APRIL 13TH. - TORBAY, DEVON. At 2.51 in the afternoon a message was received from the Torquay coastguard that a small rowing boat was waterlogged 100 yards S.W. of Orestone and that men were swimming in the water. The boat belonged to the R.A.F.

Another rowing boat was not far off. A slight S.S.W. wind was blowing and the sea was moderate. The motor life-boat George Shee was launched at three o’clock, and shortly afterwards another message reached her station to say that the men in the water had been picked up and had been landed at Torquay, but the life-boat went on as the signals made to her to return were not understood.

She found the boat half a mile east of Orestone and took her in tow. The lifeboat then made for Torquay Daddyhole coastguard station, and as she got near found another boat with three men on board. This boat also belonged to the R.A.F., and had helped to rescue the men from the water.

The three men were exhausted, so the lifeboat took them on board and towed the two boats in to Torquay harbour. There the rescued men boarded their own boat again and took her to her moorings, and the lifeboat returned to her station, arriving at 4.40 P.M. - Rewards, £2 16s.