DECEMBER 9TH. - AITH, SHETLANDS. A message was received from Dr. Cruickshank, of Walls, that he had had an urgent call to go to Foula Island. The weather was too rough for the ferry boat to make the passage, and no other vessel was available on the mainland, so he asked that the life-boat should take him. The life-boat crew were assembled and stood by, but meanwhile the weather had got rapidly worse, and when Foula was rung up it was learnt that no boat could land on the island in the increasingly heavy seas and unfavourable wind.

On the two following days a whole gale was blowing, and the heavy seas still made landing at Foula impossible. By the 9th the weather had moderated, and at 10 A.M. the motor life-boat The Rankin was launched, with Dr. Cruickshank on board. A whole gale was still blowing, with a very heavy sea and squalls of sleet. The life-boat reached Foula at 2.30 in the afternoon and found that the patient, a woman, was too ill to be taken through the rough seas, so it was decided that she should shelter in the lee of the island for the night. By next morning the seas had moderated, the woman was taken on board, and the life-boat landed her at Aith, where she was taken to hospital for an operation.

The life-boat returned to her station at 2 P.M.

on the 10th December. - Expenses defrayed by the Department of Health for Scotland..