Launches 45 Lives rescued 66 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.

OCTOBER 4TH. - BALTIMORE, CO. CORK. While a number of fishing boats were out the weather became stormy and all returned except the Gem, of Skibbereen.

When she was long overdue the relatives of her crew of three asked for the help of the life-boat. A moderate north-east gale was then blowing, and the sea was very rough.

At 2.20 in the afternoon the motor life-boat Shamrock was launched. Three miles south of Cape Clear she met the Gem trying to make land, and her skipper asked the life-boat to remain by him. This she did, and escorted the fishing boat until she had made the shelter of the land. She then returned to her station, arriving at 4.45. - Rewards, £8 16s.

OCTOBER 4TH. - FERRYSIDE, CARMARTHENSHIRE.

At 7.20 in the evening the Pembrey coastguard telephoned that a small vessel was in difficulty in the Llanelly Estuary.

A strong northerly wind was blowing, with a rough sea. The motor life-boat William Maynard was launched at eight o’clock and found the motor fishing boat Melrose, of Swansea, with a crew of two. Herengine had broken down, her anchor had parted, her sails had been blown away and she was only a few feet from the Burry Holm Rocks. The life-boat went alongside and found her to be half full of water. At the skipper’s request she took the Melrose in tow and on the next flood tide brought her into Ferryside. She reached her station again at 7.40 the following morning. - Rewards, £24 14s.

OCTOBER 6TH. - PETERHEAD, ABERDEENSHIRE.

At eight at night the coastguard reported a vessel ashore beside the coastguard station one mile north of Peterhead.

The sea was smooth, but there were patches of fog. The motor life-boat Julia Park Barry of Glasgow was launched at 8.15 and found the Hull trawler Avon Star.

She was bound for Hull, laden with fish, and had a crew of fourteen. The life-boat coxswain went on board her and the life-boat ran out an anchor and pulled her off the rocks. The trawler was able to go on her way under her own steam, and the life-boat escorted her for a short distance. Then the trawler’s skipper said that he could manage without help, and the life-boat returned to her station, arriving at 10.20. - Property salvage case.

OCTOBER 8TH. - SOUTHEND - ON - SEA, ESSEX. At 10.15 in the morning the naval control reported that the tug H.M.S. Leigh was ashore on the Nore Sands. The weather was very foggy, with a light north-west wind and a smooth sea. The motor life-boat J. B.

Proudfoot, on temporary duty at the station, was launched at 10.45 and thirty-five minutes later reached the tug, which had on board the commodore of an outbound convoy and the boarding officer, with all the convoy‘s papers.

This was reported by wireless to the naval control, which asked the life-boat to put the officers on board their ships - which were four miles below the boom - as the convoy was due to sail. This the life-boat did and reached her station again at 2.15 that afternoon.

- Rewards, £7 4s.

OCTOBER 11TH. - PORTHDINLLAEN, CAERNARVONSHIRE. At 11.29 in the morning the coastguard reported that an R.A.F. Mosquito aeroplane had crashed into the sea three miles north-east of Porthdinllaen Point. A light east-north-east wind was blowing, with a slight sea. The French motor life-boat Jean Charcot, on reserve duty at the station, was launched at 11.47. An air sea rescue boat was also out searching.

The life-boat found the wreckage of an aeroplane, and in it the body of an officer. She took it on board and continued the search, but found nothing more. She got back to her station at 1.30 that afternoon. - Rewards, £5 10s. 6d.

OCTOBER 11TH. - ST. IVES, CORNWALL.

At 1.45 in the afternoon the coastguard reported three tugs, with floating cranes in tow, dragging their anchors in St. Ives Bay, and drifting towards the Stones Reef, off Godrevy Point. A south-west gale wasblowing, with a very rough sea. One tug was seen to go on her way, but the motor life-boat Caroline Oates Aver and William Maine was launched at 2.23 to go to the help of the other two. They were the American tugs L.T.23 and L.T.61 She stood by the tugs until they had got out of their dangerous position and, aided by a change of wind to the west, had regained the shelter of St. Ives Bay. She reached her station again at 4.10.

- Rewards, £11 7s.

OCTOBER 11TH. - KILMORE, CO. WEXFORD.

During the morning, while several fishing boats were out, a strong wind sprang up, and by 12.30 in the afternoon it was blowing a gale from the north, with squalls, a rough sea, and heavy rain. Some boats returned and the fourth, which arrived in about 2.20, reported two boats in difficulties.

They were the motor fishing boats St. Anne and Cymba, both of Kilmore Quay, and each with a crew of two. They had shipped water which had stopped their engines, and their sails had been blown away. The motor lifeboat Ann Isabella Pyemont was launched at 2.40. She went first to the St. Anne, which was near the rocks off The Ring at the west end of the Great Saltee Island, towed her clear and took on board her two men, now exhausted. Leaving the empty St. Anne the life-boat went to the Cymba. She was dragging her anchor about four miles off shore, west of the Great Saltee Island, but her crew were in better shape. Taking her in tow, the life-boat collected the St. Anne and returned to her station, arriving at 5.40. An increase in the usual money award on the standard scale was made to each member of the crew and to the helpers. - Standard rewards, £30 16s. 6d. ; additional rewards, £12 15s. ; total rewards, £43 11s. 6d.

OCTOBER 11TH. - APPLEDORE, CLOVELLY, AND ILFRACOMBE, DEVON. At 3.50 in the afternoon the naval officer-incharge at Appledore asked the life-boat to be in readiness to launch. A south-west gale was blowing, with a very rough sea, and visibility was poor. A later message said that naval motor launch 524 was in difficulties owing to engine trouble, and at 4.30 the Appledore motor life-boat Violet Armstrong was launched. The position of the launch had been given as seven miles northwest of Baggy Point. The life-boat found that the launch had been able to go on under her own power and had made Clovelly. The life-boat also made Clovelly, where a convoy was sheltering in the roads. There she was hailed by the S.S. Capito, which asked her to bring a doctor from corvette K59, as she had an injured man. This the life-boat did, but it was only with considerable difficulty that she was able to put him on board the Capito, which had a heavy list to port. It was so heavy that her masts and derricks swept the waters for some distance from her as she changed position in the heavy seas, and the life-boat was damaged. Owing to the severe weather the life-boat remained in Clovelly Roads for the night and returned to her station at 2.30 in the afternoon of the 12th.

At Clovelly the motor life-boat City of Nottingham was called out at 4.30 on the afternoon of the 11th and went to corvette K59, there to await instructions. While she waited, the motor launch 524 arrived, and the life-boat returned to her station, which she reached at 6.30.

At Ilfracombe the life-boat crew were assembled, when it was known that launch 524 was in difficulties, but they were not called upon to launch. - Rewards : Appledore, £27 18s. 3d. ; Clovelly, £19 9s. 6d. ; Ilfracombe, £10 16s. 6d.

GOLD MEDAL SERVICE AT THE MUMBLES OCTOBER 11TH - 12TH. THE MUMBLES, GLAMORGANSHIRE. The frigate Cheboque, of the Royal Canadian Navy, had been torpedoed in the Atlantic eleven hundred miles away, with the loss of one of her crew of forty-three, and severe damage to her stern. She was towed by another ship into the Bristol Channel and anchored in Swansea Bay. Her long peril seemed ended, and the other ship went on her way, but a sudden gale blew up and within a few hours the frigate began to drag her anchors. By now a strong south-westerly gale was blowing, with squalls of hail and heavy breaking seas, and the Cheboque signalled for help. At 7.45 in the evening of October 11th the motor life-boat Edward Prince of Wales was launched and, as the coxswain said, “flew before the gale to the rescue.” She found the Cheboque on the bar off Port Talbot with her stern already aground. It was now pitch dark, with heavy squalls of hail, and the frigate was so smothered in the seas that it was very hard to find her. When the life-boat did find her, the frigate’s captain hailed her and asked if she could take off all his crew of 42 men.

The coxswain shouted back, through the deafening noise of the wind and sea, ”Yes, if they keep their heads.” It was impossible for the life-boat to anchor and drop down on her cable from windward, for it would have fouled the cables of the frigate’s two anchors. It was useless to fire the line-throwing gun, and rig a breeches buoy, for the men of the frigate could never have been hauled safely through that surf. The only thing that thecoxswain could do was to take the lifeboat, with that gale behind her, right into the surf, past the frigate, towards the shore, and, turning, come up against the gale alongside her, near enough for the men to jump.

The life-boat could not remain along side for more than a few moments at a time, for the frigate’s bows were swinging to the seas, and the life-boat was one moment high above her forecastle and the next below her waterline.

In those few moments no more than two or three men could jump.

The coxswain circled round and took the life-boat close to the frigate not once but twelve separate times before the last of the 42 men had been rescued. All but three of the men jumped through the darkness and landed safely. Of the other three one fell and broke his leg. The second dropped between the life-boat and the frigate, but the coxswain left his wheel, seized him and dragged him on board before he could be crushed and killed between the two. The third crashed down right on top of the coxswain and bruised him badly against the wheel. It seemed little short of a miracle that that rescue had been carried out without the loss of a single life. The life-boat herself, however, showed how heavily she had been flung by the seas against the frigate, for her chafing rubber, which is a two inch thickness of tough Canadian Rock Elm, was crushed, splintered or torn away from the side which was nearest the frigate. She also damaged her bow and rudder.

The rescue had taken just an hour and a half, and the life-boat returned to The Mumbles against the gale with the fullest load on board which she could carry in those high and dangerous seas. All the way the coxswain had to nurse her very carefully through them in case any of the men should be washed out of her. The rescued men were landed at The Mumbles, but the life-boat could not be hauled up to her slipway again and there was no shelter where she could lie, so she had to make for Swansea. She arrived there at two in the morning. A quarter of an hour later another call came for her help and she was out again searching for three more hours. When she got to Swansea the second time she had been out during that cold and very stormy night for ten hours, and for the whole of that time Coxswain Gammon himself had been at the wheel.

Shortly afterwards the flag officer-incharge at Cardiff sent the following message : “Please convey to coxswain and crew an expression of my appreciation of what must have been a most exceptionally fine and difficult piece of work.” In a report on the rescue, the naval officer-in-charge at Swansea wrote : “The commanding officer of the frigate and all his officers are unanimous in their admiration of the splendid way in which the life-boat was handled by Coxswain Gammon and say that the whole crew were magnificent.

. . . The way in which the lifeboat crew kept their boat from crushing the officer who fell between the life-boat and the ship’s side, and got him back on board, was little short of miraculous.” It was a rescue carried out with the greatest courage, coolness and skill in terrific conditions of weather, and the achievement of the crew is all the more remarkable since two of the men who endured that bitter and dangerous night were over seventy, two more were in their sixties and the youngest in the crew was forty.

The rescue recalls a disaster of 43 years ago, for the frigate was wrecked near the spot where, in 1901, an earlier life-boat from The Mumbles capsized and six of her crew were drowned. One of the crew which rescued the 42 men from the frigate, C. Davies, had been in that crew which was capsized.

The Institution made the following awards : To COXSWAIN WILLIAM J. GAMMON the gold medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum, and the Miss Maud Smith reward for courage, in memory of John, 7th Earl of Hardwicke, given for the bravest act of live-saving of the year by a lifeboatman ; To WILLIAM G. DAVIES, motormechanic, and THOMAS J. ACE, bowman, each the bronze medal for gallan-try, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To CHARLES R. DAVIES, THOMAS A.

DAVIES, WILLIAM JOHN EYNON, ALFRED D. MICHAEL and WILLIAM MICHAEL, life-boatmen, each the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum ; To the coxswain and each member of the crew an additional reward of £5.

Standard rewards to crew and helpers, £34 12s. 9d. ; additional rewards to crew, £40 ; total rewards, £74 12s. 9d.

OCTOBER 13TH. - TORBAY, DEVON. At noon two Belgians were fishing between Berry Head and Hope’s Nose when the engine of their motor trawler De Meeuw broke down. A strong south-west wind was blowing, with rain squalls and steep, breaking seas. A returning trawler reported the trawler’s distress, and the motor life-boat George Shee put out at 2.47 in the afternoon.

At 3.5 she reached the De Meeuw and asked the men to keep their anchor down until she had taken them in tow. This was misunderstood by the Belgians, who chopped the wire away at once, and the trawler went broadside into the trough of the waves. The life-boat drew near to take a line from a man holding the forestay, but the life-boat touched the forestay. It parted and threw the man into the sea. He failed to catch two ropes which were thrown to him and was in danger of being crushed between the life-boat and the trawler. The other Belgian gripped the bulwarks of the trawler, and dropped full length over the side. The man in the sea caught hold of his legs and with great difficulty both men hauled themselves into the trawler again. Meanwhile the life-boat came close enough for one of her men to jump aboard the trawler. He was able to fix a tow.

At 3.20 the life-boat began to tow and, with the life-boatman at the wheel of the De Meeuw, brought her safely in and berthed her at four o’clock. The Belgian Marine Department sent its congratulations to the life-boat’s crew and the Institution made an increase in the usual money award on the standard scale to each member of the crew. - Standard rewards to crew and helpers, £6 6s. ; additional rewards, to crew, £7 ; total rewards, £13 6s.

OCTOBER 14TH. - ST. DAVID‘S, PEMBROKESHIRE,.

At 12.10 in the morning the naval base telephoned that a vessel was drifting in the direction of Skomer Island.

A west-north-west gale was blowing, with a rough sea. The motor life-boat Civil Service No. 6 was launched at 1.15 and found the drifting vessel at two o’clock, one mile west of Skomer Island. She was the S.S. Trojan III, in ballast ; her engine had broken down.

At three o’clock a tug arrived, and at eight o’clock got a hawser aboard the S.S. Trojan III and took her in tow. The lifeboat then returned to her station, arriving at 9.15 that morning. - Rewards, £14 18s.

OCTOBER 14TH. - THE HUMBER, YORKSHIRE.

About 9.20 at night the life-boat watchman reported a vessel aground on the Binks, but she got off and steamed south-east only to stop on the Outer Binks. Half an hour later the port war signal station said that a vessel was aground on the Binks due east of the station. A light south-south-west wind was blowing, with a moderate sea. The motor life-boat City of Bradford II was launched at 10.30 and found the Danish fishing vessel, J. N. Fibiger, of Hirtshals.

She had a cargo of fish and had brought a Government official from Denmark. Her skipper did not know his way into the river, so two life-boatmen boarded the vessel, piloted her to the examination vessel and handed her over. The life-boat reached her station again at 12.40 next morning. - Paid permanent crew ; rewards, £1 4s.

OCTOBER 18TH. - SKEGNESS, LINCOLNSHIRE.

At 2.15 in the afternoon the coastguard reported that a Mustang aeroplane had fallen into the sea about a mile from Chapel St. Leonards in a south-easterly direction. A west-south-west breeze was blowing, with a slight sea. The motor life-boat Anne Allen was launched at 2.40 and found wreckage and oil, but no trace of any survivor. The life-boat brought back some pieces of wreckage and an oxygen cylinder for identification.

She arrived at 5.10. - Rewards, £13 18s. 6d.

BRONZE MEDAL SERVICE AT APPLEDORE OCTOBER 18TH. - APPLEDORE, DEVON. A south-westerly gale was blowing up the Bristol Channel, with the heaviest seas that had been seen for several years, when at 3.45 in the afternoon the naval officer-in-charge reported that phoenix 194 - one of the concrete caissons used for building the breakwater of the invasion port on the coast of Normandy - was in distress.

The phoenix had a crew of seven and had broken adrift from her tugs when about ten miles north-west of Morte Point. At 3.55 the motor life-boat Violet Armstrong was launched. Conditions on the Appledore bar were extremely bad, and the life-boat took several green seas aboard, but she got safely across and set out to find the phoenix, eighteen miles away. After the life-boat had travelled over twelve of them a wireless message came giving the position as ten miles east of where it had first been reported.The life-boat altered course and travelled another eleven miles, but when she was within two miles of the second position a second wireless message came. The phoenix had now moved yet another seven miles to the south-east. Again the life-boat altered course. The tide had turned.

It was now running against the gale and the seas were much worse.

Shortly after eight at night the lifeboat at last found the phoenix, five miles south-south-west of the Scarweather Lightvessel, more than four hours after she had left Appledore.

She saw the phoenix in the beam of a searchlight from S.S Trentonian, which was standing by.

The life-boat was directed to the weather side, but here she found it impossible to approach. Although the phoenix was rolling heavily and two broken towing wires were trailing from her to leeward, the life-boat went under her lee and in ten minutes rescued the seven men. She set out on her return about nine o’clock that night and shaped course against the gale for Ilfracombe. There she landed the men at eleven o’clock, and returned to her station on the following day.

The Army Council expressed its appreciation of the splendid work done. It was a fine service, marked by the excellent navigation of the coxswain while searching for the phoenix, and his skilful handling of his boat in the actual rescue in a whole gale and very heavy seas, and by the skill with which the mechanic handled his engines and the radio telephone. The Institution made the following awards : TO COXSWAIN SYDNEY CANN, the bronze medal for gallantry, with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum ; To JOHN HOOPER, the motormechanic and radio operator, the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum and a special reward of £3.

Standard rewards to crew and helpers, £36 0s. 3d. ; special reward to mechanic, £3 ; total rewards, £39 0s. 3d.

OCTOBER 18TH. - FISHGUARD, PEMBROKESHIRE.

At 5.7 in the afternoon the coastguard telephoned that the naval authorities at Milford Haven had reported a four-masted steamer drifting towards the rocks. Her position was given as three miles west of New Quay, Cardiganshire. A strong west-north-west wind was blowing, with a rough sea. The motor life-boat White Star was launched at 6.15. A naval trawler also put out from Fishguard and a naval tug was sent from Milford Haven. When she was within a quarter of a mile of the steamer, which was the Lachinedoc, of Panama, in ballast, the life-boat signalled to her, but there was no reply. She got in touch with the naval trawler, which asked her to stand by. By this time, about 9.45, the steamer was close inshore, but later she drifted clear of the rocks and appeared to be holding off Coybal Reach. Nothing further happened, and no signals were made by the steamer.

The life-boat stood by all night, and at six next morning, as petrol was running low, she decided to return, informed the naval trawler and made for her station, where she arrived at 10.45 that morning.

The Lachinedoc arrived at Fishguard under her own power about four in the afternoon, escorted by the trawler and the tug. - Rewards, £20 11s.

OCTOBER 19TH. - CLOVELLY, DEVON.

At 1.30 in the morning a message came from the naval officer-in-charge at Appledore that phoenix AX193 - one of the concrete caissons used to build the breakwater of the invasion port on the coast of Normandy - was in a dangerous position in the bay. He asked the life-boat to take off the crew. A moderate north-north-west gale wits blowing, with squalls, and a heavy sea was running. In that sea a launch over the difficult beach was hazardous, and after consultation with the naval officer-in-charge, it was decided to postpone it until the tide was more favourable.

At four o’clock an attempt was made and the motor life-boat City of Nottingham was launched, but owing to the heavy seas she had to be hauled back on to the slipway. An hour and a half later, at high water, a second attempt was made, and the life-boat got away. About 7.30 she came up to the phoenix.

It was both difficult and dangerous to go alongside that mass of concrete rolling in heavy seas, but the coxswain did it without mishap and rescued the eight men on board.

At 8.30 the life-boat brought them ashore, and at 9.30 the naval officer-in-charge asked her to take them out again so that they could run the phoenix aground in a safe inshore position. This the life-boat did, and the phoenix was grounded about two miles to the westward of Clovelly. The life-boat brought its crew ashore at 5.30 in the afternoon.

The War Office asked the Institution to convey to the life-boatmen the appreciation of the Army Council.

Coxswain GEORGE LAMEY had handled his life-boat with skill and daring, both in getting her twice afloat, and twice alongside the phoenix, and the Institution awarded him its thanks inscribed on vellum. - Rewards, £62 18s.

OCTOBER 20TH. - ST. ABBS, BERWICKSHIRE.

During the morning the motor fishing boat Billow’s Crown, of St. Abbs, wascaught in a south-east gale, with a rough sea, while returning from fishing. She had a crew of four. The motor life-boat Annie Ronald and Isabella Forrest was launched at five minutes after noon. She found the fishing boat making no headway against the wind and sea, took her in tow and brought her into harbour at one o’clock. - Rewards, £9 7s.

OCTOBER 20TH. - GALWAY BAY. At 9.30 at night a life-boatman reported distress signals from the Milford Haven steam trawler Star of Don, which was in Killeany Bay to the south of the life-boat station. A strong north-east wind was blowing, with a heavy sea. The motor life-boat K.E.C.F. was launched at 9.45 and found the trawler ashore on a reef. She had a crew of twelve.

The life-boat took six of them ashore and, at the master’s request, returned and stood by until 10.30 next morning. She then laid out two anchors for the trawler and tried to tow her, but failed. The trawler refloated later and returned to Milford Haven. - Rewards, £26 6s. 6d.

OCTOBER 23RD. - ABERDEEN. At 6.15 in the morning the No. 1 motor life-boat Emma Constance was launched at the request of the naval authorities to go to a vessel ten miles east of Aberdeen. A moderate southerly wind was blowing, the sea was smooth.

At 7.30 she found the S.S. Keilehaven, of Rotterdam, fully laden, but with no one on board. She spoke a naval trawler and learned that the forty-six men who had been on board the steamer had abandoned her and were now on board the American ship Henry Austin, which was close by. The life-boat went to the Henry Austin and took on board forty of the crew of the Keilehaven. She put back the captain and eleven others on their own ship, and landed the remaining twenty-eight at Aberdeen at 10.41 that morning. The American steamer resumed her voyage and the Keilehaven was taken in tow by a minesweeper until a tug arrived. - Rewards, £11 17s.

OCTOBER 27T H . - DUNBAR, EAST LOTHIAN. At 2.5 in the afternoon the coastguard telephoned that a British aeroplane had crashed in the sea. The weather was fine, the sea calm. At 2.20 the motor life-boat George and Sarah Strachan was launched and went to the scene of the accident, which had been given as one and a half miles east-by-south from Barnsness Lighthouse.

There she saw an aeroplane on patrol.

She made a thorough search, found the wreckage and picked up the body of an airman and a rubber dinghy. She arrived back at her station again at 5.40. - Rewards, £9 19s. 6d OCTOBER 27TH. - PORTRUSH, CO. AN-. TRIM. In the afternoon an R.A.F. sergeant was walking in the neighbourhood of Ramore Head with a leading aircraftwoman, and was washed into the sea at Reviggery Point. His companion went for help and the coastguard telephoned to the life-boat station. A fresh breeze was blowing, with a heavy swell and this prevented the man from swimming ashore. The life-boat T.B.B.H. was launched at 5.45 and picked him up alive, gave him first aid and landed him at 6.30. His head was injured and he was taken to hospital.- Rewards, £16 7s.

The following life-boats were launched, but no services were rendered for the reasons given :

OCTOBER 1ST. - EASTBOURNE, SUSSEX.

An aeroplane had been reported down in the sea, but nothing could be found.- Rewards, £16 13s.

OCTOBER 2ND. - SKEGNESS, LINCOLNSHIRE.

Seven airmen had been reported in the sea, but nothing could be found.- Rewards, £13 8s.

OCTOBER 4TH. - RUNSWICK, YORKSHIRE.

An aeroplane had been reported to have crashed in the sea, but nothing could be found. - Rewards, £24 17s.

OCTOBER 5TH. - GALWAY BAY. It had been reported that three men had baled out of a British aeroplane which had crashed in the sea, but nothing could be found. - Rewards, £15 12s.

OCTOBER 10TH. - AITH, SHETLANDS. A distress signal had been reported, but a long search, in which a naval vessel and a Sunderland aeroplane took part, was without result.

- Rewards, £20 13s. 6d.

OCTOBER 10TH. - KILLYBEGS, CO. DONEGAL.

An aeroplane had been reported down in the sea, but nothing could be found.- Rewards, £13 2s. 6d.

OCTOBER 11TH - 12TH. - NEW BRIGHTON, CHESHIRE, AND LYTHAM-ST. ANNES, LANCASHIRE. On the night of the 11th the New Brighton No. 1 motor life-boat was launched, in very bad weather, to search for two overdue fishing boats. She could not find them, but one returned in the early morning. The life-boat made another search for the other boat, but she could not find her.

In response to a call from the Southport police the Lytham-St. Annes motor life-boat was launched on the afternoon of the 12th and found the missing boat on the beach at Birkdale, near Southport. No one was on board.

There had been two, a man and a boy, but the man had swum ashore and the boy had been rescued by the Southport police. The owner sent a letter of thanks. - Rewards : New Brighton, £13 12s. 6d. and £7 3s. ; Lytham-St. Annes, £13 19s. 6d.

OCTOBER 12TH. - PWLLHELI, CAERNARVONSHIRE.

Two men had been reported adrift on a raft, but nothing could be found. - Rewards, £11 5s.

OCTOBER 13TH. - LLANDUDNO, CAERNARVONSHIRE.

A fishing boat had been reported in distress, but no boat in need of help could be found. - Rewards, £21 1s. 6d.

OCTOBER 13TH. - WEYMOUTH, DORSET.

Late in the afternoon an American tank landing craft, manned by about a dozen British naval men, had got into difficulties off the Chesil Beach in a heavy south-west gale, with a very rough sea. An Admiralty tug went to its help, but failed to get round Portland Bill. The motor life-boat William and Clara Ryland was launched at 5.50. She succeeded in getting near the vessel which had now driven ashore, but she was ordered by the naval authorities to stand away, for fear she would be smashed, and nine of the men on the L.C.T. lost their lives. Gallant efforts were made by the coastguard lifesaving apparatus from Portland and it saved some lives, but a huge sea swept away the apparatus and Commander J. R. Pennington Legh, D.S.C., R.N.(ret.)., H.M. Inspector of Coastguard for the Southern Division, and coastguard R. H. Treadwell lost their lives.

The life-boat arrived back at her station at 9.43 that evening. Her crew were commended by the flag officer-in-charge at Portland. An increase in the usual money reward on the standard scale was made to each member of the crew. Standard rewards £13 2s. 6d. ; additional rewards, £8 ; total rewards, £21 2s. 6d.

OCTOBER 15TH. - KILMORE, CO. WEXFORD.

An aeroplane had dropped a smoke bomb and circled round to attract attention, but nothing could be found. - Rewards, £30 16s. 6d.

OCTOBER 17TH. - WALTON AND FRINTON, ESSEX. A fighter aeroplane had been reported down in the sea, but nothing could be found. - Rewards, £10 6s.

OCTOBER 18TH. - ST. MARY’S, ISLES OF SCILLY. An American tug had been reported in distress, and an escort vessel had been sent out, but later it was reported that everything was normal and the life-boat was recalled. - Rewards, £18 10s.

OCTOBER 19TH. - SKEGNESS, LINCOLNSHIRE.

An airman had dropped by parachute from a Mosquito aeroplane, but came down on land. - Rewards, £10 19s.

OCTOBER 20TH. - CROMER, NORFOLK.

The life-boat had gone out to help in an attempt to salve a vessel which had been stranded since 1939, but the operations were not successful. - Property salvage case. (See Cromer, “Accounts of Services by Life-boats, November 19th, 1939,” page 75.)

OCTOBER 2 0TH. - CLOUGHEY, CO. DOWN. A schooner had appeared to be in difficulties in bad weather, but she was found to be anchored with her sails down and not in need of help. - Rewards, £10 19s.

OCTOBER 22ND. - SKEGNESS, LINCOLNSHIRE.

A bombing aeroplane had been reported to have crashed, but nothing could be found. - Rewards, £31 19s.

OCTOBER 2 3RD. - WHITBY, YORKSHIRE.

An aeroplane had been reported down in the sea, but the search, in which a fishing boat also took part, was without result. - Rewards, £11 6s. 6d. (See Whitby, “Services by Shore-boats,” page 64.).