OCTOBER 26TH. - SOUTHEND - ON - SEA, ESSEX. At 7.45 in the evening the naval control asked the life-boat coxswain to assemble his crew, as a vessel, somewhere in the east anchorage, was sending out a wireless SOS, and a tug and a fire-float had gone ashore east of the pier. The motor life-boat J. B. Proudfoot was launched at 8.5 with some difficulty, for two wreck-lifting lighters, which were bringing in a wreck, had moored across the end of the slipway only sixty feetaway from it, and had allowed the wreck to take the bottom there. As soon as the lifeboat left the slipway, her engine had to be put full speed astern to check her way and to prevent her from running into them. The coxswain decided to go first to the vessel which was sending out the SOS as he thought that the other two would be in no immediate danger. A southerly gale was blowing, with a rough sea, and the night was dark, with mist. He searched the edge of the sands, to the east of the pier, and at about 8.25 found the converted yacht Thoma II, in the service of the Port of London Authority. She was aground a quarter of a mile west of the West Shoebury Buoy and about one and a half miles east of the pier. She was lying broadside on to the seas, which were breaking aboard her, and she was rolling heavily.

The tide was low, and there was not enough water for the life-boat to go under the lee of the wreck, so the coxswain anchored to seaward and dropped down towards her on his cable. When she was about thirty feet away, the life-boat grounded on a sand bank herself. Like the yacht she was broadside on to the seas and began to roll heavily, with the seas breaking over her all the time. In spite of this her crew threw the heaving cane aboard the yacht, with a line attached, rigged the breeches buoy, and hauled the crew of the yacht through the surf into the life-boat. There were eight of them and their rescue took about half an hour. There was nothing to do then, but to wait for the tide to rise. When it did the life-boat refloated and arrived back at Southend pier, where she landed the rescued men about 10.15 that night.

A quarter of an hour later she cast off again and went to the help of the tug and the fire-float which were on the sands a mile east of the pier. She reached them in a few minutes and found that another tug was helping the tug, which had lost her propeller, so the coxswain went to the help of the fire-float. She was lying on the sands in about a fathom of water. He ran out a spare anchor, with a rope cable attached to it, passed the cable to the fire-float, and put aboard her three of his own crew. They put the cable round a small hand capstan and, with the fire-float’s engine working, hauled her off the sands. The fire-float then returned to her tender under her own power, with the life-boat standing by. The life-boat got back to her station again at 1.30 in the morning.

Both the launch and the rescue of the crew of the yacht were skilfully carried out in face of considerable difficulty, and the Institution made the following awards : To COXSWAIN SIDNEY PAGE, the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum ; To the coxswain and each member of the crew a reward of 30s. in addition to the ordinary rewards on the standard scale of £1 17s. 6d. for each of the services, making a total reward to each man of £5 5s. ; Standard rewards for the first service, £16 1s.; standard rewards for the second service, £17 18s. 6d. ; additional rewards, £13 10s. ; total rewards, £47 9s. 6d..