A NOBLE SAILOR.

Temuka Leader, Issue 263, 27 May 1880, Page 2

A NOBLE SAILOR.

' noteworthy inci<h'lit, which occurred in one of the la,to ii-s, x little l-i the inTth of BoiMaui Harbor, not far from Peterhead, is recorded by a corr••■spondcnt. A Swedish schooner was there driven on the locks, an 1 thence on the beach, where she stranded, the sea making a clean breach over her. By means of the Manby rocket ap airat i« a line was flung onboard, but the crew uid either not know what to do with it or wore paralyzed by fe#r and cold, beeing this, a noble f dlow named George Oatley, a gunner’s mate and drill instructor of the Naval Koservc at Peterhead, stripped and swam out to the vessel through the breakers. He reached her in safety, made fast the line and then put in a few cloihcs which the crew gave him, after which he sent the crew —who numbered five in all—ashore in a cradle,one after the other. Last of all he came hack himself, and as his form, cut and bleeding from contact with the rocks, and benumbed with the cold, was drawn!o land, the crowd of spectators who had witnessed the gallant deed cheered him to the echo. He was pres-ed to take some brandy, but refused it, saying be was a tecto ■ idler ; and on being told he would •lie if he did not take it, he replied that ho would rather die than tarn it. He did not take it, and he is as well again as over he was. Oatley is thirty six years of age, has been in the Royal Navy for twenty vears, and has the China and Abyssinian medals. The Duke of Edinburgh has marked his appreciation of his gallant conduct, as above narrated, by recommending him for the Albert medal of the first class. The Earl of Errol, whose seat is near Peterhead, started a subscription for a cestiuu nial to him, and the movement was cfiicr lly taken in hand by the Provost and Council of that town, who have received many donations from all parts of the town.