MEENLARAGH, Co. DONEGAL. At about four in the afternoon of 7th March, 1942, the motor boat Pride of Drumcliffe, with a crew of six men, was returning to the mainland with mails from Tory Island. As she got near the island in Innishbofin Bay, she saw the schooner Loch Ryan, of Skibbereen, in difficulties. Her engine had broken down.

The tide was at flood, and a strong S.E. wind was blowing, with a choppy sea. It was raining. The place where the schooner lay was full of reefs, with the water swirling among them, and no one without local knowledge could have ventured near. The six men in the motor boat made at once for the schooner, rescued the crew and landed them. The schooner herself went ashore on Innishdoe Island, in a heavy squall, and became a total loss. - Rewards, £6 and 12s. 6d.

for fuel used.

LOCHBOISDALE, HEBRIDES. At about 2.20 in the afternoon of the 4th May, 1942, a Sunderland flying boat crashed at Gasay Island in coming to moorings. A light southerly wind was blowing, with a moderate sea, and it was very cold. The sea transport officer called out two herring drifters, each with a crew of five. He went aboard one of them himself, with a party of six sappers from the R.E. Docks Group. The flying boat had disappeared behind an island in the middle of Lochboisdale, and when the herring drifters reached it, six minutes after the crash, they found twelve of the crew of fourteen, some on the wings of the aeroplane, some on the rocks close by, and two or three half in the water and clinging to the rocks.

Most of the men were injured and suffering from cold and shock. One of the herring drifters returned at once to harbour for blankets and brought out additional helpers, a clergyman, a police sergeant, a supervisor of the auxiliary coastguard and men of the R.A.F. Two crofters, who had seen the accident, had also put out in their own open motor boat. The three boats quickly brought the twelve airmen ashore. When the tide fell, the bodies of the other two airmen were found in the wrecked flying boat. The officer commanding at the Royal Air Force Station at Benbecula wrote that there could be no doubt that it was due to the speed with which the rescue had been organised andcarried out that more lives had not been lost.

- Rewards to the crew of the three boats, £12, and £10 to one of the boats for compensation for gear which she lost.

TIGHNABRUAICH, KYLES OF BUTE. A t 3.15 in the afternoon of the 21st May, 1942, a man was in his front garden when a Swordfish aeroplane hit the water 600 yards east of Tighnabruaich pier. The sea was calm, with a very light westerly wind. The man at once got the help of his next-door neighbour, and they rowed out to the Swordfish. They rescued the three men on board. All were injured, one badly, and it was only with difficulty, and at some risk of capsizing their boat, that they got the injured airmen aboard.

Then they buoyed the aeroplane and brought the airmen ashore. - Rewards, £1.

LLANDDWYN, ANGLESEY. At 12.25 in the afternoon of the 30th May, 1942, a Botha aeroplane was seen to crash into the sea about half a mile S.E. of Llanddwyn Island.

The wind and sea were moderate, but there was a heavy surf on the beach. Leaving a woman in charge of their post with instructions to telephone for the R.A.F. rescue launch, two auxiliary coastguards, one aged 59 and the other 63, put out in a small boat, which they launched with the help of visitors.

Within twenty minutes of the crash they reached the aeroplane. Her wings were just awash. They found and rescued a badly injured airman. The other airman had been trapped inside and drowned. At one o’clock the R.A.F. rescue boat from Belan arrived and took aboard the rescued man. - Rewards, £2.

WALMER, KENT. At about 2.50 P.M. on the 5th June, 1942, two aeroplanes collided, caught fire and crashed into the sea a mile and three-quarters east of the life-boat station. The sea was moderate, with a light northerly wind. The motor boat Terrier was launched, manned by the life-boat’s secondcoxswain, assistant mechanic and a member of the crew. On nearing the spot they saw an airman floating in the sea, and directed a speed boat to him, which very quickly rescued him. - Rewards, 12s. 6d. to one man; the services of the others, being Deal men, were reported to the local Bevan Trustees.

NEW BRIGHTON, CHESHIRE. At about 4.45 in the afternoon of 7th June, 1942, the lifeboat coxswain saw a number of children playing on a sandbank south of New Brighton landing stage. A moderate sea was running, with a fresh N.W. wind blowing, and the tide was rising. The coxswain warned the children, but they took no notice, and a little later it was seen that they had been trapped by the rising tide, and were in grave danger of being swept away and drowned. The coxswain, the assistant motor-mechanic, and another life-boatman put out in the life-boat’s motor boarding boat, and rescued the children. There were 25 of them, and by the time the last had been taken on board the sandbank was nearly covered by the tide.- Rewards, £1 5s.

CLOVELLY, DEVON. In the early morning of the 14th June, 1942, a small Dutch steamer was bombed and sunk by enemy aeroplanes while in convoy some seven miles W. of Hartland Point. The weather was foggy, with a light S.W. wind and a smooth sea.

The crew of the steamer took to their boats.

The life-boat coxswain put out alone in his motor boat at 5.45 and towed one of the steamer’s boats, with six Dutch and four British sailors on board, into Clovelly.- Rewards, £2 and 2s. for fuel used.

SHERINGHAM, NORFOLK. At 6.15 in the evening of the 20th June, 1942, a Spitfire aeroplane crashed into the sea half a mile N.E. of the coastguard station. The weather was fine, with only a slight swell. The crash was seen by the coastguard and by fishermen on the beach, and a rowing boat, with a crew of five, was away within two minutes, followed three minutes later by a motor fishing boat, with a crew of eight. The boats found the aeroplane under water, but no survivors. The Sheringham life-boat was away for overhaul and the Cromer life-boat was launched. She and the fishing boats tried to raise the aeroplane, but could not do it. - Rewards, £9 10s. and 5s. for fuel used.

(See Cromer, “Accounts of Services by Life-boats,” page 40.) SCARBOROUGH, YORKSHIRE. At 5.30 in the morning of the 26th June, 1942, three men coming home in a motor fishing boat saw an R.A.F. Halifax bomber crash on the rocks about a mile north of Scarborough.

The weather was fine. The airmen succeeded in getting out of the aeroplane and into a dinghy with difficulty. The fishermen changed their course, took the airmen aboard their boat, and brought them to Scarborough.

- Rewards, £1 10s. and 2s. 6d. for fuel used.

NEWQUAY, CORNWALL. At 10.10 in the morning of the 26th June, 1942, a Skua aeroplane of the Fleet Air Arm crashed in the sea three miles N.N.E. of Towan Head.

The weather was fine and the sea smooth.

The crew of two airmen got into their dinghy.

The aeroplane sank about half an hour later.

A fisherman, in his motor boat, at once went to the dinghy, took off the two airmen, and landed them at 10.55. - Rewards, 12s. 6d.

and 2s. 6d. for fuel used.

ILFRACOMBE, DEVON. At 6 in the evening of the 28th June, 1942, a fisherman and his two sons were returning from fishing in their motor boat when they saw a man and a woman on Lee Cliffs. They were in bathing dresses and had been cut off by the tide after bathing. A light westerly wind was blowing and the sea was calm, but there was some wash among the rocks. As the fishermen could not land from the motor boat they went to Ilfracombe for a rowing boat and ropes. With the help of these they got the man and woman down the cliff to the boats and then took them back to Lee. - Rewards, £2 17s. and 5s. for fuel used. A gift was also received from the woman.