Dramatic history of lifeboat volunteers at RNLI Lyme Regis captured in new book
The life and times of the Lyme Regis lifeboat crew – and the lifeboats themselves – are documented in a new book from the RNLI due to be launched on the 22 July, the first day of this year’s Lifeboat Week in the town.
Written by the station’s Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer Richard Horobin, a retired newspaper and BBC journalist, the fully illustrated book is part of the charity’s history book project.
It tells of how a makeshift lifeboat service started in the town in 1826, and how a Christmas tragedy led to Lyme Regis getting a ‘proper’ lifeboat, powered by sails and oars, 27 years later.
With help from local historians and lifeboat supporters, the author has brought to life a fascinating collection of stories about dedicated volunteers who have ran a lifeboat service in the town, despite all the odds, over a period of nearly 160 years. It describes how they would row the lifeboat for hours to reach a stricken vessel, with no twin 115 horsepower engines such as the ones that power today’s modern lifeboat.
Stories range from the crew member who was shipwrecked eight times as a mariner to the coxswain who served the lifeboat for 34 years and was famed for his strength, picking up a man with one arm and placing him on a table. He also salvaged a huge barrel of alcohol from a shipwreck and carried it single handed up a cliff! There was also a dramatic episode when a ship was torpedoed by a German submarine a short distance from Lyme Regis harbour.
In more recent times there was the tale of the amazing survival of a couple whose helicopter crashed into Lyme Bay in dense fog, followed by the tragedy of a severely disabled woman whose wheelchair fell into Lyme Regis harbour and the desperate attempts made to save her.
There are the lighter moments too, such as the crew Christmas Dinner when the annual awards are presented, including the Bent Propeller trophy! The story of Lifeboat Week, starting from the early 70s, includes the ditching of a Navy helicopter into the sea, which wasn’t part of the event, although the hundreds who witnessed were unaware of this.
The new book will be available to purchase from the RNLI Lyme Regis Lifeboat Shop on the Cobb and at other outlets in the town from 22 July. It is priced at £8.95 with all proceeds going to the RNLI, the charity that saves lives at sea.
RNLI notes to editors
The enclosed photo shows:
- Lyme Regis Lifeboat Station Histories book cover.
Please credit RNLI/Lyme Regis.
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The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.
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