A serious disaster was narrowly averted at Dover in connection with a
treat given to six hundred schoolgirls on the battleship
_Albion_.
The children were being taken out to the battleship in boats in a
rather heavy sea. A steam pinnace, towing two whaleboats, each
containing about eighty girls, was rounding the Prince of Wales Pier,
when the Government tug _Adder_ unexpectedly came round from the
opposite side of the pier, bearing right down on them.
There was great excitement, as a disaster seemed certain; but the
Naval men in charge quickly cut the second boat adrift, and the tug
passed between the two crowded boatloads. The boat drifted towards the
Admiralty Pier until it was picked up and got safely in tow again.
That is the kind of "presence of mind" which every Scout should have.
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