LIFEBOAT DISASTER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9336, 28 December 1901, Page 3

LIFEBOAT DISASTER.

CAPSIZED ON THE NORFOLK COAST.

LONDON, Nov. 22. The most lamentable disaster of the many which have resulted from the recent gales occurred on the Norfolk coast this week, when the lifeboat Beauchamp, of | Caister, was capsized and nine! of the crew of twelve were drowned. The crew of the Beauchamp were musjtered at 11 o'clock on Wednesday night !to go to the assistance ofi a Lowetetof t fishing boat, which was burning flares m the vicinity of Barber Sand, off Caister. At the first launching 'the lifeboat was tossed to and fro like a cork, and then hurled back on the beach. Ib was not until 2. o'clock on Thursday morning, after repeated efforts, that the Beauchamp was at last got away. Darkness closed over her, and little groups stood about the beach to await the outcome of her perilous voyage. . No more was seen of,fche gallant craft until nearly 4 o'clock, when some boatmen standing near the lifeboat station were horror-stricken to see the boat being washed ashore keel uppermost. Dashing down to the beach and peering into the' darkness they saw as the Beauchamp was tossed high by a wave the faces of their comrades who were imprisoned beneath. As the gw&t waves drove the boat inshore men rushed into the sea and clutched at every body that could be reached. In this way three unconscious men were dragged ashore—Charles Knights, John Hubbard, and Walter Haylett, jun., the son of the coxswain, who was afterwards found dead at his post m the stern. The gunwale of the lifeboat was driven into the soft sand, and no more could be extricated. A sharp look-out was kept, and after the rescued mrti had been tenderly carried home five bodies were seen m the surf, and one by one brought to shore. These were William Wilson, Harry Knights, William Brown, James Haylett (a former coxswain), and John Smith, all married men except Knights. Some of the poor fellows had been terribly battered by the wave*. • After many fruitless efforts to right the capsized boat, further attempts were deferred until low water, when a big crowd hauling on two ropes got her on an even keel, disclosing three more bodies. These were found to be those oi Aaron Haylett, the coxswain, married; Charles Brown, married ; and George King, single. These were placed with the others id the little wooden lifeboat house, which was turned into a temporary chamber of death. Only one man remains to be accounted for— Charles George, a married man, who is supposed to have been swept 'away when the Beauchamp was capsized. The cause of the catastrophe is thus explained by Walter Haylett: — "We missed stays and lowered the mizzen sail -to run but she struck sand, and a wave hit her broadside and threw her over." The disaster leaves forty four children fatherless, some of whom, however, are grown up. Mr Charles Dibdin, the secretary of the National Lifeboat Institute, states that the Beauchamp, which capswed, belonged to a particular class of non-self-righting boats known as the Norfolk and Suffolk. These boats are m a very small minority. "Now, on the Norfolk and Suffolk coast the lifeboat men would decline to go to sea, m any other class of boat than the one which is called after them. On the other hand, the fisherman on other coast* would never pull an oar m such a boat. The prejudices on both sides are very strong, and one cannot attempt to ex- ] plain them satisfactorily. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the Beauchamp. She was presented by Lady Beauchamp, and was put on the station m 1892. She had been launched eighfcyone times m the period between then "and now, and has saved 146 lives. Moreover, the Caister station holds the record over all lifeboat stations for the number of lives saved through it— no fewer than 1381." At the inquest the coroner asked the witness whether he thought the" crew of the Beauchamp had given up their errand as a bad job. HayMt : -Caister lifeboatmen never turn back. They would have kept there till now, if necessary, to save men m distress. It was against the rule to go back when distress signals were shown. A Juror ; They are not bora with that kind of blood, sir.