PENLEE LIFEBOAT, the 47ft Watson class Solomon Browne, with her coxswain, Trevelyan Richards, and all on board, was lost on the night of Saturday December 19 during a service to the 1,400 ton coaster Union Star, registered in Dublin.

Solomon Browne had launched in a violent storm to go to the aid of Union Star which had reported engine failure when eight miles east of Wolf Rock Lighthouse and which was drifting rapidly on to the cliffs four miles south west of Penlee lifeboat station; there were eight people on board, including one woman and two teenage girls. The weather was atrocious. The wind, blowing from south by east, increased to hurricane force 12, gusting to 90 knots; there was a heavy ground swell and the mountainous seas were reported to be 60ft high; in driving rain, visibility was very poor. So bad were the conditions that in spite of many attempts a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter, piloted by Lt-Cdr Russell L. Smith, USN, was unable to lift off any of the coaster's crew.

Coxswain Richards repeatedly took his lifeboat alongside the coaster in these appalling conditions to try to rescue the eight people on board. Latterly on at least two occasions the lifeboat was lifted by a huge wave on to the deck of Union Star, then sliding stern first back into the sea. Subsequently Coxswain Richards drove her alongside once more and four people on the deck jumped into the lifeboat. The Solomon Browne was observed to have slammed hard against the coaster's side but was seen moving away, apparently still under control.

The last radio message from the lifeboat confirmed that four people had been rescued and before returning to their base the helicopter crew saw Solomon Browne, then only about 50 yards off the steep-to rocky shore, turn, possibly to make another approach. There was no further radio contact with the lifeboat, but her lights were seen to disappear some ten minutes later, at about the same time that Union Star was overwhelmed and laid on her side to the west of Tater-du Lighthouse.

Despite many hours search through the night and the following day by the St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, 52ft Arun lifeboat Robert Edgar under the command of Coxswain Matthew Lethbridge, by The Lizard-Cadgwith 52ft Barnett lifeboat The Duke of Cornwall (Civil Service No 33) under the command of Coxswain/Mechanic Peter Mitchell, by helicopters, by HM Coastguard coast rescue teams and by fishing vessels, no survivors were recovered from either Solomon Browne or Union Star. The relief 37ft Oakley lifeboat The Vincent Nesfield, temporarily on station at Sennen Cove, also launched to search very early on December 20 under the command of Coxswain/Mechanic Maurice Hutchens but, heading into the full force of the storm and with wind against tide increasing the ferocity of the already tremendous seas, she was unable to round Land's End and had to return to station; she launched again to help in the later stages of the search.

Awards for gallantry have been made to the coxswain and crew of Solomon Browne for the rescue of four people from Union Star, despite the tragic end to their efforts. The gold medal for outstanding gallantry was awarded to Coxswain William Trevelyan Richards and the bronze medal for gallantry was awarded to each member of the lifeboat's crew: Second Coxswain/ Mechanic James Stephen Madron, Assistant Mechanic Nigel Brockman, Emergency Mechanic John Robert Blewett, Crew Member Charles Thomas Greenhaugh, Crew Member Kevin Smith, Crew Member Barrie Robertson Torrie and Crew Member Gary Lee Wallis. A gold medal service plaque was awarded to the station.

In the tragedy which followed their successful endeavours all eight men gave their lives. Those in Union Star who also perished were the captain, his wife and two step-daughters, and four crew members.

For the part they played in the subsequent search, letters of appreciation signed by Rear Admiral W. J. Graham, director of the Institution, were sent to Coxswain Matthew Lethbridge and his crew of St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, to Coxswain/Mechanic Peter Mitchell and his crew of The Lizard-Cadgwith, and to Coxswain/Mechanic Maurice Hutchens and his crew of Sennen Cove. Letters signed by Rear Admiral Graham were also sent to Rear Admiral E. R.

Anson, Flag Officer Naval Air Command, Yeovil, and Captain R. C. Dimmock, RN, the commanding officer of RNAS Culdrose, expressing the Institution's thanks to Lt-Cdr Russell L.

Smith, USN, and the other helicopter pilots and crews who had taken part in the attempted rescue and the search which followed.

Immediate support In accordance with the Institution's normal practice following an accident to a lifeboat, senior members of headquarters staff, led by the deputy chief of operations, Cdr George Cooper, as well as local coast and district organising staff, set out for Penlee as soon as it was known that Solomon Browne had been lost to assist the bereaved families with any immediate financial or other needs and to start an investigation into the cause of the disaster. The Department of Trade also opened a preliminary inquiry and both investigations are still in progress.

Rear Admiral Graham, called from an international aircraft just about to take off from Gatwick Airport, reached Penlee on Sunday afternoon.

Lifeboat cover Following the loss of Solomon Browne, everyone at Penlee asked at once that they should be provided with a replacement lifeboat. The 70ft Clyde relief lifeboat Charles H. Barrett (Civil Service No. 35) sailed to Newlyn the same day to provide immediate lifeboat cover for the area; she was under the command of a staff coxswain and her full-time crew were augmented by Penlee volunteers who, in preparation forthe arrival of a temporary boat, started crew training straight away under the guidance of the divisional inspector of lifeboats (South West), Leslie Vipond, and his deputy, Christopher Price.

After Christmas the 46ft 9in Watson relief lifeboat Charles Henry Ashley was sent to Penlee to continue crew training; she was later replaced by another lifeboat of the same class from the relief fleet, Guy and Clare Hunter, which had been stationed at St Mary's, Scilly Isles, from 1955 to 1981. On February 5 Guy and Clare Hunter was officially placed on service, with Staff Coxswain Tom Beattie as her temporary coxswain; she is expected to remain on station until a new replacement lifeboat is ready.

Messages of sympathy The whole country, indeed the whole world, shared in the sorrow of the bereaved families, of the Cornish village of Mousehole where the Penlee lifeboatmen lived, and of every member of the Institution. Messages of admiration for her gallant crew and for their families came from far and wide. Among the first to arrive, early on Sunday morning, December 20, were telegrams from HRH The Duke of Kent, President of the Institution, and from the Duke of Atholl, the Chairman. From HM The Queen, a Patron of the Institution, came the telegram: 'Prince Philip and I have heard with great regret the tragic news of the loss of the Penlee lifeboat and her crew. I would like to record our admiration for their bravery and self-sacrifice. Please convey a message of deepest sympathy to their families.' from HRH The Prince of Wales: 'As Honorary Commodore of HM Coastguard, I was appalled to hear of the tragedy which befell the Penlee lifeboat and hope that you can convey my very deepest sympathy to the families of those who so gallantly lost their lives.' and from the Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher: ' was with deep sorrow that I heard the news of this dreadful tragedy which has befallen the brave and selfless men of the Penlee lifeboat. I send my heartfelt sympathy to the families who have suffered this terrible loss, in this of a/I weeks of the year. I also express my great admiration for the wonderful spirit of all those who serve with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.' Messages came from HRH The Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, from Government departments concerned with the sea at home and abroad, from all those organisations with which the RNLI co-operates in the work of marine search and rescue, from members of the Committee of Management and from RNLI lifeboat crews, stations and financial branches and guilds, from lifeboat organisations all round the world, from seafarers' associations, from yachting associations, from shipping lines, shipbuilders, town councils and from many other associations, and thousands of individuals.

Together with deep sympathy came warm-hearted, generous help in many forms, both financial and practical.

Continuing help When lifeboatmen are lost on service, in addition to state pensions, their widows and dependants receive from the Institution pensions equivalent to those paid to widows and dependants of a chief petty officer in the Royal Navy killed on active service. Such pensions are being received by dependants of the crew of Solomon Browne.

On the day following the tragedy an independent Penlee Disaster Fund was set up by the Chairman of Penwith District Council to help the families, and another fund was set up by local fishermen.

Mr David Robinson of Cambridge generously promised to provide the entire cost of a new lifeboat to replace Solomon Browne.

Many donations were also received by the RNLI towards the continuing cost of pensions to the dependants, towards the support of widows of other disasters, for the general funds of the Institution and towards the cost of a replacement lifeboat. Those concerned were advised that contributions received for this last purpose would be placed in a restricted fund and used either to help in re-establishing the Penlee station or towards the cost of another lifeboat for the RNLI fleet in due course.

The response was overwhelming.

Donations ranged from thousands of pounds to small amounts of silver.

Many donations were anonymous, but with most came a personal letter of condolence.

Gifts came from corporate bodies and associations; they came from people of all ages and all callings. Crew members from other stations collected among themselves and where they or members of branches and guilds approached the general public they were given most wonderful support; there was no need to ask for contributions —the difficulty was in coping with the response. Collections were made through newspapers and in pubs; the elderly sacrificed their Christmas pension bonuses; children thought up all manners of ways of helping—carol singing, giving up Christmas presents, one boy even sent all his paper round Christmas boxes. A number of special fund-raising events were quickly arranged, including a concert given by six Cornish Male Voice Choirs together with St Ives Youth Band at Truro Cathedral, where, a few days later, a service was to be held in memory of the lifeboatmen who gave their lives. The Dean of Belfast, Venerable Samuel B.

Crooks, was in the middle of his seventh Christmas vigil for charity on the steps outside Belfast Cathedral when the Penlee disaster occurred; he announced that amounts over and above his target of £15,000 for other charities would go to the RNLI and he subsequently forwarded a cheque for £6,000 to the headquarters at Poole.

So great was the response that by the time the Penwith District Council Penlee disaster fund was closed on February 15, more than 2'/2 million pounds had been contributed—and every penny was an expression of personal concern for those who had given so much more of so much greater value.

Services of remembrance Sadly only four funerals have been possible and so a special family service of remembrance and thanksgiving was arranged in Paul Parish Church, followed by an RNLI Memorial Service in Truro Cathedral. Cdr Peter Sturdee, former district organising secretary (SW), who had been at Mousehole since very early on the morning after the disaster, was asked to plan and organise both services.

At Paul Friday January 22, a sunny but chilly and windy winter's day. The ancient church of Paul, its half-muffled bells tolling, waited to enfold the mourning families of the Penlee lifeboatmen in a service of remembrance and thanksgiving.

Lining the path from road to church porch stood 25 lifeboatmen in RNLI jerseys forming the guard of honour.

The church filled for this family service to the quiet singing of the choir and then came the head of the lifeboat family and his wife, HRH The Duke of Kent, President of the RNLI, and the Duchess, followed during the singing of the first hymn by the colour party bearing the RNLI standard.

It was a time of great emotion, with sadness and joy mingled and inseparable, but over all there was a tremendous surge of pride in the memory of eight brave men from the small village of Mousehole.

The Duke of Kent read from the Epistle to the Romans 'If God be for us who can be against us?', and then Mousehole Male Voice Choir sang with rare beauty and feeling 'Sunset and evening star and one clear call for me'.

Clive Gunnell, who had featured Penlee lifeboat and her crew in his 'Walking Westward' television series, gave the address; in being asked to do so, he said, he had been afforded the greatest honour in his life. A fine and sensitive address contained: 'What can I talk about? I can talk about the spirit of the men of Penlee, the spirit of all communities whose livings are made in an element of uncertainty and danger. In which the called "Cheerio!" from the front door in the morning could be the final cheerio of that life.' He concluded: 'Let us remember the spirit of these men and do nothing that will let them down. In that way we will all build such a memorial that will not only last our lifetime, but that we can hand on to future generations who will need that spirit even more than we do ourselves.'The service was conducted by the Reverend Hugh Cadman, vicar of Paul and chaplain for Penlee lifeboat station; telling his congregation that the service was for those men of Solomon Browne who gave their lives in the hope that others might live, he also remembered those of Union Star who died with them on that fateful night. The Reverend Cadman was supported by the Reverend Tom Vidamour, Methodist Minister of the chapels in Mousehole, and by Superintendent Desmond Cole of the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen Ship Institute of Newlyn.

The service was relayed to a marquee on the adjoining car park where gathered some 250 local people, the committees of Penlee branch and ladies' guild and many others.

Afterwards, in the privacy of the vicarage. The Duke and Duchess of Kent met the bereaved families, and later they met members of the Penlee crew, station branch committee and guild and RNLI officials in the King's Arms Inn. Just before leaving, the Duchess gave her own personal gift: a silver engraved cross and chain for each widow or mother.—J.P.

The Cathedral Church of St Mary, in Truro, was filled with more than 1,300 people on Monday February 15 for a memorial service in commemoration of the crew of the Penlee lifeboat Solomon Browne and those they sought to save on December 19, 1981. The service was arranged by the RNLI and led by the Lord Bishop of Truro, The Right Reverend Peter Mumford.

The Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, and her husband Denis, attended in response to a request from Mousehole, and they were accompanied by John Nott, Defence Secretary and Member of Parliament for the St Ives Division.

The Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, the Viscount Falmouth, and the High Sheriff, Major E. W. M. Magor, were present together with the Duke of Atholl, Chairman of the RNLI, members of the Committee of Management, the director, Rear Admiral W. J. Graham, and senior officers of the RNLI.

Also in the congregation were other members of Parliament, representatives of HM Coastguard, the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, County and District Councils, the Police and St John's Ambulance, as well as the Penlee disaster fund trustees.

Crew members from 11 lifeboats joined them, and the congregation was largely composed of representatives of lifeboat stations, branches and guilds from all over the country who had come together to support the relatives of the lost crew.

Even before the service began, the assembly of such a large body of the lifeboat community in these islands was a moving experience in itself and the Band of HM Royal Marines, Commando Forces, in the south transept, played 'Nimrod' as a solemn prelude.

As the opening hymn, 'Love Divine, all loves excelling', was sung the standard of the RNLI was presented at the High Altar by three lifeboatmen of Penlee to the Archdeacon of Cornwall, The Venerable A. Wood. Following the Twenty-third Psalm, the lesson, taken from the Revelation of St John the Divine, 'And I saw a new heaven and a new earth . . . " was read in the strong Cornish voice of Coxswain Maurice Hutchens of Sennen Cove lifeboat station, Penlee's nearest neighbour.

The Lord Bishop of Truro, in beginning his address, confessed that he had only recently come to Cornwall but he went on to say that when he visited the shores of Mount's Bay on that terrible morning in December he learnt more in a day about Cornwall and its people than he might otherwise have discovered in many months, even years: 'It taught me something of the marvellous solidarity of the people round our coast, and indeed inland, who for centuries have been dependent on the sea and on each other. Because it struck a chord of generosity in so many hearts, it showed me what compassion is here, quickly, spontaneously brought to the surface. But Pen-lee searched me about myself. Could 1 match their courage? was the question I asked of mvself and of you . . . Christian preacher, as I hope I am, I serve you ill if I do not declare finally that Penlee points all of us to God.' Everyone knew the risks of the lifeboat precisely, said the Bishop . . .

'Perhaps you know of the widow who said to me the morning after the tragedy: 'My husband warned me three weeks ago that this might happen, and that if it did I was not to make a fuss because he knew the risks". This is the very stuff of the RNLI. There is no need for us to describe to each other the magnificent courage and self-discipline which marks a/I its sea going members.' He recalled the well-known description of a lifeboat given many years ago by Sir Winston Churchill: 'It drives on with a mercy which does not quail in the presence of death. It drives on as a proof, a symbol, a testimony, that man is created in the image of God and that valour and virtue have not perished in the British race.' The Lord Bishop spoke of the anguish resulting from the arbitrary destruction of lives by the inexorable energies of the Universe. We did not know why God allows it, he continued, but we did know that He sends the lifeboat —many, many different kinds of lifeboat, because He is much more fully revealed in the rescue operations which surround human tragedy than in the tragedies themselves.

After prayers by The Reverend Ian Haile, Chairman of the Cornwall Methodist District, and The Very Reverend Canon Michael Walsh, the Roman Catholic Dean of Cornwall, the Penlee lifeboatmen processed back down the chancel with the RNLI standard.

They then turned to lower their standard before the Cross of Christ while Royal Marine buglers, high up in the north transept gallery and accompanied by the Royal Marine Band, sounded the haunting notes of the Sunset Ceremony. It was a mark of respect to Our Lord and it was also a mark of respect to the eight crew of Solomon Browne—nine men who had all made the supreme sacrifice.

The clear call of the bugles died away, the Lord Bishop pronounced the Blessing and the congregation turned to the west door to the accompaniment of Bach's Prelude and Fugue in E Minor played on the Cathedral organ by John Winter.

After the service, and before returning to London. Mrs Thatcher met the families and immediate relatives of the crew of Solomon Browne in the Chapter House. Outside in the Cornish sunshine of a brilliant day, the members of the congregation, as they made their way down the steps past the file of young members of the new Penlee crew, must have felt not only a sense of remembrance but of a looking forward to a future worthy of the sacrifice in the past.—J.c..