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 Taara , 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 thesands, 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-mechanicof 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..