Thankfully, lifeboat disasters are rare. Lifeboats are designed to withstand the very worst conditions and on occasions in recent years many crews have had cause to be grateful to the self-righting capability of modern lifeboats. The sea is an awesome enemy, however, and has claimed the lives of 435 lifeboatmen since the foundation of the RNLI in 1824. The loss of just one man is, of course, a tragedy, but in 1901 a lifeboat disaster at Caister claimed nine of the twelve crew.

Here follows the account of the disaster from the Lifeboat magazine of the day.

THE LIFE-BOAT 1st February, 1902 The Caister Life-boat disaster The King and the veteran Life-boatman The terrible disaster which overtook one of the Life-boats belonging to the Institution, stationed at Caister on the coast of Norfolk, in November will be fresh in the minds of our readers. The expressions of sympathy received from all classes, not only in the British Isles and on the Continent, but even from the United States and India, have been most gratifying, demonstrating again the widespread interest which is taken in the Institution's Life-boat Service throughout the civilised world.

Briefly the circumstances of the accident were as follows:- While the wind was blowing a whole gale from N.N.E. with thick rain, and the sea was very heavy, on the night of the 13th November, flares were seen from a vessel on the Barber Sands, and the Cockle Light-ship fired the recognised signals of distress to indicate a vessel on those sands. This was soon after 11 o'clock. The crew of the Life-boat were promptly assembled and with all dispatch the No.2 Life-boat Be&uchamp was launched, but the heavy seas washed her off the skids and she was cast ashore, iuvt ,sihiting her being hauled up on the beach ready for another launch.

It was intensely dark and very cold, and it was not until nearly 2 o'clock in the morning that the efforts to float the boat, with the aid of the warp and tackle, were successful. Sail was then set, and when the boat was last seen from the shore she appeared to be all right and most of the launchers went home to change their wet clothing. But James Haylett, senr., who was for many years assistant coxswain of the Life-boat, although seventy-eight years old and wet through, after assisting for several hours to launch the boat, remained without food on watch, having two sons, a son-in-law and two grandsons in the boat.

A fight with the cruel sea After the boat was floated and sail made she proceeded out on the port tack towards the sands in the direction of the distress signals, which were dead to windward. On nearing the sands the coxswain wore his boat, as the mizen was not yet properly set, stood ashore and tacked just outside the surf. After making another board, he again tacked and proceeded towards the shore, but on tacking again as they got near to the surf the boat missed stays; he filled again and renewed the attempt to "stay," but she failed a second time to come round and was by that time in the breakers close to the beach.

The coxswain, seeing that it was impossible to avoid going onshore, ordered the mizen to be lowered, and put his helm up, but he had only just time to get the boat straight before the sea when her bow struck the sand about fifty yards north of the place of launching, and almost simultaneously a very heavy sea caught her on the starboard quarter and she was keel up in an instant. The masts were broken short off and the crew pinned down beneath the boat, which it should bo remembered is one of the Norfolk ,ind Suffolk type, non-selfrighting, 36 ft. long, 101/: ft. wide, weighing five tons without gear and requiring thirty-six men on the gunwale to bring it awash with the crew and gear in place and water-ballast tanks f u l l .

Help comes from the shore This happened shortly before 3 o'clock, at which time Frederick Henry Haylett came back to the Life-boat house after changing his wet clothes, when he drew the attention of James Haylett, senior, his grandfather, to cries coming from the water's edge. Both ran down, and to their surprise and horror discovered the Beaui-hainp bottom up in the surf. There was a tremendous sea and "sweep" on the beach, but notwithstanding old James Haylett dashed at once into the surf and got hold of his son-in-law, Charles Knights, who was struggling to get clear of the boat. Frederick Haylett also ran in and was in time to get hold of John Hubbard. The old man, after assisting Knights on shore, went in a second time, and got hold of his grandson Walter Haylett, and helped him also onto the beach. Both rescuers incurred great danger, but had it not been for their efforts it is almost certain that no one would have been saved. Subsequently eight dead bodies were recovered at intervals as they were washed from under the boat, the last being recovered when the boat was righted at 11 .30 a.m. by a large number of men. One body, however, was carried away and not seen again.

The names of the nine poor fellows who were lost were Aaron Walter Haylett, coxswain, and James Haylett, junior, brothers; William Brown, assistant coxswain, and Charles Brown, brothers; William Wilson, John Smith, George King, Charles George and Harry Knights, who was only nineteen years old, and was making his first and, as it unhappily turned out, his last trip on service in the Life-boat. These men left behind to deplore their loss, six widows, thirty-three dependent children, three other dependent relatives and one partly dependent.

A fitting farewell The funeral, which was a public one, took place on Sunday, 17th November, when the Institution was represented by the Chairman of the Committee of Management, Sir Edward Birkbeck, Bart., V.P., and the District Inspector of Lifeboats, Commander Thomas Holmes, R.N.

There was an immense crowd of spectators, and deputations from the neighbouring Life-boat stations attended.

The verdict of the jury at the inquest upon the bodies was practically one of "Accidental Death" no blame being attributed to any one. In giving his evidence, James Haylett, senior, made the following characteristic reply to a suggestion that possibly the Life-boatmen had given up their errand as a bad job, "Caister Life-boatmen," he said, "neverturn back, and would have kept there till now if necessary to save men in distress. It was against the rules to go back when distress signals were shown." The Board of Trade, at the request of the Institution, held an exhaustive inquiry at the Yarmouth Town Hall into the circumstances attending the disaster; it was attended on behalf of the Institution by the Deputy Chief Inspector of Life-boats, Mr. Charles E. F.

Cunninghamu Graham.

The Committee of Management of the Institution, as soon as they learned the number of the bereaved dependent relatives, contributed the sum of 2,000/.

towards the fund for their relief which was very promptly started by the Mayor of Yarmouth, which fund ultimately reached the munificent amount of 12,000/., notwithstanding that it was proposed to close it when U),00()/. had been received. It is probable that, after meeting the needs of the widows and dependents of the nine men, a substantial sum will be left to form the nucleus of a permanent fund to meet Life-boat disasters involving loss of life in the future. The Institution defrayed the cost of the funerals, etc., and liberally compensated the survivors of the disaster.

Gold Medal for James Haylett The Committee also awarded the Gold Medal of the Institution, a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum and framed and the sum of 25 guineas, to JAMES HAYLETT, senr., in recognition of his great gallantry and of the remarkable endurance he displayed at his advanced age, seventy-eight years, in remaining on the beach for twelve hours, wet through and without food, this being the veteran's crowning act of half a century's life-saving in connection with the Institution's Life-boats, resulting in the saving of hundreds of lives. The thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum and 51.

were also accorded to FREDERICK H.

HAYLETT. The valuable co-operation afforded by Captain A. F. CLOWES and Dr.

CASE, honorary secretaries of the Great Yarmouth and Caister Branches, was also specially recognised.

Moving bravely forward A new Life-boat crew was definitely formed at Caister on the 21st December to continue the noble work left as an inheritance by the Beaitcliantp victims, and, strange to say, a few hours afterwards, towards midnight the Lifeboat bell spoke for the first time since the disaster, the Coastguards having observed distress flares burning on the Barber Sands. With Jack Haylett as coxswain, No.l Life-boat Covent Garden put to sea.

Although hardly recovered, the Beaiichamp survivors, Haylett, Hubbard, and Knights, with the veteran James Haylett, assisted to launch the boat. The following morning the Life-boat returned after a fruitless errand, the vessel in distress (a stranded steamer) having gotaway without assistance.

The damaged Life-boat was removed to Yarmouth for repair, but the men expressed a wish not to have her again on the station, and this desire was at once concurred by the Institution. The Institution arranged for a deputation of thnv nt the men to visit other stations before finally selecting the type for a new boat, but there is little doubt they still have a strong predilection for the nonrighting Norfolk and Suffolk type of boat.

The Beaiichamp, the cost of which was presented to the Institution by Sir Reginald Proctor Beauchamp, Bart., was placed on her station in 1892, and up to the time of the accident she had been launched to the aid of vessels in distress on 81 occasions, and saved 146 lives; while the total number of lives which the Lifeboats at Caister have saved during the past forty-three years is 1381, a "record" as regards the Life-boat stations of the United Kingdom.

A Royal appointment On the 6th January, His Majesty the King, the Patron of the Institution, did James Haylett and the Institution the high honour of presenting to him at Sandringham the rewards granted him by the Institution.

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, as President of the Royal National Life-boat Institution, was present, as well as Dr. W. Case, hon. Secretary to the Caister Station. Major-General Sir Stanley Clarke and Commander Sir Charles Cust, R.N., were in attendance.

A Yarmouth Correspondent stated that after the King had presented Haylett with the Life-boat Institution's gold medal, the old man earnestly expressed the hope that his Majesty would live to be a hundred years old and then die and go to heaven, at which the King laughed heartily. "There i on i1 t h i n g always gives me courage," Haylett said to the King, "and that is when I see poor fellows in the rigging of a wreck. I always put myself among them and say, 'What would I give if a Life-boat came to save me?'" Haylett subsequently had a long chat with the Prince and Princess of Wales. He discussed with the Prince the respective merits of the selfrighting and Norfolk and Suffolk types of Life-boats, in which subject his Royal Highness was greatly interested.Caister lifeboat station A lifeboat was placed at Caister by the Norfolk Shipwreck Association in 1846. It was taken over by the RNLI in 1857 and in 1867, a second station was established.

Up to 1929, Caister had two stations, each with a pulling and sailing lifeboat. In 1929, as powerful motor lifeboats had then been placed at the neighbouring stations of Cromer and Gorleston, the No.1 station was closed. The No.2 station continued with a pulling and sailing lifeboat until 1941 when it was replaced by a motor lifeboat, which was launched by a tractor. The No.2 station was closed on 17 October 1969.

Apart from the Gold Medal awarded to James Haylett for his part in the 1901 rescue, many other medals have been awarded. In 1875, coxswain Philip George and chief boatman S Bishop (coastguard) were awarded Silver Medals for a service to the Wild Wave. James Haylett jnr, who perished in the disaster, was awarded the Silver Medal in 1893 for long service.

Coxswain John Haylett and Walter Haylett received Silver Medals in 1906 for the rescue of six from the barque Anna Precht wrecked on the Cockle Sands on 18 September. Silver Medals were also awarded to second coxswain John Plummer and to Solomon Brown, who leaped from the lifeboat onto the wreckage to break the hold of the benumbed men and help them into the lifeboat. In 1963 coxswain JR Plummer was awarded the Bronze Medal for the rescue of seven men from the trawler Loch Lorgan on 13 December.

Despite the closure of the RNLI station, the Thanks of the Institution on Vellum was awarded to coxswain Roland Read of the Caister Volunteer Lifeboat in 1987 for the rescue of 10 of the crew of the rig support vessel Seaforth Conqueror which was aground on North Scroby SandsNever turn back... and never forgotten On Wednesday, 14 November 2001, over 100 people turned out to commemorate the 100th anniversary of this terrible disaster. Those present included many present-day lifeboatmen from local stations; Tony Wright MP, Member of Parliament for Yarmouth; David Thompson, the Mayor of Yarmouth, and many local people who wished to pay their respects.

A lone piper ted the procession through the village, following the route of the 1901 procession, to the church where the original funeral service had taken place.

Three jets flew overhead in 'missing man' formation. Mourners then placed a wreath on the memorial statue, built in 1903 close to where the nine men are buried. The church service that followed, conducted by the Bishop of Thetford, the Rt Rev David Atkinson, closely followed the form of the original service, 100 years earlier.

After the service had concluded, the procession returned to the lifeboat station, where James Haylett's grandaughter, Gladys Brown, unveiled a bust dedicated to the memory of all those who had perished in the service of the lifeboat..