CARRADALE, ARGYLLSHIRE. At eleven in the morning of the 9th of December, 1943, the two motor fishing boats Betty and Irene, which work together, were at anchor in Carradale Bay, when their crews saw an aeroplane come down on the sea. A strong easterly breeze was blowing and the sea was rough.

The fishing boats at once slipped their cables and made for the aeroplane, which was a mile and a half off the coast east of Whitestone.

They found four airmen in a rubber dinghy, picked them up and put them and their dinghy on board the Betty. Both fishing boats then made fast to the aeroplane, intending to tow her to the shelter of Carradale Point, but she sank and the tow rope had to be cut. The Irene’s bulwarks had been damaged and she made for Carradale Bay. The Betty transferred the airmen to Launch 1214 in the shelter of Campbeltown Loch - Rewards, £15, with £18 for damage to the Irene and 11s. for fuel used. The rescuers returned the rewards as a donation to the Institution.

CRAIL, FIFESHIRE. At eleven in the morning of the 15th of January, 1944, four men were out in the 25-feet motor boat Sheila. They were fishing for crabs by towing a line of pots. They saw a Barracuda aeroplane come down on the sea, about two and a half miles south-east of Crail harbour.

A light westerly wind was blowing and the sea was smooth. The men cut away their gear, and a short distance away picked up three men in the aeroplane’s dinghy. One was a sixteen-year-old air training cadet.

They took them to Crail and handed them over to an ambulance from the Royal Naval Air Service at Crail. The owner of the Sheila said that “he was not looking for any reward and was only too glad to have assisted in saving the aircraft’s crew.“ - Rewards, £2 10s. and 4s. for fuel used.

WEST BURRA ISLE, SHETLANDS. On the morning of the 22nd of January, 1944, about ten o’clock, the engine of the motor boat Sheila, which carries mail between Wester Quarff and West Burrs Isle, broke down.

She had three men on board. A south-west gale was blowing, with a moderate sea, and snow squalls. The men waved and shouted to attract attention. They were a quarter of a mile south of Tronda, near Scalloway, and their plight was seen by the coastguard. He telephoned to the post office at Hamnavoe, West Burra Isle, and asked the sub-postmaster to call on the crew of the motor boat Choice. She was three-quarters of a mileaway at anchor north of Brough pier. Her crew of four and three full-time auxiliary coastguards who were off duty manned the boat and went to the rescue. The Sheila was now so near the rocks that the Choice could only reach her by anchoring and veering down. She took her in tow and brought her into Brough at 11.40. - Rewards, £10 10s. and £3 for oil used and damage to ropes.

ST. MARY'S, SCILLY ISLES. On the 28th of January, 1944, a boatman on his way in a motor boat from St. Mary’s to Tresco saw a Hurricane aeroplane crash in the sea off Carn Marvel Point. The weather was clear, with a moderate sea and a westerly wind. The man was only half a mile away, and in a few minutes reached the aeroplane and found the pilot, an Australian, wounded about the head and face, trying to keep himself afloat. He rescued him and took him to St. Mary’s.- Rewards, 12s. 6d. and 1s. for fuel used.

HARTLEPOOL, DURHAM. At nine in the morning of the 29th of January, 1944, when five Danish fishermen of the motor fishing boat Purple Heather were about to start fishing some seven miles north-east-by-north of Hartlepool, they saw red rockets to the north-eastwards. A strong south-west breeze was blowing and the sea was choppy. The men steamed for seven miles and then saw a yellow dinghy with seven airmen on board.

They were the crew of a Halifax bomber which had been forced down by petrol shortage. They had been in the water for two hours, but were uninjured. The fishermen brought them to Hartlepool and landed them there at 1.30 that afternoon. - Rewards, £5 and £1 10s. for fuel used and a letter of appreciation to the Danish skipper, Harold Ronn,