Tag Archives: Penlee lifeboat Solomon Browne
All the lives lost in shipwrecks off Cornwall since the end of WWII
The history of shipwrecks around our coast is long and tragic but is also a story of immense selfless courage exemplified in none other than the Penlee Lifeboat tragedy. Very few incidents have shaken Cornwall to its core as much as the loss of the lifeboat Solomon Browne on that fateful night on December 19, 1981. With winds at hurricane force 12 gusting to 90 knots, the eight-strong crew of the Solomon Browne put to sea that night in an attempt to rescue the eight people on board the coaster Union Star, which had lost power between Tater-du Lighthouse and Boscawen Point. All lives were lost. A permanent memorial stone to all 16 people who lost their lives that day now stands on the cliff above where the tragedy happened. Below is a list of incidents during which crews or passengers were lost at sea off Cornwall’s coast since the end of the Second World War. More than 130 people died in that period. photos, more, >>click to read<< 10:45
Penlee Lifeboat: Forty years later, pre-Christmas bravery still marked by heartrending village ritual
Forty years ago this weekend, the Penlee lifeboat Solomon Browne was launched into hurricane-force winds that had whipped up 50ft waves off the treacherous Cornish coast. The crew of eight experienced volunteer lifeboatmen were attempting to reach a stricken coaster, the Union Star, which was in danger of drifting on to rocks. What followed was an audacious act of seamanship in extreme conditions which nearly succeeded in saving 
those in peril. Instead, it is remembered as one of the greatest tragedies in the 197-year history of the RNLI.,, The Coastguard telephones Trevelyan Richards, 56, a trawler skipper who has been coxswain of the Penlee lifeboat Solomon Browne for the past 11 years. It explains the plight of the Union Star and asks Trevelyan to put his crew on standby. As his widowed mother, Mary, lays the table for supper, he starts phoning senior crew members to warn them they may be needed. photos, >click to read< 19:17
