Salcombe RNLI Commemorates the 1916 Lifeboat Disaster

In the 200th year of the RNLI, the Salcombe Lifeboat Crew will honour the brave men of 1916 who made the ultimate sacrifice to save lives at sea. We will recreate the route that they took on that fateful day when 15 men went to sea and only 2 survived. The team will run from the Lifeboat station in Salcombe to South Sands where the original Lifeboat Station still stands, starting the journey that every ‘shout’ began with, then row to Prawle Point before returning to Salcombe Bar where a few of the team will jump into the sea and swim back to the lifeboat Station in Salcombe. While we cannot recreate the bravery that these men displayed, we can be thankful for them and all that have walked in their footsteps including direct descendants in the crew today.

Weather permitting the event is scheduled for the afternoon of Aug 17th starting from the Crew Room at 1000. We will run the 1.6 miles to South Sands, Row 6.2 miles to Prawle Point and back before swimming the 1.3miles from the bar to the crew room. Please click on the QR code below to learn more about the 1916 Salcombe Lifeboat disaster

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We were blessed with perfect conditions for our event and had fantastic support throughout. The run was perhaps the least difficult part until we got to North Sands and had to run over to South Sands. I believe the 1916 crew ran around the edge of the hill but either way we were all out of breath when we got to the gig. No RNLI crew has done the row to Prawle for over 100 years so all our thoughts were with the 1916 crew attempting it in a force 9 gale, not the almost dead calm conditions we faced. We made it to the east of Prawle in good time and were treated by a blast on the horn from the coastwatch station. We then made our way back to the bar where were able to honour the brave men with a few words and a minutes silence. We were very lucky to be joined by the 46ft Watson Lifeboat Oniros (Previously Samuel and Marie Parkhouse) which was the Salcombe lifeboat from 1938 - 1962 and the City of Bradford III lifeboat which was in service in Humber and Lytham St Annes from 1954 - 1985, both really adding to the occasion. By this time we had a large flotilla of boats all around us plus some kayakers to offer support for the swim. We set off up the harbour with our pink RNLI swim caps and many boats in tow. We swam up the estuary, under normandy bridge and around to the crew room steps where we were greeted by a large group of well wishers all clapping us as we climbed up the steps. We are all immensely proud to honour the legacy of those incredibly brave men. Thanks very much to all our supporters who have helped the day be such a success.