MARCH 25TH. - AITH, SHETLANDS. On March 17th a doctor telephoned to the station to ask if the life-boat would be available to bring from the Island of Fouls to the mainland a woman who was expecting a baby.

A strong breeze was then blowing, with a considerable ground swell. Five days later he came personally to the station to explain that if the woman’s life were to be saved she must be removed to the mainland as soon as possible, that it would be fatal to attempt to remove her in the tiny island ferry boat, that no larger boat was available, and that she could only be removed, even by the life-boat, in fine weather. The life-boat was at once put at the doctor’s disposal, but it was not until another three days had past, the 25th, that wind and sea had gone down sufficiently for the journey to be possible for the patient. A moderate wind was then blowing, with a moderate sea running. The life-boat put out at ten in the morning and reached Foula at 2.55 in the afternoon.

She took the patient from Foula to Walls, and returned to her station, arriving at 8.35 that evening. The baby was born at Walls, and for a time the condition of both mother and baby was critical, but the skilled attention which could be given to them at Walls, and would not have been possible at Foula, saved them both. - No expense to the Institution..