No doubt can exist about the nature of the volunteer's humanitarian work, nor their resolve to succeed.
On occasions volunteers pay the ultimate price.
Lifeboats were always vulnerable to high seas and rocky coasts and there is no immunity for worthy people.
There are still a number of independent rescue services today that rely on charitable donations to maintain
the good work of their volunteers.
In the past, shore based coastguard volunteers have also saved thousands of lives by
using Breeches Buoy and at times manning the lifeboats.
Many a fisherman or villager also played a vital part in shore based rescues.
**
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, when lifeboats were manhandled into the water and rowed out to the incident, it wasn't without huge effort before they could put to sea. Lifeboats were hauled over walls, rocks and moors, lowered down cliffs, pulled through snow, mud, sand and flood, just to reach the water. At this point, lives of horse and man were in great peril. Men drowned along with their horses on occasion. The carriage could break or become stuck in some manner. Meanwhile the sea would still drive to shore and drag the unwary away with the undertow. Once the boat was launched, good as they might have been, the sea was often master of events. Boats could overturn, men could be swept away, the boat could be broken on rocks, there were so many risks to be taken, so many dangers to overcome.
Then they had to find their way home.
We remember and honour those that lived to tell the tale and those too that did not -
for theirs was a common cause.
On occasions volunteers pay the ultimate price.
Lifeboats were always vulnerable to high seas and rocky coasts and there is no immunity for worthy people.
There are still a number of independent rescue services today that rely on charitable donations to maintain
the good work of their volunteers.
In the past, shore based coastguard volunteers have also saved thousands of lives by
using Breeches Buoy and at times manning the lifeboats.
Many a fisherman or villager also played a vital part in shore based rescues.
**
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, when lifeboats were manhandled into the water and rowed out to the incident, it wasn't without huge effort before they could put to sea. Lifeboats were hauled over walls, rocks and moors, lowered down cliffs, pulled through snow, mud, sand and flood, just to reach the water. At this point, lives of horse and man were in great peril. Men drowned along with their horses on occasion. The carriage could break or become stuck in some manner. Meanwhile the sea would still drive to shore and drag the unwary away with the undertow. Once the boat was launched, good as they might have been, the sea was often master of events. Boats could overturn, men could be swept away, the boat could be broken on rocks, there were so many risks to be taken, so many dangers to overcome.
Then they had to find their way home.
We remember and honour those that lived to tell the tale and those too that did not -
for theirs was a common cause.
Rescues before lifeboats.
Lynmouth - before the lifeboat.
In 1854 the Ketch, Lizzy was struck by bad weather off Lynmouth. With masts lost, the Lizzy was in great difficulties. Local men in a fishing boat set out from Lynmouth and despite the treacherous conditions, saved the crew and returned them to harbour.
As the storm abated, other fishermen, along with the ship’s captain, returned to the vessel and attempted to sail her along the coast.
Though they negotiated the rocks off of Foreland point and, over night, almost reached Porlock Weir, the Lizzy eventually sank off Gore Point. No lives were lost.
(1854 was the same year as the great storm that wrecked 19 ships on their way to the Crimean war, with the loss of winter supplies for the troops.)
Lynmouth - before the lifeboat.
In 1854 the Ketch, Lizzy was struck by bad weather off Lynmouth. With masts lost, the Lizzy was in great difficulties. Local men in a fishing boat set out from Lynmouth and despite the treacherous conditions, saved the crew and returned them to harbour.
As the storm abated, other fishermen, along with the ship’s captain, returned to the vessel and attempted to sail her along the coast.
Though they negotiated the rocks off of Foreland point and, over night, almost reached Porlock Weir, the Lizzy eventually sank off Gore Point. No lives were lost.
(1854 was the same year as the great storm that wrecked 19 ships on their way to the Crimean war, with the loss of winter supplies for the troops.)
Before lifeboats were stationed at Minehead, Watchet or Lynmouth.
February 24th 1869, the Topsy of Lynmouth foundered in a gale off Minehead with the loss of four lives.
February 24th 1869, the Topsy of Lynmouth foundered in a gale off Minehead with the loss of four lives.
Augusta lifeboat of Sherringham - in private service for 56 year service. An incredible achievement and rightly commands our respect and admiration for the decades of volunteer crews that manned her.
Turn out times late 19th century. North Devon Appledore area.
It is not easy to find records of how long it took to launch a lifeboat from the moment of the alarm being raised. In modern times we expect an instant response but in 1899 although the crew might respond as soon as they could, launching could suffer considerable delay. Horses were often on a retainer and had to be collected for use, telephone and telegraph were rare and communication was often by runner.
A board of inquiry report on a shipping accident near Saunton Sands gives the stark reality of the delay possible.
"as the average time occupied in collecting horses and crew and launching the boat
is from one to one and a half hours."
It is not easy to find records of how long it took to launch a lifeboat from the moment of the alarm being raised. In modern times we expect an instant response but in 1899 although the crew might respond as soon as they could, launching could suffer considerable delay. Horses were often on a retainer and had to be collected for use, telephone and telegraph were rare and communication was often by runner.
A board of inquiry report on a shipping accident near Saunton Sands gives the stark reality of the delay possible.
"as the average time occupied in collecting horses and crew and launching the boat
is from one to one and a half hours."
THE ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICAA DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE AND GENERAL INFORMATION ELEVENTH EDITION
all credit to Gutenberg for allowing free use.
LIFE-BOAT, and LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. The article on Drowning and Life-Saving (q.v.) deals generally with the means of saving life at sea, but under this heading it is convenient to include the appliances connected specially with the life-boat service. The ordinary open boat is unsuited for life-saving in a stormy sea, and numerous contrivances, in regard to which the lead came from England, have been made for securing the best type of life-boat.
In 1893 the chairman of the Institution moved a resolution in the House of Commons that, in order to decrease the serious loss of life from shipwreck on the coast, the British Government should provide either telephonic or telegraphic communication between all the coast-guard stations and signal stations on the coast of the United Kingdom; and that where there are no coast-guard stations the post offices nearest to the life-boat stations should be electrically connected, the object being to give the earliest possible information to the life-boat authorities at all times, by day and night, when the life-boats are required for service; and further, that a Royal Commission should be appointed to consider the desirability of electrically connecting the rock lighthouses, light-ships, &c., with the shore. The resolution was agreed to without a division, and its intention has been practically carried out, the results obtained having proved most valuable in the saving of life.
The 33-ft., Double-banked, Ten-oared, Self-righting and Self-emptying Life-boat (1881) of the Institution on its Transporting Carriage, ready for launching
The dangers of those early self righting boats becomes apparent -
A very marked advance in improvement in design and suitability for service has been made in the life-boat since the reorganization of the Institution in 1883, but principally since 1887, when, as the result of an accident in December 1886 to two self-righting life-boats in Lancashire,
twenty-seven out of twenty-nine of the men who manned them were drowned.
Modifications to design ensured that-
every self-righting life-boat now built by the Institution will right with her full crew and gear on board, with her sails set and the anchor down. Most of the larger self-righting boats are furnished with “centre-boards” or “drop-keels” of varying size and weight, which can be used at pleasure, and materially add to their weather qualities. The drop-keel was for the first time placed in a life-boat in 1885.
A very marked advance in improvement in design and suitability for service has been made in the life-boat since the reorganization of the Institution in 1883, but principally since 1887, when, as the result of an accident in December 1886 to two self-righting life-boats in Lancashire,
twenty-seven out of twenty-nine of the men who manned them were drowned.
Modifications to design ensured that-
every self-righting life-boat now built by the Institution will right with her full crew and gear on board, with her sails set and the anchor down. Most of the larger self-righting boats are furnished with “centre-boards” or “drop-keels” of varying size and weight, which can be used at pleasure, and materially add to their weather qualities. The drop-keel was for the first time placed in a life-boat in 1885.
The life-belt has since 1898 been considerably improved, being now less cumbersome than formerly, and more comfortable. The feature of the principal improvement is the reduction in length of the corks under the arms of the wearer and the rounding-off of the upper portions, the result being that considerably more freedom is provided for the arms. The maximum extra buoyancy has thereby been reduced from 25 ℔ to 22 ℔, which is more than sufficient to support a man heavily clothed with his head and shoulders above the water, or to enable him to support another person besides himself.
The rocket apparatus, which in the United Kingdom is under the management of the coast-guard, renders excellent service in life-saving. This, next to the life-boat, is the most important and successful means by which shipwrecked persons are rescued on the British shores. Many vessels are cast every year on the rocky parts of the coasts, under cliffs, where no life-boat could be of service. In such places the rocket alone is available.
'You are your own destiny, it comes by choice'
It wasn't unusual to transport lifeboats on their carriage, after all it is what they were designed for. A new lifeboat delivered by rail to Barnstaple would be hauled on its own horse drawn carriage the twenty miles to Lynmouth.
By which ever route you take, you cannot avoid hills, tight bends and narrow roads - and that is true today.
Delivery of the boat would have been well prepared and in fine weather. What is unusual about Louisa's rescue journey is the urgency, rushed preparation, darkness, a wild storm blowing and the two worst hills in the counties to negotiate.
Having done that, they saved enough energy to row out to sea and into a most uncertain future.
Sailing vessel PICTON.
Built at Bristol, I8I5. No. 44, I3 Dec. I8I5.
232 tons; Two decks ; 3 masts ; ship rig ; square stern ; no gallery ;
a figure head.
Owners: James Martin Hilhouse, George Hilhouse, Robert Hilhouse and
Josiah Gist, ship-builders, Bristol.
Masters : Charles Mountstephens. 27 Jan. I8I7, John Morris. 8 Jan. I8I7; the whole sold to James Wason, William Hood and George Eveleigh Kiddell, merchants, Bristol.
Vessel lost, per Lloyd's List, 25 Jan. I820; registry closed I822.
The Picton made three West-India and one St. Petersburgh voyages, and was wrecked at Foreland Point Lynmouth in a great storm on 20 Jan. I820, at the outset of a voyage to Barbados.
Two of the crew were frozen to death, but the remainder of the crew and a lady passenger were saved.
Clever construction of the lifeboat meant that holes in the bottom of the boat actually kept her free of water. Her buoyancy compartments retain her high enough in the water that the boat deck was always drained. How clever is that?
Typical Lifeboat Carriage of the period.
(Wheel plates not required on Lynmouth's rock strewn shore)
'Belief gives birth to power'
Top left, Dunes by Michael Ancher. Top right, 'Saved' by Gribble
Immediately above, Thomas Rose Miles 'Return of the Lifeboat'
Immediately above, Thomas Rose Miles 'Return of the Lifeboat'
Superb illustration by the artist A Morton.
Our gratitude for his skill and his intent.
Our gratitude for his skill and his intent.
The above three photos taken at the excellent Falmouth Maritime Museum. Far right is a reconstruction of one of Titanic's lifeboats. The Titanic exhibition was highly thought provoking and exposed some of the truths that are normally withheld.
The Skelag Lifeboat rescue from 'Five Months on a German Raider', by Frederic George Trayes. Credit to Gutenberg.
Image thanks to Gutenberg.
The Doom Bar Cornwall.
A bar often has steep or breaking waves which may prove impossible to cross. Breaking water contains air which affect stability and buoyancy.
Harbour or sand bars are very hazardous places.
The Doom Bar Cornwall.
A bar often has steep or breaking waves which may prove impossible to cross. Breaking water contains air which affect stability and buoyancy.
Harbour or sand bars are very hazardous places.
Testament to the resilience of boat and crews.
Below, you will find an opportunity to explore your own emotions, as you listen to these songs of heroism and sadness.
On January 29th, 1919, the British ship Nimrod with a cargo of coal and bound for Calais was caught in a storm and ran aground on the Barber sands off Caister. The Caister lifeboat was reportedly unable to reach the wreck to save the crew, who then abandoned ship for their own lifeboat. They capsized and two of the crew managed to hang on the boat for a tortuous six hours before washing up on shore. Ten men were lost that day.
The Nimrod was built in 1866 with an auxiliary steam engine and after conversion from Schooner to Barquentine rig was used by Ernest Shackleton in his polar expedition of 1908.
I mention this vessel for two reasons, the ignominious fate of such a famous vessel. What she had endured and achieved was no passport to an easier life. She was sold after the expedition to pay off debts.
The second reason is the nature of Ernest Shackleton, his tenacity, judgement and leadership were second to none and few men will ever measure up. However, I suggest that on a smaller world scale, Jack Crocombe of the Lynmouth Lifeboat had many similar qualities and is also worthy of our admiration and thanks for creating a maritime history of which we can be proud.
The Nimrod was built in 1866 with an auxiliary steam engine and after conversion from Schooner to Barquentine rig was used by Ernest Shackleton in his polar expedition of 1908.
I mention this vessel for two reasons, the ignominious fate of such a famous vessel. What she had endured and achieved was no passport to an easier life. She was sold after the expedition to pay off debts.
The second reason is the nature of Ernest Shackleton, his tenacity, judgement and leadership were second to none and few men will ever measure up. However, I suggest that on a smaller world scale, Jack Crocombe of the Lynmouth Lifeboat had many similar qualities and is also worthy of our admiration and thanks for creating a maritime history of which we can be proud.
The wreck of the s.s. Fernebo North Sea, 9th january 1917 in a savage north easterly gale.
Lifeboat manned by older men, the younger ones already serving in the great war overseas
We cannot talk of lifeboats without a mention of Cromer and the superhuman efforts carried out by her lifeboat crews.
Rescues that took place beyond the call of duty and which to many would have seemed unatainable.
Henry Blogg ... coxswain genius and hero.
Lifeboat manned by older men, the younger ones already serving in the great war overseas
We cannot talk of lifeboats without a mention of Cromer and the superhuman efforts carried out by her lifeboat crews.
Rescues that took place beyond the call of duty and which to many would have seemed unatainable.
Henry Blogg ... coxswain genius and hero.