The New Romney Lifeboat Disaster 130 years ago

By Rosemary Piddock

In March 1891, the New Romney Lifeboat, The Sandal Magna, was launched to respond to a rescue in terrible weather conditions. Three of her crew would die on that rescue.

A lifeboat station was opened at Littlestone-on-Sea in Kent in August 1861. The first lifeboat was The Providence, which was replaced in 1871 with the

Dr Hatton. In April 1883, the New Romney Lifeboat Committee recommended the replacement of the lifeboat and agreed:

“… to accept the offer of Mr Joseph Spawforth of Barbican to provide a lifeboat and fittings for this Station he ordering the Boat himself of Messrs Woolfe & Sons …. The Boat to be named the ‘Sandal Magna’.”1

The Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald reported the arrival of the Sandal Magna at the Lifeboat Station in October 1884:

“It was drawn from the railway station to the boat- house on Wednesday, and the old boat was taken away, the coastguards’ wives raising a cheer as it left the station.”2

A model of the lifeboat is on display in the Littlestone Station today (Figure 1). The crew of the Sandal Magna comprised trained coastguards supplemented, when needed, by other volunteers, including local fishermen. The Sandal Magna’s first rescue was carried out on

17 January 1885 to assist the barque, Windermere. Following this first rescue:

“Mr Spawforth, … forwarded £5 for distribution amongst the Coxswain & crew this service being the first rendered by the Boat.”3

Between 1886 and 1890, several launches were completed, but 1891 would prove to be the most dangerous for the Sandal Magna. Edward Carpenter, in his book, Wrecks and Rescues off the Romney Marsh Coast, records that the schooners Echo and Hugh Barclay were in trouble in a severe blizzard on 9 March:

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Fig 1: Sandal Magna

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Fig 2: Certificate presented to the crew of the Sandal Magna in recognition of their heroic efforts

“the crew knew it was to be no easy task, but there was no lack of volunteers. At the first attempt to launch, the lifeboat was swept back on to the shores as though she was a piece of cork. A second attempt fared no better; the waves were tremendous, crashing on to the beach from a considerable height. The launchers could not remember conditions so bad, but all kept trying.”4

Eventually, the crew launched the Sandal Magna, but she overturned again. The lifeboat was righted, and Coastguard Bennett was swept out. The crew managed to get him back into the lifeboat. Shortly after, another wave hit and the lifeboat overturned again. The coxswain, Henry Clifton, struggled to control the boat as crew member William Ryan was swept away. The crew then attempted to turn back to shore, but the boat capsized again, and they were swept back to the entrance to the Romney Hoy.

Tragically, Samuel Hart and Thomas Sullivan were drowned. On the shore, the launchers had no idea of what had happened.

The loss of the lives of the three Coastguards was deeply felt in the community. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) made a grant of £500 to the bereaved families. The Standard printed a letter written by William Cotton, Honorary Secretary of the Sandal Magna Relief Fund, asking for contributions.5 Many donations were made, including one from the Eastbourne Parish Church:

“the children’s offertory in the afternoon, being devoted to the New Romney Life-boat Crew Widows’ and Orphans’ Relief Fund.”6

The Vicar of Sandgate, the Reverend H Russell Wakefield, gave a recital of The Merchant of

Venice in aid of the Relief Fund.7 The Mayors of Lydd and New Romney presented the Sandal Magna crew with a certificate recognising their heroic efforts (Fig 2).

The funeral for Samuel Hart and Thomas Sullivan was held on 17 March. They were buried in New Romney Churchyard. The Hastings and St Leonards Observer gave a moving account of the ceremony attended by many mourners. The Authorities at Whitehall decided that the two coastguards should have a funeral with full honours for their bravery. Officers and men from the neighbouring Coastguard Stations attended to provide a funeral and firing party. The coffins were draped in flags with Coastguard Sullivan’s cap and sword, together with a floral anchor, placed on his coffin. They were then taken from the lifeboat house for burial at New Romney Church. Three volleys were fired over the graves (Figs 3 and 4).

An enquiry into the deaths of the men was held at the Grand Hotel in Littlestone. The Hastings and St

Leonards Observer reported on the

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Fig 3: Grave of William Ryan and Samuel Hart

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Fig 4: Grave of Thomas Sullivan

judgement and opinion given by Captain Nepean that the coxswain was justified in launching the lifeboat and, although the crew was two members short, this had not contributed to the disaster. Captain Nepean concluded:

“I do not impute blame to anyone; indeed it would be most ungracious to do so when the coxswain and crew had made such noble and persevering efforts to overcome the misfortune which they encountered from the first.

“In conclusion, I should be wanting in my duty if I failed to express my deep sense of the noble way in which the crew of the lifeboat – coxswain and men – behaved on the night in question under condition of weather such as have not been experienced before by the oldest residents in New Romney. They were animated only by the hope that they might be instrumental in saving life, thus setting forth to the world that highest example of Christian charity, ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’”8

Two more difficult launches were made in October and November 1891, with the later rescue resulting in the crew, including the curate of Lydd and the son of the local doctor, receiving medals from the King of Sweden for the rescue of a Swedish ship. In 1900 the Sandal Magna was “Condemned and Sold” and replaced with the Sir James Stevens No 11 Lifeboat.

Today the names of the three crewmen who died that night are engraved on a memorial at the RNLI Headquarters in Poole – a fitting tribute to the courage of the crew of the Sandal Magna and the fateful launch in March 1891 (Figs 5 and 6).

References

1 RNLI New Romney Ledger – Minutes of the Committee held on 3 April 1883

2 The Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald, Saturday 1 November 1884

3 RNLI Station Register

4 Carpenter, E. Wrecks and Rescues off the Romney Marsh Coast, (1985) published by Margaret F Bird Associates, Lydd

5 The Standard, Tuesday, 17 March 1891

6 Eastbourne Gazette, 8 April 1891

7 The Folkestone Herald, 28 March 1891

8 The Hastings and St Leonards Observer, Saturday, 21 March 1891

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Fig 5: RNLI memorial sculpture at Poole

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Fig 6: Names of the three crewmen engraved on the memorial sculpture at the RNLI Headquarters