Rescue craft launch was dramatic sight
FINDING the date of its taking on the reverse of a photo, gives a feeling of security.
Having to speculate gives an unease, a feeling that all you try to do to be correct, can still be far from perfection.
So, here we start with a view of our Newhaven on June 22 1994. From the immediate foreground it would seem I'm about to leave for a pleasant few hours in Dieppe in perfect weather. Not only that, but I would be arriving at and leaving from the quay Henri IV where the daytime service berthed within a ship's length of the town proper.
Of course, with hindsight, things could not continue as had been possible in the days of boat trains and the occasional car craned onto the after deck of the vessel. Now was a car ferry service, with the conveyance of large lorries the most profitable. Henri IV did not have the space to accommodate these monsters or a suitable road service with which to disperse them. So the fine new terminal was constructed on the opposite side of the harbour and went into use on August 4 1994.
The nearest building of consequence is of course our old lifeboat house, from which the rescue craft sped down the slipway and the lower the tide, the greater the white screen of foam when the craft struck the water. A scene to witness and even more so in the mystery of night in a howling gale, when an eager crew enact this drama to the sound of a howling wind and driving rain, to roar down that slipway and disappear into the unknown.
By the time of this photo that emotional departure was already history, for in 1977 came the lifeboat Louis Marchesi which remained afloat at all times as have those which have followed. The loss of the drama of the launch, in no way lessens the bravery of those who take the crafts to sea.
Many of our locals had hoped the old house could be listed and preserved, but one explanation for the failure was the fact the roof had been adapted to accommodate the lifeboat Cecil & Lillian Philpott when she came here in 1930, new. She was christened on July 7, 1931 by HRH Prince George and although motor driven she possessed a delightful little buff funnel, but as was consistent with the period, her speed was only 8 1/4 knots. Needless to say, she had her moments.
Note near left Simpsons Chandlery, the spacious boat park and the green Huggetts field to right, which at war time and after had been the base for the Air-Sea Rescue craft, including a helicopter landing pad.
Behind this open space, the delightful frontages of the houses of Fort Road, that at the extreme left having housed the famous man 'Who broke the bank at Monte Carlo' (Charles Wells).
A recent new house to the left with chalky Geneva Road, and to the left again the new coastguard houses, mostly now private as with the old terrace above. Hillcrest Road almost runs the width of the picture, with Western Road popping in and out of the trees around. What a delightful scene and no doubt many of the passengers must have said the same as their nautical conveyance brought them into our humble terminal. Pleasant days.
Picture No 2. Amazingly, for a port in war time, Newhaven escaped the damage which could easily have occurred. Picture No 2 illustrates how lucky east-siders must have felt when this electric sub-station was bombed on September 10, 1940. Two areas of the gas works can be seen above the chaos. The marine (clerical offices), added to the southern end of the London & Paris Hotel, were blitzed on March 23, 1942. Two dock workers were killed in that attack.
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Weather for Lewes
Friday 25 May 2012
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Temperature: 12 C to 23 C
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Wind direction: East
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Temperature: 12 C to 22 C
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