Men in peril
The following is from "Scarborough" National Union of Teachers Conference souvenir by F Drake, 1935.
A rescue by life-boat by V Feather
On 25th June 1919 I was in Scarborough and spending the evening at the open air concert on the Spa. The evening was fine in the sense of being dry, but there was a strong northerly wind increasing towards a gale, and I withdrew my attention from the music to observe the situation of a schooner which earlier in the day had been left by her tug at anchor off Carnelian Bay.
As the gale increased it seemed to me that every time the vessel reared to a breaking sea she dragged her anchor slightly towards the shore, and that within a few hours at most she would strike the rocky bottom and break up. I felt the ingongruous position of the audience, enjoying the concert, and not knowing that close at hand were men in peril and powerless to help themselves.
When it became dusk I gean to feel impatient with those men for not signalling for help before dark. It was obvious they could do nothing to preserve their ship, but they stoutly hung on until daylight was just ending, and then they hoisted the ensign half-way to the peak and burned a red flare over the quarter rail.
The signals were answered at once by the lifeboat station, and within a few minutes the life-boat was launched and on its way. It seemed a small, frail craft as it rose on the crests and sank out of sight in the troughs, and though it made rapid progress under its oars, I wondered how it would fare in the smother of broken seas where the schooner leaped and plunged, and how man-power could bring it back head into the gale.
Darkness now came, and the crowd on the piers and foreshore could only wait for the return of the boat to know whether a complete rescue had been made. The suspense was tense but short, and as the life-boat entered the harbour someone hailed to ask whether all were saved. The reply, "Aye, we've got 'em all!" Produced heartfelt cheers from everbody.
I learned that the schooner was the Melba of Newcastle with a crew of eight, and that the speedy return of the life-boat under such conditions was due to the coxswain having double-banked the oars with the rescued crew. I imagine that those men certainly would put their backs into it.
At daybreak I looked for the schooner, but there was no sign that she had existed.
This incident I recall is only one in the long service record of the Scarborough life-boat, and though it did not involve the long period of physical exposure called for in less spectacular duties in winter time, yet it was a case where the peril was imminent to both rescuers and rescued, and I like to remember it as typical of the work of the RNLI.
OTHER ARTICLES
• The national RNLI and the Scarborough lifeboat of 1861.
• The 200 year history of scarboroughs RNLI
• The early years of the Scarborough Lifeboat
• Filey and the gales of 1860,1867,1869 AND 1880
• Coastal erosion in the 19th Century around the North Bay and Scarborough Castle area
• Harwood Brierleys description of Scarborough harbour at the opening of the 20th century
• An epic Lifeboat rescue in Robin Hoods bay and a terrible tragedy
• Watching for ships by the harbour walls in Scarborough
• The RNLI rescue of The Rohilla,1914 at saltwick bay - Whitby
• Sailing ships - a true ghost story
• Famous fishing families - the Whitby Storr family and the Leadleys
• Charles Dickens account of Filey and Scarborough graveyards
• Tommy Rowley - stories about loss of life at sea
• The port of Scarborough in the late 15th Century
• A sea shanty about a storm on the Scarborough coast
• Scarborough's harbour and the coal trade. Thomas Hinderwell
• Life in Scarborough harbour and by the sea
• Wreck of the Mary Stoddart - Dundalk
• Stories of human interest from the sea port of Scarborough
HOW TO HELP THIS WEBSITE: Google rates pages posted on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites very highly. So if you have found this site useful please post it using the buttons below.
Tweet