MARCH 13TH - 14TH. - BLYTH, NORTHUMBERLAND.

At 7.20 P . M . the Blyth coastguard telephoned that the S.S. Brian, of Sunderland, which had just left port, laden with coal, had driven ashore to the west of the West Pier. A moderate E.S.E.

gale was blowing, with heavy seas, and it was very cold. At 7.45 the motor life-boat Joseph Adlam put out, got alongside the steamer, and rescued nine of the crew in spite of the heavy seas. The remaining ten had got away a little earlier in the ship’s boat, and had landed on the beach. As the lifeboat was leaving the Brian the coastguard life-saving apparatus, which was attempting to reach the steamer from the shore, fired a line which fell across steamer and life-boat.

The slack of the line got foul of the life-boat’s propeller, her engine stopped, and she drifted on to the beach. After a very anxious time the assistant motor-mechanic got the engine started again sufficiently to enable the boat to get off the beach without help. The line was cut clear of the life-boat, and with the engines running cautiously she got back about 10.30 P.M. and landed the men at the naval base. She was then hauled up on the slipway and twenty more feet of rocket line were cut away from the propeller. On the following day it was found that the rudder had been twisted and cracked, but this did not prevent her from being launched again at 10.30 that morning, the 14th March, when the naval authorities asked if she could go out to pass tow ropes from the S.S. Brian to a salvage tug.

She took six riggers with her and put them on board the steamer. The ropes were passed, but they broke and the steamer remained aground. The tide had turned, operations had to be suspended, and the life-boat returned at 4.15 P.M., bringing ashore the steamer’s crew of fifteen and the six riggers.

In recognition of the way in which all on board carried out their work when the propeller was fouled, and got the life-boat out of a tight corner in the darkness, an increase in the usual money awards on the standard scale was made to each member of the crew.

Standard rewards to crew and helpers, £18 4s. 6d. ; additional rewards to the crew, £6 15s. ; total rewards, £24 19s. 6d..