Product Description
of the modern world? Could it be that we've somehow lost our way by
disengaging from our roots? Exploring the relationship between Tenby
and its Lifeboat could help you gain an undersanding ... and with the
gift of hindsight, as Shakespeare would have said, "Perchance to Dream"
... Tenby's the oldest town in Wales with the archaeological evidence
revealing habitation dating back thousands of years: the Castle Hill an
Iron Age fortress, caves at Penally and Caldy Island inhabited in the
Stone Age. Yet Tenby is still Tenby almost as if the peninsula on which
it stands, protected by sea and town walls, cocoons an oasis ... Very
much 'living' history and, as such, is a veritable time-capsule of the
world of yesteryear making a contrast with the world of today ... It's
also a time-capsule of the universe of human emotions: people putting
their lives on-the-line to save others, the tragedies of individual
lives, the light-hearted happiness of a childhood without pollution and
the motor car, yet aginst a background of the insanity of the most
horrific conflict in human history ... Yet in one small town, in one
small community, humanity continually triumphs. Whether against greed
or evil, humanity is the underlying theme of A Tenby Lifeboat Family
making it an antidote against the dead-pan reality of the new
millennium ... Once upon a time this is how the world was and needs to
become again. Is it political? Only to the insanest spin-doctor. But to
you? You may not know it but A Tenby Lifeboat Family is where your
roots lie regardless of your individual origins anywhere on planet
Earth ... For the humanity of the human spirit is what enables us to
walk on the Moon and look back with pride at little old planet Earth
and know that is where we belong for that is our home ... So if,
wherever you may be reading this, you feel down-trodden by a
meaningless existence then this book is Avis Nixon's gift of a future
to you. ... For there is a future but only if you remember that it
belongs to you. Is it poetical? If the stars in the night sky are
poetical, then yes. If the deepset reds of a fine sunset are poetical,
then yes. If the moonbeams on a dark ocean are poetical, then yes ...
For surely humanity, what it is to be human, is to know one's place in
the natural world of human emotions. But enough of melancholia, Avis
Nixon will make you laugh too ... So there you have it: with the gift
of hindsight you'll be able to judge for yourself.
From the Publisher
by the almost routine-like nature of most call-outs. For such is the
dedication, expertise and efficiency of all Lifeboat crews and their
shore helpers (those who man the Lifeboat Station to assist at launch
and rehousing) that it is as if a well-rehearsed drama is taking place.
Twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year, at any time the maroons may
be fired that signify the launch of the Tenby Lifeboat. Two maroons are
launched high over Tenby town, accompanied by a loud explosion; dogs
bark, seagulls take to the air and the inhabitants of Tenby wonder ...
wonder where their Lifeboat is going and when it will return. In the
day a puff of grey smoke marks the explosion, due to the speed of sound
being slower than the speed of light the explosion is seen before it is
heard; at night the explosion is marked by a bright flash. A Tenby
Lifeboat Family by Avis Nixon are the memoirs of a Tenby Lifeboatman's
daughter from the 1930s and 1940s. Tenby-born author, poet and artist
Avis Nixon is the sixth daughter of Tenby Lifeboatman Alfred Cottam,
who was the Mechanic of the Tenby Lifeboat from 1933 to 1948. In 1938
Alfred Cottam was awarded the RNLI's Bronze Medal for his part in Tenby
Lifeboat's legendary rescue of the crew of the SS Fermanagh.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
In the early hours of January 15th 1938 the phone rang for dad. The Coastguards informed him that the Lifeboat was on call-out, distress flares had been sighted out to sea off Saint Catherine's Island.
My father's sea clothes were always laid in readiness on the floor beside the bed, his size nine boots with thick white socks placed ready for his feet to slide into. It must be a mile or more from Broadwell Hayes to the Castle Hill and the Lifeboat Station. He had to cycle as fast as he could against a very strong wind and driving rain. Down the Maudlins, across the Green, up Saint John's Hill [nowadays a one-way street in the opposite direction] across the Norton and down Crackwell Street [again nowadays one-way] to the Lifeboat Station.
The conditions this morning were so bad ... he had to crawl on his hands and knees to get across the foot-bridge linking the Lifeboat Station to the Castle Hill, clinging to the wooden slats or he would have been blown away. Hurricane force winds and torrential rain. The sea was so rough ... it was breaking over the Napoleonic fortress on Saint Catherine's Island.
At 05:15 am within minutes of the first call the Tenby Lifeboat, of name John R Webb II, was launched on her fearful mission. Her crew anticipating a dangerous rescue, darkness and extreme weather conditions against them. Her Coxswain George Hooper was away at the time, his place taken by Second Coxswain John Rees.
Just handling the Lifeboat was a feat in itself in the severe conditions. Visibility was very poor due to the driving rain and spray from the waves. When they sighted the stricken ship they found her aground on the treacherous Woolhouse Rocks - which lie between Caldey Island and the mainland and are submerged at high water. She was identified as a coaster, the SS Fermanagh of Belfast.
The Lifeboat went into rescue procedure. Firstly to circle the ship, inspecting her position, checking for damage and searching for anyone in the water - priority always being given to these first. The ship seemed to be lying on an even keel and did not show signs of breaking up. The Coxswain decided it would be best to stand by and wait for better light, keeping a careful watch on any change in her position.
Within a short time of this decision the Fermanagh came off the rocks and was drifting before the gale. Her bows were up in the air and her decks awash two thirds of the way aft to her funnel and bridge. The Lifeboat crew could now see men aboard her.
The Acting Coxswain, John Rees, at once took the Lifeboat alongside her, handling his craft with great skill in the heavy seas, even so she could only stay alongside for a few seconds. In that short time the eight man crew of the Fermanagh were aboard the Lifeboat. My father told us that in order to exercise this feat the crew had to hook their feet in the scuppers and lean out with their arms outstretched, ready to grab any man who might not succeed in the jump.
It was then discovered that her Master was not among them. Before the Lifeboat had arrived he had launched the ship's boat, but with the heavy seas he had been swept away.
The Lifeboat had already searched around the Fermanagh as she lay on the rocks and seen nothing of the Master or the ship's boat. The rescued men were in a state of shock and exhaustion. The Lifeboat headed for Tenby arriving at 08:30 am - just three hours and fifteen minutes from launch. They landed the rescued men and then went back to search for the Master. They searched for a further two hours but could find no trace of him. The Lifeboat returned to Tenby at 10:45 am, she had been out for over five hours and her crew were severely shaken in the heavy seas. They had been in continual danger of being washed overboard, and two of them were nearly lost when the Lifeboat went into a deep trough.
The highest praise possible must go to any man prepared to offer his life to save that of another.
The crew were: Second Coxswain, Acting Coxswain, John Rees - awarded the RNLI's Silver Medal; Mechanic Alfred Cottam - awarded the RNLI's Bronze Medal; the rest of the crew - all Tenby men, they were from old Lifeboat families - Fred Harries, Thomas E Lewis, Frank Hooper, Alexander Harries, Bertie Lewis, Henry Thomas and James N Crockford - were awarded Vellum Certificates for Gallantry from the RNLI.
