RESCUE ACCOUNT
From "The Story of Lowestoft Lifeboats" Part 1, 1801-1876. by Jack Mitchley.
Near the lighthouse at the top end of the town was the pilot lookout, this being about the highest point on the coast. When a vessel was seen on the sands off Corton early one Friday morning in January, 1815, three pilot yawls were launched to investigate. Approaching the wreck, which proved to be the sloop Jeanie of Hull, bound for London with a cargo of potatoes, they saw three men still on it. At the same time they saw that the surf and broken water surrounding the wreck made it impossible for them to get near it in their yawls, so a signal was made to the shore and the lifeboat was launched. The crew consisted of four pilots, Henry May, David Burwood, James Cullingham jnr, and Henry Beverley Disney and fourteen beachmen - Cornelius Ferrett, William Ayres, Samuel Spurden, James Spurden, Robert Watson, James Websdale jnr., Bartholomew Allerton, James Farrer jnr, Peter Smith, George Burwood, Matthew Colman, Edward Ellis jnr., and James Stebbens.
A graphic description of the rescue was later written by the Revd. Bartholomew Ritson, Curate of the Parish Church and secretary of the Suffolk Humane Society.
"The alacrity with which these brave fellows leaped on board the lifeboat is hardly to be described. After encountering much difficulty and danger in passing through the breakers, they came near the vessel in sight of hundreds of spectators who from the heights were beholding with astonishment their nautical skill and their dauntless courage; at the same time trembling between hope and fear for their safety, and lifting up a silent prayer for the successful termination of their perilous undertaking, Heaven in its mercy smiled propitious upon their endeavours, and rewarded the exertions of these brave men with success; they having the heartfelt satisfaction of bringing the three shipwrecked mariners to shore without a single accident".
Lloyds List for Tuesday, 17th January, 1815 reports- "The Jane, Nailer, of and from Hull to London, was lost on Corton Sand on Friday. The crew were saved by the lifeboat from Lowestoft."
The Suffolk Humane Society promptly voted the lifeboat crew the sum of five guineas, and the Secretary concluded the report of the incident by claiming that a "most favourable opportunity has been afforded the Suffolk Humane Society of proving to the public the complete safety and consequent utility of the Lowestoft lifeboat; that with it has been happily effected as far as human means can avail that which could not have been effected by any other boat from the beach; and what is more desirable, all those doubts respecting its eligibility as a sea boat have been cleared up, and all prejudices to its disadvantage which have been known to exist in the minds of our seafaring men removed".
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