penlee lifeboat diaster - cruel sea

then Zico scored low we are unable to get him started at the moment 25 years ago a cargo ship called the Union star southern engine failure off the coast of Cornwall in hurricane winds and sixty foot waves the Penley lifeboat set forth to try and rescue the ship's crew eight men all volunteers made the ultimate sacrifice in one of the greatest disasters in lifeboat history I look back on it and I see those men on the rails and the efforts they did in the rocks and you can't imagine that the bravery of people like that despite the finest 25 years you know she went out and she still I and there's that gap and in people's lives and feelings that I think will never go away other people alive who experienced you know I used to long as a journalist that I would get a world exclusive I got my wish but it broke my heart in the far south of Cornwall just a few miles from land's end lies a place called Mazal the events that happened here 25 years ago changed this small village forever scarring the lives of those left behind in 1981 Mouser was a close-knit fishing community at the heart of which was the Penley lifeboat based a mile from nozzle off Penley point she was called the Solomon Brown and she was the pride and joy of the dalish the Solomon Brown was a wooden watson class lifeboat we were quite pleased with her because she'd been recently refitted and we thought that she was the state-of-the-art boat but it was a class about that was stationed all around the country when I was growing up the life it was a big part of the village those it was just starting to become a tourist village it's more there's you know more locals living here and it's just somebody always wanted to do I was wondering the lifeboat I remember used to run it not as a child and album scrubby day the things ahead most of the crew were born and bred in Basel many of them were fishermen and they were all devoted volunteers they were led by the Coxon Trevelyan Richards you're still getting the family element in lifeboat crews fathers sons and grandsons and that sort of yes yes we got water till the Mariner hunting crew where do they come from an event what sort of profession are they mostly fishermen and they come the surveillance is what I do not fish maybe our connections with the scenes so I pretty lucky in a way here the know you've got a cruiser Kaori Cavalia was a good cop he was a character in his way and sat in his ways fishermen all his life I think we all do establish right although you are the constant you've got a full-time job with the trawler skipper that's right yes this is just a part-time job I think he was in the old garden when the war was on but as a Coxon he was an extremely nice man I think in every community or was that a nucleus of people they all stand above the rest in what they do because they they can take any flak from anyone they don't really care you know and then always marchons what they think is true I think traveling up on the top notch with them nobody would contradict him you know he was the boss he was a hell of a character as well you know he could be quite hard on them or he could be really you know I mean they could be pretty wild at times then you had to have fun on the night of the 19th of December 1981 Mazal was all set for Christmas the village had a unique way of marking the festive season Christmas is a big thing amazing and we have the local Christmas lights on every year and it is a big celebration we have a thing called tampoco Steve which is a day before Christmas Eve such a 23rd December when all the local fishermen and seamen get together and have a like a great big party if you like really it's good on it it was a big thing amazing everybody was drinking laughing joking darts have just started I think I just under draw for lapin everyone is laughing and saying cool how'd you come to pick me out again so and so like you know whilst people were enjoying themselves outside the weather was gradually deteriorating it had gone from a high wind to this extraordinarily screaming wild Gale in a very very short time it had a sort of strange and out in the wind I'm not making this up it really did it was her screaming sort of noise which I've never heard of as the weather worsen out at sea the Union star was struggling with engine 8 people undo teeth at night to receive the calls was colleen Sturman a Leyland star told us just after 6 o'clock that he had an engine problem which in itself is not unusual we have ships callers with engine problems several times a week even today but he said that obviously the weather conditions were bad and he was concerned that if he couldn't get his engine started that they would be in difficulty we why into my engine sighs I'll get the main engine started we'll have to take everybody off I get a toggle someone's authority the Union star was on her maiden voyage carrying fertilizer from Holland to Island it was one of a fleet of of coasters um built by Union Transport who were having a very successful time it was a good model because it was fit for work in coastal waters it was very low-profile and so it could go up under the bridges of the the big rivers in Europe and they built four of them much lived about 20 pounds bees the union's dollars that was the latest one the skipper of this brand-new boat was Henry Morton happy-go-lucky type of guy and very professional and they're straight down the line really he didn't take any messing off anybody and he's there so pleasant enough guy really hospitals I spoke to him in the morning about tell o'clock and he said everything was going alright and I asked him will he be round a corner we called lands under Gordon reset about just a thirty and then he'd be running away with the weather towards aqua and seemed quite happy and asking what the weather was like and they told me that suits suddenly about force five but it was forecast to deteriorate during the day and he saw me that ship was handling it quite well it was rolling a bit but by early evening the situation was very different yeah we just probably just hold the land in line with trying to start the engine and we get it out the white and we get there like nobody worried how far the Union star might be drifting the Coast Guard sent one of their local officers to a lookout point just along the coast from Mosel one call from Falmouth to say that there's a vessel in trouble near the wolf and would I start the radar up and put a radar plot on to positively identify the position by the time I got up here and put a marker on him only radar he drifted some to the north the Union star was heading straight towards the treacherous coastline if you come ashore on this coast you've got very little chance of getting off and you break up quite quickly you imagine a yacht coming ashore on any of these points in even weather like this and it'll go down very quickly in Mazel the Penley lifeboat was put on standby two of the crew members waiting for the call were Nigel Brockman and his son Neil my dad was a second or assistant mechanic he was known as ed and he would have been in charge of the radios and the radar and do been advocating this stuff'll ago and Eukarya Nigel we got great our master sandwich Woodson River and West Minister's VHF one way one what's your aim most people knew my father he could never be serious man he was always joking around he was like the litter of the pack if anything Stuber was up and he'd be the middle doing it you know soon I like winos who I've never heard anyone say a bad word about it never everyone I've ever spoke to her corrupted people I don't even know about me I said they knew my father which I like you know they say I'm us you know I must have already been like dude Stalin Stalin Stalin a salvage tug was contacted to tow the stricken Union star but this would involve paying Salvage costs as part of a contract called a Lloyd's open form so Morton declined the offer yes I the woven pool she's interested the money at the moment when he was talking to the tug captain very early on the tug captain said shall I come out and he said yes come on standby and so the tug captain said well will you accept Lords open form and he said obviously you know bitterly to to make a commitment to do that use that the lifeboat might be needed began to spread throughout Mazal one of the youngest volunteers was merchant seaman Kevin Smith who happened to be home for Christmas loved to see the sea was in his blood he always to me seemed to be like a free spirit he'd go off to sea you never quite know when he was coming back and he'd come back and it was like a breath of fresh air blowing through the village well kevin was my brother-in-law at the time my sail with kevin many times when i was fishing a great boat bit fun anything goes really you know there there's a bit a massive zest for life six years earlier the Solomon Brown had taken part in the rescue of a sinking ship called the Lovett Kevin was a crew member even though he'd only been a teenager at the time you I know we're on the Lovett rescue weren't you that was not very pleasant I was 75 early and you were young yeah if I believe you were too young to have been there officially slowly tells me so yeah kevin was very young 15 16 he'd actually fabricated his age to get on the boat point and went out on the Lovett rescue and was pulling men out of the sea that were younger than him and he was awarded on vellum for that very very brave thing to have done did you enjoy what he wouldn't raise a damnable question but you'll remember it I'm a gentleman the Penley crew had to pull several dead bodies out of the water they were all honored by the RNLI for their role in the rescue make the most of the crew with a lot of speaking on board the boat I think is all sort of children that you know but I think what I've said to most of all was when they took the officer aboard 16 yes I love it was a bad job every we five men losing life ago we had but when you get a youngster 16 or everything look forward to and place enough terrific Abner in a Somaly wind gusting up to 40 levin which is hurricane force even the broken waves when they hit the cliff were some 30 foot in height I've never seen sea conditions as bad as that and I've never seen since with a suitcase full of water well hello will join us use estar but think I'm hoping that one is okay could you give it a like something helicopter please okay see a massive every with water in the future it was now impossible to restart the engines of the Union star and a helicopter was needed the pilot who would communicate with Martin was Russell Smith an American who is in England on a naval exchange program when we first set off is only about 30 40 knots of wind maybe a little more not all that bad really but as we proceeded to the scene the weather worsened significantly very rapidly and and we could tell this can be a full Gale very shortly initially the position was given those eight miles east of wolf Rock which put her about six miles south of Saturday right when we identified the correct position with the helicopter from the flare she was only about two two and a half miles off the coast which made things significantly different from a response point of view with union star so close to shore the Penley lifeboat was asked to launch the launch crew that night were Dudley Penrose and Raymond Pomeroy it was their job to launch the lifeboat safely nothing like 25 years ago no no no brave men great men neither what other people wouldn't have gone that night I know well the first I knew that the lifeboat was wanted I knew it was a terrible night we all knew that it was a terrible day in the making the first I heard of it was the Coxon's life civilians mother civilians mother phoned me to say that the boat was wounded and that was about 10:00 date and that evening when the Maroons were heard all the crews stopped what they were doing and rushed to the lifeboat station one of those was 33 year old Barry Torre a fisherman who was married with two young sons Barry was just crew member I've been on there long long time um not sure how old he was when he first went um but just a teenager I think um it's just part of his life part of his upbringing just always been at sea we'd plan to go out and we had a babysitter organized then the shat went out that they were going Barry went and said I'll see you later then I was kind of trying to decide well shall I just wait here or shall I you know gang because we were meeting some friends so I I went out with these friends and we were only in the village he knew where I was and just sort of waited more than a dozen men responded to the call but only eight were needed terellian chose the fest curry ad for that job the ones he knew could do that job the ones he could trust or not trust him that the best hands he had the best grooming he had for that job he wanted his most experienced crew that night because it was a hellish night really you know he knew it's gonna be tough Trevelyan took Barry Tory Kevin Smith Nigel Brockman and the lifeboat mechanic Stephen Madren he also chose Charlie green off the landlord of the local pub John blooood and the 22 year old Gary Wallace the eight was selected for their skill and experience but none could have predicted the outcome of that terrible night the crew roll they're all drastic which is really you know unusual for us because lifeboat men dress the occasion but everybody was dressed properly that night I always remember rebellion helping Barry Barry Tory with his love jacket because Barry didn't like wearing life jackets and he wouldn't wear one as a rule but that night he had to put one on and Trevelyan had it show him and help him on with it you know all the crew were around the stern of the blackboard use always stand around the stern when he lunched and that night Trevelyan got him all inside because of such a such a bad night Jim with a seeing spray breaking all right over the lifeboat after he put them mast up the exhaust went up the mast mm-hmm and you had to put the mast up to you know four to start the engines up at only 17 Neil was too young but Trevelyan was also keen not to take two members of the same family I was absolutely gutted because I never went I was upset I never would nice to go and I got saved the boat was lost so I've never seen a Peter see Richard like I had to get that boat people don't realize what the weather was like that like to get that boat in the water it was some piece of SEMA ship we waited and waited and waited morphic quite a few minutes to catch the right moment to not rather slip she went down the sea at the bottom the slip and she went down behind the next one and was gone but when we closed the doors up that night Raymond and myself were the last to leave the boathouse and the wind was whistling through the rafters awful eerie feeling and there was always that suspicion it wasn't a very good it'll be a very good night 47 foot boat is about the size of a decent yacht nowadays and as soon as they went down the slip neighbor but they were in very rough seas and they would have been completely awash the decks would have been awash and even the after cabin water used to slosh around in it because of his self-training situation so life on board even without going on deck would have been quite horrendous you'd have breaking seas breaking over the boat the boat would be rolling all the time pitching forward back up they like Peter like beating a wasp machinist Budapest we describe it the swollen brain had to physically drive around your did like the engines spin the wheels they've been very hard to control the Pope as Trevelyan confirmed that the lifeboat has set off the helicopter was already on the scene yes stimulant the ocean was very confused and and getting worse and the casualty was on scene bouncing significantly rolling in the sea again tried to start over put the on clear as day the only only had their navigation lights when I first came on scene and we were attempting to effect a rescue at that point and and then he put his anchor out and turned bow into the sea and we asked him at that point would he mind putting on his his you know turn on some more lights so he could see the boat better and and position ourselves better and such because it was black night he couldn't see a thing and couldn't see where the vote was moving very much and so he turned on all his floodlights we asked the crew if they wanted to come off and initially they were sorting out trying to start the engines and and then from that point as the weather was worsening and they were drifting toward the coast and and we were trying to get their attention that that was happening fairly quickly they then decided to remove the woman and two children and that was our first surprise with the there was a woman and two children on board how many people do you plan on transferring one woman and two to another side Vega one woman and sushil another side Vega one woman and two children the crew will remain aboard until yes that's great the woman was Martin's wife Dawn the children were his stepdaughters he'd picked them up on route so that they'd be together for Christmas Donald Rijn came over from South Africa and they were gonna say in England and that's why the reason why the girls rumbled I think it it possibly had an effect on the thinking of the captain certainly because he would obviously have this emotional issue to deal with it's bad enough just then I would look after the crew let alone your wife and two young girls who probably never been on a ship before and then probably only been like a couple of days on board the ship they may have been seasick during her during the passage so it would be very difficult and another thing that I don't think is well known that turned dawn was actually pregnant at the time Kenya's God regulate grow we have a bit of sorting out on his rope before we're ready yeah hold on a super which anyone is feeling another fighting match he about Yolanda thank you the wind was now freshening probably well at least 60 mile an hour probably more the waves at that point were about 50 foot seas and it was getting more difficult there were times we had to rapidly change our position because the ship was coming up and higher than we expected and there were a couple times it came very close to our rotors of the helicopter if that happened they would break the rotors we wouldn't be here and so we had to adjust it a number of times because the ship would suddenly pitch much more violently than than was expected get started there's a regulator on TV let's guys do yes got a clip we tried lowering the crewmen this ship was sideways to the to the waves and such and a confused sea and it was rolling significantly and pitching and it was difficult getting our crewman down my concentration was on the deck that I was trying to get to I'm at this stage not in communication with the aircraft I'm at they're there in their hands and they're trying to put me onto that deck and I do recall how very clean and new the green painted deck look and I remember focusing on this piece of green deck and they brought the first lady out and one of the men was effectively holding her against the bulkhead standing on this deck and I was focused on the deck and she got these his bright pink court shoes on I couldn't tell you anything else about her but looking at that piece of deck where I was aiming this is an enduring memory of these bright pink court shoes which was sewing Congress in that that violent situation cardigan in charge that's looking too difficult for rescuing zero as far as safety concern we're getting very close to your back and we don't have a long enough highlight the dreadful conditions have made a helicopter rescue too dangerous the Union star was less than a mile from the shore and her fate now rested on the efforts of Trevelyan mantis stars a lifeboat injuries are the family loss per unit is not a theorem you have to come on solid on take the will in the children are a yes please yes first the top seven abit difficulty getting game to a so if you could pop out and get the women and well the search another woman off I'll be very much obliged though is that the old sailor women and children first but I think it still holds now I think you would go for women and children first and you and it would make a difference although you're there to save any life is precious that's what we were that's what we do for a living we save lives we if we think we can save so we'll save them we've got more shackles of cable out we've already lost one anchor portions of cable out trying to hold a frontier rudder with a helicopter standing by the Penley lifeboat fought to come alongside the Union star we're all coming up when we pulled off to let the the lifeboat go in they were now pretty well into the shallows and into the very severe breaking seeds and we effectively sat and watched whilst they tried to affect that that rescue you can see that Solomon Brown being bashed up against the side of the union star and and the crews standing on the rail and reaching out trying to grab the ship throwing lines over like the grappling hooks to try and pull themselves alongside and steady themselves the anchor was down Janka was holding it but the anchor wasn't holding a steady I don't think he really realized how quickly he was drifting toward the rocks the spray and the in the green water is I would call it were we're crashing up against wheelhouse and it was getting very difficult and now we're looking at 60 maybe 70 foot ways I can imagine how they probably felt on board because I'm sure was shaking the ship and violently and the risk of coming outside we've been tremendous because you don't know when in the dark sea and in the rain when the next wave is coming as it eventually went right into the surf then the Union star did start role very seriously I would think you know in excess of 50 degrees and at one stage I did see the Solomon brand the lifeboat literally alongside the Union star and as she rolled the lifeboat came up on her side so she was effectively out of the water fell a life aware of the many cameras before they hit the beach that rapidly the Solon brown came in bow to bow to the Union star and as it was in the rocks and I thought this is incredible what's he doing in the rocks there really wasn't much room to maneuver and the wind was gusting so violently like being between two big boxing bags you know being thrashed about a local journalist made his way down to the cliffs overlooking the scene when I first arrived on on the cliff I could see the helicopter and I could see the Union star being battered in the waves and I could see the lifeboat and it was from there that I watched the whole incident unfold Trevelyan Richards he was doing a superb job in absolutely atrocious conditions the way he positioned and got himself over those very very steep ways in that sense almost slowing it over because he don't go straight and where he was putting her with tremendous sima tremendous image in all of a sudden there's a huge wave I would think the height of the wave was probably fifty to sixty feet high a lifeboat crew obviously sorbus they went astern quite hard I could see that from the cliff they very nearly got over the crest of the wave but the crest of the wave picked the lifeboat up and dropped the lifeboat across the deck of the Union star Solomon Brown went up onto the Union star and was well off the water at that point and I thought they're all going to go over together at that point but after sliding off the deck of the Union Star the lifeboat managed almost immediately to get back alongside in the dark because it's very dark you see shadows of people running out of the wheelhouse and it appeared they were just jumping to the lifeboat and the lifeboat crew is out with their arms out you know to catch them several people look like about five to us ran out and jumped across to the Solomon Brown they were wearing their bright fluorescent orange lifejackets so they were relatively easy to sport as they seem to pass from one vessel to the other and then before the next breaker came in they turned to see worden and in among all these rocks and I'll see how they actually made it a turn to get see worden and this huge wave came in and they went underneath it and disappeared and surfaced on the other side basically like a submarine and we assumed at that point that he was going to continue going out to sea and head home dangerously close to write a into the code well I can't do much when they read the clip we broke it off at that point and feeling that we had done all that we could do and we assumed that the Solomon Brown had had made the same decision and we're going to you know return to home but the crew of the Solomon Brown hadn't made the same decision they were about to make one final rescue attempt Henry lifeboat Henley like Osama cuscuta to devastating feeling when you hear that call on the call and the call and nobody answers it just gives you that very very hollow sick feeling in your stomach unfortunately on the way back one of the first things the people asked when we arrived as we're listening to people calling the Salomon brown they said have you heard from Salomon brown and you get that very terrible sinking feeling that something's gone wrong terribly wrong so we refueled rinse the engines with fresh water to clean up as much of a salt as we could and launched again in Mazel Barry's wife Lynne was unaware of any problem with the lifeboat I don't really remember thinking anything disastrous was gonna happen so you know came home at some point in the evening and made sure the boys were fast asleep and went to bed which is you know was quite normal because if they went out on a on a shout you didn't know what time they were coming back I didn't have a radio I know a lot of wives would listen in but we didn't have one set up and just assumed they'd be back there was a brief glimmer of hope when someone claimed they could see the lights of the Solomon Brown we continued to call the the lifeboat about 3/4 an hour later that the auxilary look out that Penza point called in and reported seeing the lifeboat coming back to you Lee so we we were quite heartened by that we've told the launching authority to expect them in newland and a whole bunch of people went down to Noonan to meet her and of course she never turned up nobody nobody knows this day while those lights were or why they were seen Don Buckfield made his way to the scene with a coastal rescue team they could see the Union Star on its side just below the cliffs there was wreckage washing up and down with the waves and I saw a life jacket with the with the light still working and on reaching the top of the cliff again we become where that Falmouth was concerned for the lifeboat and at that time I could almost definitely say that that was a life full jacket in the water the discovery of the lifejacket confirmed that the worst had happened the Penley lifeboat and the Union star had been wrecked a friend of mine who I'd been out with girlfriend came knocking on the door the card Dave not tournament and said some things something Bad's happened to the lifeboat and don't really I don't really think much registered after that you know I couldn't say anything specific because it was all just just remember lots of people all the time thinking we she don't be quiet you wake the children up you know and I told them straight away as soon as they woke up the next day that the daddy wasn't coming home for Kevin's family it was his brother who brought the devastating news I can remember him coming into his mother's front room and I've never seen grief like it there is no grief that can compare to a mother losing her child and Pat was a very very very strong woman and what an awful thing for anyone's have to do it's like now I can see it's playing back in my head like a video I knew just the disbelief and the shock it was just such a sad time hmm by first light search parties continue to look for wreckage many of those searching included family and friends personally I was out searching for ten days one thing is the fact that is going to find Kevin alive I suppose so I just really kept searching really thinking again there's a futile search but something and you say you better keep going hoping that you will find someone you know we started to find bits and pieces of Audis once that happened you knew who that was it really yeah I only found one whole body that was Nigel's my mates in the end only eight bodies were recovered four from the Solomon Brown and four from the Union star you live and do your job and live to do it again and and when some of your own are taken it hurts it hurts deeply you can't imagine the bravery of people like that it's just to put their life on the line you know they're the salt of the earth Heather the father's the brothers the sons the sons of nozzle things like Christmas Eve we was burying travelling in the morning my father in the afternoon and the Box never had more funerals as it was our cooling you weren't allowed your own private grief everything you did was noticed everything you said was written so it was very very difficult you're just going out of the house was impossible the ashes of dawn and one of her daughters were scattered out at sea close to where the Union star was wrecked Dawn's other daughter and Henry Morton were never found my mother took it very badly she couldn't really accept it particularly with mixed body not being found I don't think she ever accepted it too late she died that he was actually lost I think she believed he was suffering from amnesia and was wandering around then the West Country somewhere and one day he would come back and knock on the door fifteen months later there was a formal inquiry into exactly what happened it raised questions about Morton's actions and the decisions he made that night it was very difficult you know the preferred to have been able to speak to some of the people and families from the lifeboat but so I thought it was a very difficult position for me to be in the time particularly all the criticism was going on etc and then I found it very hard his only crime as far as I know he's a little overconfident about how fast he was drifting into the land he was drifting to land a lot faster than he thought he was and I think he was slightly on the optimistic side about about that one of the issues examined was why Morton declined the salvage tow when he was first offered and when they suddenly decided they wanted a tow it was too late because the the tug couldn't couldn't get in too shallow for the tow to get in to put a line on they should have been forced to take a tow hours before she even got anywhere near the shore now the rules have changed somewhat and the Coast Guard can initiate a mayday on behalf of a ship's master and indeed we have the powers to require a ship's master to take a tow if that's what we deem appropriate we don't have to be a passive responder anymore we can take the initiative the inquiry concluded that no one was to blame for the tragedy and that the events of that night were the result of water getting into the engine of the Union star and above all the extreme severity of the weather when the inquiry results a loop on the five days of inquiry came out and the rover was exonerated to look really dead cause of the tragedy was various small things that all added up to this big jigsaw but at the end of the day it was to see that done no one else when you live by the scene you live with the sea things happen them this is this is what while we need lifeboats you know things like this happened I mean you can't blame it on this that's what you get living by the sea I mean every year there's probably 3040 fishermen lost every year in the British Coast for the 25th anniversary of that tragic night Russell Smith has come over from America to pay his respects my wife and I wanted to make a connection and that's really the main reason we're back just to visit say hello say we care and say we'll never forget hello I'm Russ remember deadly smile frame which on a hot dog we've met before education thanks don't forget never ever you know all my children now I tell them about the story as well you know so because it's something which should never be forgotten yeah the heroism and the the brave Dida done that night should always be remembered Falmouth Coast Guard follow through our pendulum headed south coast guard the penny loafer year for information the loss of the Solomon Brown didn't stopped the people of mazel maintaining the life of tradition today the Penley lifeboat is based a couple of miles from mauser in the fishing village of Newland Neil Brockman turned away by Trevelyan for being too young is now the Coxon I was asked for they are alive protocol are allowed to become Coxon and to star that didn't want to do it because I thought I was too young I was only 28 years old at the time I didn't think I was excused nuff were old enough to do the job and they did beg me door really persisted you asked me that to do it so I said they would so I said I would take it for 12 months to see how I got all up in nervous in Sioux I've also Niels the best mount in the job anyway because he's totally committed to his crew and they are on the light I know he's you know very good friend of mine but I'll stand by that as on a professional field he's a hell of a Coxon I've done every job of a boat crew man right up from crude and mechanic toxin mechanic no full-blown Coxon with the mechanic and because I think I got the best team you are a liar best crew then ever would say that any station go but I am lucky I got very experienced crew every one of my crew a seaman or ex fisherman or there as he they're all to do with the sea so I'm lucky then in that way his father would've been very proud of him and he was very proud of his father and so it was a sort of public thing but also a private thing it's just such an honor to know that they're carrying on in the tradition of the Royal Eiffel Institute and these people don't do it for money they do it for the giving volunteer work it gives life to other people really because they still go out on rescues and assist other people in very difficult conditions all the time 25 years later the old lifeboat station is empty yep exactly as it was in 1981 it stands as a memorial to the crew of a Solomon Brown it is can't imagine how awful it must have been for them having a young daughter myself and and young children it just must have been horrendous and I can only imagine that they would we're just going to do everything they could there's no way they could have said oh we can't you know it's too dangerous we can't do this anymore and just turn around and then come back home I mean you know it's just not something they would have done I got no date in the back of my mind if I want to share all my life but the six my crew there's eight other crewmen with me no David that was server for there you forgotten I'm just proud I sailed them or Dougal personally we're faiths collide

Channel: westyorkshiregull

Views: 576,565

Rating: 4.7559781 out of 5

Keywords: penlee, lifeboat, disaster, 1981, rnli

Id: yeIX0VnUMKo

Length: 58min 41sec (3521 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 23 2011

Reddit Comments

[u/Chet_Steddman]

Link to the video with proper aspect ratio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLfddSJb9cI

[u/bushmobile]

Seth Lakeman - Solomon Browne