The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-01-30 00:00:00

LIFEBOAT SERVICES.

Mr. Richard Lewis, Secretary to the Royal National Life-
boat Institution, 114, John-street, Adelphi, has sent to the
papers the following particulars of the lifeboat services ren-
dered in the month of December :

"The extraordinary and unusually gallant character
of the services rendered by the lifeboats of the
National Lifeboat Institution during the heavy storms
of last month to the shipwrecked will, I trust, induce
you, now that we are in possession of all the facts of
the cases, to give me a brief space for their record in
The Times.
"No doubt as splendid services have often been per-
formed before, but they were never so successful and
continuous during the storms of one month; and it
would be ungrateiul to the brave men who have so
nobly furthered the humane object of the Institution
and uphold the honour and credit of their country if
they were left unrecorded. It would be invidious to
select any special cases in preference to others,
where all have done so well. There have been,
however, among them services of the grandest
character. In one case a boat had hardly
landed with her living freight from the very
jaws of death when she was summoned again to
launch—her crew vieing with each other once more to
face the storm, and the crushing surf, while others
were as eager to displace them and share their glorious
work. In another case the brave fellows, in their
anxiety that valuable time should not be lost, seized
their lifebelts, rushed into the boat, some insufficiently
clad, and after several hours of exposure to the cold,
alternately drenched by salt water and by fresh, and
without food or drink, landed in an equal or greater
state of exhaustion than the rescued men they , bad
brought safely to land. Others have gone forth in the
dark night, when the danger and difficulty of the
work before them were doubled, nay, often quad-
rupled, in reply to the distant rocket or booming gun
from the lightship near the outlying banks which
flank our shore ; and, although in most cases success-
ful, yet having the mortification at times to find, on
arrival at the spot, that vessel and crew had been
swallowed up together, and that their long hours of
risk and exposure had been in vain. Such deeds, how-
ever, can be but weakened by any attempts to describe
them ; I, therefore, leave the following noble list,
concisely related, of one month's work of the life-
boats of the institution and their crews to tell its own
tale :

"On the 2nd of December, the Howth lifeboat
saved a man who was weather-bound, and had nearly
perished, on Ireland's Eye Island.
"December 3.—The Sheringham lifeboat put off and
found the wrecked ship Peter, of Riga, abandoned at
;Salthouse, Norfolk.
"December 7.—The Ayr lifeboat rescued the crew
of five men of the schooner Princess Helena,of Fowey,
wrecked off Ayr. The Lydd (Dungeness).lifeboat ren-
dered assistance to the distressed ship Jasen, of Gree-
nock.

"December B.—The Looe lifeboat remained all night
by the schooner Carolina, of Amsterdam, which was
in danger of driving ashore. The Port Logan lifeboat
brought ashore one man from the yacht Ethel, of Dro-
more. The Penarth lifeboat put off in reply to signals
of distress from the barque Lady Marie, of Dantsic and
remained by her till she was out of danger.
"December 9.—The Caister No. 2 lifeboat helped to
save the barque Kingsdcncne, of South Shields, and her
crew of nine men. The West Wittering (Chichester Har-
bour) lifeboat put out during very severe weather, to
the barque Haitiinne of Rouen, in a perilous position in
Bracklesham Bay, Sussex, and kept by her till all
danger of the ship being wrecked had passed away.
The Donna Noko lifeboat saved the crew of three
men from the schooner Kathleen, of Lynn, which had
gone on the Hale Sand off the Lincolnshire
coast, and the Cleethorpe's lifeboatmen after-
wards took the vessel safely into harbour. The
Guernsey lifeboat rendered important service towards
saving the schooner Old Goody, of Whitstable, which
had broken from her rnocrings and been blown out of '
Guernsey's Harbour. The Ramsgate and North Deal
lifeboats went to the schooner Marie Felix, of Nantes,
ashore on the Brake Sand, but found the vessel
abandoned. The North Sunderland lifeboat saved
eleven.lives from the barque John George, of Antwezp,
wrecked on Bamborough Sands. The Ramsgate lifeboat
rescued from the barque Kingfisher, of Shields wrecked
on the Goodwin Sands' the crew of ten men. 'The Red-
car lifeboat was launched to the brig Garibaldi, of Cowes,
ashore at Coatham Beach, but the crew were saved
by the rocket apparatus. The Saltburn lifeboat res-
cued the crew of ten men from the stranded steamer
Grin/dc, of Newcastle-on-Tyne. The Sutton lifeboat
was taken along the coast with a view of launching to
the schooner Laurel: of London, but her services were
not eventually required. The Wells (Norfolk) lifeboat
was launched to the brig Demonico, of Genoa, but
the crew were saved by shore boats. The Whitby
No. 2 lifeboat saved two of the crew of the stranded
schooner Pride, of Southampton, and a week later
rescued from the same wreck eight men who had gone
on board to save property and were in imminent
danger, a heavy gale having suddenly sprung up.
"December 11.—The Drogheda No. 1, Hornsea,
Pakefield, Scarborough, Skegn.es.,s Theddlethorpe,
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