
RNLI Llandudno remembers the quiet hero of the station from seventy years ago
Seventy years ago, in 1953, Mr Trevor Davies, the seventh Coxswain in the station’s history, retired after almost fourteen years in the role and almost forty years on the crew.
Thanks to his granddaughter Jan, who has presented the station with Trevor’s Coxswain’s cap and a few family items, Llandudno RNLI now knows a little more about Trevor than just his photograph.
Born locally in 1893, Trevor went to sea aboard a three masted topsail schooner Mary B Mitchell and served aboard her for a few years as a boy seaman rising to Able Seaman. At that time, this graceful little ship traded mostly in slate, although was briefly converted into a yacht by Lord Penrhyn and used in the Mediterranean. In 1913, Trevor went ‘deep sea’ aboard the much larger sailing ship – the Boedicea - on a voyage to Australia and back, including a very rough and dangerous passage around the notorious Cape Horn at the tip of South America.
Returning to Llandudno in 1914, Trevor joined the Royal Field and Horse Artillery, serving throughout the First World War.
Returning home in 1919 and already a member of the lifeboat crew, then operating the pulling and sailing lifeboat Theodore Price, Trevor worked locally on trip boats and on Llandudno pier for the remaining of his working life, supplementing his income during the winter months with other jobs.
Trevor was second Coxswain aboard Llandudno’s first motor lifeboat Thomas and Annie Wade Richards in June 1939 when the submarine Thetis failed to surface during a test dive. The lifeboat took the station’s Honorary Medical Advisor out to the scene but unfortunately there were only four survivors. The incident made an impression on Trevor, especially when the lifeboat returned a few days’ later to lay wreaths.
During the Second World War, Llandudno Lifeboat was involved not only in its normal range of service calls but also searching for crashed aircraft. In January 1944, Trevor was Coxswain during a severe south westerly gale when the lifeboat was asked to take emergency supplies to a light vessel fifteen miles north of Llandudno.
When Trevor retired, he had served on three pulling and sailing lifeboats and two motor lifeboats. He was directly involved in saving over sixty lives. A quiet hero of the station.
For more information, please contact Jonathan Coe, Llandudno Lifeboat Press Officer on 07910 861193. Alternatively contact Eleri Roberts, RNLI Media Officer on 01745 585162 / 07771 9413
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