Rare pictures of Yorkshire’s dramatic and sometimes tragic lifeboat heritage

From the Tees to the Humber, nine lifeboat stations line the Yorkshire coast and since the foundation of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in 1824, they have contributed to the rescue of some 140,000 seafarers.

But inevitably with bravery comes tragedy, and none more terrible than the disaster off the Yorkshire coast in February 1861, when a huge storm capsized the Whitby lifeboat and threw the crew overboard. Only one crewman, Henry Freeman, survived – saved by the new design of his cork life jacket.

The storm that day wrecked more than 200 ships, and the Whitby lifeboat had launched five times before its fatal voyage, successfully saving the crew of the John and Ann, the Gamma, Utility and Roe.

The lifeboatmen knew it was too dangerous to sail again but they could not stand by and watch the cargo ship Merchant sink. A huge crowd on the harbour watched helplessly as they perished.

Today the lifeboat museum at Whitby commemorates the disaster and a series of other incidents dating from 1841, which together have taken the lives of 24 local crew members.

The museum on Pier Road is housed in a double boathouse that was until 1957 the lifeboat station. On the opposite bank of the Esk, stands the present station, home to an all-weather lifeboat and an inshore rescue craft.

The harbourside bustle is in stark contrast to perhaps the most remote outpost in Yorkshire – the lonely Humber station, situated at the very tip of Spurn Point and the only all-weather unit in the country with a full-time crew.

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