Launches 34. Lives rescued 55.

FEBRUARY 5 T H . - CROMARTY. At 6.25 A.M. the Burghead coastguard reported distress signals from a vessel aground one mile west of Findhorn, and the motor life-boat James Macfee was launched at 6.45 A.M. A moderate S.W. wind was blowing, with a moderate sea. The life-boat found the S.S.

Harley, of Newcastle, hard aground. She was bound, laden with coal, from Blyth to Inverness. The life-boat ran out an anchor for her and at high water she was refloated and went on her way. The life-boat returned to her station, arriving at 1.15 P.M. - Rewards, £7 2s. 6d.

FEBRUARY 5TH. - GALWAY BAY. At 6.50 P.M. information was received that a man had been cut off by the tide on a rock half a mile from the boat house, and was in great danger. A S.W. gale was blowing with a rough sea, and the tide was rising. It was considered that the boarding boat to the motor life-boat K.E.C.F. would be more suitable at this rocky spot than the life-boat herself, and she left at 7 P.M. with the crew of eight on board. When she reached the rock the man was already waist deep in water and at any moment might have been swept away. He was rescued and brought ashore at 8.15 P.M. - Rewards, £13 2s. 6d.

FEBRUARY 6TH. - BROUGHTY FERRY, ANGUS. At 5.25 A.M. the coastguard atCarnoustie telephoned that distress flares had been seen between Horseshoe and Lady Buoys, and the motor life-boat Mona was launched at 6 A.M. A westerly gale was blowing, with a rough sea. The life-boat found H.M. Drifter Gowan with a crew of ten aboard. She had stranded about half a mile E. by S. of the beacon on Lucky Scaup.

The tide was running out and each time the life-boat attempted to get alongside, she grounded. After the third attempt she lay off and called the drifter by morse lamp.

The drifter answered that the water was rapidly leaving her and that she was undamaged, but asked the life-boat to stand by until daylight. This she did. The Dundee harbour tug also came out and stood by. At daybreak. as she was no longer needed. the life-boat returned to her station, arriving at 9.30 A.M. The Gowan was re-floated later in Nearly in the middle of this channel is a small group of rocks, the East Platters, submerged at all but the lowest tides. They are a well-known danger and it was they that were to prove fatal to the Castilian.

the day. - Rewards, £10 7s.

FEBRUARY 9TH. - GREAT YARMOUTH AND GORLESTON  NORFOLK . A t 2.25 P.M. the coastguard reported that H.M.

Trawler Clotilde was ashore on the north beach about one hundred yards from the north pier, and ten minutes later the naval authorities asked that the life-boat should go out. A strong S.S.W. wind was blowing with a rough sea and rain. The motor lifeboat Louise Stephens was launched at 2.50 P.M.

and got a wire from the trawler to a tug, but it broke. She then got a wire from the trawler to another tug and this also broke.

The tide was falling, nothing more could be done and the tugs returned to harbour. It was then 5.30 P.M. The life-boat remained, standing by. At 8 P .M. tugs came out again. The life-boat could not fix up a line between them and the trawler until the tide turned, but on the coxswain’s advice the trawler put her engines full astern and soon got herself off the beach. She was not damaged, so the lifeboat returned to her station, arriving at 9.45 P.M. - Rewards, £23 3s.

BRONZE MEDAL SERVICE AT HOLYHEAD FEBRUARY 12TH - 13TH. - HOLYHEAD, ANGLESEY. In the early hours of the 12th of February the S.S. Castilian, a 3,000-ton ship of the Ellerman Papayanni Company, entered Church Bay, and let go two anchors. She had evidently come in for shelter. A heavy gale was blowing from the south-west and the sea was very rough. The anchors failed to hold, and the Castilian steamed away to the northwards, probably to take shelter on the north side of Anglesey in the two-miles channel between the Skerries Rocks and Carme1 Head on the mainland of Anglesey.

Shortly after five o’clock in the morning the coastguard passed to the life-boat station a message from the naval base that a ship was ashore somewhere inside the Skerries, and at 5.25 the motor life-boat A.E.D.

put out. Owing to the war she had a crew of only six men, instead of eight. It was pitch dark, and the darkness and heavy seas made it almost impossible to see anything.

The life-boat searched for about two hours before she found the Castilian aground on the East Platters. The heavy seas were pounding on her weather side. The ebbing tide ran against her lee side. Her bows were on the rocks. Her stern was swung to and fro by the wind and tide and the eddies which abound round the rocks. The life-boat came as close as was possible and her coxswain hailed the captain. He told him that he must leave the ship. The captain refused. He hoped that tugs would pull her off, though no tug could have done it. The life-boat drew away and the coxswain reported by his radio telephone to the honorary secretary.

Both knew that at any moment the steamer might slip off and perhaps founder. It was decided that the lifeboat should stand by and wait for what might happen. The life-boat herself was in considerable danger, and the coxswain made for the lee of the Skerries. They would give her a little shelter.

The Castilian was soon listing heavily to port, and about an hour later the coxswain warned the captain that, with wind and sea increasing, and the tide ebbing, it would soon be almost impossible to do anything to help him. He then agreed to abandon ship, and the coxswain brought the life-boat more or less alongside. It was done only with great difficulty, and after several attempts. It had to be done on the weather side because of the ebbing tide, that ran against the lee side, and the ships’ boats whichwere turned out on that side and were an added and great danger. But the coxswain handled the life-boat with great skill, and, with the prompt and complete co-operation of the motor mechanic, he was able to hold her near enough to the steamer for the forty-seven officers and men to jump aboard. They all landed safely, though one slightly injured his foot.

It was then 8.45. At ten o’clock the life-boat arrived at Holyhead. At two o’clock in the afternoon the Castilian slipped off the rocks and sank. Only the top of her funnels and her mast were above water.

The life-boat went out to her twice more. The naval base asked her to find out if it would be possible to recover confidential mails which were in the chart room. She also took out the Castilian’s captain and the shore superintendent of the Ellerman Papayanni Company. She went out on the first trip at 2.30 on the afternoon of the 12th and returned at 6.15, and on the second at 11.10 in the morning of the 13th, returning at 1.10 in the afternoon.

The rescue was carried out in the face of very considerable risks. It succeeded through the great skill with which coxswain and motormechanic handled the life-boat and her engines.

The Institution made the following awards : To COXSWAIN RICHARD JONES, the bronze medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To JOHN JONES, motor-mechanic, the bronze medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; TO ROBERT WILLIAMS, second-coxswain, RICHARD BELL, bowman, HUGH THOMAS, assistant motor-mechanic, and THOMAS NUNN, life-boatman, the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum ; To the coxswain and each member of the crew, a special reward of £2, in addition to the ordinary reward on the standard scale of £1 8s. 6d. each.

Standard rewards to crew, £5 14s. ; additional rewards to crew, £12 ; total rewards, £17 14s.

Rewards of £5 14s. and £2 17s.

were granted for the two last trips, but these were repaid to the Institution by the shipping company.

FEBRUARY 13TH - STORNOWAY , HEBRIDES. At about 5.15 P.M. a message was received from the Post Office in the village of Bayble that a small motor fishing vessel had been seen off Bayble Head at 4 P.M.

but had not been seen since. A westerly wind of gale force was blowing with a rough sea. The motor life-boat William and Harriot was launched at 6.30 P.M. and, two miles east of Arnish lighthouse, she found the motor fishing vessel Welcome Home, of Stornoway, with a crew of six ; she was making no headway against the strong wind and heavy sea. The life-boat towed her into Stornoway, arriving at 7.45 P.M. - Rewards, £13 2s. 6d.

FEBRUARY 15TH . - PETERHEAD , ABERDEENSHIRE. At 4.35 P .M. t h e coastguard reported that the naval authorities wished the life-boat crew to be assembled as an Admiralty barge was in difficulties in Peterhead Bay. An hour later the crew were dismissed as their services were not nceded. Another message came at 6.50 P.M.

that the barge had floated off the sands, but that her steering gear was out of action, and that she had gone ashore again, this time on the rocks. A north westerly gale was blowing with a moderate sea. The motor life-boat Julia Park Barry of Glasgow was launched at 7.5 P.M., but she found that the barge had repaired her steering gear and had got off the rocks. She needed no help so after giving information and advice.

the life-boat returned to her station, arriving at 7.55 P.M. - Rewards, £17 10s. 6d.

BRONZE MEDAL SERVICE AT ST. DAVID’S FEBRUARY 28TH. - ST. DAVID’S, PEMBROKESHIRE. At 9.20 in the evening the police telephoned to the life-boat station that a man was trapped somewhere up the cliffs near Llanunwas, Solva. The honorary secretary suggested that the coastguard should also be told, and its lifesaving apparatus called out, but as he thought that it would probably be impossible for it to rescue the man from the top of the cliffs, he decided to send out the life-boat, taking the boarding boat with her, to see what could be done from the bottom of the cliff.

The motor life-boat Civil Service No. 6 was launched at 10.35. The honorary secretary, Dr. Joseph Soar, Mus. Doc., went with her. The weather was calm. She arrived off the cliffs near Solva village at 11.30. The cliffsthere are more than 200 feet high.

The life-boat had to remain 500 yards from the bottom of them. She could get no nearer owing to the rocks and the swell. The second-coxswain, D. J. Lewis, and one of the crew, went in the boarding boat sufficiently near to find the man. He was on a ledge about forty feet up. He could get neither up nor down.

The second coxswain returned to say that it was impossible to get up the cliffs to the ledge from the shore.

There was nothing to do but try to climb down the cliffs, and one of the crew, Gwilym Davies, volunteered to try it. The second-coxswain, Gwilym Davies and Dr. Soar then went ashore in the boarding boat.

It was not easy to find a place to land in the darkness and surf, among the huge stones at the foot of the cliffs, but the second-coxswain handled the boarding boat skilfully, and she came ashore without mishap. Gwilym Davies then found a place where he could climb up the cliff. At the top were the coastguard, with the lifesaving apparatus, and they lowered him down above the ledge where the man was trapped.

While Davies was climbing the cliff, Dr. Soar and the second-coxswain returned to the life-boat, got her signalling lamp and came ashore again. Below the ledge the sea ran into a cleft in the cliffs, and from the water in the middle of this cleft rose a rock. As it was impossible, from the shore below, to throw the light of the signalling lamp on to the ledge, Dr.

Soar climbed this rock and from its top was able to shine it on the man.

By this light he directed Davies as he was being lowered to the ledge.

Davies and the rescued man were then lowered still further until they were able to swing themselves on to the rock beside Dr. Soar, and from there they all three climbed down into the boarding boat. All this had been done in pitch darkness, except for the light of the signalling lamp.

Meanwhile the boarding boat below, with the second-coxswain on board her, had been in danger from the swell which was increasing as the tide rose. It was now 1.30 in the morning, two hours after the life-boat had arrived off the cliff. The boarding boat came safely out to the life-boat again, and the life-boat arrived back at her station at 2.30.

The Institution made the following awards : To GWILYM DAVIES, the bronze medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum, and £2 in addition to the ordinary reward on the standard scale of £1 17s. 6d. ; To DR. JOSEPH SOAR, Mus. Doc., the honorary secretary of the station, the bronze medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To DAVID J. LEWIS, second-coxswain, the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum, and £1 in addition to the ordinary scale reward on the standard scale of £1 17s. 6d. ; To POLICE SERGEANT EVANS, who rang up the life-boat station, a letter of appreciation ; To the coxswain and to each of the four other members of the crew a reward of 10s. in addition to the ordinary scale reward on the standard scale of £1 17s. 6d. ; Standard rewards to crew and launchers, £11 15s. 6d. ; additional rewards to crew, £5 10s. ; total rewards, £17 5s. 6d.

The following life-boats were launched, but no services were rendered for the reasons given : FEBRUARY 1ST. - HOLYHEAD , ANGLESEY. An aeroplane had been reported down in the sea but actually it had crashed on land. - Rewards, £5 14s.

FEBRUARY 3RD . - ALDEBURGH , SUFFOLK. An aeroplane had been reported down off Aldeburgh, but it was found to be much further north and the life-boat was recalled. - Rewards, £43 11s.

FEBRUARY 4TH . - ARKLOW CO .

WICKLOW. Flares and lights had been reported, but nothing was found. - Rewards, £15 10s. 6d.

FEBRUARY 5TH. - RHYL, FLINTSHIRE.

A Mustang aeroplane had crashed into the sea, but no trace of her could be found.- Rewards, £13 8s.

FEBRUARY 5TH. - ST. IVES, CORNWALL.

An aeroplane had crashed into thesea in flames, but nothing of her was found.

- Rewards, £11 7s.

FEBRUARY 5TH. - CROMER, NORFOLK.

A Stirling aeroplane had crashed into the sea in flames, but nothing of her was found.- Rewards, £26 1s. 6d.

FEBRUARY 6TH - PORT ASKAIG , HEBRIDES. A steamer had been reported in distress fifteen miles west of Rhinns Point, Islay, but by the time the life-boat reached her she had made repairs and was going on her way. - Rewards, £18 4s.

FEBRUARY 7TH. - MOELFRE, ANGLESEY.

An aeroplane was reported to have fallen into the sea, but nothing was found, and it was thought that she had simply been flying very low. - Rewards, £12 13s. 6d.

FEBRUARY 8TH. - RAMSGATE, KENT.

Three R.A.F. men were engaged in salving an aeroplane on the Goodwin Sands. They were working in a small boat from a trawler.

Their boat capsized leaving them stranded on the sands, but the trawler rescued them before the arrival of the life-boat. - Rewards, £6.

FEBRUARY 8TH - 9TH. - PADSTOW, CORNWALL. A fishing boat was overdue, but at the first search the life-boat could find nothing, and when she put out again she found the boat bottom up on the shore.

The only man on board her had landed safely. - Rewards, first launch, £9 19s. 6d. ; second launch, £5 1s.

FEBRUARY 9TH. - SELSEY, AND SHOREHAM HARBOUR, SUSSEX. A Mustang fighter aeroplane crashed into the sea, but only wreckage was found. - Rewards, Selsey, £9 7s. ; Shoreham Harbour, £6 11s.

FEBRUARY 9TH . - BARROW, LANCASHIRE.

A Beaufighter aeroplane had been reported down in the sea, but nothing was found. - Rewards, £14 6s. 6d.

FEBRUARY 11TH  - PORTPATRICK , WIGTOWNSHIRE. An aeroplane had been reported down in the sea, but nothing could be found. - Rewards, £8 11s.

FEBRUARY, 12TH. - PEEL, ISLE OF MAN. A steamer had stranded, but her crew got ashore unaided, and the ebbing tide left the steamer high and dry. - Rewards, £13 4s.

FEBRUARY 12TH and 13TH. - MOELFRE, ANGLESEY. Twice lights had been seen drifting, and twice the life-boat searched, but found nothing. - Rewards, first service, £15 9s. ; second service, £17.

FEBRUARY 16TH. - SELSEY, SUSSEX.

Two U.S.A. Liberator aeroplanes had collided and crashed, with the loss of about twenty lives, but nothing could be found. - Rewards, £9 7s.FEBRUARY 18TH. - ST. IVES, CORNWALL.

An aeroplane had been reported down in the sea, but nothing could be found.

- Rewards, £30 4s.

FEBRUARY 19TH . - BARMOUTH , MERIONETHSHIRE. An aeroplane was reported to have crashed in the sea, but nothing could  be found. - Reward s , £26 11s. 6d.

FEBRUARY 28TH. - LERWICK, SHETLANDS. The engine of a Norwegian fishing vessel had broken down in a gale, and she was leaking, but in a lull her crew repaired the engine and she got into Lerwick unaided. A letter of thanks on behalf of the Norwegians was received. - Rewards, £19 15s. 6d.

FEBRUARY, 28TH. - PEEL, ISLE OF MAN.

An R.A.F. Anson aeroplane had crashed into the sea, but an R.A.F. rescue launch rescued the crew and the life-boat was recalled.- Rewards, £25 19s. 6d.