Launches 32. Lives rescued 24.

MAY 3RD. - ROSSLARE HARBOUR, CO.

WEXFORD. During the afternoon the coxswain was watching the Wexford pilot boat off Wexford Bar, apparently waiting for the tide. A N.N.E. gale was blowing with a rough sea. Then the coxswain saw her drift close to the shore and hoist a flag. He called out the crew and the motor life-boat Mabel Marion Thompson was launched at 4 P.M. Three and a half miles N. by W. of Rosslare pier she found the pilot boat. Her engine had broken down ; she had anchored, but her anchors were dragging ; and now she was close to broken water. She had a crew of four. With great difficulty the life-boat got a line aboard her, and towed her into Rosslare harbour, arriving at 5.45 P.M. - Partly paid permanent crew ; Rewards, £1 16s.

MAY 8TH. - GREAT YARMOUTH AND GORLESTON, NORFOLK. At 8.15 A.M.

the coastguard reported that the sailing barge George Smeed, of Rochester, was dragging her anchors. The life-boat crew were assembled but the barge made no signal of distress, and at 11.30 A.M. the crew were dismissed.

During the day the weather got worse and by evening a S.S.W. gale was blowing with a very rough sea. At 6.50 P.M.

the barge burned flares for help and at 7.15 the motor life-boat Louise Stephens was launched, found the barge half a mile south of the pier at 7.40 P.M., and went alongside.

The two men on board her jumped into the life-boat, which landed them at the naval base and returned to her station at 8.45 P.M..

- Rewards, £12 8s.

MAY 12TH. - ARKLOW, CO. WICKLOW.

At 9 A.M. a message was received from the Kilmichael Point look-out that the S.S.

Joffre Rose, of Liverpool, had gone ashore on the mainland south of Pass Head, while bound laden with coal from Port Talbot to Dublin. She had a crew of sixteen. A strong S.S.W. wind was blowing, with a very rough sea. The motor life-boat lnbhear Mor was launched at 9.30 A.M., reached the steamer at 10.45 A.M., and went along-side, but the crew declined to leave and the life-boat remained standing by. Meanwhile the coastguard life-saving apparatus on shore had rigged the breeches buoy, but when it fired a line over the steamer, no one of her crew seemed able to rig it, so three lifeboatmen went aboard and did it. The crew, however, remained in the steamer.

The weather moderated and the life-boat returned ashore, after arranging with the captain that if it got worse he should hoist a distress signal. The life-boat reached her station at 4.15P.M. During the afternoon the receiver of wrecks visited the wreck. He came back, saying that the captain wished the crew to be taken off, and three hours after her return the life-boat put out again. She found that the captain, who had gone ashore by the breeches buoy to telephone to his owners, had sent a message that the crew should stay aboard until he returned, so the life-boat remained standing by until after dark. It was then no longer safe for her to stay, the chief officer of the steamer decided to leave her, and the lifeboat rescued the crew of fifteen and brought them ashore, arriving at 11.30 P.M. Rewards : first service, £5 2s. ; second service, £10 13s.

MAY 12TH. - BUCKIE, BANFFSHIRE.

At about 6.42 P.M. the coastguard reported an explosion eight to ten miles N.E. by 1/2 E.

of Buckie, and the motor life-boat K.B.M.

was launched at 7.9 P.M. A strong westerly wind was blowing, with a rough sea. At the position given by the coastguard the lifeboat found a tug, whose captain said that he had seen an aeroplane crash and had reached the spot within an hour. It was a British aeroplane, and he had picked up some wreckage. The life-boat searched and also picked up some wreckage which she handed to the coastguard when she returned at 12.10 A.M., but she found no members of the crew. - Rewards, £7 19s.

MAY 1 3TH. - SHERINGHAM, NORFOLK.

At about 4.45 P.M. information was received that an aeroplane had come down in the sea off Blakeney Point. The weather was fine with a strong S.W. breeze and a choppy sea. An exercise of the lifeboat had just been carried out by the District Inspector of Life-boats, Commander T. G.

Michelmore, R.D., R.N.R., and when permission to launch had been given by the naval authorities the motor life-boat Foresters Centenary put out again at 5.3 P.M. Guided by a smoke float, dropped by a searching aeroplane, the life-boat picked up an American airman at 6.20 P.M. He was unconscious and though the crew tried artificial respiration for over two hours, they could not revive him. Another airman had been rescued by the R.A.F. rescue launch from Wells, and she spoke to the life-boat and reported that the others had baled out over the land, and that the whole crew of the aeroplane were accounted for. The lifeboat then returned to her station, arriving at 8.30 P.M. - Rewards, £19 18s. 9d.

MAY 21ST. - SKEGNESS, LINCOLNSHIRE.

At 9 A.M. a naval establishment on shore reported through the coastguard that a vessel was signalling for a doctor. The weather was fine, with a light N.E. wind and a smooth sea. With a doctor on board the motor life-boat Anne Allen put out at 9.45 A.M., and two miles east of Skegness found the motor vessel Zuiderhaven. She had a very badly injured man aboard and the lifeboat brought him ashore, where he was taken to the naval hospital. - Rewards, £6 15s.

MAY 2 2 ND. - RUNSWICK, YORKSHIRE.

At about midnight on the 21st May a ship was seen amongst the rocks just south of Runswick, and at 1.50 A.M. on the 22nd the motor life-boat Robert Patton - The Always Ready was launched. The sea was smooth, but there was fog. About half a mile south of Runswick village the life-boat found the Grimsby steam trawler Cynthia. She had run aground in the fog when returning from fishing. The life-boat ran out a kedge anchor. With its help the trawler was refloated at 4.15 A.M. and the life-boat returned to her station, arriving at 4.40 A.M. - Property salvage case.

(See Whitby, “ Services by Shore-boats,” page 60.) MAY 24TH. - FRASERBURGH, ABERDEENSHIRE.

At 4.40 P.M. the senior naval officer reported that two aeroplanes had crashed in flames, and the motor lifeboat John and Charles Kennedy was launched at 4.45 P.M. A light westerly wind was blowing and the sea was calm. Directed by the coastguard, the life-boat went N.N.W. of Kinnaird Head, and at 5.30 P.M. found the trawlers Dreadnought and Curlew each with a dead airman on board. The bodies were transferred to the life-boat, which had also picked up a rubber dinghy. The trawler Dreadnought picked up another. A Walrus seaplane landed on the water and joined in the search, but found nothing. The life-boat returned to Fraserburgh with the bodies, arriving at 6.30 P.M. - Rewards, £5 1s.

MAY 2 8TH. - ANGLE, PEMBROKESHIRE.

At 5.50 P.M. a telephone message was received from the Milford Haven naval base that a soldier had fallen over the cliff at Mill Bay. The weather was fine with a northerly wind and a ground swell. At 6.15 P.M. the motor life-boat Elizabeth Elson was launched, taking with her her boarding boat. She found the soldier on the beach, under the cliffs, and the boarding boat in going ashore in the swell was slightly damaged, but she brought the soldier off safely and the lifeboat took him to Milford Haven returning to her station at 9.15 P.M.

Press reports stated that in addition to the life-boat, the army, the navy, the air force, the coastguard and civil defence workers all took part in the search. - Rewards, £18 4s. 6d.

MAY 30TH. - LYTHAM - ST. ANNES, LANCASHIRE. Shortly after 1 P.M. the local fishing smack Two Brothers, with a crew of two, went to sea. As a moderate westerly wind was blowing with a moderatesea the smack was watched, and at about 4 P.M. she was seen to be on Salters Bank, north of the fourteenth mile light, at the entrance to the River Ribble. She was lying in a dangerous position on a lee shore and at 6.15 P.M. the motor life-boat Dunleary put out. At 7 P.M. she found the smack pounding violently on the banks. The lifeboat went alongside her and put two men on board; she herself touched bottom while she was doing it. She then took the smack in tow and, with the smack’s crew baling, brought her to Lytham and beached her.

She returned to her station at 7.55 P.M.- Rewards, £8 5s. 6d.

MAY 30TH. - WALTON AND FRINTON, ESSEX . At 7.43P.M. the coastguard reported that an aeroplane had crashed approximately E.N.E. from Frinton battery, close inshore, and at 8.10 P.M. the motor life-boat E.M.E.D. was launched. A high westerly wind was blowing, with a slight sea. The life-boat found a German airman floating, supported by his Mae West. He was dead. She returned to her station and was then directed to another position 300 yards east of the Naze, where another aeroplane had been reported down. There she found nothing and was instructed to return ashore, as service vessels had arrived to take up the search. She reached her station again at 9.45 P.M. - Rewards, £14 3s. 6d.

The following life-boats were launched, but no services were rendered for the reasons given : MAY 1 ST. - SENNEN COVE, CORNWALL.

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

MAY 1ST. - MOELFRE, ANGLESEY. An aeroplane had come down in the sea, but the life-boat found nothing. In her own crew of nine were five merchant captains, who were on leave. - Rewards, £5 14s. 6d.

MAY 5TH . - WELLS, NORFOLK. A motor rescue dinghy had been dropped from an aeroplane to airmen whose aeroplane had come down in the sea and who had got away in their rubber dinghy. The motor dinghy took the other dinghy in tow. This is believed to be the first occasion on which one of these motor dinghies was dropped from an aeroplane for actual rescue work.

The motor dinghy broke down when still twelve miles from Wells, for which place it was making, but before the life-boat reached the dinghies they had, by chance, been seen by a motor launch which brought them in.- Rewards, £14 16s. 3d.

MAY 5TH. - ST  ABBS BERWICK-SHIRE. An aeroplane had been reported down in the sea but only a patch of oil was found. - Rewards, £6 8s.

MAY 5TH. - BALTIMORE, CO. CORK. A fishing boat had got into difficulties and was long overdue, but she managed to reach shelter in a little bay, unaided. - Rewards, £14 17s.

MAY 7TH. - HOLYHEAD, ANGLESEY.

A British aeroplane had come down in the sea, but her crew of three were rescued by motor launches and a seaplane. - Rewards, £2 10s.

MAY 7TH. - KILLYBEGS, C O .

DONEGAL. A fishing yawl, with a crew of six, was overdue in a gale, but she made land without help. - Rewards, £8 15s.

MAY 8TH. - BARROW, LANCASHIRE.

A Liberator aeroplane had been reported down in the sea, but nothing was found.- Rewards, £16 10s.

MAY 8TH. - PORTPATRICK, WIGTOWNSHIRE.

A steamer had gone ashore, but she got off and was taken in tow by another vessel, which brought her to a sheltered position and there beached her. - Rewards, £12 3s.

MAY 8TH. - DONAGHADEE, CO. DOWN.

At 6 A.M. a telephone message was received from the coastguard at Bangor asking for the life-boat to go to a vessel in distress off Portpatrick on the coast of Wigtownshire.

A north-easterly gale was blowing, with a very rough sea and rain. The motor lifeboat Civil Service No. 5 was launched at 6.40 A.M., but was recalled by wireless just before she reached the Scottish coast, as the vessel in distress, which was the S.S. Burring.

ton Combe, had been taken in tow by tugs.

The life-boat arrived back at her station at 10.45 A.M. This was an arduous service and an increase in the usual money award on the standard scale was made to each member of the crew. - Standard rewards to crew and helpers, £7 ; additional rewards to crew, £4 ; total rewards, £11.

MAY 11TH. - BARROW, LANCASHIRE.

An Anson aeroplane had been reported down in the sea, but nothing could be found.- Rewards, £6 2s.

MAY 13TH. - CROMER, NORFOLK. A destroyer had a badly injured man on board, and wanted to send him ashore, but he was taken off by a motor launch before the lifeboat arrived. - Rewards, £16 4s. 6d.

MAY 17TH. - ALDEBURGH, SUFFOLK.

Two pilots were reported to have baled out from an aeroplane, but nothing was found.

Just after the life-boat had returned a further report came that a pilot was in a rubber dinghy, and she went out again, but again nothing was found. - Rewards, £11 15s. ; and £12 7s. 6d.

MAY 21ST. - THURSO, CAITHNESSSHIRE.

A raft with men on board had been reported, but the ” raft ” was found to be a tree trunk with projecting branches, and the life-boat was recalled by wireless. - Rewards, £4 4s.

(See Farr, “ Services by Shore-boats,” page 60.)MAY 21ST. -WICK, CAITHNESS-SHIRE.

The trawler Gardar, of Iceland, had been sunk in collision with the steamer Miguel de Larrinaga, but the latter picked up the majority of the Gardar’s crew, and the lifeboat found only wreckage. - Rewards, £8 15s.

MAY 2 2 ND. - WICK, CAITHNESSSHIRE.

Two fishing boats, one towing the other, had got into difficulties, but both made Lybster harbour without help. - Rewards, £4 7s. 6d.

MAY 22ND. - CLACTON - ON - SEA, ESSEX. A British Spitfire aeroplane had come down in the sea, but the pilot was rescued by a fishing boat. - Rewards, £3 4s. 6d.

MAY 26TH. - LYTHAM-ST. ANNE’S, LANCASHIRE. An aeroplane crashed into the sea, but no survivors were found . - Rewards, £6 7s. 6d.

MAY 31TH. - BARROW, LANCASHIRE.

An aeroplane had been reported down in the sea, but it had crashed on land. - Rewards, £5 5s. 6d.