RNLB Lord Southborough (Civil Service No. 1) (ON 688)

Lord Southborough (ON 832)
History
Owner: Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)
Builder: S.E. Saunders, Cowes, Isle of Wight
Official Number: ON 688
Donor:
Station Margate Lifeboat Station, Relief Fleet 1951 - 1955
Cost: £8,997
Laid down: 1924
Sponsored by: Civil Service, Post Office and British Telecom Lifeboat Fund
Acquired: 1925
General characteristics
Class and type: Watson (Motor) Class
Length: 45 ft 0 in (13.72 m) overall
Beam: 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m)
Installed power: One 80hp Weyburn DE6 petrol engine

RNLB Lord Southborough (Civil Service No. 1) (ON 688) was a Watson Class motor lifeboat which was stationed at Margate Lifeboat Station in the English county of Kent in the United Kingdom.[1] She was stationed there for 26 years between 1925 and 1951. From 1951 she served in the RNLI’s relief fleet.[2][3]

Funding and Naming

The lifeboat Lord Southborough was financed by the organization and charity known as the Civil Service, Post Office and British Telecom Lifeboat Fund or CISPOTEL. This organization has funded many lifeboats over many years and this lifeboat was named after the Chairman and Honorary Treasurer Francis Hopwood, Lord Southborough, who was Honorary Treasurer of CISPOTEL for 33 years.[2]

Description

Lord Southborough was laid down in the boatyards of S.E. Saunders in the town of Cowes on the Isle of Wight in 1924. She was delivered and took up her station in 1925. She was a Watson class motor lifeboat and was 45 ft 0 in (13.72 m) and had a beam of 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m). She was powered by a single 80 horsepower Weyburn DE6 petrol engine.

Service history

At 5:50am on the morning of 29 December 1929, the Lord Southborough was launched from her station in a south westerly gale in very heavy seas following reports of flares sighted close to Margate. The source of the flares was a German motorvessel called the Hermine of Wilhelmshaven. The vessel had run aground in the storm. The crew of the lifeboat boarded the vessel to help the Hermine but were unable to re-float her. The crew of the Hermine were eventually taken to shore aboard a pilot boat. For their part in the rescue the lifeboatmen were awarded certificates by the German government for their assistance in helping the crew of the Hermine.[4]

War time 1939 to 1945

In the early months of World War II the Lord Southborough was prepared for a busy time with her location right on the coast overlooking the French coastline.

Dunkirk evacuation

At 5:30pm on 30 May 1940 a telephone request was made by the naval officer in charge at Margate that the Lord Southborough be launched and go across the channel to Dunkirk to help in the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force and the French Army.[5] The lifeboat with her coxswain Edward Parker and her crew aboard headed off to Dunkirk, along with 18 other lifeboats which had been commandeered to help. The Margate crew were one of only three[6] RNLI lifeboat crews used in the evacuation that were allowed to take their own lifeboat across. Many of the others were crewed by Navy ratings. Lord Southborough was second to arrive at the Dunkirk beaches, with the Ramsgate lifeboat Prudential (ON 697)[7] arriving a little before. The two lifeboats spent their first hours on the beaches ferrying soldiers from the shore to larger ships in deeper water off shore.[6] The Lord Southborough has been credited with having brought off 600[8] military personnel from the beaches of Dunkirk, but the true figure is thought to be far greater than this. 500 of these were conveyed from the beach at La Panne to the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Icarus. The Commanding Officer of the destroyer, Lieutenant Commander E. G. Roper,[9] said of the Lord Southborough’s crew

On behalf of every officer and man on this ship, I should like to express to you our unbound admiration for the magnificent behaviour of the crew of the lifeboat Lord Southborough…. The manner in which, with no thought of rest, they brought off load after load of soldiers under continuous shelling, bombing and aerial machine-gun fire will be an inspiration to us all as long as we live. We are proud to be the fellow countrymen of such men.[10]

The Lord Southborough’s Coxswain Edward Parker was one of the two lifeboat coxswains who were awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for their services at Dunkirk the other being Harold Knight coxswain of the Ramsgate Lifeboat.

Lord Southbourough Lifeboat Crew at Dunkirk[9]
RNLB Lord Southbourgh (ON 832)
Name Rank
Edward (Ted) Parker DSM Coxswain
T. Harman Second Coxswain
E. Jorden Engineer
W Mackie Second Engineer
H. Parker Bowman
D. Price Signaller
J Letley Crewman
A. Morris Crewman
A. Ladd Crewman
T. Parker Extra Crewman
W. Hopper Extra Crewman

The Battle of Britain

Following the Dunkirk evacuation the lifeboat crews found themselves very busy. From August 1940 the conflict known as the Battle of Britain raged in the skies above the south coast of England.[11] One of the busiest lifeboat crews during the Battle of Britain was the lifeboat Lord Southborough. On 3 September 1940[11] Lord Southborough was called out to search for a missing Spitfire pilot who had been shot down by a German Messerschmitt 109.[11] The pilot was Richard Hillary, a descendant of Sir William Hillary,[11] the founder of the RNLI in 1824. Unable to quickly escape from his burning aircraft, he suffered extensive burns to his face and hands, but did eventually escape the aircraft and bailed out into the North Sea where he was rescued by the lifeboat. He was taken ashore and was in considerable pain. After being admitted to Hospital the lifeboat crew made regular visits[11] to see Hillary. His hands were so severely burnt that it was in question if he would ever fly an aircraft again. For three months he endured painful experimental reconstructive plastic surgery which attempted to repair the damage to his hands and face. Eventually he returned to combat duty. Hillary is one of the best known of McIndoe's "Guinea Pig Club". Sadly he was killed on 8 January 1943 when he crashed his Bristol Blenheim during a night training flight, the aircraft coming to rest on Crunklaw Farm.[12]

The Guardsman

At 1:40pm on 15 November 1940 the sirens were sounded in Margate to alert the town of an air-raid. The lifeboat-men of Lord Southborough were mustered and were in the Margate boathouse. From the boathouse the men watched as the Royal Naval Tug HMS Guardsman exploded after she hit a mine off North Foreland headland.[13] The lifeboat was immediately launched to go to the aid of the tug. By the time the lifeboat arrived at the scene, the tug had sunk,[14] but the Lord Southborough was able to save the lives of seven of the crew of ten who they found hanging on to pieces of the wreckage that were still afloat. The lifeboat reported that there was no sign of the other two crewmen and it was assumed that they must have gone down with the tug.

April 1941

At 5:45pm in the early evening of 10 April 1941[2] the Lord Southborough was launched to search for more downed aircrew who had made a forced landing on Margate Sands 3 miles of shore. A Blenheim bomber had engaged on a bombing raid on Borkum and the plane had been damaged by shell fire which had put the wireless and compass out of action. The lifeboat rescued the three man crew using a small dinghy as the lifeboat could only get to within a quarter of a mile of the aircraft.[2]

April 1944

On the evening of 27 April 1944[15] a Liberator Bomber of the United States Army Air Forces crashed off Foreness Point.[16] The aircraft, from the 446th Bomb Group, RAF Bungay in Norfolk, had been on a bombing raid over the rail marshalling yards at Blainville-sur-l'Eau in north-eastern France. The plane was returning to base after the bombing mission when it crashed. 8 of 10 crew aboard were killed with two having parachuted to safety just before the crash. Following a search, they were picked up by Lord Southborough and taken back to shore.

30 years of service

The Lord Southborough was in service for the RNLI for a total of 30 years.[2] 25 of those years were spent at Margate where she performed 278 service launches and she is accredited with saving 269 lives.[2] For the last 5 years of her RNLI service she was placed in the relief fleet. She went on to perform another 14 service launches and she saved a further 17 lives.[2]

Retirement and disposal

The Lord Southborough was sold out of the service by the RNLI in 1955. She was bought by the Crown Agents for further use as a lifeboat for the British Overseas Territories.[5] She is thought to have been sent to Benghazi in Libya.[5] Her fate at this time (2013) is unknown.

References

  1. ↑ OS Explorer Map 150 – Canterbury & the Isle of Thanet. Published: Ordnance Survey – Southampton. ISBN 978 0 319 2351 88.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 125 Years of CISPOTEL – Supporters of the RNLI. A History of the Fund and its Lifeboats. Authors:Leslie G. Fawkes, Tony Barker and Jeff Morris. Edited:Peter Sims. First Published: 1991 Copyright: © 1991. CISPOTEL Lifeboat Fund. ASIN B007722XN6
  3. ↑ Fawkes, Leslie G; Barker, Tony; Morris, Jeff. Peter Sims, eds. 125 Years of CISPOTEL support for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution - A History of the Fund and its Lifeboats (PDF). p. 21. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  4. ↑ "Her Majesty The Queen to visit Margate RNLI". Reference to award by the german Government. Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 "The Association of Dunkirk Little Ships". Lord Southborough Lifeboat. Association of Dunkirk Little Ships. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  6. 1 2 Heroes All! – The story of the RNLI. Authur: Beilby, Alec. Publisher: Patrick Stephens Ltd – Haynes Publishing Group 1992. Reference to Dunkirk page 52. ISBN 1 85260 419 0
  7. ↑ "The Association of Dunkirk Little Ships". The Lifeboat Prudential (ON 697). Association of Dunkirk Little Ships. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  8. ↑ Heroes All! – The story of the RNLI. Authur: Beilby, Alec. Publisher: Patrick Stephens Ltd – Haynes Publishing Group 1992. The Kent Stations- Reference to Dunkirk page 162. ISBN 1 85260 419 0
  9. 1 2 The Margate R.N.L.I. Station – And its Lifeboats from 1860. Author: Walters. AP. Publisher:Axxent Ltd.ISBN 0 9531620 0 1
  10. ↑ "Margate Cemetery - Est. 1856 - The Friends of Margate Cemetery". Edward Duke Parker :- Grave number 4292, Section VII. Produced by The Friends of Margate Cemetery. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Heroes All! – The story of the RNLI. Authur: Beilby, Alec. Publisher: Patrick Stephens Ltd – Haynes Publishing Group 1992. The Kent Stations- Battle of Britain - Richard Hillary, page 163. ISBN 1 85260 419 0
  12. ↑ "Richard Hillary Memorial & Charterhall Airfield". Richard Hillary memorial stone. X Marks the Scot - An on-line community of kilt wearers. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  13. ↑ "Allied Warships – HMS Guardsman". Reference and details of the sinking of HMS Guardsman. U-boat.net - © 1995 - 2013 Guðmundur Helgason. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  14. ↑ "Guardsman HMS (1919 – 1940)". Wreck location and details. Wreck Sites-www.wrecksites.eu. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  15. ↑ "Liberator crash Thanet 27th April 1944". Liberator crash Thanet 27th April. The Kent & Sussex History Board. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  16. ↑ "Thanet Life". The Foreness Story - A Liberator Crash of 1944. Thanet Life. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
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