Scarboroughs first Lifeboat and its first rescue in 1801
Scarboroughs Lifeboat station is one of the oldest in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1801. Its the eldest on the Yorkshire Coast except for Redcar. Thomas Hinderwell, the Scarborough historian, provided the main momentum for the establishment of a Lifeboat in Scarborough. In 1799 recorded a heroic rescue where four Scarborough fishermen rowed in an open coble from Scarborough to a ship in extreme distress at Filey. The passion with which Hinderwell wrote this article was clear to see. In the same book he wrote of Scarborough sailors rescued by foreign people and treated with humanity by locals. It was these acts of humanity which underpinned spurred Hinderwell to launch a campaign for a Lifeboat in 1800. He became chairman of the Lifeboat committee.
He recorded several epic rescues which are all listed here:
• Scarborough fishermen in epic Filey Rescue in 1799
• Scarborough sailors rescued in the Baltic - Thomas Hinderwell
• A shipwreck near Whitby - epic account printed by Hinderwell
• A huge storm at Scarborough and a shipwreck
A reference is made to Scarboroughs first Lifeboat in Bakers history of Scarborough. The first Lifeboat was established under Mr Greatheads plan. It was built and supported by voluntary donations, and amongst the donors were: Earl Fitzwilliam £100, Lord Middleton £100, Mr Langley £100, Bielby Thompson Esq £50, William Denison £50.
It is noticable that the first master of the Lifeboat was John Harwood. He was one of the four men who had so heroically made a rescue in 1799. The local fishing families provided the backbone of the crew - amongst them were 4 Hodgsons,2 Robinsons,2 Waughs, and a Normandale.
This long history of Lifeboat service in Scarborough is a jealously guarded fact. In 1928, Canon A.N. Cooper managed to get this wrong and paid the price. He wrote that Scarborough's Lifeboat was established in 1861. This was the year in which the RNLI took over the Scarborough Lifeboat - the year that the RNLI Lifeboat was established in Scarborough. In fact the Lifeboat was established in 1801. Mr F.P. Morgan, the Honary Secretary of the Scarborough Station at the time, put the historian in his place. He sent a copy of the 'Sun' (of London) of the 16th December,1801, which describes how the Lifeboat was established by Mr Thomas Hinderwell.
In fact in the year the RNLI was founded(1924) Scarborough already had not one but two Lifeboats! The RNLI's first annual report detailed various Lifeboats around the country. The second one was built in 1822.
On 2nd November, 1801 the Scarborough Lifeboat performed a fine service as it rescued the crew of the "Aurora" of Newcastle (described very well Hinderwell). The rescue was made in exceptionally bad seas and winds. The vessel as in a bad position "exposed to the whole force of the waves raging from the open ocean, and surrounded with broken water, which dashed over her decks with great violence". The Lifeboat managed to ride the waves without shipping any water except for the spray. Hinderwell continues "On going to the lee quarter of the vessel the boat was endangered by the main boom, which had broken loose, and was driving about with great force; this circumstance obliged them to go alongside where they took out four of the crew, but the waves which broke over the decks having nearly filled the boat with water. The boatmen were induced to put off for a moment, when seeing three boys (the remainder of the crew) clinging to the riggings and in danger of perishing, they instantly returned and took them into their boat, and brought the whole to the shore in safety".
It was the opinion of anyone who possessed any nautical judgment that no boat of common construction could have "possibly performed this service". The new Lifeboat was needed. The fishermen of Scarborough "declared that they dared not have made the attempt in their own boats".
Picture above : The Greathead Lifeboat. Scarboroughs first lifeboat.
sources
- Scarborough Mercury,28th August, 1928
- Scarborough Mercury,20th July, 1928
OTHER ARTICLES
• The 200 year history of scarboroughs RNLI
• The early years of the Scarborough Lifeboat
• Hinderwells account of the first launch of the Scarborough Lifeboat in 1802
• The national RNLI and the Scarborough lifeboat of 1861.
• Scarborough's harbour and the coal trade. Thomas Hinderwell
• Scarboroughs Lifeboat - the huge storms of October 28th 1880
• An epic Lifeboat rescue in Robin Hoods bay and a terrible tragedy
• Thomas Crimlisk - First of the Crimlisks
• Scarborough sailors rescued in the Baltic - Thomas Hinderwell
• Loss of the Scarborough Lifeboat November 2nd, 1861
• Coastal erosion in the 19th Century around the North Bay and Scarborough Castle area
• A great storm off Filey Bridge and a famous rescue in 1799
• William Cammish - log book of the Aurora - a Scarborough merchant ship
• A sea shanty about a storm on the Scarborough coast
• The Yorkshire smuggler - the smuggling of contraband
• Radio 270 - pirate radio station off Scarborough
• The port of Scarborough in the late 15th Century
• Strange customs amongst the Scarborough shipbuilders
• The fishermen and fisheries of Robin Hood's Bay in 1838
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