JANUARY Launches 32. Lives rescued 76.

JANUARY 3RD. - HARTLEPOOL, DURHAM.

At 9.10 P.M. the naval officer in charge telephoned that R.A.F. high-speed launch No. 124 was somewhere off Hartlepool.

Her compass had gone wrong and she could not find port. A moderate northerly wind was blowing, with a rough sea. At 9.30 P.M. the motor life-boat The Princess Royal (Civil Service No. 7) was launched and after a long search found the launch at midnight five miles east of Heugh Light. The life-boat hailed the launch, but owing to the noise of the launch’s powerful engines, could hear no reply, so she set a course for Hartlepool and the launch followed her. In Hartlepool bay they met H.M.T. Loch Hope coming out to search, and the life-boat handed the launch over to her. Then going to the entrance channel buoy she played her searchlight on it to help the Loch Hope lead the launch into harbour, and returned to her station at 2.10 A.M. - Rewards, £14 5s.

JANUARY 4TH. - AITH, SHETLANDS.

On the 2nd January, Dr. Cruickshank, of Walls, telephoned that the Queen’s District Nurse on Foula Island was dangerously ill and would have to be taken to the mainland.

He asked if the life-boat could be used as an ambulance, as the ferry service had been suspended for over six weeks owing to bad weather. It was decided that the life-boat should go when it was certain that a landing could he made, and on the morning of the 4th January, news came at 6.35 A.M. that it would be possible. The weather was cold with snow showers. A moderate northerly breeze was now blowing, but the sea was rough, with a heavy ground swell. At 8 A.M. the motor life-boat The Rankin was launched, and made for Walls. There she took aboard the doctor. She also took on board food supplies, which were urgently needed by the islanders. She reached Fouls at 3.15 P.M., embarked the patient, landed her at Walls, and returned to her station at 10.4 P.M. - Rewards, £20 4s. 6d.

No expense to the Institution.

JANUARY 5TH AND 6TH. - NEWBIGGIN, AND NORTH SUNDERLAND, NORTHUMBERLAND.

At 5.5PM. the coast-guard reported to the Newbiggin station that the sixteen-feet fishing boat Two Sisters, of Newbiggin, had not returned. An increasing S.S.E. wind was blowing with a choppy sea, and the Newbiggin motor life-boat Augustus and Laura was launched at 5.50 P.M She could not find the Two Sisters and returned at 9.28 P.M. The hauling up of the life-boat in the darkness and over the soft sand was very hard, but great help was given by the women launchers, and the boat was ready again for service at midnight. During the service the St. John Ambulance stood by.

At North Sunderland, just after midday on the following day, the coastguard reported a small boat drifting towards the shore. A moderate S.S.E. wind was then blowing with a rough sea. The motor life-boat W.R.A.

was launched at 12.15 P.M. and one mile east of the harbour she found the Two Sisters, which had been drifting all night with her engine broken down. The life-boat rescued her crew of two, took her in tow and returned to her station, arriving at 1.5 P.M. - Rewards : Newbiggin, £25 13s. 6d. ; North Sunderland, £13 2s. 6d.

GOLD MEDAL SERVICE AT THE HUMBER JANUARY 6TH. - THE HUMBER, YORKSHIRE .  At 7.57 in the evening the station received a request from the extended defence officer for the life-boat to go to the help of Phillip’s defence unit No. l*, which was reported to have gone ashore, inside the boom defence, on the north side of Trinity Sand. The motor life-boat City of Bradford II was launched at 8.10. It was then blowing a full gale from the east, against a strong ebb tide. The night was heavily overcast and very dark. There were frequent snow showers. The life-boat passed the gate in the defenceboom ten minutes after launching and the defence-boom vessel, which was connected by telephone with the shore, called to her by megaphone that a tug had already gone to the help of the Phillip’s defence unit, and the life-boat returned to her station at 8.35.

No sooner had she been housed than word came to the coxswain that a vessel was aground on the Binks. As the tide was ebbing the coxswain knew that he could not approach her and that she would lie quiet on the sands until the flood tide. He and his crew stood by.

Then at 10.50 the port war signal station telephoned that Phillip’s defence unit No. 3 had broken adrift from her moorings and was entangled * A Phillip’s defence unit was an anchored craft, like a huge iron buoy, which mounted anti-aircraft guns.on the inner side of the boom defence.

From the life-boat station the men on the Phillip’s defence unit were seen to be firing red rockets and making signals for help. They were in grave danger of being swept out to sea by the strong ebb tide. Ten minutes later the life-boat was launched and found the Phillip’s defence unit now thoroughly entangled in the boom.

The life-boat approached from the seaward side by the light of searchlights from the shore which, at times, were of help to her and, at other times, blinded her crew. She approached the boom bow on. She did this four times and the five men on the Phillip’s defence unit jumped aboard her.

The life-boat herself had her stem and bow planking damaged by the long steel spikes of the boom, which were there expressly for sinking small boats. At 11.20 the life-boat landed the rescued men at the life-boat slipway, and then tied up alongside a patrol vessel to wait for the flood tide in order to go to the help of the vessel on the Binks.

At 3.10 next morning she cast off and found H.M. Trawler Almondine lying on her side on the sands. Her port side was under water and she was smothered with the heavy seas.

The night was still overcast and very dark, and there were still heavy snow showers. A strong spring flood tide was now swirling over the Binks at the rate of five or six knots, and the seas were breaking from all directions.

The Almondine signalled the lifeboat and asked her to take off her crew. At 3.35 in the morning the coxswain made his first attempt. He ran the life-boat, head to tide, alongside the trawler’s lee side and passed a rope to her. The rope was secured, but almost immediately the swirling tide swung the life-boat round, the rope was broken, the life-boat’s mast fouled the trawler and was broken. With the breaking of the mast her wireless was put out of action. The life-boat again approached the trawler. She did it no fewer than twelve times, first from one end and then from the other. She did it in swift dashes, remaining alongside just long enough for a man to jump aboard her, and then sheering off again so as not to be smashed on the trawler’s sunken side. All the time the heavy seas were sweeping over her.

They twisted and tossed her about at will, and several times they flung her against the trawler. Five feet of her oak stem, already damaged against the boom in the earlier service that night, was splintered right back to the planking of the boat, and the planking itself was holed just above the water-line. Sometimes she sheered off with no one rescued. Sometimes one man jumped ; was grabbed ; was dragged aboard. Sometimes as many as three jumped at once.

By 4.20 - forty-five minutes after the first attempt - nineteen men had been rescued in this way. The tide was rising, and as it rose the trawler seemed to be righting herself. She seemed now to be water-borne again and her captain hailed the life-boat’s coxswain to ask if he and his officers should now abandon ship or remain by her. Before the coxswain could reply the trawler’s lights went out and nothing more was seen of her in the darkness and driving snow. By the help of the life-boat’s searchlight, and of searchlights from the shore, the coxswain searched the sandbanks and the entrance to The Humber for an hour and a half, but he could find no sign of her. The life-boat returned to her station at 6.15 in the morning.

There she landed the nineteen rescued men, and the coxswain at once telephoned to the port war signal station. Here he learned that word had just been received that a tug had found the Almondine drifting in the entrance to The Humber and had taken her in tow.

Though damaged the life-boat was still seaworthy, and four days later she went out, though her broken stem had not been replaced, and rescued eight lives from another vessel.

The rescue of the men of the Almondine had only been made possible by the fine seamanship and great determination of the coxswain, who was very ably supported by his crew, and the Institution made the following awards : To COXSWAIN ROBERT CROSS, G.M.,a clasp to the gold medal for conspicuous gallantry, which he already held, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To GEORGE RICHARDS, reserve motor mechanic, the silver medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To each of the other five members of the crew, GEORGE STEPHENSON, bowman; SAMUEL CROSS, assistant motor mechanic ; and WILLIAM MAJOR, SIDNEY HARMAN a n d GEORGE W .SHAKESBY, life-boatmen, the bronze medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To the coxswain and each of the six members of the crew a special reward of £5.

The crew are permanent paid men, and the ordinary rewards to launchers amounted to £2 5s. ; special rewards to crew, £35 ; total rewards, £37 5s.

JANUARY 8TH. - ILFRACOMBE, DEVON.

During the evening a request was received at the pier for a doctor to be sent to a naval vessel in the Bristol Channel. As no other suitable boat was available the motor lifeboat Rosabella put out at 7.40 P.M. A strong S.E. wind was blowing, with a moderate sea. She put the doctor on board the naval vessel but unfortunately the injured man for whom he was wanted had already died. The life-boat returned to her station at 8.40 P.M. - Rewards, £24 6s.

JANUARY 9TH. - HOYLAKE, CHESHIRE.

At about 10 A.M. the Hooton R.A.F. aerodrome asked the coastguard to search the banks with their telescope for signs of a missing aeroplane, which had not returned the previous evening. News then came that aeroplanes had seen four men in a rubber dinghy in the estuary of the River Dee.

At 10.37 A.M. a request was received for the life-boat crew to assemble, and at 11 A.M.

came a request for her to launch. A strong S.E. breeze was blowing with a choppy sea and it was very cold. The motor life-boat Oldham was launched at 12.10 P.M. and a quarter of a mile N. by E. of Dee Buoy she found the dinghy with four airmen on board.

The aeroplane had come down about 6 P.M.

the previous evening and the men were exhausted and suffering from exposure.

The life-boat took them and their dinghy on board and brought them ashore at 1.40 P.M.

A waiting R.A.F. ambulance took them to hospital. - Rewards, £10 4s. 6d.

JANUARY 11TH. - DONAGHADEE, CO. DOWN. At 12.45 in the morning the police telephoned that a vessel was in distress off the Cable Hut, Ballyvester, Donaghadee.

The motor life-boat Civil Service No. 5 was launched at 1.15. A whole gale was blowing with a very heavy sea. The life-boat found the four-masted motor auxiliary schooner Ruth II, of London, on the rocks, close in shore. She made several attempts to get to her, but it was impossible among the rocks.

Nor was she able to fire a line across her.

Meanwhile, as soon as the life-boat was launched, the honorary secretary of the station, Mr. D. McKibbin, had gone by car to the scene of the wreck, where the coastguard and the police were preparing to carry out a rescue from the shore. The crew of the schooner fired a line to the shore from their line-throwing gun and then launched a raft. By means of the line the people on the shore were able to haul in the raft, and it passed backwards and forwards between the ship and the shore until eight of the crew of nine had been rescued. One of the men unfortunately was washed off the raft and drowned. While the rescue was going on the life-boat stood by until a signal was flashed to her that all the crew had been taken off. She then returned to her station, arriving at four in the morning. - Rewards, £13 19s. 6d.

JANUARY 11TH - NORTH SUNDERLAND, NORTHUMBERLAND. At 4.42 in the morning the coastguard reported that signals of distress could be seen three miles east of the harbour and at 5.15 the motor lifeboat W.R.A. was launched. A moderate S.E. gale was blowing, with a heavy sea, and rain squalls. The tide was at half flood.

Half an hour later the life-boat, with the help of her searchlight, found the motor vessel Empire Ford, of Hull. She was laden with cement, bound for Macduff, and had a crew of nine men. She had anchored, and was helpless on a lee shore. She was straining on her cable, with heavy seas sweeping over her deck. and her engineroom was flooded. Her crew had huddled together on the bridge aft. She was lying across the wind and sea, and the life-boat’s coxswain, coming close, hailed her master, and asked him if he thought that his cable would hold and if he could wait until the tide slackened. The ship would then turn to the wind and sea, making it easier for the lifeboat to come alongside and rescue the crew.

The master replied that he thought that he could wait, and the lifeboat stood by. She kept very close to the ship, and in touch with the master, in case she was suddenly needed, for the weather was becoming worse. The rain squalls were more violent, and the temperature had fallen below freezing point.

For two hours the life-boat waited, and then she went close. The Empire Ford threw her a line and she drew alongside. It was still dark and the life-boat was pitching heavily in the seas, but she hung on, and the men of the Empire Ford, watching their opportunity, jumped aboard her. Six were rescued in this way. The master, mate and one able-seaman remained on the ship, in the hope that a tug might be sent to their help.

With the six rescued men the life-boat returned to North Sunderland harbour and landed them, and the chief engineer of the Empire Ford tried to get a tug to take her intow ; but no tug was able to go in that weather. The life-boat’s crew had returned wet through and numbed by the great cold.

They hurried to their homes for a hot drink and returned immediately to the harbour.

At nine o’clock the life-boat put out for the second time. The wind had now increased to a whole gale, the sea was heavier, and the Empire Ford was in extreme danger. Violent seas were breaking over the life-boat as she put out, but day had now come, and she had no difficulty in picking up the Empire Ford again. The coxswain told the master that no tug would come and that he must leave his vessel at once. The life-boat again went alongside, a line was made fast, and the three men jumped into her. She returned to harbour, arriving there at 10.30 in the morning. Half an hour later the Empire Ford’s cable parted and she was swept ashore on the Wide Open Reef of the Farne Islands.

But for the life-boat the whole crew of nine would have been lost.

The coxswain had handled his life-boat with courage and fine seamanship, and had wisely used his knowledge of the tides and the coast, for had he gone in at once to the rescue, when the seas were running heavily over the Empire Ford, instead of waiting for the tide to slacken, lives would probably have been lost.

The Institution awarded to COXSWAIN GEORGE N. DAWSON its thanks inscribed on vellum, and to him and to each of the six members of his crew a special reward of 30s.

in addition to the ordinary reward on the standard scale of £1 8s. 6d. Rewards on the standard scale to crew and helpers , £16 11s. 3d. ; additional rewards to crew, £10 10s. ; total rewards, £27 1s. 3d.

JANUARY 11TH. - THE HUMBER, YORKSHIRE.

About 8.30 A.M. the port war signal station reported that the Danish steamer Sparta was in difficulties, and a second message was received shortly afterwards that the Belgian steamer Anna, of Nieuport, needed help at once. At 8.45 A.M the motor life-boat City of Bradford II was launched. The damage that she had received in the services five days before had not yet been repaired. A strong S.E. wind was blowing, with a moderate sea. A mile north of No. 5 Trinity Buoy the life-boat found the Anna. She  had ten men on board, including a pilot, and was bound laden from Newcastle to Goole. In the early morning in a dense fog she had been in collision with the Sparta and had sunk. Her deck forward was now awash. The lifeboat rescued the crew of eight, but the captain and pilot decided to stay on board as the bridge and after part of the ship were above water. The life-boat landed the rescued men at Grimsby and then at the request of the naval authorities she went out again to look for the Sparta. She could not find her, and learnt later that she was making for Goole and that she arrived safely.

She went again to the Anna and found that she was not needed, but promised to return again as the tide rose and stand by until after high water. This she did, reaching the steamer at 8 P.M. She found a naval salvage party on board. It had pumped her out, and on the high tide the steamer refloated. She was leaking, but able to control the water with her pumps, so the life-boat returned to her station, arriving at 11.15 P.M. - Paid permanent crew. - Rewards, first service, 18s. ; second service, property salvage case.

JANUARY 12TH. - GREAT YARMOUTH AND GORLESTON, NORFOLK. At about 12.25 P.M. the port war signal station reported that the Admiralty trawler Their Merit was aground on the North Beach just north of the harbour entrance, and a tug went out.

A few minutes later the motor life-boat was asked to go, and the Louise Stephens was launched at 12.45 P.M. A strong S.S.W.

wind was blowing, with a very rough sea.

In trying to get near the trawler the tug touched the ground. She then asked the life-boat to connect her with the trawler.

The trawler fired a line over the life-boat, and in very heavy seas the life-boat passed hawsers between the trawler and the tug, and the tug succeeded in towing the trawler off the beach and the life-boat returned to her station, arriving at 1.35 P.M., and the tug came in with the trawler a little later.- Property salvage case.

JANUARY 14TH. - FENIT, CO. KERRY.

At noon the lightkeeper on Little Samphire reported a ship’s raft floating three miles to the N.N.W., and a second raft farther north. A strong N.W. wind was blowing with a heavy breaking swell and showers of hail. The motor life-boat Peter and Sarah Blake was launched at 12.30 P.M. and reached the nearer raft at 1.30 P.M. She found no one on board, and took her in tow. Meanwhile the other raft had got into broken water off Fenit Island and in the end went ashore.

She also had no one on board. The lifeboat arrived back at her station at 3.30 P.M.

- Rewards, £6 19s.

JANUARY 2lST. - SKEGNESS, LINCOLNSHIRE.

At 10.25 A.M. the honorary secretary of the station saw a Lysander aeroplane and a Spitfire aeroplane collide. The Lysander crashed at once but the Spitfire flew off, only to crash one and a half miles south of Skegness pier. The motor life-boat Anne Allen was launched at 11 A.M.

A moderate S.W. wind was blowing, but the sea was smooth. There was haze. The lifeboat picked up two bodies from the Lysander and brought them ashore. She failed to find the Spitfire and returned to her station at 1.23 P.M. The Spitfire was found later one and a half miles south of the scene of the accident. - Rewards, £10 19s.

JANUARY 23RD. - BALLYCOTTON, CO.

CORK. At 8.35 A.M. a man reported that he had seen a flare and the motor life-boat Mary Stanford was launched at 8.45 A.M.

A moderate N.N.W. wind was blowing, with a heavy swell. Eight miles S.E. of Ballycotton Light, the life-boat found the motor fishing boat Emily, of Ballycotton, with acrew of four on board. She was drifting to sea with her engine broken down, and the men had burned clothing, soaked in oil.

That was the flare which had been seen.

The life-boat towed the Emily to Rallycotton, arriving at 11.15 A.M. - Rewards, £7.

JANUARY 26TH. - MARGATE, KENT.

At 1.15 P.M. the resident naval officer asked that the life-boat should be launched as a parachute had been seen in the sea two and a half miles to the north-east; the motor life-boat The Lord Southborough (Civil Service No. 1) was launched at 1.25 P.M.

A fresh S.W. wind was blowing, with a choppy sea. The life-boat found that the airman had been picked up by a patrol boat and handed over to an R.A.F. rescue boat, and returned to her station, with the parachute, arriving at 2.25 P.M. - Rewards, £8 11s.

JANUARY 27TH. - LLANDUDNO , CAERNARVONSHIRE. At 4.45 P .M. a message came from the coastguard that the Llandudno fishing boat Pilot No. 3 was in distress two miles east of the pier head, and the motor life-boat Thomas and Annie Wade Richards was launched at 5.5 P . M . A southerly gale was blowing, with a rough sea. The life-boat found the Pilot No. 3 with her engine broken down, and waterlogged.

She had a crew of three. The lifeboat took her in tow and while making for harbour in the fading light, found three more men in difficulties in the fishing rowing boat Eira. This boat also she took in tow and reached harbour, with the six men and their boats, at 6.30 P.M. - Rewards, £25 13s.

JANUARY 28TH. - CLACTON - ON - SEA, ESSEX. At 11.42 A.M. the coast guard reported that a sailing barge had struck a mine to the S. by E., three quarters of a mile from Holland look-out hut, and had blown up. A light S.W. breeze was blowing with a slight swell. Without waiting for a full crew, the motor life-boat Edward Z. Dresden was launched within eight minutes, but found only wreckage. The barge was the Resolute, of Mistley, bound from London to Ipswich, laden with wheat. She had a crew of two.

Her skipper had been rescued by another barge, which transferred him to the lifeboat and she landed him at Clacton at 2.30 P.M. - Rewards, £4 16s.

JANUARY 29TH. - ANSTRUTHER, FIFESHIRE.

At 3.15 P.M. Mr. A. N. Cunningham, a member of the local committee, reported that the motor fishing boat Valkerye, of Pittenweem, lying just off the harbour, was showing distress signals, and the motor life-boat Nellie and Charlie was launched at 3.25 P.M. A strong S.W. wind was blowing, with a moderate sea, and the life-boat found that the Valkerye’s engine had broken down and that her anchor was dragging. She had a crew of four. Within a quarter of an hour of launching the life-boat had towed her into harbour. - Rewards, £9 16s.

JANUARY 3 1 ST AND FEBRUARY 1 ST. - SOUTHEND - ON - SEA, ESSEX. At 11 A.M.

on the 31st of January the naval control reported that the National Fire Service float Gladys, lying half a mile west of the pier, was driving on to the sands, and at 11.20 A.M. the motor life-boat J. B. Proudfoot, on temporary duty at the station, was launched. The second coxswain was in command, as the coxswain was in London in connection with a broadcast which he was to give on the work of the station. A whole gale was blowing, with rain squalls and a very rough sea. The lifeboat found the Gladys being swept by heavy seas and hitting the sand. The lifeboat let go her anchor, dropped down and, with great difficulty, got close in. The firefloat’s crew of fourteen were very seasick, but the life-boat got them all on board and landed them at the pier at 1.15 P.M.

Next morning the coxswain was told by the pier master that the fire - float had been washed against the pier and was crashing into it. The weather was still bad. A moderate S.W. gale was blowing, with squalls and a heavy sea. When he got to the boathouse the coxswain was met by a naval officer who asked that something should be done to save the vessel from cutting the pier in two.

The coxswain, taking a second anchor and cable on board the life-boat, put out at 7.45 A.M. He left one of the crew on the pier, and this man, with great difficulty, dropped from the pier on to the fire-float. The coxswain then anchored to windward of the fire - float, and fired a line to her. T h e life-boatman on board her hauled in a towrope and made it fast. By heaving on this rope the life-boatmen kept the fire-float from doing any more damage, but already she had torn girders from the pier and they were lying on her deck. Then, with the help of a motor vessel, the life-boat towed the firefloat round the pier and under its lee. There the naval control took charge of her. This prompt service not only saved the fire-float, but prevented the pier from being cut in two, a matter of great importance to the naval control. The life-boat returned to her station at 12 noon. - Rewards : first service, £8 15s; second service, property salvage case. A letter of thanks was received from the Thames naval control office at Southend.

JANUARY 31ST . - LLANDUDNO , CAERNARVONSHIRE. During the morning, a man who had arrived from Llandudno on the previous day fell over the cliffs near Pen Trwyn. A moderate southerly gale was blowing, with a rough sea. It was too rough for a rowing boat to put out and the motor life-boat Thomas and Annie Wade Richards was launched at 11.30 A.M. She found the man’s body about a mile and a half off Orme’s Head. The life-boat brought it back, arriving at 12.45 P.M. It was thought that the man had fallen when trying to save his hat, and that he was killed before he reached the water. - Rewards, £13 17s.

The following life-boats were launched, but no services were rendered for the reasons given :

JANUARY 3RD. - NEWQUAY, CORNWALL.

An aeroplane was reported to havecrashed into the sea but nothing was found.- £16 10s.

JANUARY 4TH. - GALWAY BAY. During the morning news was received from Valentia Radio that the S.S. Barrister, of Liverpool, was ashore off Skird Rocks. The crew were called out at once and were on board the life - boat about ten o’  clock, but unfor- tunately the engines could not be started.

It was not until 11.30 that the starboard engine was working, and not until after one o’clock that the port engine was working.

The life-boat got away about 1.30 in the afternoon. Meanwhile a message had been received to say that the ship was not on Skird Rocks, but was on Inishshark. A moderate wind was blowing from the S.S.E., and the sea was smooth. After passing the Skird Rocks, the coxswain decided to go to Roundstone Bay, as he thought that it would be dark when he got to Inishshark. On arriving at Roundstone he learned from the local guard that the ship was being abandoned.

Meanwhile the news of the Barrister had reached the auxiliary rescue station at Inishbofin at noon and the auxiliary rescue motor boat had put out, manned by a crew of five. A moderate wind was blowing from the S.W., with a rough sea. She found the Barrister with her crew of 73 abandoning her, and stood by while they got into the ship’s boats. Then, with another motor boat, she helped to tow the ship’s boats ashore. She returned to her station at 7.30 in the evening.

The Galway Bay crew remained at Roundstone for the night and put out to the wreck at nine next morning, January 5th, with the second coxswain in command. She found no one on board the wreck, and put in to Cleggan for petrol. It could not be obtained at once, and the life-boat did not leave for her station until noon on January 6th, arriving there at six in the evening.

In view of the delay in launching and the coxswain’s action in putting in to Roundstone and remaining there for the night, instead of going direct to the wreck, an enquiry was held by the district inspector.

After this enquiry both the coxswain and second coxswain resigned, and their resignations were accepted by the Institution. - Rewards : Galway Bay, £42 11s. 8d. ; Inishbofin auxiliary rescue-boat, £18 10s. 8d.

(See Inishbofin, “ Services by Auxiliary Rescue-boats,” page 68.)

JANUARY 15TH . - BOULMER, AND AMBLE, NORTHUMBERLAND. A small Newbiggin fishing boat, bound from North Sunderland to Amble, had been reported overdue, but nothing could be found, and on the following day the boat was towed in by a Craster fishing boat. - Rewards : Boulmer, £30 5s. ; Amble, £7 12s.

(See Craster, “ Services by Shore-boats,” page 57.

JANUARY 17TH . - TOBERMORY , ARGYLLSHIRE. The Belgian steamer Ostende had been reported in difficulties, butlater signalled that she was out of danger.- Rewards, £22 12s.

JANUARY 22ND. - MARGATE, KENT. At 11.10 A.M. the resident naval officer asked that the life-boat should be sent to a position three miles N. by W. of Margate, where an aeroplane’s yellow rubber dinghy had been seen. A S.W. wind was blowing, with a moderate sea, and at 11.20 A.M. the motor life-boat The Lord Southborough (Civil Service No. 1) was launched. She found that the dinghy had already been picked up by an R.A.F. rescue launch, and returned to the station at 1 P.M. - Rewards, £7 12s.

JANUARY 2 2 ND. - FRASERBURGH, ABERDEENSHIRE. An aeroplane had crashed into the sea, but was found by a small fishing boat. She had sunk in ten feet of water and the pilot was drowned.- Rewards, £6 12s.

JANUARY 27TH . - ALDEBURGH , SUFFOLK. A Walrus aeroplane had been reported down on the sea but she got away safely and the life-boat  was recalled. - Rewards, £22.

JANUARY 29TH . - BARMOUTH , MERIONETHSHIRE. Red flares had been seen, which it was thought might be from an aeroplane’s dinghy, but nothing could be found. - Rewards, £15 1s. 6d.