The Lifeboat Race

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 312, 31 October 1888, Page 6

The Life boat Race

' Vku'vk cJoan verra weel,' ib the solo congratulation offered to the coxswain ot the Upgang lifeboat as he steps on to the jetty al.er having mom a face in keen competition with three neighbouring 1 ciews. But the few simple woids are accompanied by a York&hire hand-shake ! Such a grip ! The muscles which grasp his comrade's hand are prompted by neives strung to the highest pitch by a heart through which the warm blood quickly courses. It is a grip which speaks volumes, and to which the ' awfully glad&,' ' sincere congratulations,' 'so plea&eiJs,' of 'Society's' puny enthusiasms aie as the bring of cata pulte compared with a Royal salute. We on shore had been waiting what seemed an age for the approach of the life boats. They had made their .start about half-a-mile up the coast, at the Upgang station ; and now at length they have lounded the point between the two lighthouses which sentinel the East and West t'iti^, foiming the breakwater Co Whifcby Harbour. The Upgang boat, waving a dark- blue dag, fii-l appears in sioht. bhe crosses the bar, and is followed clo^e by the Whit by boat, from which a pink flag flies. " Oo'i it, Staithes !' comes iioin an excited gioup ot spectators, who h.id cume over from the fishing village of that name, about ten miles further up the eoa<-t. Runswick, too, that hamlet dear to ai tists, perched like the haunt of the seagull mid-way between the dills sent her boat to try tor the pi ize. On they cotre up the iuubour, manned by .-ome of the finest fellows ailoat — the four boat&, all alike painted the ' rod, white, and blue' of the English colours and stamped with the seal of the National Lifeboat Society. Thu din's lising from either s>idc of the haibour, forming the entrance to the Esk River, are crowded with friends of the ciews. On one side the houses me built down to the water's edge, and horn the gallenes which run along their fionts, and (he ica loofs which rise tiei above tier, loud hurrahs aie heard. "High up in the East Cliil, in the old churchyard, other crowds are standing on the steep grassy declivity, beneath which is a sheer descent 1 of precipitous orag.s. Above all, looking down upon the scene of tumultuous life and energy, are the ruins of the ancient Abbey, a silent eloquent witness ot many centuries of heroic daring. There is a grim earnestness in this lifeboat race. One feels here something moie than in viewing a Henley Regatta or Univei&ity Boat-iace, This is a race between crews who any day and any moment may be summoned by the report ot the minute-gun to man the lifeboat, and tight with grim death on behalf of some foundering vessel. The coxswain of the Whitby boat, Henry Freeman, a fine, stalwart fisherman, has fought many battles with the sea. His valour is already inscribed upon a monument to the dead, which stands just within the doorway of the old parish church on the clitf, and relates how he alone was saved out of a ere.v of thirteen who manned the lifeboat. 1 can best describe the scene by quoting some of the words inscribed by the vicar on the tablet : — 'We have had a fearful storm to-day ; half a mile of our stiand is already strewed with seven wrecks. Our new lifeboat, but launched a tew weeks ago, was manned with the finest picked seamen in Whitby. Fne times during the day had they braved the furious sea, and live times returned with crews from vessels in distres-. A sixth ship was driven in behind the pier. The men, all exhausted though they were, again pulled out, but before they had gone fifty yards a wave capsized the boat. Then was beheld by several hundreds of persons within almost a stone's throw, but unable to assist, the fearful agonies of these powerful men buffering with the fury ot the breakers. Till one by one twelve sank — out of thirteen one is saved.' Floiia.