Lifeboat disaster remembered by service

All 17 crew members lost their lives after the boat capsized in heavy seas on November 15 1928.

It is the worse disaster in the history of the RNLI.

The Lifeboat was launched in a south-west gale to the Latvian vessel Alice of Riga, at 4am.

News was received that the crew of the Alice had been rescued by another vessel and the recall signal was fired three times. Apparently the crew of the Lifeboat had not seen it. As the Lifeboat was coming into harbour she was seen to capsize and the whole of the crew perished.

During her time at Rye Harbour Mary Stanford was launched 63 times, 47 launches were exercises and 16 were shouts.

From these 16 shouts, 10 lives were saved. One of these was quite spectacular for the time.

On the 12th December 1923 an aeroplane ditched in the sea off Fairlight the Lifeboat towed the plane back to Station, unfortunately the pilot an American L.B. Sperry was lost when he had tried to swim ashore before the Lifeboat arrived on scene.

Fred Southerden recalled, as a lad he had heard his brother Charlie tumble out of bed, Fred called to him saying that he had ‘only heard one maroon’. Charlie replied “best go someone may need help”. It was just beginning to break daylight, when at 06.50 Rye Coastguard received the message saying that the crew of the Alice of Riga had been rescued by the Smyrna.

Frantic efforts were made by the Signalman to recall the Lifeboat all to no avail,

Hundreds of mourners from all over the country attended the funeral. Members of the Latvian Government were among the dignitaries present

The Mary Stanford was eventually taken to RNLI depot at Poplar in east London, where she was dismantled and broken up.

The seventeen men who lost their lives were Herbert Head, Coxswain and two sons James and John; J Stonham, 2nd Coxswain; H. Cutting, Bowman and his two brothers Robert and Lifeboaters; Charles, Robert and Alexander Pope, three brothers; William and Leslie Clark, Brothers; Maurice and Arthur Downey, cousins; H. Smith, W. Igglesden and C. Southerden.

Sunday’s service takes place at Rye Harbour Church at 3pm and will be followed by wreath laying at the lifeboat memorial.