© PE Blanche
1998
Actual detail
from The Memorial |
©
PE Blanche 1998
The
current Margate Lifeboat loaded on a tracked vehicle from where
it can be towed the short distance to the beach. The previous
Lifeboat Station with its slipway was destroyed at the same time
the Pier was torn apart in gales around the coast.
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When entering Margate seafront from Westbrook,
it is impossible not to notice the statue of a figure permanently looking
out to sea over the infamous Nayland Rocks. The figure is shading his
eyes and clad in oilskins and an old cork life jacket. The monument
was erected to nine men of Margate that lost their lives in the Friend
to all Nations surf-boat tragedy on the night of Thursday, December
2nd, 1897.
In
the last century, it was common for many towns and/or ports on the coast
to provide a surf-boat crewed by local men although at the time there
were also R.N.L.I. Lifeboats being strategically placed around the coast
as well. So it was in Margate which had a R.N.L.I. boat named the Quiver
but also still used its surf-boat. The surf-boat at Margate had no motor
but was powered by sails and was not self-righting.
In this particular
year, the Kent Coast had been lashed by hurricane force winds from November
28th and the damage was worse than caused by later storms in 1953 and
1978. Granite blocks were actually torn out of place on the seawall
and promenade. It was on the last night of this storm that a ship by
the name of Persian Empire had gone aground on the Margate
Sands following a collision. Both the Quiver and the Friend
to all Nations put out from the Harbour but as the surf-boat reached
the open sea away from the relative shelter of the Harbour wall, she
was hit by two huge rollers, one after the other which caused her to
capsize. The surf-boat was washed ashore near the Nayland Rocks with
only four surviving crew members clinging to her. Surprisingly, it was
determined at the inquest that followed, that none of the crew members
had been wearing their lifejackets which were available to them. Nine
men were lost that night and it was a terrible disaster for the Town
and contributions poured in from all over the Country for the Widows
and Orphans of the dead crewmen.
The members of the Friend
to all Nations that lost their lives that night were:
William Philpott
COOK Senr. - Coxswain
Henry Richard BROCKMAN
Robert Ernest COOK
William Philpott COOK Junr.
Edward Robert CRUNDEN
John Benjamin DIKE
William Richard GILL
George Robert William LADD
and
Charles E. TROUGHTON,
Superintendent, Margate Ambulance Corps.
The four surviving
members of the crew were:
John J. GILBERT
Joseph W. EPPS
Harry BROCKMAN
Robert LADD
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