danger they put out. They did not reach and rescue the boys until they were two miles out and their boat half full of water. - Rewards, 15s. and 2s. 6d. for fuel used.

NEWBIGGIN, NORTHUMBERLAND. At 2.30 in the afternoon of the 20th of September, 1943, the fishing boat Two Sisters, which was without her engine, as it was under repair, was seen drifting out to sea. She had a crew of four on board. They had taken the boat out under oars, but were unable to regain the harbour in a rough sea, with a strong, squally, westerly wind blowing and an ebbing tide.

The motor fishing boat Sylvia put out with a crew of five, picked up the drifting boat three quarters of a mile east-by-south of Newbiggin Point, took the four men on board and towed the Two Sisters to the shore. - Rewards, £2 10s. and 4s. 6d. for fuel used.

SOUTHWOLD, SUFFOLK. At 1.25 in the afternoon of the 4th of October, 1943, a parachute was seen coming down from a Flying Fortress aeroplane, which was in difficulties.

Her crew had baled out over land ; the pilot had taken her over the sea and then had baled out himself. A strong south-west wind was blowing, with a very choppy sea. Two men put out in the 19-feet motor boat Excelsior, launching her at some risk of being swamped in the heavy surf. One mile from the shore north-east of Southwold they found the pilot, with his parachute harness entangled round his legs, and rescued him. He was in a very distressed condition. A second motor boat the 16-feet Golden Dawn also put out with a crew of four to help in the search.

- Rewards, £3 15s. and 5s. for fuel used.

WATCHET, SOMERSET. At 5.10 in the afternoon of the 8th of October, 1943, the honorary secretary of the life-boat station was asked by the R.A.F. camp to send a boat to the help of two men whose aeroplane had come down in the sea about a mile and a half north by east of Watchet. A light south-east breeze was blowing, with a smooth sea. He went to the life-boat station and saw a boat already on the way. She was a rowing boat manned by a crew of five, the life-boat head launcher, a member of the life-boat crew and three men from the Bideford ketch Ade. With the ebb tide the boat reached the scene in a quarter of an hour, but could find no survivors. The men had a hard pull back against the ebb tide.

- Rewards, £3 2s. 6d. (See Minehead, “Accounts of Services by Life-boats,” page 43.)five airmen paddled ashore in the other.

Two other 15-feet rowing boats had also put out, manned by soldiers from 301 Battery, Royal Artillery. The first, manned by two men, was at once washed ashore. The other, with a crew of three, broke both oars and drifted ashore. When the two Fortresses came down in Pevensey Bay the 28-feet motor fishing boat Eva put out with a crew of four. They rescued six airmen from a dinghy, another who was hanging to it, and three from the wings of the aeroplane. They also brought in the dinghy. This accounted for the whole crew of one aeroplane. To the other of these two aeroplanes the 20-feet motor fishing boat N.N.60, put out. She had a crew of two and with them went Assistant Chief-Constable A. G. Cargill. They rescued eight airmen, the assistant chiefconstable jumping on to the wing of the Fortress and helping an injured man from it into a dinghy which the N.N.60 towed ashore.

Another 20-feet motor fishing boat put out with a crew of two and three soldiers, and rescued two airmen, thus accounting for the whole crew of this, the third aeroplane.

Among the men who took part in these rescues besides the assistant chief-constable and the soldiers were an auxiliary coastguard and a cafe proprietor. The Hastings and Eastbourne life-boats were out. They rescued no lives but Hastings salved some gear.

- Rewards, £15, with £3 for damaged winch wire and 7s. 6d. for fuel used, Letters of Thanks to Assistant Chief-Constable A. G. Cargill, the Bexhill and Pevensey Police and 301 Battery, Royal Artillery, through the Commanding Officer. One of the men returned his reward as a donation to the Institution.

(See Hastings and Eastbourne, “Accounts of Services by Life-boats,” page 37.)

BRONZE MEDAL SERVICE AT BARROW BARROW, LANCASHIRE. On the afternoon of the 27th of September, 1943, a small fishing boat, the Seabird, took shelter off Pie1 Island for the night from a rising wind and sea. By the time it was dark almost a gale was blowing from the west-south-west and a heavy sea was coming in as the flood tide made. The Seabird dragged her anchor and drifted into mid-channel.

The seas were carrying her towards the shore. Soon after ten o’clock she flashed signals of distress. They were seen by James Orr Moore, the motor mechanic of the Barrow life-boat. He saw that the Seabird was in great danger, and that there was not time to man the life-boat, so he called his son Frank, the assistant motor mechanic, and with the help of two other men they tried to launch a 12-feet punt which was lying on the life-boat slipway.

At the first attempt the punt half-filled with water, and they had to haul her up again and bale her out.

At the second attempt James Moore, at great risk to himself, jumped into the punt as she took the water, and then, with an oar, put her round to the lee side of the slipway where his son joined him. They then rowed out in the pitch darkness into the gale.

It was blowing harder than ever. A heavy sea was running. It was raining heavily. In that sea, in a punt, they ran great risk of being swamped or capsized, but they rowed on until they found the Seabird which was now about 400 yards from the shore. There were two men on board her, and it was only with great difficulty that the two Moores got them into the punt. They brought them ashore. Soon afterwards the Seabird herself came ashore, was flung against the concrete piles of the slipway and quickly sank. At the point where she struck, the water was deep and broken, and it would have been impossible for the men, had they still been on board, to get on to the slipway except by climbing up the mast. In fact they would almost certainly have been battered to death as soon as the ship struck.

It was a very prompt and gallant rescue and the Institution awarded to JAMES ORR MOORE and to FRANK MOORE bronze medals for gallantry, with copies of the vote inscribed on vellum and £2 each.

HERNE BAY, KENT. About 4 in the afternoon of the 10th of October, 1943, boys heard a call for help from the sea. This they reported, and through the police and the control centre the information reached Mr. Pressley, a fisherman. The weather was very foggy, with a slight sea and an easterly wind. He put out in his motor boat at 4.18 and found the fishing boats Stanley and Selma stranded on a sandbank opposite the Miramar Hotel, Beltinge. The men in the boats had lost all sense of direction in the fog and Mr. Pressley towed their boats to Herne Bay.

- Rewards, £1 and 5s. for fuel used.

WICKLOW. About midday on the 12th of October, 1943, the station master at Newcastle, five miles from Wicklow, reported a rowing fishing boat in difficulties and in danger of being blown out to sea. A strong south-west wind was blowing, with a choppy sea. The Wicklow life-boat was off-service, and six Wicklow men put out in a 30-feet motor boat. They found the boat, with acrew of four, to the north of Wicklow and towed her into harbour. The Dun Laoghaire life-boat also put out, but her services were not needed. - Rewards £6, with 5s. for a man on shore and 7s. 6d. for fuel used. (See Dun Laoghaire, “Accounts of Services by Lifeboats,” page 43.)

PORTSOY, BANFFSHIRE. On the night of the 12th of October, 1943, a Sunderland flying boat was reported missing between Banff and Kinloss. The sea was calm, with a light southerly wind. A rescue launch put out from Buckie at 10.34. The Buckie lifeboat was not called out. About 8.30 the following morning the small fishing boat White Wings, with a crew of two, one a man of eighty-four, picked up the dead bodies of five airmen about 200 yards north of Portsoy harbour. This was seen by the coastguard, who sent out the boat Nellie, but she found nothing. Shortly after noon a third boat - the Ivy - brought in one more body, which she had picked up at 11.30 that morning, off Redhythe. - Rewards, £8 and 4s. for fuel used.

NEW QUAY, CARDIGANSHIRE. At 12.45 in the afternoon of the 18th of October, 1943, two men were out sailing in the small boat Atlanta. The sea was rough, with a strong, squally south-south-east breeze. In a squall the boat capsized, throwing the two men into the water. The coastguard called out the rowing boat Betty and, manned by three men, members of the crew of the fishery patrol boat Alpha, she found the two men fifty yards east of New Quay Pier hanging on to their boat, rescued them and took their boat in tow.

- Rewards, £3.