The 1928 Rye Lifeboat Disaster

[Coast]

Tomorrow is the 80th anniversary of one of the worst UK lifeboat disasters when the Rye Lifeboat, 'Mary Stanford' capsized and the whole crew of 17 drowned.

The lifeboat launched in a Force 8-10 gale and heavy seas to the vessel Alice. News was received that the crew of the Alice had been rescued by another vessel and although the recall signal was fired three times but the lifeboat crew had not seen it. As the lifeboat was coming into harbour she capsized and the whole crew lost their lives – Coxswain Herbert Head, and two sons James and John; Second Coxswain J Stonham, Bowman H Cutting and his two brothers, Robert and Albert; Charles, Robert and Alexander Pope (three brothers); William and Leslie Clark (brothers); Maurice and Arthur Downey (cousins); H Smith, W Igglesden and C Southerden.

The full Board of Trade wreck report for 'Mary Stanford' is available here and the Wiki article here.

Its difficult to think of young chaps setting out to rescue a ship in those terrible conditions in todays sophisticated lifeboats, but can you imagine going out in an open boat in a Force 10 gale? There were concerns about the lifejackets the men were wearing and the BoT enquiry asked:

Question 14: Did the life jackets worn by the members of the crew fail to fulfil the objects for which they were designed? Did they cause or contribute to the loss of life?

Answer: Owing to the sea and weather which prevailed, it is impossible to say what happened to the life jackets worn, by the members of the crew from the time when the boat capsized until they reached the shore, or to say how the life jackets functioned. Neither is it possible to say that the life jackets caused or contributed to the loss of life.

The remains of the washed up Lifeboat on Broomhill Sands Nr Rye, East Sussex.

[BARRY]

thanks for info coast,the lifeboat hero's tend to get forgotten by the the folks who do not live near a lifeboat station.above are the men who died

here we have the salcombe lifeboat which like the rye had a disaster in 1913 when 13 men perished on the William and Emma when she was called to rescue a ship that had gone aground on prawle point in a force 9 gale,fortunately the ships crew were rescued by the coastguard but they were unable to contact the lifeboat and on it's return she capsized on the sandbar at the entrance to the harbour.

In 1983 salcombe lifeboat the Baltic exchange on a call to rescue 2 divers was hit by a massive wave and capsized,this time the self righting mechanism came in to it's own and the boat rolled upright one member of the crew mike hicks was thrown overboard and picked up successfully the 2 divers were rescued by the Torbay lifeboat and the salcombe boat made it safely back to the nearest port Dartmouth,from where she was checked over and limped back to salcombe and then on to Poole for repairs.

Edited November 15, 2008 by BARRY

[Wintergoose]

My late grandfather lost a number of his friends in this Lifeboat Disaster.

From what I heard in the family, my grandfather was one of the lifeboat

crew members, but was away that week fishing, and came home

to hear of the disaster.

Wintergoose

Edited November 15, 2008 by Wintergoose