The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-11-06 00:00:00

SAD LIFEBOAT DISASTER.

On Friday in last week, by the capsizing of the
lifeboat at Wells, Norfolk, eleven of the crew were
drowned, two only escaping with their lives. It ap-
pears that the boat went out to the assistance of the
brig Ocean Queen, of Sunderland, but could not get
alongside owing to the falling tide, and was returning,
when she was struck by a heavy sea, which capsized
her. The crew consisted of Robert William Elsdom,
harbour-master and captain; John Eisdon coxswain;
Samuel Smith, Charles Smith, William Field, George
Jay, William Green, Thomas Kew, Charles Hinds,
John Stay, Frank Abel, William Wordingham, and
William 'Bell, all seamen. Of these only Thomas
Kew and William Bell were saved. One of the sur-
vivors states that the crew had on their cork jackets.
Some clung to the boat, or were entangled in
the gear, while others, separated from her,
struck out for shore half a mile distant. The lifeboat
did not right herself for many minutes, and until she
had been driven a considerable distance, and had her
mast carried away. Bell was afterwards found in the
boat • Kew swam ashore, and VMS picked up half dead
by the coastguard. One or two bodies were picked up
on Friday night, and several others were recovered on
Saturday. All the eleven drowned men were married,
and leave familes—Jay as many as eight children.
The crew of the Ocean Queen walked•ashore at low
water.

The following is the statement of Thomas Kew, one
of the survivors :—" The lifeboat had just returned
from saving a crew of seven. She was manned afresh;
and Urn went out to the Ocean Queen, which was
making signals. The boat was towed out of the har-
bour by the tug, which left us when we were about a
quarter of a mile from the ship. The wind was blow-
ing from the north, and the ship was lying on the lee
shore. Finding that we could not render any assist-
ance, we were making for the harbour when the boat
capsized. A tremendous sea broke quite over the top
of the boat, and fell into her. It turned the boat quite
over. All the crew had on their cork belts. The
boat did not right for a quarter of an hour. I saw
them all drown, with the exception of two. I shall
never forget it. The cries and shrieks were terrible.
Some of them were entangled with the gear, and some
of them hung on the boat. Seven of them left her and
tried to swim ashore, about half a mile distant. When
I got clear of the gear I swam ashore. The vessel we
went after is still lying on the sands, and her crew
walked out of her at low water."

At the inquest held at Wells-next-the-Sea on Mon-
day, on the bodies of ten of the crew of the Wells
lifeboat, it appeared from the evidence that the crew,
finding that the brig to the rescue of which they were
proceeding had drifted to shore, had decided to return
to the harbour. For this purpose they rowed about
half a mile out to sea, let go th,e anchor, and, being of
opinion that it was impossible to row the lifeboat
home, set all sail. They then got up the anchor, but
did not secure it in the boat, and were sailing
for the harbour, when a sea broke over the lifeboat
and capsized it. The boat turned completely over,
the masts going down on one side and coming up on
the other. The anchor probably then fell out and
anchored the boat, which drifted for a distance
variously estimated at from 150 to 300 yards, still
lying on its side, with one gunwale out of the water
and the sails submerged. The foremast appears then to
have been carried away, either by contact with the
bottom or by the heavy sea Land the boat immediately
righted, bringing one man (Bell) up inside the boat, but
leaving the others clingingto the outside or struggling in
the water. The men outside the boat appear to have
been unable to get in in consequence of the weight of their
saturated clothes and heavy sea boots, and all were
drowned except two—Bell, who remained in the boat,
but could not get any of his companions in, and Kew,
who swam to the shore in an exhausted condition. All
the men had cork jackets on. It seems that when the
great wave which capsized the boat was seen approach-
ing the fore sheet and jib sheet were let go, but not
the halyards. A verdict of" Accidentally drowned"
was returned. _ _ _ _

A subscription is on foot for the widows and
children of the deceased.

In noticing the sad event the Daily Telegraph re-
marks :—" Because the story is a common one it is
the more, not the less, honourable to the reafaring
men of our coasts, those heroes in humble life, ever
ready to face death because it is their duty to do so.
Fortunately, the brig was saved, and her crew walked
ashore at low tide. The eleven gallant fellows who
went down in tbe merciless sea have passed beyond
the help of charity, and, it may be, out of the reach
of praise. But their belongings are a sacred legacy
to an island people. Cheerfully and willingly they
paid the penalty of our national safety, "the silver i
streak," with their lives, and t is the immediatd
business of Englishmen to take charge of those
afflicted ones for whom they were the bread-winners."

The Baroness Burdett-Coutts has sent to the Lord
Mayor of London £lOO towards the Truro Cathedral Fund.
Her ladyship refers to the statement of the Prince of Wales,
as the Grand Master of Freemasons, that Truro was the first
cathedral the foundation-stone of which had been laid
with full Masonic rites, and goes on to say, "Let us hope
that this may be a type that the Churches of Christendom
may become more united, and carry more perfectly their
Master's preempts, embodied in even what the ignorant know
of the principles of the craft."

SIR WILFRID LAWSON ON VACCINA-
TION.
Sir Wilfrid Lawson, replying recently to a correspondent
who had written to him on the vaccination question,
wrote :

"I am opposed to the present system of what is
called compulsory vaccination. But whether vaccina-
tion be desirable or not, the existing system is not
compulsory, since a rich man by giving or paying fines
can avoid it, and so can the poor man, although he is
sent to prison. As regards the general question of
vaccination, there seems to be a curious conflict of
testimony ;but as almost all the doctors support it, I
should think that probably in the end it will turn out
to be a delusion. Most of the theories on which they
have been most positive have been upset after having
held sway for a certain number of years."