FEBRUARY 9TH. - LOWESTOFT, SUFFOLK.

At 8.45 A.M. the naval base reported a vessel in difficulties off the harbour entrance.

The weather was foggy, with a light northerly wind, and the sea was calm. At 9 A.M.

the motor life-boat Michael Stephens was launched. The coxswain was ill with gastric influenza, but he took command. The lifeboat found H.M. Drifter Golden News, with a crew of fifteen, stranded on the edge of the Newcome Sands, and rolling heavily in a ground swell. At the request of her master, the life-boat stood by until a tug refloated the drifter. With the life-boat in attendance she reached port at 10.30 A.M. - Rewards, £7..