The Penlee lifeboat disaster

On December 19 1981, as people were preparing for Christmas, a severe storm battered the coast around Cornwall in the South West of England. It was this storm which would lead to it the loss of eight volunteers of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) aboard the Solomon Browne, a lifeboat from the Mounts Bay area of Cornwall, based at the Penlee Point lifeboat station.

The MV Union Star, on her maiden voyage from Ijmuiden in the Netherlands to Arklow in Ireland, developed an engine fault while approximately eight miles east of Wolf Rock. At this time the sea going tug Holland Noord offered assistance, under the salvage right rules operated by Lloyds, but this was refused by the Union Stars’ captain. Later, being driven by hurricane force winds into the rocks and cliffs of Boscawen Cove, with her engines contaminated with sea water and unable to start the Union Star requested assistance from the coastguard based at  Falmouth in Cornwall. A Royal Naval Sea King helicopter was dispatched from Royal Navy Air Station (RNAS) Culdrose. They made several attempts but were unable to rescue any of the people on the stricken vessel owing to the severe weather conditions.

A call was put out to man the lifeboat at Penlee Point and twelve volunteers from the nearby village of Mousehole arrived at the station. Of these twelve men eight were chosen ensuring that no two members of the same family were on the lifeboat as this was the regulation in such severe weather conditions. The lifeboat Solomon Browne, a 47 feet wooden hulled Watson class vessel, put to sea in a storm with 60mph winds, which were at times gusting to a hurricane force of 95mph, and waves reported to be 60 foot high.

The lifeboat made several attempts to come alongside twice being lifted onto the superstructure of  the Union Star and once smashing into her side eventually the lifeboat sent a radio message stating that they had four of the crew aboard and they were going back to rescue the rest. It was the last communication with either vessel, ten minutes later people watching from the shore reported losing sight of the lifeboats lights and the Union Star keeled over.

Lifeboats from the Lizard and the Isles of Scilly joined helicopters from RNAS Culdrose in a search and rescue for any survivors but there were none found from either vessel. Parts of the lifeboat were found along the coast and while the Union Star was found capsized on the rocks west of the Tater Du lighthouse. Eventually eight bodies were recovered four of the lifeboat crew and four from the Union Star. Whether the lifeboat was damaged by the Union Star keeling over on to her, being smashed into the surrounding rocks or even being overwhelmed by the mountainous seas is unknown.

The eight men from Mousehole who died that night were: Coxswain William Trevelyan Richards (aged 56), Second Coxswain/Mechanic James Stephen Madron (aged 35), Assistant Mechanic and local fisherman Nigel Brockman (aged 43), Emergency Mechanic also telephone engineer John Blewett (aged 43), Kevin Smith (aged 23), fisherman Barrie Torrie (aged 33), landlord of the Ship Inn in Mousehole Charles Greenhaugh (aged 46) and Gary Wallis (aged 23). The Union Star had been carrying eight people; five crew along with the Captains wife and his two teenage stepdaughters.

The tragic events of the 19 December caught the hearts of the British public and a public appeal raised £3 million for the families left behind in Mousehole. All of the Solomon Brownes’ crew were awarded posthumous medals by the RNLI. A Gold medal, the highest award given by the RNLI, being awarded to Coxswain Trevelyan Richards while the remaining crew were all awarded Bronze medals.

Every year on the 19 of December at 8 pm the Christmas lights in the village of Mousehole are turned off for one hour in memory of the men they lost. It is a tribute to those who died that immediately after the loss several new volunteers came forward from the village of Mousehole to ensure the continuation of the lifeboat service in the Mounts Bay area.

The Lifeboat station at Penlee point, which had been in use since 1913, now stands empty remaining a memorial to the Solomon Browne and her crew. A new lifeboat station has been built near by at Newlyn harbour and  men from Mousehole still man the lifeboats. The current Coxswain is Neil Brockman who is the son of Nigel Brockman one of the gallant crew who died that night. Newlyn lifeboat station currently houses two lifeboat vessels the larger Severn Class vessel, the Ivan Ellen, and a smaller Atlantic 75 boat, the Paul Alexander, used for inshore rescues amongst the coves and rocks of the area. 

An enquiry into the disaster held in 1982 held no one to blame for the loss of the two vessels citing the severe weather as the cause. However a change to the practices of the coastguard has been made allowing them to call a Mayday alert for a ship and authorising a salvage tug to be used.

The RNLI is a charity working with the coastguard to save lives around the coast of the United Kingdom. Originally set up as the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck in 1824 it became the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in 1854. Most of the lifeboats are manned by trained volunteers who are called to the stations by pager and the firing of maroons when required.

Lifeboat stations had been in existence around the coast of the United Kingdom prior to the forming of the RNLI and the one in the Mounts Bay area was first founded in 1803 in Penzance. In 1908 a further station was opened at Newlyn but this closed in 1913 when the Penlee Point station opened.

Penlee lifeboat  http://www.penlee-lifeboat.ik.com

RNLI  http://www.rnli.org.uk