|
The Mary White was a lifeboat based in Broadstairs, Kent, England, named in 1851 after the completion of an heroic rescue of a brig, the ''Mary White''. Such was the bravery displayed by the lifeboat crew on this occasion that it excited a great deal of enthusiasm throughout Kent and a ballad, the Song of the Mary White, was composed to honour the men involved. ==1851 rescue== As recited in the ballad written to commemorate the occasion, the then unnamed lifeboat, which had only recently (July 1850) been presented to Broadstairs by the shipwright Thomas White, saw its first use on 6 March 1851. On this occasion, the brig ''Mary White'' became trapped upon the Goodwin Sands during a very severe gale blowing from the north. In response to the sight of the ship in distress the Harbour Master, Coxswain Solomon Holbourn, mustered a crew for the lifeboat. The new vessel was launched into the surf, from its horse-drawn wagon-trailer as was the method of the times. It was a bitterly cold morning as the crew struggled against the high winds, hailstones, sleet and snow, to reach the stricken ship. After a while they were able to get close and cast a line to the ''Mary White'' and succeeded in getting seven of the ten crewmen aboard, to the relative safety of the lifeboat. The Harbour Master and another of the lifeboat crew, George Castle, were on the ''Mary White'' with the ship's captain and the two others remaining of her crew, when the rope snapped and the lifeboat broke away from the wreck, which was rapidly going to pieces, soon to be devoured by the ‘Shippe Swallower’ (Goodwin Sands). The Second Coxswain signalled that he was unable to get alongside the wreck, and that those left on the ''Mary White'' were at the mercy of God and the sea. Captain White remained with his ship, and the lifeboat men were unable to persuade the remaining two to abandon their captain or trust themselves to the waves. The Harbour Master and other lifeboat men had no option but to make a swim for it, or face certain doom. Castle and Holbourn jumped into the maelstrom and made it to the lifeboat, whereupon, every option exhausted, the valiant band turned and rowed to shore. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mary White (lifeboat)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|