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Mary Stanford Lifeboat Disaster 1928
East Sussex
Image Right The memorial grave at Rye Harbour.
RNLB Mary Stanford (ON 661) was a Liverpool-class lifeboat which capsized in Rye Harbour in 1928.
The disaster occurred on 15 November 1928 when the whole of the 17-man crew of the Mary Stanford Lifeboat were drowned, practically the whole male fishing population of the village of Rye Harbour.
Image left - The memorial stained glass window to the crew of the Mary Stanford Lifeboat that was lost in 1928. (Click on the image to access a large image). It can be seen at Winchelsea Church, (50°55′27″N 0°42′33″E), and was the work of Douglas Strachan Ll.D., H.R.S.A., an artist who designed windows in St Paul's Cathedral and Edinburgh Castle. It depicts a Lifeboat putting out to a ship in distress while figures on the shore watch as it goes. Image Courtesy of RYEHARBOUR.NET
In May 1914 a new Lifeboat was offered to Rye Harbour to replace the John William Dudly - a self-righting 10 oar Pulling and Sailing Liverpool class in service since 1900. The Coxswain at the time, William Southerden and two of the crew were invited to visit three Lifeboat Stations and inspect the different types of boats, doing similar work to that of the Rye Harbour boat. In July they visited Cromer and witnessed an exercise launch of the 'Louisa Heartwell'. The one that was chosen was a 38 ft (11.7 m) Liverpool non-self-righting pulling and sailing boat with 14 oars. This was thought to be the ideal craft to operate in the surf conditions of Rye Bay. According to the brother of one of those lost, the crew rejected a self-righting boat as it would have been too heavy to drag across the shingle and launch.
The cost of the Lifeboat was met by a legacy in Memory of Mary Stanford (Gorton) - the 2nd wife of Major Francis William Stanford of the 1st Life Guards, from County Mayo. After the loss of RNLB Mary Stanford (ON 661), John Frederick Stanford (1815-1880), son of Mary Stanford, paid for another lifeboat to be named Mary Stanford, built by Saunders Roe Ltd. RNLB, who built the boat that capsized. RNLB Mary Stanford (ON 733) (WIKI) had an illustrious career at Ballycotton on Ireland's southern coast from 1930 to 1959, saving 122 lives.
1916 - The Lifeboat was placed on Station at Rye Harbour on 19 October 1916. On 25 November 1916 she was launched on exercise in weather conditions that 'fairly tested her'. The Coxswain, crew and Officers of the Institution were satisfied with the result of the exercise.
In 1920 the RNLI sent out a circular to all Lifeboat crews around the Country asking what type of Lifebelt was preferred. The crew at Rye expressed a preference for the No 3 Lifebelt – the KAPOK. Exhaustive experiments had been made up to September 1917 by the Institution, with co-operation with the Board of Trade and their officers, to ensure that Jackets of No 3 pattern fulfilled the purposes for which they were designed. The belts had fulfilled the purposes under the conditions of the experiment.
14 November 1928 The Lifeboat was launched in a south-west gale with heavy rain squalls and heavy seas to the vessel Alice of Riga. News was received that the crew of the Alice had been rescued by another vessel and the recall signal was fired three times. However the crew of the Lifeboat did not see it. As the Lifeboat was coming into harbour she was seen to capsize and the whole of the crew were lost.
The seventeen men who lost their lives were
Names with Bold links are to Geni profiles or projects. Other links take you to external biographical web pages.
- Herbert Head, Coxswain age 47
and two of his sons
- James Head 19
- John Head 17 whose body was never found
- Joseph Stonham, 2nd Coxswain; 43
The Cutting Brothers
- Henry Cutting, Bowman 39, whose body was washed ashore at Eastbourne three months later.
- Robert Cutting 28
- Albert Cutting 26
Lifeboaters;
Three Pope brothers
Clark brothers
Downey cousins;
- Morriss Downey 23
- Arthur William Downey 25 All records suggest he was Arthur George A Downey.
Cousins (connections not yet established)
- Albert Smith 44. Albert was brother-in-law of the three Cutting brothers above.
- Walter Igglesden 38
- Charles Southerden 22. See image at Rye Harbour - Charles Southerden
Mary Stanford Memorial, Rye Harbour
The funeral was on Tuesday 20 November 1928 when 15 of the crew were buried in a communal grave. When Henry Cutting's body was found at Eastbourne 3 months later, it was bought back home to be interred in the communal grave with his fellow crew members. John Head's body was never recovered. There is an aerial photograph of the funeral which appeared on the front page of the Daily Mirror on Nov. 21st 1928.
A memorial tablet made of Manx stone was presented to Rye Harbour by the people of the Isle of Man.
At the inquest held at Rye Town Hall, with the Rye Borough Coroner Dr. T. Harrett presiding, the sea worthiness of the Lifeboat and competence of the crew were called into question. After evidence of identification and eye witness accounts the Inquest was adjourned. The next evening accusations were made about the suitability of the Lifejackets, said to be perished and worn resulting in them becoming water logged, weighing a man down. In response the RNLI stated that the KAPOK No 3 Lifejacket was adopted by the RNLI in 1917 and delivered to Rye Harbour in September of that year. The Lifejackets were tried in a heavy gale on 30 October 1917, and later voted 11 – 6 by the crew as being the preferred type. The Coroner recorded a verdict of death by accident. In response to the accusations, the RNLI asked the Board of Trade to hold a full enquiry into the disaster.
The Board of Trade Court of Enquiry sat at Rye Town Hall on 19, 20 and 21 December 1928 and the following 1, 2 and 4 January 1929. After their deliberation the court announced:
"As there were nosurvivors of the crew, the cause of the Lifeboat capsizing is a matter of conjecture, but from the evidence available we are of the opinion that whilst attempting to make the Harbour on a strong flood tide and in high and dangerous breaking sea, she was suddenly capsized and the crew were thrown into the water, two men being entangled under the boat. The broken water and heavy surf caused the loss of the crew".
The Mary Stanford remained at Rye Harbour until the Inquiry was over. In January 1929 she was taken to the RNLI depot at Poplar in east London where she was dismantled and broken up.
Mary Stanford Disaster Victims
This image has been shared extensively on Ancestry.co.uk and shows all 17 of the victims. Click the image to access larger image)
Images
There are a number of images relating to the various families at RYEHARBOUR.NET - including a collection of portraits - well worth a browse!
References, Sources and Further Reading
- FaceBook Page
- Rye Harbour Lifeboats - with gallery
Main Reference WIKI RNLB Mary Stanford (ON 661) Information shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License - see Creative Commons Licenses
this project is in History Link 