HEROIC LIFEBOATMEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19799, 21 November 1927, Page 9

HEROIC LIFEBOATMEN.

RESCUE IN B AGING STORM. WELSH CREW'S DARiNG DEED. EPIC ALL-NIGHT STRUGGLE. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received November 19, 6.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z.-Sun. LONDON. Nov. 18. How the crew of tho lifeboat from Hoolfre, Anglesey, saved the crow of a ketch at the height of the terrible gales of October 28, by descending to the deck of the ketch, was revealed in connection with the award of the Royal Lifeboat Institution's gold medal to the coxswain, Jones, and the second-coxswain, Roberts, and of bronze medals to the remainder of the lifeboat crew. They found the ketch sinking, and swept by the seas in a black night. As the lifeboat was unable to approach, Jones and Roberts decided to take the desperate risk and to sail over the wreck. They waited until a huge sea hurled the lifeboat over the deck of the ketch. As it hit the deck they dragged the crew into the lifeboat. They were swept off by the next wave, and the boat was stove in in three places. Tho air cases kept them afloat, and they fought the storm all night long until they reached shelter. Meanwhile one of the rescued men died from his injuries, and a lifeboatman died from exposure. Jones held the tiller throughout the 15 hours' battle with the sea, and was blind for several hours afterwards, owing to the strain.