The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-01 00:00:00

GALLAN7 LIFEBOAT SERVICES.

A gentleman writing from Ardmore, on the
coast of Waterford, thus details the gallant ser-.
vices of the lifeboat at that place, belonging to
the National Lifeboat Institution :
" Ardmore, Dec. 26.
‘` I beg to communicate a circumstance, which
I am sure will afford all supporters of the Royal
National Lifeboat Institution sincere pleasure ;
the lifeboat of its branch here being, under Di-
vine Providence, the meads of saving from a wreck
that occurred in the hay this morning, it-yen men
of the schooner Diana, Willi pm :Niathreich, captain,
rrom Bordeaux, laden with wheat and brandy,

uck on a low ra-t of mos in this bay, about
G1(1 yards from higtt-water mark; the wind blow-
a whole gals from- the siAith-east. Between
10 and 11 o'clock .a.m., the tide being full out at
the time, the coast-guard, under the superinten-
dence of chief boatman Halse, promptly fired off
rockets to the vessel, but unfortunately they fell
short of her.

The lifeboat was then called for, when the two
.first men who volunteered to go in her were Mi-
chael Twiney and James Fletcher. Mr. John
Roderick, a young gentleman on a visit here, an,:.
nephew of S. Bagge, Esq., also came forward im-
mediately, and in a short time a volunteer crew;
composed of the following . men, had . the boat
launched and went in her:—Mr. Roderick Halse,
chief boatman ; Sheppard, boatman ; • Stewart,
commissioned boatman, coast-guard ; Michael
Twiney, James Fletcher, Garret Keane, Corbert;
coxswain of the life-boat. They proceeded to the
wreck under the management of the coxswain,
Corbert, and !retiring could exceed .the steady cool-
ness, daring intrepidity, and utter abnegation of
self, that actuated this crew in the,,performance of
what they considered, a sacred duty, and heroically
they went forward in the face of a. sea that might
`have daunted Many a stoat heart. The boat twice
tilled with water, but soon emptied herself, such
being the force and' fury of the waves, which broke
at the same time clear over the wreck. After
having made several attempts to near the vessel,
they found it utterly impracticable to reach her
with any hope of saving life. In the meantime
they observed that the crew had attached a rape to
their own small boat, and had cast it adrift so as to
reach the shore. This small boat swamped before
it reached the shore, hut three •or four men rushed
out in the surf to their necks and caught the rope
and hauled her in. Then the lifeboat returned,
brought back, with skill arid judgment, through a
surf and sea that I have scarcely seen equalled after
a residence of 22 years. The warp, of the rocket
apparatus was then got to attach it to the rope
from the vessel (here it was that the skill and
judgment of chief boatman liaise,
and commis-
sioned boatman Ste Wart, were app ,aren t) /* The
ropes were then made fast and secured to the
lifeboat, and at a given signal from the shore
to the wreck, the crew of the latter hauled away
at the rope, and the life-boat was directed to
the wreck, the men on shore bolding
steadily
their rope. Never was beheld anything more fear-
ful than the attempt of the unfortunate crew to
Trop into the lifehqat when she got to the vessel ;
the sea running mountains high, and the tide corn-
' ing in 'fast; one by one, at imminent risk, they
literally were tumbled into hei, and one poor fellow
got a severe contusion of the shoulder from a fall
into the boat. Seven men were now in the lifeboat,
the remaining man was left behind, whether from
timidity on his .own part, or the lives of the rest
being in the balance, for I do believe, had the rope
not been cut by them at the moment it was, they
would have
been lost, the boat was so fearfully
knocked about by the sea, striking the vessel every
instant. The men from the
.shore, the instant they