Volunteer
Life Brigade
Collection
Volunteer
Life Brigade
Collection
Volunteer
Life Brigade
Collection
The Wreck of the Iron Crown and a Letter Left Behind
The Iron Crown was a massive 995-ton barque built at Palmers Yard in Jarrow. She had been en route from Hamburg to the Tyne in ballast. She was one of the strongest vessels yet built on the Tyne, but broke up within hours of being driven onto the Battery Rocks.
The Wreck of the Fame, 20th Oct 1894
On this same date as today, 129 years ago, during a similarly brutal storm, the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade saved all six members of the crew of Fame, which had struck the rocks on the north side of the Pier below the headland, after unsuccessfully attempting to enter the harbour.
The Rescue of Light Of The Harem, 8th Feb 1870
A full easterly gale drove the ship from Lowestoft behind the North Pier shortly after 4pm. The crew of five were clinging to the side of the heavily-rolling vessel, with waves crashing over them.
The Loss of the Rupert, 24th Dec 1895
As a great easterly storm struck the country on Christmas Eve 1895, the Rupert, from Faversham in Kent and laden with coal from Sunderland, was smashed by two massive waves at 11:45 am as she rounded the South Pier in force 11 winds.
Crew of the Schooner Peggy Saved, 13th Oct 1891
This rescue produced a notable hero, Coastguard George Edwin Hoar, who was awarded the Albert Medal, which was the precursor to the George Cross and instituted by Prince Albert in 1866. Hoar was also made the first recipient of the Tynemouth Medal, a gallantry honour initiated by a witness to the rescue and which is still awarded to lifesavers locally today.
Crew of the Barque Lowestoft Saved, 17th Nov 1893
On this date 130 years ago, the Lowestoft, a barque from Blyth, ran into trouble on entering the Tyne in heavy seas at 3am. The ship was en route from Grimsby in a south-easterly gale and was in tow with a tug when the line snapped as she entered the river mouth.
Brig First of May Wrecked at Prior’s Haven During a Day of Destruction, 21st December 1876
“At 10:30 in the morning of 21st December 1876, the brig “First of May” of Blyth was running for shelter in the Tyne. She was swamped by four massive waves, which disabled the helmsmen, and was driven onto Prior’s Haven.”
Schooner Hannah and Eleanor Rescued from Tynemouth Haven, 7th February 1883
During violent storms, ships from miles around would turn and make for the safety of the Tyne. It was in one such southeasterly storm that the schooner Hannah and Eleanor, carrying coal from Seaham to Rochester, was caught.
The Wreck of the Diamant, 26th March 1898
A large crowd had gathered to watch the drama unfold, as waves repeatedly deluged the stranded wreck.
No air-built castles, and no fairy bowers,
But thou, fair Tynemouth, and thy well-known towers,
Now bid th’ historic muse explore the maze
Of long past years, and tales of other days.
Pride of Northumbria!—from thy crowded port,
Where Europe’s brave commercial sons resort,
Her boasted mines send forth their sable stores,
To buy the varied wealth of distant shores.
Here the tall lighthouse, bold in spiral height,
Glads with its welcome beam the seaman’s sight.
Here, too, the firm redoubt, the rampart’s length,
The death-fraught cannon, and the bastion’s strength,
Hang frowning o’er the briny deep below,
To guard the coast against th’ invading foe.
Here health salubrious spreads her balmy wings,
And woos the sufferer to her saline springs;
And, here the antiquarian strays around
The ruin’d abbey, and its sacred ground.
Jane Harvey
From ‘The Castle of Tynemouth. A Tale’ (1806)
Photograph: Lee Stoneman
Photograph: Lee Stoneman
No air-built castles, and no fairy bowers,
But thou, fair Tynemouth, and thy well-known towers,
Now bid th’ historic muse explore the maze
Of long past years, and tales of other days.
Pride of Northumbria!—from thy crowded port,
Where Europe’s brave commercial sons resort,
Her boasted mines send forth their sable stores,
To buy the varied wealth of distant shores.
Here the tall lighthouse, bold in spiral height,
Glads with its welcome beam the seaman’s sight.
Here, too, the firm redoubt, the rampart’s length,
The death-fraught cannon, and the bastion’s strength,
Hang frowning o’er the briny deep below,
To guard the coast against th’ invading foe.
Here health salubrious spreads her balmy wings,
And woos the sufferer to her saline springs;
And, here the antiquarian strays around
The ruin’d abbey, and its sacred ground.
Jane Harvey
From ‘The Castle of Tynemouth. A Tale’ (1806)
