HMS Brazen: The Sussex lifeboat station which dates back to 1800

According to Newhaven Town Council: “In the year 1800 HMS Brazen, an 18 gun sloop of war under the command of Captain James Hanson, was wrecked beneath the cliffs of Newhaven. There was only one survivor, a non swimmer named Jeremiah Hill who was plucked from the sea and winched up the cliffs to safety by two local men at great risk to their own lives using a wheeled crane from a nearby farm.”

The dangerous weather meant that further attempts to reach the men in the water failed. The remaining 105 men from the ship all lost their lives, and many of their bodies were washed up on Newhaven’s beaches over the following days.

The tragedy inspired a local committee to look into the provision of a lifeboat at Newhaven. In May 1803, a lifeboat of William Greathead’s “Original” design was provided, partly paid for by Lloyds of London and partly by money raised locally. This was more than 20 years before the formation of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in 1824.

The Newhaven Lifeboat Station was granted the Freedom of Newhaven by Newhaven Town Council in 2003 to mark the 200th anniversary of the Station and the great esteem in which the town holds the men who risk their lives to save those in peril on the sea.

There is an impressive memorial to HMS Brazen and her men in the churchyard at St Michael’s church.

The station today covers from covers from Beachy Head to Brighton. It’s a modern afloat station and operates an all-weather Severn class lifeboat, and the station’s crews have been awarded 19 medals for gallantry.

The station’s medals include 10 Silver and nine Bronze, the last being voted in 1955 when Coxswain William Harvey was awarded a silver medal for the rescue of the crew of eight 25 miles south-west of Beachy Head. The Maud Smith award for the bravest act of life-saving in 1954 was won by Coxswain William Harvey for this service.

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