The Russian steamer Ichihatchoff' was wrecked on the rocks of Jaffa on February 18, 1891. More than twenty pas sengers had been swept away before anything was done to save life. At 6.3o A.M. on February 19, Suleiman Girby, chief boat man to Messrs. Thomas Cook and Son at Jaffa, and his brothers launched a boat and proceeded to the vessel, whence they brought off a number of the passengers and landed them. In making a second attempt their boat was smashed against the inner reef, and it was found impossible to launch another. Girby then swam backwards and forwards to the vessel fifteen times, bringing someone with him to shore each time. For this he received the silver medal of the Royal Humane Society. The same brave fellow gained the silver clasp a couple of months later. At 8 P.M. on April 26 the French frigate Leignelay ' parted anchors and was carried on to the rocks at Jaffa. It was blowing a heavy gale at the time, and none of the natives excepting Girby would offer the slightest assistance. Girby volunteered to swim to the ship and deliver a letter to the captain from the Governor. The ship was half a mile from shore, but he accomplished the work after a two hours' swim in a heavy sea. After doing this he dived under the ship and examined the hull, reporting her sound. He then swam ashore, taking a message from the captain. Towards morning, when the sea got higher, the captain signalled and Suleiman again swam out and brought back the captain's wife fastened on his back.
In December 1867 the French ship Nouveau Caboteur ' was cast ashore in the Bay of Zurriola, on the north coast of Spain, during a gale of wind ; the sea at the time was running so heavily that no boat could put off. Mr. March, the British vice-consul at San Sebastian, who was subsequently awarded the Royal Humane Society and the Albert medals for his services, after unsuccessfully entreating some of the bystanders to accom pany him, plunged into the sea, swam to the vessel and brought a rope from it to land. The rope was then secured and one of the crew came ashore safely. The second, a lad, lost his hold and dropped into the sea. Mr. March, though half dead with cold, again swam out, and, after diving under the vessel, found the boy and brought him to shore. The remainder of the crew reached land safely. For some time after this wreck Mr. March was very ill, owing to the exposure at such a cold period of the year, but fortunately recovered.
At 9 A.M. on October 4, 189o, the ordnance boat Lad, Alice,' under the charge of Sergeant J. H. Dray, 1st Battalion of the Buffs,' arrived at Garden Reach, Calcutta, with am munition for the s.s. Pandua.' Sergeant Dray, after deliver ing his shipment, attempted to step from one vessel to the other, and fell into the river. Captain Ovens, a saloon pas senger of the Pandua,' seeing that the man was drowning; at once jumped overboard and made a plucky attempt to rescue him, but without success. A very strong current was running,
which carried the gallant officer a long distance down stream, and over an hour elapsed before he was brought on board in an exhausted condition, having been picked up by the magazine boat.
In November 1890 the ship Pembrokeshire' grounded or a sandbank in the China Sea, about forty miles from Hong Kong. All efforts to get her off were futile. A fierce gale of wind was blowing with a very high sea. One of the seamen, in securing a boat, was swept overboard. A life-buoy was thrown to him, which he managed to reach, but the rope after wards thrown he failed to catch. Seeing this, Mr. G. C. Cundy at once fastened a line around his waist and leapt over board. After a gallant fight against the waves he managed to secure the man, and both were hauled on board.
About I1 P.M. on March t, 1891, the fishing-boat 'Lady Mathieson ' during a gale of wind was driven on the rocks off Scarfskerry, Caithness. Owing to the heavy sea, two of the three men in the boat were unable to land. James Smith, a fisherman, procured a rope, and, leaving one end with the other fishermen in the boat, swam ashore. In attempting to fasten the rope round himself one of the men in the boat was washed off. but no sooner heard his cries than he turned back and landed him safely. He then swam out to the boat a second time, and finding the remaining man unable to get ashore, he secured himself and the man to the rope, when the first fisher man saved hauled them both to the shore.
On September 9, 1891, about noon, a rescue from drowning was effected at Bonnyglen, county Donegal, under great diffi culties and at much personal risk to the rescuer. At the point of the river where the accident took place there is a small ferry boat, attached by a chain to a rope stretching across from bank to bank. The river, which is usually six or eight feet deep, had risen to sixteen feet ; the rope consequently, instead of being overhead, was on a level with the rushing current. A man, named McGroarty, in attempting to cross, capsized the boat, which at once filled and sank as far as the attached chain would allow it. Being unable to swim, he was left bobbing about in the water, holding the chain and unable to regain his hold on the rope. A considerable crowd collected, but no one attempted a rescue. Mr. W. H. M. Sinclair was sent for, and, grasping the situation at once, divested himself of his coat, ran sixty yards up the bank, plunged in and swam down stream to the drowning man. The rope impeded his progress, but he surmounted this obstacle and called to the man to let go his hold of the chain and he would save him. Mr. Sinclair then got under the man and they both sank, but on rising to the surface he succeeded in bringing him to land, though not until they had been both carried down stream eighty yards.