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Tag: sea
The greatest RNLI rescues and tragedies described in a new book
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Scenes of lifeboat operations clockwise from the
top: Fraserburgh; Penlee and Mount’s Bay
Lifeboat Heroes by Edward Wake-Walker is a new book that tells the stories of 16 of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s most dramatic rescues from its distinguished 185-year history.
Anyone sitting safe from a storm by their fireside when their local crew races to the station is bound to wonder how it must be on board their local lifeboat; this book should give them a clear picture.
The stories of triumph and disaster at sea are packed with personal recollections of crewmen, other emergency services, survivors, and local families who waited at home for their loved ones to return.
Newspaper articles from the time also report the devastating scenes. This is a quotation from the Daily Telegraph, 6th January 1881:
‘As the last man came I held my breath; he was alive when taken from the wreck, but had died in the boat. Four men bore him on their shoulders, and a flag flung over the face mercifully concealed what was most shocking of the dreadful sight; but they had removed his boots and socks to chafe his feet before he died, and had slipped a pair of mittens over the toes which left the ankles naked. This was the body of Howard Primrose Fraser, the second mate of the lost ship and her drowned captain’s brother.’
The earliest story is that of Sir William Hillary, founder of the RNLI, who rescued all 17 crew and passengers from the Fortroendet, which went aground in 1827. A more recent account concerns the valiant attempt at rescue in 1981, when brave Trevelyan Richards, coxswain of Penlee lifeboat was lost with his seven-man crew and all those he was attempting to save from the coaster Union Star.
Many of the incidents of outstanding bravery recounted here proved to be turning points in the history of the RNLI and the business of sea rescue in general. The wreck of the Mexico in the Ribble Estuary in 1886, when 27 crewmen from two lifeboats lost their lives, hastened the quest for powered lifeboats and gave rise to flag days and street collections. The loss of the Penlee lifeboat and her crew accelerated the development of today’s powerful lifeboats and reminded the public of the ultimate invincibility of the sea.
Edward Wake-Walker worked for 28 years with the RNLI, the final 16 as public relations director. His other books on the RNLI and its history are Gold Medal Rescues (1992), Lost Photographs of the RNLI (2004) and The Lifeboats Story (2007), and he is an honorary adviser to the RNLI Heritage Trust. He lives in Dorset.
The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. It provides, on call, a 24-hour lifeboat search and rescue service to 100 nautical miles out from the coast of the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. It is is largely a volunteer organisation – its volunteers include 4,500 crew members, 2,900 shore helpers and station mangers, and 35,000 fundraisers. The charity is independent from government and relies on voluntary contributions and legacies for its income. The lifeboat crews and lifeguards of the RNLI have saved over 137,000 lives at sea since 1824. For every copy of this book sold, the publishers Haynes will donate £1 to RNLI funds.
The Valiant Sailor, a powerful song of naval warfare in the 18th century
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The singing Jack Crawford
Regular readers will remember a recent post about a press-ganged keelman who became a war hero, Jack Crawford, who climbed to the top of his ship’s damaged mast under heavy fire, and nailed the Union Jack to it. This important and astonishingly brave act won him an audience with King George III and a pension.
If you followed the link in the earlier post, you will know that there’s another Jack Crawford, a singer who has recently made a CD of largely traditional songs.
By an amazing coincidence, it turns out that one of them describes being press-ganged and then forced to fight at sea, and I’m glad to say that Jack’s considered performance is timed to make every word count.
My perspective of The Valiant Sailor is that it’s an important, eye-opening song with an understandably bitter point of view, and really should be heard by anyone with a romantic view of the Royal Navy of the time, warfare in the era of the wooden walls, or of press-ganging.
However, Jack has a different view of it, and as he sings this song (and I don’t) he’s obviously given it much more thought than I have. Here’s what he had to say in an email to me earlier:
‘You write of a “song with an understandably bitter point of view” and yet, when I sing it I feel no bitterness. Consider the closing sentiment “and here I lie a-bleeding all on the deck and it’s all for her sweet safety I must die.”
‘In my view, the sailor has become reconciled to his fate and he understands the necessity to defend his country at sea – and die in the process if that’s what the Fates decree. It’s not the life he chose and thread of the song is a linear narrative of how he came to be in that situation. As such, it’s far from romantic, but I don’t think it’s bitter. Granted, we have “thousands of times I’ve wished myself home” to make it quite clear (as if we were in any doubt) that he’s not enjoying himself, and who can blame him, but there’s no bitterness there. The dominant emotion is the sadness of his longing to return to his “Polly on the shore” and the stark realization that he never will.
‘I reprise the first verse to drive home the enormity of the events and serve as a warning to other young men – not from bitterness but as sound practical advice supported by a salutary lesson. I don’t think a song based on bitterness would have endured so well through changing times.’
I think this quality of enduring is significant. This is a song that remained in oral transmission right into the 20th century: more than a century after the events it describes, ordinary people still felt it had something of value that was worth remembering, even though the author was long forgotten to them. That, of course, is the real meaning of the term ‘folk song’.
Click here to hear an MP3 of Jack’s version of The Valiant Sailor (it’s a biggish file, but well worth the short wait) from the CD Pride of the Season, and click here to buy a copy.