282 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS 



Mission ship, the Alpha, but before they could find her 

 they sighted the Miles, and steamed up and shouted for 

 help, saying that some of the wounded were bleeding to 

 death. " We hauled up our gear at once and launched 

 our boat," he wrote, and soon, with two of the Mission 

 crew, he was on board the Gull, to which the dead and 

 wounded had been taken. " I have never witnessed 

 such a gory sight. Two men lay on deck with their 

 heads nearly blown to pieces. In the cabin the scene 

 was more heartrending still, when I saw six men 

 stretched about anyhow, bleeding and groaning with the 

 agony of their wounds. Under the circumstances, I had 

 them all removed on board our ship. With all these 

 wounded men on board, our floating hospital looked like 

 a veritable battlefield. Indeed, it presented a most 

 pathetic sight. It kept me busy with knife and needle 

 the whole of that day, and it was not until late in the 

 night that I had the satisfaction of seeing them all safe 

 and snug in their cots, as far as circumstances allowed." 

 When it was seen that the Crane was sinking, Charles 

 Beer, mate, Harry Smirk, chief engineer, and Edwin 

 Costello, boatswain of the Gull, went off in a boat to 

 rescue the survivors. When they got on board the 

 Crane they found the living members of the crew lying 

 about injured. The vessel was in total darkness, and it 

 was known that at any moment she might founder ; yet 

 Costello went into the horrible little forecastle to bring 

 up Leggett's dead body. This he succeeded in doing, 

 and was going below again to see how much damage 

 had been done by shot and shell, when his comrades 

 shouted to him to come back instantly, as the trawler 

 was sinking. She went down almost immediately. 



