Penlee's station history

Silvers Medal awarded to William Rowe and John Freeman for the rescue of the crew of eight including one woman of the Brig Olive wrecked at Halzephron, Mounts Bay in a hurricane on 27 April 1824.

Silver Medal awarded to William A Selly for the rescue of the crew of seven of the Schooner Kitty wrecked near Penzance on 26 December 1848. When the crew of the casualty were seen hanging from the remains of her bulkheads, her foremast having gone, Mr Selly and four other fishermen launched a boat and rescued the master and six crew.

Gold Medals awarded to Captain George Davies RN and Mr Thomas Randall Forward (Commander of the Revenue Cutter Sylvia) and Silver Medals awarded to James Burne, Thomas Kerley, Robert Eastaway, William Selly, Charles Carr, James Richards, William Surry, Henry Jones, James Ward and Henry Richards for the rescue of the master, his wife and one of the crew from the brig New Commercial, wrecked at Brissons Rock, four miles north of Lands End in thick fog and high seas on 12 January 1851. In atrocious weather conditions an unsuccessful attempt was made to take off two survivors by the Sylvia before Captain Davies arrived on scene with rocket apparatus. Using this he managed to fire a line which the two survivors secured and by this means was hauled aboard, the third person was picked up by another boat.

Silver Medal awarded to Mr R Pearce, Lloyd's Agent of Penzance, for his repeated services in saving life from shipwreck.

Silver Medal awarded to Captain T H Fellowes RN for the rescue of the crew of eight men of the Brig Willie Ridley of Plymouth that was in distress during stormy weather and very heavy sea on 29 January 1865.  After several unsuccessful attempts Captain Fellows took the boat to Newlyn where she launched once more and after some hard rowing, got alongside the casualty and in spite of the weather conditions the master and crew were taken off over the main boom.

Silver Medal awarded to Coxswain Thomas Carbis for the rescuing the crew of nine from the ss Bessie of Hayle that was wrecked on Hayle Bar during a heavy north-easterly gale on 11 January 1866. In the mountainous seas the St Ives lifeboat Moses had insufficient power to reach the casualty, so a telegram was sent to Penzance seeking help. After a journey of 50 miles around Lands End the lifeboat arrived at St Ives rendezvous with Moses and both lifeboats set off. After a long struggle the master and eight crew were landed safely ashore.

Silver Medal awarded to Samuel Higgs Jnr for three services in Mounts Bay in an east-south-easterly gale and very heavy sea 5 January 1867.  After a distress signal was seen the lifeboat launched and found the Brixham schooner Salome drifting rapidly towards shore, five men and a boy were taken off just before the casualty stuck the rocks and broke up.  More signals were seen in the pitch dark evening with a hurricane now blowing and in heavy rain the lifeboat launched again and returned within an hour having rescued the crew of five from the Looe schooner Selina Ann. The third time the lifeboat launched was to the Teignmouth schooner Hairess when she rescued six people.

Silver Medals awarded to Coxswain T Carbis, Second Coxswain Higgans, Captain R B Cay RN, Mr W Blackmore and Mr Samuel Higgs Jnr, for a service to the Barque North Britain that was driven ashore in a gale on 6 December 1868. It took just over an hour for the Penzance lifeboat to reach the casualty but a great sea struck, and capsized her trapping Coxswain Carbis. He was recovered and with Captain Cay’s help taken back to shore. A fresh crew was put aboard the lifeboat and pulling through tremendous wind and sea reached the wreck and rescue eight men before the masts went and the vessel broke up.

Silver Medals awarded to Captain Howorth RN, Hon Sec Nicholas B Downing, and W Blackmore for two services; the first on 26 January 1873 when the lifeboat launched into a southerly gale and high seas to the Norwegian brig Otto that was driven ashore in Penzance Bay and reaching the wreck rescued eight crew. The second service was on 2 February 1873 when the lifeboat launched into very high seas to the French vessel La Marie Emilie that ran ashore with seas rolling over her. The lifeboat was driven back several times before rescuing all four of her crew.

The Norwegian Government, by a royal resolution, decreed to the same persons the Silver Medal for civic deeds (Borgerdaad) for the service to the Otto.

The French Government gave a Gold Medal to Coastguard William Gould and thanked the lifeboat crew in connection with the rescue of five of the crew of the French brig Ponthieu on 17 May.

Silver Medal awarded to Mr H Trewhella on his retirement in acknowledgement of his long and gallant services in saving life from shipwreck.

Lifeboat house and slipway constructed at Penlee at a cost of £2,850.

Penzance old lifeboat house sold to Town Council for £200.

Centenary Vellum presented by Mrs Molyneux Favell on 15 August at the inaugural ceremony of the new lifeboat and received by Alderman Charles Tregaga, JP, CC.

Bronze Medal awarded to Coxswain Frank Blewett for the rescue of the crew of nine of the steamer Taycraig driven onto rocks in Mounts Bay in a gale on 27 January 1936. The lifeboat arrived on scene to find the casualty with seas breaking over her and partly submerged; the nine crew together on the forecastle. Coxswain Blewett veered the lifeboat down and with her rising and falling violently, took off all the crew, one at a time.

Silver Medal awarded to Coxswain E F Madron and a Bronze Medal to Motor Mechanic J B Drew for their services on 23 April when, in a south-westerly gale with a very rough sea the lifeboat rescued a skeleton crew from the obsolete battleship Warspite which was wrecked at Cudden Point, Mounts Bay, while being towed to a shipbreakers yard. When the lifeboat arrived on scene she found the casualty with seas breaking around the turret. Coxswain Madron took the lifeboat into a narrow channel between the wreck and the rocks manoeuvring alongside so the eight crew could jump one at a time into the boat.

An Anniversary Vellum commemorating 150 years service was presented on 12 March by Lady Tedder to Coxswain E Madron.

Two salvage officers in charge of the demolition of the Warspite, set out to the wreck in an amphibious DUKW driven by another man and, owing to engine failure were driven onto the rocks and were rescued by a shore boat.

Penlee Honorary Secretary, Mr Barrie B Bennetts MBE, appointed Honorary Life Governor. Mr Bennetts was Honorary Secretary for 44 years.

Mr Barrie Bennetts, who had received the highest award the Institution can make to a voluntary worker, that of appointment as honorary life governor, died on 26 July at the age of 75. He had been honorary secretary of the Penlee station branch from 1913 until 1957 when he retired.

Shore helper James Pentreath was killed and another helper Mr R W Blewett injured when the Penlee lifeboat was being re-housed on 30 December 1961. The accident occurred after the lifeboat had launched to convey a man suffering with appendicitis on board the tanker Varicella to a waiting ambulance at Newlyn. On the lifeboats return to station, as she was about to be hauled up into the keelway of the slip when a heavy swell carried her broadside for about 10ft pulling the winch wire with her; striking the two shore helpers on the legs, and causing them to fall onto the rocks before falling into the water. The other helpers quickly reached the two men and hauled them on to the rocks but it was found that Mr Pentreath had been killed and Mr Blewett had a number of ribs broken. Mr Blewett was taken to hospital where he made a good recovery.

The Bronze Medal awarded to Coxswain William Richards in recognition of the courage, determination and skill displayed by him when the lifeboat launched in the hours of darkness on 25 January 1975 into a strong west-north-westerly gale gusting to hurricane force, a very rough sea and heavy rain squalls to the assistance of the crew of the motor vessel Lovat, 18½ miles south of Mousehole Island. One of the helicopters co-operating in the search rescued two survivors but 11 lives were lost. The unhappy task of recovering the bodies fell to the lifeboat.

A special framed certificate awarded to the coxswain and crew for display at the station in recognition of their services in connection with numerous yachts in difficulties during the Fastnet Race on 16 August.

A Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman, The Duke of Atholl, awarded to Coxswain William Richards in recognition of the determination and seamanship he displayed when the Belgian trawler Normauwil stranded near the north arm of Newlyn Harbour on 19 March, was towed clear of danger by the lifeboat in a strong south easterly wind and a rough sea.

On 19 December the lifeboat Solomon Browne was launched in hurricane conditions to go to the aid of the coaster Union Star that had engine failure and was being swept towards the southern coast of Cornwall. The coxswain repeatedly took the lifeboat alongside the coaster to try and rescue the eight people on board, before managing to take four people off.  A helicopter was unable to get a line to the people on the coaster. The lifeboat made a further attempt to rescue the remaining four when radio contact was lost. It was subsequently discovered that the lifeboat had been completely wrecked with the loss of her crew of eight. The coaster was also lost. There were no survivors. Coxswain William Trevelyan Richards was awarded the Institutions Gold Medal for the manner in which four people were taken off the coaster. The remainder of the crew, Second Coxswain/Mechanic James Stephen Madron, Assistant Mechanic Nigel Brockman, Emergency Mechanic John Robert Blewett, crew members Charles Thomas Greenhaugh, Kevin Smith, Barrie Robertson Torrie and Gary Lee Wallis were awarded Bronze Medals. The Medals were presented to the widows and parents by HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester at the Royal Festival Hall, London on 11 May 1982. The Institution paid pensions to the dependants of the lifeboat crew in accordance with its usual practice and a local appeal raised over £3 million.

On 2 June the Chairman of the Institution, The Duke of Atholl, visited Mousehole with the Director, Rear Admiral W Graham, and the Divisional Inspector of Lifeboats, Mr L Vipond, to present seven of the Vellums recording the bravery awards to the families of the men who died on the service to the coaster Union Star on 19 December 1981. The presentations were made privately in their homes. Presentation of the Vellum to Mrs Lyn Torrie was arranged for a later date.

The new Arun class lifeboat Mabel Alice was placed on service at 0001 on Sunday, 8 May and lies afloat in Newlyn Harbour.

Assembly building constructed. This provided a workshop/store, souvenir outlet and improved crew facilities.

The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum accorded to Coxswain Kenneth Thomas in recognition of the skill and perseverance displayed by him when the lifeboat escorted the French trawler St Simeon in a strong east-south-easterly gale and very rough sea on 15 February.

Following the Penlee lifeboat disaster in 1981 Penzance Town Council decided to create a Memorial Garden. It was decided on 9 May 1985 in the presence of the Mayor of Penzance, Mrs Margaret Beckerleg, Senior Officials of the RNLI, members of the families of those lost in the disaster, members of the Penlee and Penzance Branch of the RNLI and neighbouring branches, members of the Port Talbot Branch, those responsible for building the garden and other members of the community.  The project was the inspiration of the late Councillor Clarry Ash, father-in-law of one of the crew. Mrs M E Harvey of Newlyn generously gave the land adjacent to the boathouse at Penlee Point to the Town Council. The garden was designed by Mr S Lee, BSc, Senior Architect of British Airways and was built by the Springboard Youth Training Scheme. Materials for the garden was given by local people and builders. The centrepiece of the garden is the splendid stainless steel memorial plaque in colour given by the Port Talbot Branch of the RNLI. Penzance Town Council and Mousehole Royal British Legion donated further memorial plaques. The Dedication was conducted by the Rev R H Cadman, the Branch Honorary Chaplain and other local Clergymen.

A flagstaff made from the wreckage of the Solomon Browne using pieces of each type of wood from which the lifeboat was constructed was, with her flag, presented to the Dean and Chapter of Truro Cathedral by the Institution as a memorial to the eight lifeboat crew members who gave their lives, and in appreciation of the support given by the Bishop and cathedral authorities to the Penlee families and the Institution at the time of the disaster.

Bronze Medal awarded to Coxswain/Mechanic Neil Brockman in recognition of his fine seamanship, leadership and meritorious conduct when, jointly with the Sennen Cove lifeboat, the Penlee lifeboat Mabel Alice assisted in the rescue of five people and saving the fishing vessel Julian Paul which had fouled her propeller to the west of Longships. The casualty was taken in tow in very rough seas and storm force winds and brought into Newlyn at 1 am on 7 December 1994. Coxswain/Mechanic Terence George of the Sennen Cove lifeboat was also awarded the Bronze Medal.

A framed Letter of Thanks signed by the chairman of the Institution, Mr David Acland, presented to Coxswain Mechanic Neil Brockman in recognition of the seamanship, judgement and leadership displayed by him when he took the lifeboat alongside the French tanker Gwel a Vo no fewer than 17 times at night in rough seas and five metre swells on 21 December 1999. This enabled three lifeboat men and stretchers to be transferred to the tanker to treat an injured man. Once the man had been placed in a stretcher, he and the crew were recovered onto the lifeboat and the man was landed at Newlyn and transferred to hospital.

Penlee Station to provide all operational cover in the area as the Marazion inshore lifeboat station closed on 31 October 2001.

At the Executive Committee meeting held on 28 November it was resolved that a B class inshore lifeboat be established at Penlee with immediate effect.

The Trustee Meeting held on 27 November decided that Penlee Lifeboat Station be awarded a Vellum to commemorate the completion of 200 years service in 2003.

New station B class lifeboat B-787 Paul Alexander was placed on service on September.