30 P.M. and came up with the motor fishing boat Castlebrae, two miles S.E. of Peterhead.

She escorted her through the heavy sea at the entrance to the bay, and going out again found the motor fishing boat Kitty Mackay four miles to the S.E., and escorted her into harbour. She returned to moorings at 4.45 P.M. - Rewards, £6 14s. 6d.

BRONZE MEDAL SERVICE AT WALTON AND FRINTON JANUARY 19TH. - WALTON AND FRINTON, ESSEX. In the early morning flares were seen burning about half a mile north of the pier at Walton, close to the beach. A It was a skilful and courageous rescue, and the Institution made the following awards : To COXSWAIN THOMAS H. BLOOM, the bronze medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum; To THOMAS CLAUDE BROOKE, the motor-mechanic, the bronze medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To the coxswain and each member of the crew a special reward of £2, in addition to the reward on the ordinary scale of £2 17s. 6d. ; standard rewards to crew and launchers, £19 12s. 6d. ; additional rewards to crew, £16 ; total rewards, £35 12s. 6d.

BRONZE MEDAL SERVICE AT NEWCASTLE JANUARY 19TH- 2 1 ST. - NEWCASTLE, CO. DOWN. At 6.45 in the morning the motor life-boat at Newcastle, Co. Down, L. P. and St.

Helen, was launched in a blinding snow-storm to the help of the motor vessel Hoperidge, of Newcastle-upon- Tyne. A gale was blowing from the east, and the sea was very rough.

With the help of her searchlight the life-boat found the vessel, which wasTwo days later she again went out to help in an attempt, which was unsuccessful, to refloat the Hoperidge.

The gale was moderating, but there was a heavy sea. The life-boat was out for nearly six hours.

The first service was very skilfully carried out in very severe weather, and the Institution made the following awards : ashore at Minerstown, in Dundrum Bay, between two reefs of rock. By signal lamps the Hoperidge asked the life-boat to come alongside. She then said that she was in immediate need of a doctor, and passed to the life-boat an urgent message for the Admiralty.

The life-boat anchored and dropped down towards the land. The second coxswain then waded ashore, no easy thing to do in the snow-storm and heavy surf ; telephoned to an army camp for a doctor ; and handed the message for the Admiralty to the coastguard. When the army doctor and an orderly arrived it was impossible to get out to the life-boat from the beach, but the second coxswain found a spot partly protected from the gale, where the life-boat could be run on a flat shelving rock. He guided her to it. There the coxswain, by keeping his engines running, was able to hold the life-boat’s head on the rock, but the assistant motor-mechanic had to jump over to help the secondcoxswain before it was possible for them to get the doctor and his orderly aboard.

To COXSWAIN PATRICK MURPHY, he bronze medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To SECOND-COXSWAIN WILLIAM MURPHY, the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum ; To THOMAS MCCLELLAND, the assistant motor-mechanic, a reward of £2 in addition to the ordinary scale reward of £3 6s. ; To the coxswain and each member of the crew, except Thomas McClelland, a reward of £1 in addition to the ordinary scale reward of £3 6s.

Standard rewards to crew and launchers, £47 11s. 4d. ; additional rewards to crew, £8; total rewards, £55 11s. 4d.

With great difficulty, and at great risk, the coxswain brought the life-boat alongside the stranded Hoperidge, for at one moment, as the seas rushed in, she was filled with water, and the next, as they washed back, she was almost stranded herself.

Standard rewards to crew and helpers for the second service, £54 0S. 6d.

She put the doctor and his orderly aboard, stood by, took them off again, and at 1.30 that afternoon landed them at Newcastle. She had then been out for nearly six hours.

The crew had a hurried hot meal and at two o’clock in the afternoon put out again, taking the honorary secretary of the life-boat station and another doctor with her. On her way she met the S.S. Stanleigh entering Dundrum Bay and standing into danger. The life-boat told her where she was, advised her to make for the Isle of Man for shelter, and gave her the course. Then she returned to the Hoperidge, put the honorary secretary and doctor on board, and stood by until high water. It was then safe to leave the Hoperidge, and the life-boat returned to Newcastle at 6.30 in the evening.

JANUARY 20TH. - DUN LAOGHAIRE, CO. DUBLIN. While bound for Dublin laden with coal the S.S. Saint Kenneth. of Dublin. sprang a leak. but succeeded in reaching Dun Laoghaire Harbour on the night of the 19th January. While she was being beached she nearly ran down the motor life-boat Dunleary II at her moorings and the life-boatmen had to move the Dunleary II to a safer position. The steamer was made secure, but at 5.15 A.M. next morning the harbour master asked for the life-boat’s help to get the crew of eleven off the steamer as she had partly refloated at high water, had parted her ropes and was being carried nearer the shore. A whole easterly gale was blowing, with a heavy sea and driving sleet, and it was found to be too rough for the crew to go out to the life-boat at her moorings in the boarding boat. Instead they got a line to the steamer from the shore, and rigged tackle by which they were able to haul her boat to the shore and back again several times, until the whole of the steamer’s crew of eleven had been rescued by 7.45 A.M. - Rewards, £16 18s.

BRONZE MEDAL SERVICE AT THE MUMBLES JANUARY 20TH. - THE MUMBLES, GLAMORGANSHIRE. Just beforeseven o’clock in the morning signals of distress in Swansea Bay could be seen from The Mumbles, and the motor life-boat Edward Prince of Wales was launched. It was still pitch dark, and the darkness was increased by mist and squalls of rain. A whole gale was blowing from the south-east and there was a heavy breaking sea.

All that the life-boat had to guide her was a feeble morse lamp on the vessel in distress, and she found her in the nick of time. The vessel was the steamer Cornish Rose, of Liverpool, of 700 tons. She had two anchors down, but they were dragging, and her windlass was not working. She was very near the shore and was rolling heavily.

Her master had given up hope of saving her, and was just on the point of abandoning her. She might strike at any moment, and he feared that she would at once break up. She had only a fifteen-foot boat, and even had her crew succeeded in reaching the shore in her, lives would almost certainly have been lost when they attempted to land in the heavy seas.

The coxswain of the life-boat saw that the only thing to be done was to go alongside without delay. This he did with great skill and boldness, and at great risk. The life-boat was shipping so much water that her crew was in danger of being washed out of her, and the ordinary perils of the sea were greatly increased by the coast defences.

At this point these defences consisted of iron rails driven into the foreshore and sticking out of it. The foreshore was thickly set with them.

From the life-boat they could not be seen. Her crew knew that they were there. They knew that had she struck one of them it would have ripped her open.

In spite of these dangers the lifeboat came safely alongside the Cornish Rose. One by one the ten men of the steamer’s crew jumped into her, and twenty minutes later she was making for Swansea again. She arrived just before nine o’clock in the morning.

It was a very bold and skilful rescue, and the Institution made the following rewards : To COXSWAIN WILLIAM JOHN GAMMON, the bronze medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To ROBERT TREVOR WILLIAMS, the motor-mechanic, the bronze medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To the coxswain and each member of the crew, a special reward of £1 in addition to the ordinary scale reward of £1 8s. 6d. Standard rewards to crew and launchers, £17 9s. 11d. ; additional rewards to crew, £8 ; total rewards, £25 9s. 11d.

JANUARY 20TH. - DUN LAOGHAIRE, CO. DUBLIN. At 10.15 A.M. red flares were seen from the schooner Windermere, of Dublin, which was at anchor in Dun Laoghaire harbour. A whole easterly gale was blowing, with a heavy sea and snow. The schooner had a crew of four and was laden with malt for Dublin from New Ross. She had been storm-bound since the previous day and had dragged her anchor about four hundred yards. The motor life-boat Dunleary II left her moorings at 11.5 A.M. , rescued the four men, and was back again at 11.45 A.M. - Rewards, £8 10s.

JANUARY 20TH. - HOLYHEAD, ANGLESEY.

A heavy easterly gale was blowing, with a rough sea and violent squalls of hail and snow, and the life-boat coxswain and motor-mechanic had been on the alert for some time when, at 1.2 P.M., the coastguard reported a ketch flying a distress signal close to Trinity Perch Rocks. The motor life-boat A.E.D. was launched at 1.27 P.M. and found the motor ketch Florette, of Chester, yawing about very dangerously, with one of her anchor chains parted. At the second attempt the life-boat got alongside and rescued the crew of three, after having been struck and slightly damaged by the ketch. She returned to her station at 2.8 P.M. - Rewards, £3 16s.

JANUARY 21ST. - ABERDEEN . A t 10.25 A.M. Findon coastguard reported a vessel two miles S. by E. flying a distress signal, and the No. 1 motor life-boat Emma Constance was launched at 10.45 A.M. A moderate E.S.E. gale was blowing, with a heavy broken sea. The life-boat found the motor vessel Empire Daffodil, of Great Yarmouth, bound for Leith in ballast.  Her engine had broken down and she wanted a tug. The life-boat sent a message, by morse, to the coastguard and then returned to stand by the Empire Daffodil. Her crew were able to repair the engine, and, escorted by the life-boat, the vessel reached Aberdeen and was safely berthed at 3.30 P.M. - Rewards, £7 16s. 6d.

JANUARY 21ST. - PORTASKAIG, ARGYLLSHIRE. At about 10.10 P.M. the Kilchoman coastguard telephoned that a trawler was ashore in the Sound of Islay. The night was dark, with an easterly gale and a rough sea. The motor life-boat Charlotte Elizabeth was launched at 10.50 P.M., and at 11.30 P.M. found the trawler Thomas Deas, of Milford Haven. She was laden with fish, and had a crew of fourteen. Another trawler arrived, and the life-boat passed a tow line to her, but it parted. The weather was too severe for the second trawler to make another attempt at a tow and she went on her way.

The life-boat stood by until day-break, and then helped the Thomas Deas to get out a kedge anchor. With this she pulled herself off on the high tide. The life-boat returned to her station at 12.5 P.M. on the 22nd January. The Fleetwood Steam Trawlers’ Mutual Insurance Association made a gift of £50 to the life-boat crew, who gave £4 of it to the Institution. - Rewards, £21 17s. 6d.

JANUARY 22ND. - THE HUMBER, YORKSHIRE. At 11.15 A.M. several loud explosions were heard, which proved to be delayed action mines. At the same time the Admiralty salvage tug St. Syrus struck a mine when passing the Boom Gateway, and started to sink. A light S. wind was blowing and the sea was smooth. The motor lifeboat City of Bradford II was launched at 11.25 A.M., but the Gate Vessel had already sent her boat out to pick up survivors, of whom there were ten, and had put them on board the minesweeper Fitzgerald. The life-boat searched, but found only the dead body of the commander of the St. Syrus.

She then took on board the ten rescued men from the minesweeper, landed them at Grimsby, and returned to her station at 1.50 P.M. - Paid permanent crew : Rewards, 13s. 6d.

JANUARY 24TH. - MONTROSE, ANGUS.

At about 1.30 P.M. the sea began to make with the ebb tide, and soon it was breaking across the bar. The weather was cold, and a fresh E.S.E. wind was blowing. As the motor fishing boat Rosa, of Montrose, was still at sea, the No. 1 motor life-boat The Good Hope was launched at 1.45 P.M., as the Rosa could only enter the harbour at great risk. She escorted her safely in and returned to her station at 3.30 P.M. - Rewards, £9 12s. 6d.

JANUARY 2 5TH. - AMBLE, NORTHUMBERLAND. The motor life-boat Frederick and Emma was launched at 8.40 A.M. to the help of the coastal steamer Spey, of Newcastle, which had run ashore on the rocks at the north side of Coquet Island.

An E.S.E. gale was blowing, with a heavy sea, and mines, which had been broken adrift by the rough seas, were floating about. At the third attempt the life-boat succeeded in firing a line over the Spey, and rescued her crew of five with the breeches buoy. One of them had a narrow escape. He fell out of the buoy, but was hauled into the lifeboat with the help of a boathook. The lifeboat returned at 11.30 A.M. - Rewards, £11 6s.

JANUARY 25TH. - CROMER, NORFOLK.

In the early morning of the 22nd January, the S.S. Meriones, of Liverpool, stranded on the Haisborough Sands three-quarters of a mile east by north of the South Middle Haisborough Buoy. She was a vessel of 9,500 tons, and was bound for Hull to complete loading before sailing for Australia.

She had 101 men on board, crew and stevedores, many of them Chinese. She also had two racehorses on board. The life-boat station knew nothing of this until, at 9 at night on the 24th January, a request came for the coxswain to go to Great Yarmouth to discuss with the chief salvage officer the possibility of salving the vessel. This he did next morning, and with the salvage officer went out in the salvage tug Richard Lee Barber to examine the steamer. With them went the marine superintendent of the China Mutual Steam Navigation Co., the owners of the Meriones. The tug was taking out salvage pumps, as the steamer’s No. 6 hold was full of water. A moderate E.N.E. wind was blowing, with a moderate sea. The weather was overcast and misty, and it was very cold.

As the tug was approaching the sands, the steamer was attacked by German aeroplanes, but they were driven off by other ships in the neighbourhood, and the marine superintendent immediately sent a wireless call from the tug for the Cromer life-boat. This was not the first attack. One had been made at 2.15 in the afternoon, when one of the steamer’s gunners was wounded, and a third was made at four o’clock, but although the bombs fell very near the steamer no damage was done, and no one, besides the gunner, was hurt. Altogether 23 bombs were dropped in three attacks.

The message for help was received at Cromer at 3.16 P.M., and at 3.34 the No. 1 motor life-boat H. F. Bailey was launched with the second-coxswain in command. She reached the Meriones about 6.30 in the evening and at once took on board from the tug her own coxswain. She also took the marine superintendent off the tug and put him on board the steamer. She then stood by. Meanwhile the wind and sea had been increasing, and after some time the Meriones hailed her. It had been decided to abandon ship, for by this time the crew had been washed out of their quarters and the two horse-boxes had broken loose.

There was a rough, broken sea on the sands where the Meriones lay, and through this the life-boat went in the darkness, and got under the steamer’s lee. Ropes were thrown to her to make her fast alongside. They were 4-inch ropes, and in the rise and fall of the seas they broke so often that the life-boat had to wait until two larger ropes were thrown to her, one 6-inch and the other 9-inch. With these the life-boat made fast, and the work of rescue began. Several oil-bags were lowered on the water from the steamer to flatten out the seas, but it was not an unmixed help, for each time a sea broke over the life-boat it coated her decks with oil until it was almost impossible to move about on them.

So, in the darkness, the work of rescue went on until the life-boat had taken off about half the steamer’s crew. She put them on board the naval tug St. Mullion, whichhad anchored outside the sands, returned to the steamer and made fast again. She meant now to take off the remainder of the crew, but when she had got 40 of them on board the 9-inch and 6-inch ropes parted, so she took the men already rescued to the tug Richard Lee Barber, which was anchored inside the sands. Again she made fast alongside, and rescued eight officers who alone remained of the 101 men. Before they left the steamer they shot the two horses. It was then one o’clock in the morning. The lifeboat had now on board, besides her own crew, the eight officers of the Meriones, the ship’s doctor and an injured man on a stretcher. The coxswain set a course for the Cockle Gat, but in the darkness, which was now increased by rain and sleet, the coxswain was not certain of his position, and knowing that a heavy sea was running, both on the shore and on the surrounding sandbanks he thought it more prudent to anchor until daylight. There the life-boat waited, in the bitter cold, for 5 1/2 hours. As the light came the coxswain was able to fix his position as two miles north of Winterton Steeple, and the life-boat made for Yarmouth, where she arrived at 10.15. There the life-boat learned that, as soon as day came, the Meriones had again been attacked from the air and this time had been set on fire, but that afterwards the aeroplane had been shot down by H.M.T. Galvani. After a meal the crew left for Cromer by motor bus, arriving home at 2.15 in the afternoon of the 26th. The easterly swell, which made it impossible for the life-boat to get on her slipway at Cromer, continued for several days, and it was not until the afternoon of January 30th that the life-boat was back again at her station.

The flag officer in command at Great Yarmouth expressed his appreciation of the life-boat’s work. The rescued crew made a collection among themselves and each member of the life-boat’s crew received a gift of money. The Liverpool and London Underwriters, through the owners, made a gift to the Institution of £25 10s.

It was a long and very arduous service, in bad weather and bitter cold, and the Institution made an increase in the usual money reward on the standard scale to each member of the crew. Standard rewards to crew and helpers, £61 6s. 6d. ; additional rewards to crew, £28 ; total rewards, £89 6s. 6d.

JANUARY 26TH. - ROSSLARE HARBOUR, CO. WEXFORD. At 8.5 A.M. the coast watching station at Greenore Point reported a vessel in distress two and a half miles N.E. of Greenore. A moderate S.E. wind was blowing, with a moderate sea. The motor life-boat Mabel Marion. Thompson was launched at 8.30 A.M., and found the steam trawler Loddon, of Lowestoft, with a crew of nine. She had been holed by a submerged wreck, and the lifeboat stood by until her skipper had safely beached the trawler. The life-boat then took off the skipper and returned to her station at 12.30 P.M. On the following day the weather had got worse and the life-boat put out again at 2.5 P.M., rescued the remaining eight members of the crew, and landed them at 3.45 P.M. - Property salvage case.

JANUARY 27TH. 29TH. and 30TH. FEBRUARY 1ST and 14TH, and April 21ST and 28TH..- WALTON AND FRINTON, ESSEX. On Sunday the 20th January the S.S. Belgia, of Gothenburg, was bombed by German aeroplanes and set on fire. Her crew abandoned her and eventually got ashore two miles S.W.

of Walton Pier. The Admiralty salvage officer then asked for the help of the life-boat in attempting to refloat the steamer, and on the 27th the motor life-boat E.M.E.D. put off with fire pumps, firemen and a salvage party. The pumps were put in the boarding boat which was towed by the life-boat.

Next day the weather was too rough for any salvage work to be done, but the life-boat helped again on the 29th and 30th of January and the 1st February. She was out from 11.15 A.M. to 6.30 P.M. on the 27th ; 11.15 A.M. to 3.30 P.M. on the 29th ; 12 noon to 3.30 P.M. on the 30th ; and 9.15 A.M. to 4.30 P.M. on the 1st February. All attempts to refloat the steamer on these days failed, but on the 14th February the weather was better, and the help of the life-boat was again requested. She left at 11.35 A.M. and stood by until 1.30 P.M., when the steamer was refloated. As she was to be towed to Harwich the life-boat took off the salvage party and landed them at Walton Pier at 3.30 P.M.

On the 21st April, the life-boat’s motor boarding boat took out the salvage officer, a diver and equipment, and they found the Belgia’s anchor and cable, which they buoyed.

The boarding boat was out from 11 A.M. till 6 P.M. On the 28th April she was again called out, and she guided a drifter to the cable and anchor and the drifter took them on board. The boarding boat returned to her station at 5.30 P.M. - Expenses for all launches defrayed by Admiralty.

JANUARY 28TH - HARTLEPOOL, DURHAM. At 8.20 A.M. information was received from the coastguard that a vessel was aground at Seaton Carew. A moderate E.S.E. gale was blowing, with a heavy sea, but the vessel did not appear to be in any immediate danger. As, however, she continued to sound her whistle the motor lifeboat The Princess Royal (Civil Service No. 7) was launched at 9.55 A.M. She found the S.S. Sandenburgh, of Rotterdam, on Longscar Rocks, hut she could not go alongside, for the steamer was high and dry, and the crew could have walked ashore. The life-boat returned to harbour at 10.45 A.M., intending to go out to the steamer again later. Then a request for her help came from the naval salvage officer, who was sending out two tugs, and the life-boat put off at 2.15 P.M. The tugs could not get near the Sandenburgh as there was now a swell on the Longscar Rocks, and the life-boat cruised round until 3.15 P.M.

She then took off three British and five Dutch members of the crew, but the remaining thirteen Dutch members of the crew decided to stand by the ship. The eight men were landed at 4.10 P.M.. - Rewards, £10.BRONZE MEDAL SERVICE AT NEWCASTLE JANUARY 28TH, 30TH and 31ST.- NEWCASTLE, CO. DOWN. At 12.30 in the afternoon of the 28th, the motor life-boat L. P. and St. Helen was launched to the help of the motor vessel Sandhill, of Newcastle- on-Tyne, which had been badly damaged the day before, off the English coast, by a mine. It had exploded near her stern and had put everything out of action. None of the machinery was working ; the main engine had been lifted from its bed ; and the oil fuel had over-run the engine-room. A south-easterly gale was blowing, with a very rough sea, and it had carried the disabled ship across the Irish Sea.

The seas were breaking right into the harbour, and it was a hard business for the life-boat to get out, but she succeeded, and found the Sandhill at anchor four miles south of Newcastle and a mile and a half off the land. She was in a very dangerous position, on a lee shore, but her anchors were holding. The life-boat stood by her for an hour, and then returned to her station after arranging with the captain to put out again at once if he sent up a flare. She got back to her station at 3.30 in the afternoon.

Next day in the evening it was arranged by signal that, if the gale did not moderate, the life-boat should go out again on the following day, the 30th. So far from moderating the gale increased, and at 9.30 in the morning the life-boat put out. She found the Sandhill still with her anchors down, but they were dragging and she was now within a mile of the rocks.

It was both difficult and dangerous to go alongside her in the very heavy seas, for she was sheering wildly and rolling heavily. Added to this, she had an eighteen-inch belting round her, which would smash the life-boat unless she were very carefully handled.

In spite of these difficulties, the coxswain brought the life-boat alongside and took off the captain and three of the crew. She returned to harbour with them, and then put out again at once, as a message had been received that nine soldiers were adrift in a collapsible boat in Dundrum Bay. She searched for them for two hours, but could find nothing and returned to harbour. It was now 2.45 in the afternoon and the gale had been increasing all day. The life-boat at once put out again to go to the help of the ten men still aboard the Sandhill, which had now drifted still closer to the rocks. Again the life-boat went alongside the sheering, rolling ship.

Her fenders were almost cut to pieces by the ship’s belting, and the life-boat herself was damaged, but she succeeded in rescuing the ten men. For over a mile on her way home she was plunging through very heavy breakers, and had to use her drogue all the way. She arrived at her station at six in the evening.

The next day the gale was moderating, and though the Sandhill had dragged her anchors nearer to the rocks she was still afloat. A tug had arrived, and the Sandhill’s crew decided to return to her. The lifeboat took them out again, put them aboard, and then helped the tug to get the ship in tow. When she returned, she had been out for over fifteen hours during the three days of that gale.

It was a difficult service carried out very skilfully in severe weather, and the Institution made the following awards : To COXSWAIN PATRICK MURPHY, a clasp to the bronze medal for gallantry, which he had won eleven days before, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To ROBERT AGNEW, the motormechanic, the bronze medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To each of the other five members of the crew, WILLIAM MURPHY, secondcoxswain, WILLIAM J. LENAGHAN, bowman, THOMAS MCCLELLAND, assistant motor-mechanic, PATRICK MCCLELLAND and PATRICK ROONEY, the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum ; To the coxswain and each member of the crew a special reward of £1 in addition to the rewards on the ordinary scale of 19s. for the launch on the 28th, £1 8s. 6d. for the launch on the 30th, when the crew werelanded, and 19s. for the launch on the 31st when the crew were put back on the Sandhill, making a total reward to each man of £4 6s. 6d.

Standard rewards to crew and launchers : for the first launch, £23 6s. 6d. ; for the second, £32 12s. 8d. ; for the third launch, £21 9s. 9d. ; additional rewards to crew, £7 ; total rewards, £84 8s. 11d.

JANUARY 29TH-31ST and FEBRUARY 1ST.

- CLOUGHEY, AND DONAGHADEE, CO. DOWN. At 12.50 A.M. information came to the Cloughey station from the coastguard at Tara that the S.S. Alhena, of Rotterdam, of 5,000 tons, laden with government stores and bound from Liverpool for Port Said, was in distress on North Rock, two miles inside South Rock Light-vessel. A S.E. wind of almost gale force was blowing, with a heavy sea. The Cloughey motor life-boat Herbert John was launched at 1.40 A.M., some of the launchers going into the sea up to their necks, and the life-boat found the Alhena in a dangerous position with 61 passengers and crew on board. With difficulty the coxswain took the life-boat alongside and rescued ten passengers and a member of the crew who was sick. She landed them on the beach in the shelter of Slans Point, as she could not get back to her station, and returning to the steamer took off and landed 18 members of the crew. Then she went out a third time.

It was now between ten and eleven in the morning.

Meanwhile at 7.40 A.M. a message from Cloughey called out the Donaghadee motor life-boat Civil Service No. 5, and she left her station at eight o’clock. She reached the Alhena at 10 A.M., while the Cloughey lifeboat was landing the men rescued on her second trip, and after standing by for a time she rescued 15 people. She landed them at Donaghadee at four in the afternoon, and her crew stood by for another hour. They were then told that the life-boat would not be needed again.

Just after the Donaghadee life-boat left  the Alhen a with the 15 people she had rescued, the Cloughey boat arrived at the steamer for the third time and arranged with her to stand by throughout the night, but this was found later not to be necessary, and she returned to her station at 5.55 P.M.

At 11.30 that night the naval authorities informed both the stations that they would be sending trawlers in the morning to take off mails and that they would be glad of the services of the life-boats. The Donaghadee life-boat put out at 6.15 in the morning of the 30th, and transferred mails, and several cases addressed to “ the King of Egypt “, to the trawler. She then returned to her station, arriving at four in the afternoon.

The Cloughey life-boat put out at 8.15 in the morning, and was employed in taking naval officers, customs officials and others to and from the wreck. In addition she brought ashore an injured sailor from one of the trawlers. Later it was decided that the seventeen men remaining on board the Alhena should be taken off. This the Cloughey lifeboat did, putting them on board the two trawlers. She also put a life-boatman on each trawler to act as pilot, and returned to her station at five in the afternoon.

On the next day, January 31st , the Cloughey life-boat was launched at 2.40 in the afternoon, and was engaged until 6.30 P.M.

in bringing off papers and luggage. Again on February 1st she was out from 9.30 in the morning until 5.30 in the afternoon taking customs officials to the wreck and bringing luggage ashore. - Rewards : An increase in the ordinary money reward on the standard scale was made to each member of the Cloughey crew for the service on 30th January and to the helpers for the service both of the 29th and 30th January.

29th January, standard rewards to crew and helpers, £37 0S. 9d. ; 30th January, standard rewards to crew and helpers, £12 0S. 6d. ; additional rewards to crew and helpers, £22 ; January 31st and February lst, property salvage cases. Total rewards to Cloughey, £71 1s. 3d.

Standard rewards to the Donaghadee crew and helpers for January 29th, £7 1s. 6d. ; additional rewards to crew and helpers, £ 4 5 s . ; standard rewards to crew and helpers for January 30th, £10 4s. 6d. Total rewards to Donaghadee, £21 11s.

Total rewards for the services, £92 12s. 3d.

JANUARY 29TH . - SUNDERLAND , DURHAM. At about 6.10 A.M. the coastguard reported a ship sinking about three miles off Whitburn. A south-east wind was blowing, with a moderate sea. The motor life-boat Edward and Isabella Irwin was launched at 6.40 A.M. and found the S.S. Eibergen, of Rotterdam. She was able to get into port under her own steam, and so the life-boat escorted her, arriving at 9.55 A.M. - Rewards, £11 6s. 6d.

JANUARY 30TH. - DUNMORE EAST, CO. WATERFORD. During the morning the coastwatchers at Brownstown Head telephoned the civic guard that a raft had been seen with three men on it. The information was passed to the life-boat station, and the motor life-boat Annie Blanche Smith was launched at 10.20 A.M. A strong S.E. breeze was blowing, with a very rough sea. The life-boat found the raft three hundred yards from the shore on the west side of Tramore Bay. The three men had been without food or drink for four days, and were almost helpless with exhaustion. At considerable risk, D. Murphy, the bowman, jumped on to the raft to help the men into the life-boat, and they were landed at 1.30 P.M. They were survivors of the S.S. Beemsterdijk, of Rotterdam, a vessel of several thousand tons, which had been mined. The St. David’s, Pembrokeshire, life-boat had gone out to the help of the same steamer on 26th January.- Rewards, £9 14s. 6d.

(See “Accounts of Services by Life-boats,” St. Davids, page 24.)BRONZE MEDAL SERVICE AT BALLYCOTTON JANUARY 30TH. - BALLYCOTTON, CO. CORK. In the early morning of the 27th of January, 1941, many mines came ashore in Ballycotton Bay, on the south coast of Ireland, and four of them exploded, doing considerable damage to the village of Ballycotton.

All day long they were drifting in along the coast, and the Ballycotton coxswain and crew stood by. That day, however, they were not wanted.

Three days later, at noon on the 30th, mines were again reported to be in the bay, and most of the inhabitants of Ballycotton left the village and went inland. Just after three in the afternoon the honorary secretary of the life-boat station received a message from the look-out post on Flat Head, seventeen miles away, that a ship’s boat was two miles south of Flat Head and that its crew were trying to row off land.

The life-boat crew were attending an Air Raid Precautions meeting. They were summoned at once and taken to the life-boat house in motor cars. At 3.15 in the afternoon the motor lifeboat Mary Stanford was launched.

A strong wind was blowing from the south-south-east, with a heavy confused sea which was breaking three miles off the land. There was a thick fog, and the crew knew that mines were drifting in the bay. Fortunately, after a time, the fog lifted, but the sea got worse.

The life-boat passed the Daunt Rock Lightship, leaving it a mile on the port hand, and when she was two miles west by south of it, steering for Flat Head, the coxswain saw smoke to the southward. He thought it must be a mine exploding. If a mine had exploded, something had hit it. He altered course and made for the smoke.

He had been going a mile on the new course when he saw a boat on the top of a wave. The smoke had come from a flare which the men on board her had lighted, for they had seen the lifeboat before she saw them.

The boat belonged to the S.S. Primrose, of Liverpool. The steamer had turned turtle at 9.30 in the morning when she was about four miles eastsouth- east of Daunt Rock. The mate had been drowned in attempting to cut away a raft, but the other eight men of the crew had got away in the ship’s boat.

As the life-boat came near the boat the life-boatmen could see that she was waterlogged. Only six inches of her gunwale were above the water.

Three men at the oars were trying to keep her head to the seas and five others were lying exhausted across the thwarts. The life-boat’s coxswain told his crew to get grapnel irons and heaving lines ready. He intended to run up alongside and haul the men aboard.

When the life-boat was still fifty yards away, the three men at the oars turned their boat to row towards her, but at that moment a heavy sea broke over her and filled her. She sank, and the life-boat’s coxswain thought that all her men had gone, but her air cases brought her to the surface again, and he took the life-boat right alongside her. He had to handle the lifeboat very carefully, for if, in that sea, she had rolled over on the boat she would have sunk her at once. The grapnel irons were thrown ; the boat was hauled close to the life-boat ; and the eight men were dragged on board.

They were drenched, exhausted and suffering from cramp, but still alive.

It was then 5.15. Brandy, biscuits and chocolate were given to them, and clothes which the life-boatmen took off themselves.

First aid was also given to two of the men, one with very severe cramp and the other with a cut hand. Then the life-boat made for Ballycotton. She arrived at 7.10 in the evening, and the rescued men were given into the care of the Red Cross and the Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society. The doctor who examined them said that, in another two hours, they would have been beyond his aid. Had the life-boat not found them, they would never have been able to reach the shore by themselves. They did not think that they could have reached it, exhausted as they were by their long struggle with the heavy seas, and with only three men able to row; and had they come near to it - a lee shore withthe tide setting into it - their boat would have been smashed to pieces in the breakers under the cliffs of Flat Head.

It was a skilful and gallant rescue, and the life-boat, in the heavy seas and fog, ran great danger of being blown up by a mine. The Institution made the following awards : To COXSWAIN PATRICK SLINEY, the bronze medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum; To the coxswain and each member of the crew, a reward of £1 in addition to the ordinary scale reward of £2 7s. each. Standard rewards to crew and helpers, £17 0S. 3d. ; additional rewards to crew, £8 ; total rewards, £25 0s. 3d.

JANUARY 31ST. - DOUGLAS, ISLE OF MAN. At 11 A.M. the Ramsey life-boat station reported that a vessel with a barrage balloon attached was drifting towards Maughold Head, but that owing to the state of the tide the Ramsey life-boat could not launch. A north-easterly wind was blowing, with a moderate sea. The Douglas motor life-boat Manchester and Salford was launched at 11.25 A.M., and at 1.5 P.M. found the motor vessel Saturnus, almost aground at Port Moor. She had been on fire. Her wheelhouse and the hatches of the hold had been completely destroyed and her crew had abandoned her. Two naval officers had gone on board her, and they were there when the life-boat arrived. The engine-room was still smouldering but the engines were running.

The officers had stopped them, and then found that they could not start them again.

The life-boat took the Saturnus in tow, and brought her into Douglas at 5.30P.M.

Tributes were paid by the naval and air force officers to the excellent work of the life-boat crew. - Property salvage case.

The following life-boats were launched, but no services were rendered for the reasons given : JANUARY 2ND. - SKEGNESS, LINCOLNSHIRE.

An aeroplane had been reported down in the sea, but nothing was found.- Rewards, £21 19s. 6d.

JANUARY 3RD. - SOUTHEND - ON - SEA, ESSEX. A vessel had been mined, but her crew were rescued by a tug. - Rewards, £4 18s. 6d.

JANUARY 4TH. - HASTINGS, SUSSEX.

A red flare had been reported and men and women launchers worked hard and well in the darkness to get the life-boat down to the water through ten inches of snow, but she found nothing. - Rewards, £22 19s. 9d.

JANUARY 4TH . - BARRA ISLAND , HEBRIDES. A strange-looking ship had been reported at anchor, but she was found to be a motor trawler which did not need help.

- Rewards, £14 7s. 6d.

JANUARY 7TH. - BALLYCOTTON CO. CORK. Machine-gun fire from aircraft thought to be attacking fishing vessels had been heard, but no vessels in need of help were found. - Rewards, £6 17s. 6d.

JANUARY 8TH. - CLACTON - ON - SEA, ESSEX. A Trinity House vessel was blown up by a mine, but sixteen of her crew were lost and eighteen were picked up by a patrol drifter. A search of the wreckage by the life-boat was without result. - Rewards, £7 14s. 6d.

JANUARY 9TH. - SELSEY, SUSSEX. An aeroplane was reported to have crashed, but nothing except oil was found. - Rewards, £20 3s. 6d.

JANUARY 10TH. - BARMOUTH, MERIONETHSHIRE.

A British aircraft had crashed into the sea, but no survivors were found and an attempt to tow the aeroplane into shallow water failed. - Rewards, £17 5s.

JANUARY 11TH. - TORBAY, DEVON. A naval rating finding himself unable to row back to his motor launch had boarded a yacht and shouted for help, but a boat belonging to the launch took him off.- Rewards, £6 19s. 6d.

JANUARY 1 1TH. - PEEL, AND PORT ERIN, ISLE OF MAN. Amber-coloured rockets had been seen and the Peel life-boat went out. Later a red flare was seen in the direction of the life-boat and the Port Erin life-boat put out, but nothing was found.- Rewards : Peel, £11 10s. ; Port Erin, £7 12s. 6d.

JANUARY 11TH. - ARRANMORE, CO.

DONEGAL. A steamer had been in collision, but she was taken in tow by a destroyer. - Rewards, £26 15s.

JANUARY 16TH. - SOUTHEND - ON - SEA, ESSEX. A motor vessel had gone ashore, but her crew got off without help. - Rewards, £13 19s.

JANUARY 16TH . - HARTLEPOOL , DURHAM. A British aeroplane had crashed into the sea in a mined area, but the life-boat was recalled and naval vessels went out.- Rewards, £6 12s.

JANUARY 18TH. - WICK, CAITHNESSSHIRE.

Fishing boats were making for harbour in bad weather, but got in without help.-Rewards, £6 13s.

JANUARY 18TH. - CAMPBELTOWN, ARGYLLSHIRE. The Dutch S.S. Prinses Juliana, of Flushing, had been reported in difficulties near the shore, but she was found not to be in need of help. - Rewards, £4 17s. 6d.JANUARY 1 9TH. - WHITBY, YORKSHIRE.

A trawler had stranded under the cliffs at Kettleness, but her crew were rescued from the shore by the coastguard life-saving apparatus. - Rewards, £4 13s. 6d.

JANUARY 19TH. - WALTON AND FRINTON, ESSEX. An unknown steamer had been bombed by enemy aeroplanes and set on fire, but her crew were rescued by a naval vessel. - Rewards, £26 18s.

JANUARY 2 0TH. - ROSSLARE HARBOUR, CO. WEXFORD. On the afternoon of the 20th January the Athlone Broadcasting Station asked listeners to inform the life-boat authorities that a vessel was in distress. She was the Greek steamer Eleni, of Ithaca, in difficulties off Raven Point.

Coxswain J. Wickham, who was ill in bed, got up and went out in the life-boat, but collapsed. The life-boat found nothing, and the steamer sent a message cancelling her call as she had been helped by another vessel.

- Partly permanent paid crew. Rewards, £2 7s.

JANUARY 25TH. - MARGATE, KENT. A boat with men aboard had been reported, and the life-boat went out to investigate, but found that the “boat and men” were a damaged raft with pieces of wood sticking up from it.

- Rewards £7 12s.

JANUARY 26TH. - BRIDLINGTON , YORKSHIRE. A French motor life-boat bound for Bridlington for service as a rescue boat under the Admiralty had been disabled by her engine breaking down. The life-boat passed quite close to her in the darkness, but her crew thought the sound of the lifeboat’s engine was an enemy seaplane and they would not signal. The life-boat did not find her, and the boat went ashore without injury to her crew of four. - Rewards , £24 7s. 6d.

JANUARY 26TH. - ST. DAVID’S, PEMBROKESHIRE. January 26th was a Sunday, and Dr. Joseph Soar, Mus.Doc., organist at St. David’s Cathedral and the honorary secretary of the life-boat station, received a telephone message at the Cathedral during the morning service, through the police, which came from the Milford Haven naval base. The message asked for the lifeboat to go out to a vessel, the Beemsterdijk, which had been reported as sinking after striking a mine, but naval vessels had also gone out and had found the vessel, and the life-boat was recalled. - Rewards, £19 13s.

(See “ Accounts of Services by Life-boats,” Dunmore East, 30th January, 1941, page 21.) JANUARY 27TH. - HOWTH, CO. DUBLIN.

An unknown aeroplane had been reported by the Dublin military authorities to be down in the sea, but nothing was found.- Rewards, £10 13s.

JANUARY 28TH. - STORNOWAY, ISLAND OF LEWIS . Flares had been reported but no vessel in distress was found.

- Rewards, £12 6s. 3d.JANUARY 28TH. - CROMER, NORFOLK.

A steamer had been reported aground on the Haisborough Sands, but could not be found and must have refloated and gone on her way. - Rewards, £38 3s. 6d.

JANUARY 29TH. - BARROW, LANCASHIRE.

A trawler had gone aground, but she refloated and did not need help.- Rewards, £4 19s. 6d.

JANUARY 30TH. - ALDEBURGH, SUFFOLK.

The coastguard had seen what appeared to be a rubber boat with a man in it, but it was found to be a Carley float.- Rewards, £29 6s.