by Simon Wright

Created on: October 02, 2008   Last Updated: October 08, 2008

We should all be in awe of the bravery of lifeboat crews who routinely risk their lives in an effort to save lives at sea. Typically, they are modest men who just say that they are doing their job but, like fire-fighters, what they do often goes well beyond the call of duty. Such was the case on the 19th of December 1981 when a distress call came in to the Penlee lifeboat, off the Cornwall coast in England. The unfortunate drama had, however, begun earlier in the day when the Dublin-registered coaster, Union Star, first got into trouble. We pick up the sequence of events from that point.

Henry Morton, the captain of the Union Star, must have been frantic with worry and riddled with guilt. His boat's engine had developed a fault, on its maiden voyage, from the Netherlands to Ireland, and was stranded in a force 12 sea, near the treacherous Wolf Rock, off the Cornwall coast . On board was his wife, Dawn, and their two teenage daughters, plus five crew members. Morton's family were on board as they all wanted to be together at Christmas. When the engine had first faltered, Morton was offered the assistance of a tug, the Noord Holland, but declined as he didn't want to incur a salvage cost. It was to prove a very ill-judged decision that would claim the lives of sixteen people.

As conditions worsened and the Union Star was blown closer to the treacherous shoreline, a rescue lifeboat was scrambled from the nearby Penlee Point. Conditions were so bad that it was decided that only one volunteer per family would man the rescue vessel. To give an idea of the conditions, waves sixty feet high were being reported. The lifeboat was a wooden forty-seven foot boat, called the Soloman Browne, was skippered by Trevelyan Richards supported by seven other crew members, all experienced seamen.

A helicopter had also been despatched but the weather was so bad that the helicopter crew couldn't get anyone off the Union Star. If a rescue was to be effected it would be done to the bravery and skill of Trevelyan Richards and his men. The events that unfolded are difficult to verify, given that there were ultimately no survivors. I did see a documentary, however, that tried to piece together all the facts and which made for very powerful emotional viewing.

We know that the lifeboat crew did manage to get in close to the Union Star and that they managed to get four of its crew into the lifeboat. The last recorded message from the Soloman Browne stated We've got four men off, hang on, we have

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