The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-04 00:00:00

REWARDS FOR SAVING LIFE FROM TVRECKB

Yesterday a meeting of the general committee of the
Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life
from Shipwreck was held at the offices in the Adelphi.
Capt. S. Ellerby in the chair. We also observed present
Col. Blanshard, RE., C. 8., Capt. Halsted, RN.,
Capt. E. A. Inglefield, RN., Capt. Jerningham, RN.,
Capt. NUT:lardy, R.N., • Capt. Hall, R.N., Major
Palmer, Capt. Perrott, Capt. Washington, R.N., and
Capt. Ward, R.N., the Inspector of Life Boats to the
Institution.

Mr. LEWIS (the secretary) having read the minutes of
the previous meeting, the following rewards were
ordered to be granted for saving life from wrecks—
The silver medal of the institution to be presented to
Mr. Arthur Brooks, chief boatman, and John Sims,
boatman, of the Dungeness coast-guard station ; the
thanks of the committee on vellum to Thomas Sampson,
Esq., and a reward of Si. 10s. to several other parties,
for the valuable assistance they had rendered to the
crew and passengers of the German emigrant ship,
Louise Emelie, which came on shore at the above place
during the late hurricane on the 27th December. A
communication having been established between the
wreck and the shore, lines were attached to two circular
life-buoys which were on board the ship. The men,
women, and children having been then forcibly secured
to the life-buoys, were thus drawn on shore through the
surf. At this time the sea was flying over the brig's
Enamtopsail, which was set. Within an hour after the
vessel came on shore the masts went by the board, her
decks fell in, and she immediately began to break up. The
first receding tide swept away 45 souls who were left on
board. The two life-buoys having by this time become
disabled and unfit for further use, the preservation of
the 59 other persons was mainly owing to the coolness
and gallantry of Mr. Brooks Sims, the coast-guard man,
had also displayed much courage on the occasion; as on
account of one of the life buoys breaking, to which was
secured one of the emigrants, who was observed to sink,
he rushed into the surf to his rescue ; six other men
then formed a chain (by joining hands) from the beach ;
Sims, and the emigrant whom he held firmly in his
grasp, were thus drawn together on shore. On reach-
ing the land he however, from exhaustion, became in-
sensible. When the life buoys had become disabled,
valuable aid was rendered by Thomas Sampson, Esq.,
who assisted with his horse in bringing a hawser over
the beach from a distance, and by means of which many
lives were saved. Lieut. Hopkins, R.N., was of opinion,
that had Carte's life buoys been used on the occasion
they would not have broken, and that many more lives
would, in all probability have been saved. Those used
at this time had a hollow space in the middle, more than
an inch in diameter, and appeared to be only kept to-
gether by the canvas which covered them. Mr. Carte
had pronounced them to be cruel imitations of his inven-
tion.

The thanks of the committee, on vellum, were pre-
sented to Mr. Hugh Williams, branch pilot at Rhosngyr,
Carnarvonshire, and a reward of 41. 10s. to be divided
between himself and his boat's crew for saving a part of
the crew, consisting of 13 persons, of the barque Juno, of
Russia, which was wrecked in Carnarvon Bay on the
27th December. The sea at that time was running
mountains high, and it was entirely on account of the
gallantry and perseverance displayed by Mr. Williams
and his brave men that the shipwrecked crew were res-
cued from their perilous position. The ship's gig had
previously made two or three attempts to return to the
wreck, but the heavy sea had upset it, and the two men
in her had a narrow escape from being drowned.
The silver medal of the institution was voted to Mr.
W. Bridle, master of the Primrose, who was upset from
a boat on a late occasion at Lyme Regis, in attempting
to go to the assistance of the crew and passengers of the
emigrant barque Heroine, when four of his comrades un-
happily perished in their laudable endeavours. The com-
mittee had, at a previous meeting voted 29/. 10s. in aid
of the subscriptions made for their widows and orphans,
and for other services rendered by other parties on the
occasion.

A reward of I/. 10s. was granted to two coast guard-
men at Carrick-hill, county Dublin, for having attempted
with their punt to rescue the crew of the brig Annie, of
Workington, which was wrecked near the above place
on the 25th ult. The men had launched their punt un-
der extremely dangerous circumstances, and had nearly
succeeded in reaching the wreck, when one of them was
struck by a heavy sea, disabled, and nearly washed over-
board. The shipwrecked crew were fortunately subse-
quently saved by Dennet's rocks which had been imme-
diately brought to the spot through the promptitude of
Captain Irwin, RN., to whom the committee presented
their thanks.
The sum of 15s. was voted to a poor man on the coast
of Donegal, in consideration of his intrepidity in rushing
into the surf to save the master and mate of the sloop
Lovely, of Inverness, which was wrecked near Innisman
Island, on the 29th December last.
A reward of 3/. was granted to a boat's crew on the
coast of Carnarvon, for rescuing the crew of nine per-
sons of the Russian brig Die Krone, bound from Wilm-
ington to Liverpool, on the 4th ult., when she went to
pieces soon after in Carnarvon Bay.
The thanks of the committee on vellum were presented
to Mr. W. Stevenson, master of the schooner Steerwell,
of Bill Quay, in consideration of his humane and prompt
conduct on the 26th Dec., in bearing down to the assis-
tance of the crew of the John White, who was observed
to have a flag of distress flying, and to be in a sinking
state on the Whitby Bar; the vessel foundered in less
than one hour after her crew were taken off.
The silver medal of the institution was presented to
John Craddock, commission coast guard boatman at
Stonehaven, in appreciation of his gallant services to the
crew of the screw Christiana, of Arbroath, wrecked
near the above place during a heavy gale on the 26th
Nov. last. In order to save the crew it was necessary to
swim to a rock at some distance from the main body of
the rocks, This Craddock did, followed by others, and,
having succeeded in establishing a communication with
the wreck by means of ropes, the shipwrecked men were
hauled on shore.

The thanks of the committee were also voted to Lieut.
Kennedy, RN., chief officer of Cushendeen coast guard
station, and a reward of 31. to his boat's crew for their
gallant conduct on the occasion of the wreck of the
schooner Suspense, of Glasgow, on the 15th ult. There
seemed every probability of the crew perishing, when the
liettenant with his brave men put off in his boat, against
the remonstrances of many persons on the beach. He,
riowever, persevered, and fortunately succeeded in tak-
ing the crew (fain- in number) off the bowsprit and in
'bringing them safely on shore, amidst the acclamations
of the people on the beach. Lieut. Kennedy had had
the silver medal of the institution presented to him for
a previous act of gallantry.
It was stated that very favourable accounts continued
to be received of the new life-boats on Peake's design,
and that that placed at North Sunderland had saved the
lives of some shipwrecked men on a recent occasion ;
and it was also said that the institution had several of
these boats now building for various points on the coast.
It was reported that the past year had been most dis-
astrous for shipwrecks, and that hundreds of poor fellows
had met with a watery grave.