Sennen Cove Lifeboats: An Illustrated History

Sennen Cove’s 16m Tamar lifeboat City of London III in Gamper Bay. (Tim Stevens)

To Edward

Contents

Title

Dedication

Introduction

1853–1880            The First Lifeboats

1880–1922            RNLI Pulling Lifeboats

Lifeboat Houses    Getting the Boat Afloat

1922–1948            The First Motor Lifeboat

1948–1973            Susan Ashley

1973–1991            Diana White

1991–1998            The Four Boys

1998–2009            Norman Salvesen

2009–                   City of London III

Appendices

Plates

Copyright

The 16m Tamar City of London III being recovered after her naming ceremony, April 2010. (Nicholas Leach)

Introduction

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is justifiably proud of its long history of saving lives at sea. The famous hymn by William Whiting, ‘Eternal Father strong to save’, captures the selfless and gallant spirit of those who risk their lives for no reward to rescue ‘those in peril on the sea’. Nowhere is this gallantry and selflessness more evident than on the coast of Cornwall, where those who crew the county’s lifeboats have performed numerous outstanding deeds and courageous acts, many of which are celebrated as part of the region’s heritage. At the county’s tip lies Land’s End and a mile to the north, the small village of Sennen Cove, a delightful place on a calm summer day but fearsome when a strong westerly gale blows in from the Atlantic.

For a century and a half those who use the seas off Land’s End have been protected by the selfless service given by the volunteer lifeboat crews of Sennen Cove, one of the RNLI’s fourteen stations in Cornwall. The Sennen station has a proud history since its establishment in the 1850s up to the operation of the station’s current state-of-the-art lifeboats. The 16m Tamar City of London III and D class inflatable Spirit of the RLC are ready to help those in difficulty off the Land’s End coast and put to sea 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in times of need. The station is one of 235 managed by the RNLI throughout the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, and funded entirely by voluntary contributions.

Acknowledgements

This book could not have been written without the assistance of a number of people, and I am grateful to Lifeboat Operations Manager John Chappell and Coxswain Terry George at Sennen Cove for their help in supplying information and checking through the book. I am particularly grateful to Tim Stevens for supplying numerous photos and ensuring the photographic content of the book was of the highest standard. Thanks also to Peter Puddiphatt, Jack Lancaster, Andrew Carne, Phil Weeks, Peter Edey, Tony Denton and Paul Richards for supplying photographs for possible inclusion. My continued thanks to various members of staff at the RNLI in Poole, notably Barry Cox in the library and Elise Chaney, for facilitating my researches into lifeboat history.

Nicholas Leach, 2014

Two views of Sennen Cove taken in dramatically different conditions. Above: Sennen Cove with the lifeboat house seen from Escalls Carn, with the Longships lighthouse in the distance; below: the cove during a fierce storm on 10 March 2008, with the power of the Atlantic evident. (Tim Stevens)

1853–1880

The First Lifeboats

Cornwall has a reputation amongst seafarers for having one of the most treacherous coastlines in Britain. The rugged granite cliffs keep back the sea as the county’s coasts take the full force of the Atlantic in the prevailing westerly winds, which frequently rise to gale force during the winter. In navigating the county’s coasts, the sailor is presented with many and varied dangers. The south coast is characterised by inlets, wide bays, estuaries and natural harbours which can safely accommodate vessels both small and large, while in contrast rugged cliffs and rocky outcrops typify the north coast where harbours of reasonable size are few and far between. One particular fascination to visitors of Cornwall is Land’s End. More than a million people visit this granite outcrop each year to gaze out over the sea, into the wide Atlantic, over the mythical land of Lyonesse and towards the Isles of Scilly, but few will truly appreciate the natural forces of sea, wind and tide at this point of the coast.

Sennen Cove in the late nineteenth century with the lifeboat house just to the left of centre. The circular building near the lifeboat house is the capstan house. (Courtesy of Sennen Cove RNLI)

A mile to the north, and at the western tip of the peninsula, lies the small village of Sennen Cove. Despite its exposed position, the small harbour, at the cove created beneath the cliff, at one time catered for large boats in considerable numbers. They would be hauled up out of the reach of the tide and launched through a channel cut in the rocks. The catch was cured ashore for export from Newlyn. Seine fishing collapsed after the First World War as motorised drifters could reach the shoals before they came into the bays.

An old postcard of the Longships lighthouse showing the tower before the helicopter platform was added above the lantern in 1974. This tower was constructed in 1875 and was automated in 1988. (Tim Stevens)

The villagers of Sennen have witnessed the demise of many vessels on this treacherous coast. Although a variety of circumstances contributed to ships being lost in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, being trapped by bad weather was the most common for those wrecked on the Cornish coast. The meeting of different tidal races at Land’s End produces confused seas that in times of storms have caught out innumerable craft that have ended their days smashed on the granite rocks. This part of the coast offers no safe havens in which to shelter when running from bad weather. When sail was the primary means of power, vessels would make for the safety of St Ives Bay to the north or Mount’s Bay to the south, but within minutes a shift in wind direction could turn either bay into a potential deathtrap, as vessels, caught on a lee shore, were dependent on the strength of their anchor chains for survival. Those craft relying solely on wind power were helpless in the face of storms and gales, and valuable crews and cargoes were often lost through shipwreck.

Darkness made navigation more problematical, as did fog. Considering these natural hazards, it is not surprising that wrecks in the area have been many and frequent. In 1693, almost three-quarters of a convoy of 100 ships caught in a storm were wrecked. In 1703, HMS Colchester was wrecked in Whitesand Bay with the loss of about 100 lives, and between 1823 and 1846 almost 150 vessels were wrecked between Land’s End and Trevose Head.

The first attempts to improve the situation involved the construction of lighthouses to mark dangerous points on the coast, with leading lights to guide ships into ports. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries many lighthouses were built, and today no fewer than four major lighthouses mark the dangerous Land’s End peninsula. Two lay offshore, marking hidden reefs – Longships and Wolf Rock – and two stand on headland at Pendeen and Lizard.

A lighthouse to mark the Longships reef, which lies a mile off Land’s End, was first constructed in 1795. The most prominent and western of the rocks which make up the reef is known as Carn Bras and on this was built, in 1794–95, the first lighthouse by Lieutenant Henry Smith, working in conjunction with Trinity House. It was 40ft in height and stood on the highest part of the rock, about 40ft above sea level. Often obscured by heavy seas breaking over the reef, it was damaged on a number of occasions and so as a result, Trinity House decided to build a bigger tower. The new tower was completed over the course of three years on a site alongside the first tower, and it was first lit in 1883. Although the station is now operated automatically, until 1967, when an electric light was installed, it was manned by lightkeepers who were relieved by a boatman living in Sennen Cove where the keepers’ families lived in a row of cottages on the cliff top at Land’s End. In 1974, a helipad was constructed on the lantern top. The light today covers the Brisons, the inside passage, and the Runnelstone Rock, and the white light has a range of 19 miles.

Pendeen lighthouse, completed in 1900, is situated on the north coast of the Land’s End peninsula. (Paul Richards)

The Wolf Rock lies just over 8 miles to the south and a little to the west of Land’s End and for centuries has been one of the most formidable obstacles to shipping entering the English Channel. The rock itself is one of the most exposed of any in the British Isles, and building a lighthouse on it was impossible until the nineteenth century, when construction techniques had become sufficiently advanced. Work on the granite tower, designed by James Walker, began in 1861 and continued for more than eight years. The tower was completed on 19 July 1869 and the light became operational the following year. The tower’s diameter at the base is 12.7m tapering to 5.2m at the top, and in total the tower consists of 3,297 tons of granite.

The lighthouse to the north of Sennen is Pendeen Watch. The stretch of coast between Land’s End and St Ives is bleak but the sea lanes are busy, and countless ships have been wrecked upon its rocky shores. The buildings that comprised the lighthouse were constructed during 1900 and the light itself was commissioned on 26 September 1900. Originally fitted with an oil lamp, it was connected to mains electricity in 1926. On the southern side of Land’s End is Tater Du lighthouse, established in 1965 to mark the Runnelstone, a dangerous rock under the headland which had previously been marked by a buoy.

The First Sea Rescuers

Despite improvements in navigation and the building of lighthouses, lifeboats on Cornwall’s coasts were needed still, as wrecks remained commonplace. The first lifeboat in Cornwall, stationed at Penzance in 1803, was one of more than thirty boats built by Henry Greathead at South Shields. This boat, 27ft in length and 10ft in beam, cost 150 guineas, of which the insurance company Lloyds contributed £50, while the remainder was made up from local subscriptions. Despite initial enthusiasm, maintenance to keep the boat operational was not forthcoming and it was sold in 1812, never having performed a rescue. No more lifeboats were built for Cornwall until the 1820s with the founding of the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNIPLS), established in 1824 to be responsible for ‘the preservation of lives and property from shipwreck’ on a nationwide basis. This encompassed the funding, building, operation and maintenance of lifeboats and lifeboat stations. Initially quite successful, the new organisation placed a number of lifeboats in Cornwall, including one at St Mary’s (Isles of Scilly). However, local initiatives tended to prevail in the county and lifeboats built for Padstow in 1827 and for Bude a decade later were both funded locally.

Elsewhere, after initially being quite successful in increasing the number of lifeboats around the country, by the 1840s the organisation’s efforts started to falter through lack of funds. The Institution found raising money for lifeboats difficult and its income dwindled during the 1830s and 1840s until, by 1850, the level of finance available to the Committee of Management was at its lowest level. Improvements were essential if lifesaving work was to continue. Matters improved when, on 2 May 1851, Algernon, Duke of Northumberland was appointed President, and through his energy and efforts working alongside the secretary Richard Lewis, much-needed improvements were implemented.

Diagram of a standard Peake self-righting lifeboat. The Peake-designed self-righter was altered and improved over time, and became the accepted standard lifeboat design throughout the country during the nineteenth century.

Contemporary line drawing showing various Cornish lifeboats at Penzance on 10 September 1867 for the naming of the Mullion lifeboat and a keenly contested race, won by the Sennen lifeboat Cousins William and Mary Ann of Bideford.

In 1851, the Duke produced a report which contained a survey of the lifeboat stations then in existence. In the entries for Cornwall, the report highlights the need for a lifeboat at Sennen, stating: ‘Lifeboat much wanted here. It will be placed forthwith by the NSI.’ Renamed the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), the organisation began to make new public appeals for finance. A new design of lifeboat, the self-righter, was developed and the newly reformed Institution increased lifeboat provision. In Cornwall many new stations were established. Apart from Sennen, stations at Bude, Penzance (both in 1853) and Padstow (in 1856) all received new lifeboats.

The station at Sennen Cove was established as the result of a shipwreck that occurred in January 1851 which, as well as drawing attention to the need for a lifeboat, also saw one of the most heroic rescues ever undertaken in Cornwall. Early in the morning of 11 January 1851, in thick fog, the 250-ton two-masted snow New Commercial, of Whitby, struck the Brisons, a pair of rocks about a mile south-west of Cape Cornwall, and broke up. The crew of eight, together with the Master and his wife, reached a ledge on the rock from where they were seen at daybreak, but because of the high seas nothing could be done to assist. Matters worsened when, at about 9 a.m., a large wave washed them off the ledge, and all but three drowned. One of the survivors, Isaac Williams, left the rock on a portion of floating wreck and, assisted by the tide, got into Whitesand Bay where he was picked up by the small boat Grace that had been launched by William Roberts with four other Sennen fishermen.

Meanwhile, Captain and Mrs Sanderson remained on the Little Brison. Throughout the afternoon of 11 January, further attempts were made to reach the stranded couple. Captain George Davies, RN, Inspecting Commander of the Coastguard at Penzance, ordered the Revenue cutter Sylvia to come round from Penzance and up to Land’s End while he, along with Lieutenant Maxey RN, of the Sennen Coastguard and a Pendeen man, took up positions on Cape Cornwall. Sylvia made her way round the Longships, being completely hidden at times by spray. As they came abreast of the Cape, Thomas Randall Forward, Commander of the Revenue cutter, launched a boat and with four men tried to get near the rock, but failed. As daylight was failing, the rescuers reluctantly halted their efforts until the next day.

By the following morning, 12 January, hundreds of people thronged the cliffs to watch as no fewer than six vessels attempted a rescue. Four boats came from Sennen, one manned by the Coastguard and the other three by local fishermen. Captain Davies arrived in charge of a preventative boat from Pendeen, while the cutter’s own boat was again launched under Thomas Forward. They were cheered as they attempted to reach the Brisons, but the sea was so rough that no boat could get to within 100 yards. However, Captain Davies, who was in one of the boats, had brought several Dennett Rockets. Although this rocket had never been tried here before, it was the only chance to rescue the two survivors, who were by this time in a terrible condition. The danger to Davies of firing the rocket from his boat, with a line attached, was considerable but he decided it was the best hope. The printed instructions stated that the person firing should be several feet to the rear to avoid danger, but this advice was ignored.

Gunner Selby volunteered for the task, but Captain Davies decided to attempt the firing himself. He put his crew in a Sennen boat, fixed the triangle in position, placed another boat astern to train his own, and fired the rocket. The first line fell short but the second reached the rock and landed close to Captain Sanderson on the Little Brison. The Captain fastened it around his wife’s waist and she jumped into the sea, being pulled to the waiting rescue boat. Despite surviving a succession of huge waves that broke over the rocks, she died of exhaustion before reaching the shore. The Master was pulled into another boat, after which all were safely landed at Sennen. The bodies of Mrs Sanderson and several of the crew were later buried in the churchyard at Sennen.

For the outstanding effort made in trying to effect a rescue over the two days, Captain Davies, who became Inspector of Lifeboats, and Thomas Randall Forward, Commander of the cutter Sylvia, were both awarded the RNLI’s gold medal; silver medals went to Charles S. Carr, gunner from the Revenue cutter; James Richards, William Surrey, Henry Jones and Henry Richards, mariners from the cutter; James Ward, first-class boy from the cutter; James Burne, Thomas Kerley, Robert Eastaway and William Henry Selley, boatmen of the Sennen coastguard; and other awards were made to the Sennen boatmen who had put out in the atrocious conditions, including William Roberts and the four men of Grace, and Samuel Nicholas and the four men of Two Brothers.

A Lifeboat for Land’s End

The impetus for a lifeboat station at Sennen had been provided