Whit by, Sunday October 19, 1980: At 1030 a converted ship's lifeboat was seen heading towards the harbour entrance.

Conditions were very dangerous, with a very heavy swell and breaking seas at the bar and in the shallow waters of the bay; a warning was shouted but apparently not heard. Whitby's 44ft Waveney lifeboat The White Rose of Yorkshire slipped her moorings at 1047 under the command of Coxswain Peter Thomson. Meanwhile the boat, on a fishing trip with two men on board, capsized 100 yards outside the entrance. One man managed to swim. He was washed down the side of the west pier and dragged out of surf by several people including Ben Dean, station honorary secretary. The other man was not found although the search by lifeboat and a helicopter continued until 1210.

photograph by courtesy of Eric Doran.