OCTOBER 4TH. - HARTLEPOOL, DURHAM.

On the night of the 3rd of October, HMS. Cam, with a crew of twenty-two, was being towed to West Hartlepool for repairs, by the American deep sea tug W.S.A.2. The Cam had no steam and the tow rope parted.

Her anchors were dropped but dragged for some distance, and she was in danger of going ashore. A very strong northerly wind was blowing, with a rough sea. At six o’clock in the morning of the 4th the naval officer-incharge at Hartlepool telephoned the life-boat station, and at 6.35 the motor life-boat The Princess Royal (Civil Service No. 7) was launched. Half an hour later she found the Cam 400 yards south of the Tees Fairway Buoy. The American tug was lying one and a half miles to seaward of the Cam and her captain asked the life-boat to stand by.

The life-boat sent a wireless message for the small harbour tug, but the naval officer-incharge sent H.M.T. Friarage. The life-boat then went alongside the Cam and took a line from her to the trawler, but the line parted.

A line was again passed, but again it parted.

The trawler then attempted to fix a line, but failed and stood out to sea. The tug Athlete from Middlesbrough now arrived, but said that she was returning to harbour to await the flood tide. At two o’clock in the afternoon she returned and took the Cam in tow. The Cam grounded at the Fifth Buoy Light in the River Tees and as she was holed the lifeboat stood by. She continued to stand by until the Cam was berthed at Middlesbrough.

She then returned to her station, arriving at 8.20 that evening, over fourteen hours since she had put out. - Rewards, £32 2s..