JANUARY 8TH. - HARTLEPOOL, DURHAM, AND TEESMOUTH, YORKSHIRE.

At 10.40 in the morning the port war signal station at Teesmouth reported two vessels in distress off the port. The Teesmouth lifeboat crew were assembled and stood by, but were not called on to launch and were dism i s s e d a t f i v e i n t h e a f t e r n o o n . F o r t y minutes later one of the two vessels,, the steamer Empire Scout, was reported driving ashore near the entrance to the Tees and the motor life-boat J. W. Archer was launched at 6.30. A north-north-east gale was blowing, with a very rough sea, and hail storms. The life-boat reached the steamer at 6.45. She had a crew of forty-one. Her boiler was giving trouble and she could only steam at about two knots. She asked the life-boat to stand by. At Hartlepool the naval authoritics reported the Empire Scout out of control at 5.38 and the Hartlepool motor life-boat The Princess Royal (Civil Service No. 7), was launched at 6.6. She reached the steamer about the same time as the Teesmouth lifeboat.

Attended by both life-boats the steamer made for Hartlepool, to which port she was bound, and was safely berthed there by nine o’clock that night. Both life-boats moored in the Victoria Basin, Hartlepool, for the night. The master expressed his thanks for their help. The other vessel, the S.S. Jan Van Goyen, did not need help at that time.- Rewards : Hartlepool, £16 11s. ; Teesmouth, £26 8s. 2d..