Alma Romalda Joyce, 62, housewife, helped to save Derek G. Mason, 10, schoolboy, and four others from drowning, Prince Rupert, British Columbia, November 25, 1945. The rowboat in which Derek, another boy, and three men were riding on Prince Rupert Bay swamped in water 40 feet deep 1,000 feet from shore. All clung to the boat. It was dark, rain was falling, and the sea was rough due to a storm. Mrs. Joyce and her husband were alone on their cabin cruiser, which was moored 500 feet farther from shore. Although neither ever had piloted the cruiser, having used it only as a home when fastened to a dock, they set out in search of the boat. Mrs. Joyce on deck directed their course with a flashlight and Joyce steered. The cruiser pitched and rolled. After barely avoiding a rock that loomed in the darkness, Joyce brought the cruiser alongside the boat, which then was pulled close by a line that Mrs. Joyce tossed to a man on the bottom-up boat. Squatting on a narrow catwalk, which was without a railing, the Joyces got hold of Derek’s clothing and lifted him 3.5 feet to the catwalk. After Mrs. Joyce had taken Derek to the cabin, she returned to Joyce; and they lifted the others, one at a time, onto the catwalk. Joyce then piloted the cruiser to a wharf, and Mrs. Joyce jumped four feet to it as the cruiser tossed. With difficulty she held the mooring line taut until a man arrived and made it fast. Derek and his companions suffered from exposure but recovered. 40648-3480
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