WRECKS AND RESCUES 271 



Beeching type of boat, with serious loss of life, other 

 measures were adopted to secure a better type, and to- 

 day every place on the east coast where a lifeboat is 

 needed has such a craft, adapted to the special needs of 

 the locality and usually commanding the entire con- 

 fidence of the volunteer crews by whom they are 

 manned. 



The North Sea has given to lifeboat history not only 

 some of the bravest deeds that have been recorded since 

 the lifeboat was invented, but also some of the most 

 serious accidents. The greatest disaster to a lifeboat 

 was that on 9th December 1886, when the Southport 

 and St. Anne's lifeboats capsized and failed to right 

 themselves, the result being that twenty-seven of the 

 crews perished. But for aggregate loss in life the 

 North Sea stands unrivalled, for it has three famous 

 disasters to its cruel record. These are : the loss of the 

 Whitby lifeboat on 9th February 1861, when a dozen 

 men out of thirteen were drowned within a few yards of 

 the shore ; the Scarborough lifeboat, less than a year 

 later, when there was almost a repetition of that 

 accident ; and the Caister lifeboat disaster, an event 

 which at the time thrilled the world because of the 

 courage of the crew and the saying " Caister men 

 never turn back." It is in connection with the North 

 Sea, too, that there is on record what is considered to be 

 the finest lifeboat rescue that was ever effected that of 

 the survivors of the Indian Chief by the Bradford. 



The story of the loss of the Whitby lifeboat may 

 be briefly told. Following some comparatively mild 

 weather, an exceptionally severe storm burst over the 

 North Sea. At that time, fifty years ago, enormous 



