274 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS 



the great stones of the Spa wall were dislodged and 

 hurled about just as I saw them shattered a few years 

 ago and the South Bay became a cauldron. The life- 

 boat was manned and got near the Spa, so near that the 

 crew could hear the shouts from the spectators who were 

 watching the operations. In such a sea and at such a 

 place even a lifeboat was helpless. The tremendous and 

 torn waters got her, and the oars having been wrenched 

 out of the men's hands, she was hurled against the Spa 

 wall. She took the ground to the south of the Spa and 

 her crew at once jumped out and struggled to get 

 ashore. In the wild rush of the sea this was a 

 difficult and dangerous task, and some of the onlookers 

 courageously rushed down the incline to help them. 

 Amongst these people was Lord Charles Beauclerk. 

 Suddenly an immense breaker roared in, caught up the 

 lifeboat, hurled her against the massive wall, then 

 receded and dropped the heavy craft. In a moment or 

 two a number of people had been crushed to death, 

 amongst them Lord Charles, whose body was taken to 

 an adjacent music hall. The crew of the Coupland were 

 rescued by the rocket apparatus. In that disastrous 

 gale fourteen Scarborough fishermen perished, twenty 

 men were lost at Yarmouth, and many more were drowned 

 in the North Sea. 



