FISHERMEN IN WAR TIME 



running for a safe old Channel port. That know- 

 ledge was inexpressibly encouraging to the men who 

 had endured so much and had been so skilfully and 

 courageously saved. The rescue, said one of the 

 survivors, was a wonderful piece of work. 



Nothing held the Provident back. She kept 

 steadily on her course, and between seven and eight 

 o'clock she was safe in Brixham Harbour, and was 

 taken alongside the quay by a tug. Immediately 

 every possible help was given to the battleship's 

 survivors, and as a result of the doctoring, nursing, 

 clothing, feeding and sleeping that they enjoyed, 

 they quickly pulled round and were made fit to take 

 their places again in the fighting forces. 



Other boats were able to get away from the foun- 

 dering battleship, amongst them the pinnace, con- 

 taining 57 men. This boat was full of water at the 

 start. From half-past two in the morning until 

 eleven at night these men were exposed to the wind 

 and seas, and though there were no losses through 

 physical injury half-a-dozen men died in the boat, 

 and when the survivors got ashore three more died. 

 This fate would probably have overtaken at least 

 some of the men in the cutter if it had not been for 

 the gallant rescue by the crew of the Provident. 



The conduct of the skipper and his little band 

 called public attention to the case, and afterwards 

 the Admiralty decided to recognise the gallantry by 

 awarding £250 to the skipper, ^100 each to Carter 

 and Clarke, and ^50 to the boy Dan. Other mone- 

 tary rewards and the Shipwrecked Mariners' 



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