36 Years ago tonight was the Penlee lifeboat tragedy

Should anyone visit Mousehole, go up the hill to Paul Church and pay their respects at the simple but moving memorial inside the church.

' None but the brave'
 
It was always a thoughtful night when we were on at Falmouth CG during the anniversary night, especially so when there was a storm on.

I briefly worked with a couple of the guys who had been on that night, both were deeply affected by the incident for years afterwards.

Don Buckfield, the legendary sector officer for Lands End, went on to coordinate many more rescues in the area along with his local team, undoubtedly one of the best in the country.

The lights in Mousehole will have been dimmed tonight.

It's my home area, and the sadness in the town and the whole Penwith peninsula that night is still palpable, even though I was only a kid at the time.

Fair winds Trev and crew.
 
I have two great friends - brothers - who are / were frontline RNLI crews like their medal winning father before them.

They watch and listen to that film now and again and discuss it, but I can see it strikes them deeply, as it should anyone who ever goes to sea let alone Lifeboat Crews.

I feel almost as troubled as them by the Solomon Browne film, also by the film about the 1979 Fastnet in the same series; when one has read the book ' Left For Dead ' and actually seen the boats beforehand, these things are all very deeply moving.
 
jimi said:
Incredibly brave men.
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Two things in particular move me deeply. One is that the Sennen lifeboat launched and tried unsuccessfully to get round Land's End, knowing that a similar lifeboat had been lost. The other is that within days a replacement crew had volunteered. These men are not as the rest of us.
 
I can't listen to the recording of the radio conversation between Solomon Browne and Falmouth CG without weeping... I was at school with one of the families, and knew a number of the crew from their occasional visits to the Old Coastguard in Mousehole when I was working there as a student
 
Gladys said:
I can't listen to the recording of the radio conversation between Solomon Browne and Falmouth CG without weeping... I was at school with one of the families, and knew a number of the crew from their occasional visits to the Old Coastguard in Mousehole when I was working there as a student
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One loud tourist once started going on about the disaster in the Ship a while back, basically saying people should get over it.

I really thought he was going to be lynched. Luckily a local copper was in, told the guy he reckoned he had about a minutes head start, and he took the hint.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Two things in particular move me deeply. One is that the Sennen lifeboat launched and tried unsuccessfully to get round Land's End, knowing that a similar lifeboat had been lost. The other is that within days a replacement crew had volunteered. These men are not as the rest of us.
Click to expand...

The Lizard lads had an horrendous journey across the bay, and St Mary's, even with their new Arun class, had an equally difficult time.

Derek Tangye writes movingly about the night in his book, as he lived on the coast virtually in the wreck location.
 
I remember as a kid at middle school in the 80's having a day trip to the RNLI in Poole.
At the end of the trip we went past a large hangar type building and in it was the remains of the Solomon Browne.
A few pieces of bent metal and the remains of a prop shaft and bent propellor, that was all that was left :-0
I will never forget that school trip, even as a 9 year old kid it hit home.
Brave doesn't quite 'cut it'
RIP Solomon Browne
 
dancrane said:
If anybody doesn't remember or didn't know, watch...

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Thank you for the link.
When I was In Newlyn in 2013 I learned about the disaster but I did not know the full story.
You can only feel very humble thinking about the character of the men who go out in those conditions to save the lives of people they have never met, and be very grateful for the likes of them.
 
Thank goodness that the coastguard now has powers to order a tow to be taken.
I have always wondered why ship's captains are so averse to accepting a Lloyds open form tow. Surely all merchant ships are insured and accepting such a tow will only cost the insurers?
 
Thank you for the link.
I knew of the event but very little detail. Very sobering viewing but I am glad I did.
 
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