British Lifeboatmen: lifeboat

Showing posts with label lifeboat. Show all posts

Friday, 1 April 2011

The Duke of Northumberland

Whipping the foam - white off the water
Swamping the

Harold - caught near the rocks
Pushing the men - the men in the lifeboat
Pushing them on - too close to the rocks

The Duke of Northumberland

The finest steam lifeboat in the land

22nd of February 1908

The Duke of Northumberland

Saving the Bencroy hand-over-hand

From being aground in the storm - and went home to wait

The steamship Harold on course -

Between North and South Stacks - for the rocks

Driven in by mountainous seas and a force 10 gale

The steamship Harold on course

Anchored - in breaking seas - near the rocks

And Coxswain Owen fought to reach her Refused to fail..fail

Hours beaten in the wave

And risking disaster on the shore

Then throwing a line - throwing a line to help men out

Hours beaten in the wave

Hauling seven men through the seas' roar

When the great wave came - picking up and hurling the boat

As she touched the Harold's side

Desperately the coxswain fought to save

Two last men were hauled aboard from Harold's heaving deck

As she touched the Harold's side

Battened stokers - beaten - still they gave

Power and strength to clear the Harold's side - leaving a wreck

Steaming into deeper sea

Twelve men saved the lives of nine that day

And their greatest reward was fighting courageously

Steaming into deeper sea

Back to Holyhead - safe from affray

To medals - for saving the men - ingeniously

ch

© 2002 charlottepetersrock@tiscali.co.uk - 0156 572 2738 - http://charlottepetersrock.blogspot.com/

(I Gold and 11 Silver Medals - Presented by the President of the RNLI - The Prince of Wales)

Coxswain, Derek Scott - Silver Medal Service

Coxswain Derek Scott - Silver Medal Service

charlottepetersrock@tiscali.co.uk - 0156 572 2738 - http://charlottepetersrock.blogspot.com

The night was exploding in sodium drums

The Kilo - from Holland - in danger

On fire - in high seas - nearing Swansea she was

And looking for help from a stranger

And Coxswain Scott - he was no stranger at all
His boat and his crewmen were ready
3.20 am William Gammon came out
To search for the ship - keep her steady

18th of November 1963

Eleven force wind whipping higher

A parachute flare - from the air - showed the ship

Explosions and chemical fire

And Coxswain Scott - he was no stranger at all
His boat and his crewmen were ready
3.20 am William Gammon came out
To search for the ship - keep her steady

The Kilo was beached in The Mumbles Bay then

The lifeboat came in for ten crewmen

As flames caught the cargo inside her deep hold

With risk - they knew just what to do then

And Coxswain Scott - he was no stranger at all
His boat and his crewmen were ready
3.20 am William Gammon came out
To search for the ship - keep her steady

Later - the tide floated Kilo again

The fire - it had burned out the ship's stock

Scott brought back the Captain and Chief Engineer

Escorted her to Swansea Dock

And Coxswain Scott - he was no stranger at all
His boat and his crewmen were ready
3.20 am William Gammon came out
To search for the ship - keep her steady

The Chairman's Presentation

The Chairman's Presentation

They tell me I'm a brave young man

I don't feel like a hero

I went to sea to haul the drowning out

And now I have to wear a suit

My confidence is zero

I can't make out what all this fuss is about

We went to sea cause that's the way we do it

We park em on dry land to keep em live

The lifeboat's over there We have to crew it

Without us - well - they might not all survive

We do the job cause someone has to do it

Ye can't leave people drowning in the sea

We learned the way to rescue til we knew it

We all turn out cause that's how it must be

The Presentation of The Chairman's Letter

Is what this suit I'm wearing is about

A lovely gesture - but I think much better

Would be to go to sea on one short shout

The honour's very nice I'm not ungrateful

But better to be rescuing at sea

Than standing here - consuming one more plateful

As honour isn't action - you'll agree

We went to sea cause that's the way we do it

We park em on dry land to keep em live

The lifeboat's over there We have to crew it

Without us - well - they might not all survive

They tell me I'm a brave young man

I don't feel like a hero

I went to sea to haul the drowning out

And now I have to wear a suit

My confidence is zero

I can't make out what all this fuss is about

charlottepetersrock@tiscali.co.uk http://charlottepetersrock.blogspot.com

Inflatable Lifeboat Crew

Inflatable Lifeboat Crew

I'm part of the Inflatable Lifeboat Crew

They blow me up and off I go

Riding in a boat as Lifeboat Crew

And able to float away

They say "Tie your lifeline all you Lifeboat Crew

On to the boat and don't let go”

Riding in a boat as Lifeboat Crew

And able to float away

“When awful waves are swamping the Lifeboat Crew

Tipping the boat - Don't let go”

Riding in the boat as Lifeboat Crew

And able to float away

“If the boat is sinking we rely on you

All well blown up and ready to go”

Riding in the boat as Lifeboat Crew

And able to float away

I'm part of The Inflatable Lifeboat Crew

They blow me up and off I go

Rescuing the boat as Lifeboat Crew

Making it float away

charlottepetersrock@tiscali.co.uk http://charlottepetersrock.blogspot.com

Hill Under The Hull

Hill under the Hull

24 July 1983

(Silver Medal Rescue)

Arthur Hill was under the hull

With one young girl in the water

He said "Can you put your face in the sea?"

She said "No" - so he taught her

The boat - off Largs - was upside down

The girl was still trapped inside her

He pushed her head down to make her float out

Her life vest trapped and kept her

John Strachan shouted through the hull

"I'm beside you in the water

Push her down again - I'll catch at her legs

And from the boat I'll haul her"

He pushed her down with hand then foot

She vanished from his water

His oxygen gone - his breath had run out

He dived down-up to clear air

The girl and he were hauled aboard

And back to land he brought her

Her life was reward for Arthur's great risk

And all the crew who caught her

Arthur Hill well he might have died

If the boat had sunk in the water

Whilst he and the girl were trapped deep inside

But still he went in and caught her

charlottepetersrock@tiscali.co.uk http://charlottepetersrock.blogspot.com

Fergal Walsh

Fergal Walsh

18.8.2001 - RNLI Silver Medal

They called the Ballycotton lifeboat out

Waterford and Shannon came by air

But Fergal knew the boy - without a doubt

Would be long dead before they all got there

John Carthy - out from Dublin - with his friend

Was swept up from the shore by one great wave

When Tom jumped in - he thought he'd met his end

He struggled from the sea He could not save

Strong waves still battered John against the reef

The broken seas exhausted all his will

He couldn't reach the shore without relief

On shore they watched - and knew the waves would kill

Peter held the line as Fergal leapt

Swimming in a sea that beat him back

Onto rocks - but still he swam and kept

Hope alive above the sea's attack

John - face down - was breathing in the sea

Fergal threw his arms around to save

Beaten by the rocks and still not free

Both were battered - rocks and reef and wave

Slowly Peter hauled them both to land

Line round Fergal's neck and body caught

Peter - felled by waves - just could not stand

Rose and fell Determinedly he fought

Up the beach - and working hard on John

Keeping him alive in any way

Fergal wouldn't let the boy be gone

Gave him strength to live that awful day

Just a lifeboat man out for a walk

Using all his courage and his skill

Fergal Walsh did more than walk and talk

Risking life - where waves and rocks would kill

charlottepetersrock@tiscali.co.uk http://charlottepetersrock.blogspot.com

Don't Tell Me You Can Swim

Don't tell me you can swim

In shallow water near the shore

You'd think the sea could do no more

But washing wave and hauling tide

Can sink your boat with you inside

Don't tell me you can swim so that's OK

Though swimming's very useful in it's way

Your boat stuck firm on rock and reef

On sandy banks you'll come to grief

Where washing wave and hauling tide

Can sink your boat with you inside

Don't tell me you can swim so that's OK

Though swimming's very useful in it's way

But lifeboat crews will struggle through

The risks you run - to rescue you

Where washing wave and roaring tide

Can sink your boat with you inside

Don't tell me you can swim so that's OK

Though swimming's very useful in it's way

charlottepetersrock@tiscali.co.uk http://charlottepetersrock.blogspot.com

Charlie Cain And All His Men

Charlie Cain and all his men

10,000 people came to cheer

As Norway gave the men from Peel their due

For rescuing its countryfolk held dear

A baby and its mother and the crew

In 1889 the barque St George

Damaged in the gale - began to sink

Out came Charlie Cain and all his men

Their lifeboat was to be a living link

John Monk - the lifeboat - launched into the gale

Struggled to get close in raging wave

Pulled off twenty-one - a mother and

A baby she was desperate to save

Norway came to Peel to meet the men

Seventeen who rescued from the sea

Gave medal honours and great thanks

Showed Norway valued those who they'd set free

10,000 people came to cheer

As Norway gave the men from Peel their due

For rescuing its countryfolk held dear

A baby and its mother and the crew

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Friday, 1 April 2011

John Strachan shouted through the hull

Peter - felled by waves - just could not stand