R.N.L.I. Medal 'In a South-East gale with very heavy seas, rain and sleet, a convoy of ships missed its way in the morning, a number of them going ashore near Ballyquinton, Co. Down, Northern Ireland. As the Cloughey lifeboat was already on service, the self-righting motor lifeboat L.P. and St. Helen was launched at 5 a.m., with a voyage ahead of 20 miles in limited visibility. Reaching the scene, Coxswain Murphy found seven ships ashore but only one, the Liverpool S.S. Browning, was capable of being reached. 17 of her crew had been taken ashore by life-saving apparatus; one of the remaining 39 had shot himself in the hand while destroying horses. The Coxswain made several attempts to reach the vessel from windward but without success. Switching to the lee side, he manoeuvred the lifeboat through a dangerously narrow channel into a small lagoon of calm water and took off all survivors. The lifeboat was now seriously overloaded, but the Coxswain took the only way out and crossed the reef of rocks at full speed judging the time to perfection. With no chance of returning to Newcastle in the conditions, he landed the survivors at Portavogie, a small fishing station' (Lifeboat Gallantry, Ed. Barry Cox refers).

The gallant crew of the L.P. and St. Helen received one Gold, two Silver and four Bronze Medals, the former going to Coxswain Murphy, who also received a B.E.M.