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For over two hundred years the Cornish Coastline has been the setting for numerous romantic and nefarious tales of shipwrecks in the wake of turbulent storms at sea. Some accounts tell tales of sirens who have beckoned their unsuspecting prey to certain death upon the shoreline's rocky shoals, Others tell of marauding pirates who have hijacked merchant vessels and spirited them away never to be seen or heard from again. Some writers claim that in this region of the world men have simply disappeared from the helms of their ships leaving their vessels adrift in the unforgiving seas. Some of these tales are purely fiction or based upon a thread of fact that has been embroiled with added mystery with each telling. The Penlee life boat disaster is a real story, however, of how unforgiving the raging sea can be during a turbulent storm. It is the true tale of how the small fishing community of Mousehole suffered an immense loss of life on the high seas.

On December 19, 1981 the Union Star was making its maiden voyage from Denmark to Ireland. She was carrying cargo of fertilizer, four crewman, and three passengers. At a location of approximately eight miles east of the Wolf Rock Lighthouse on the southwest Cornish coast, her crew radioed a distress call, reporting the loss of an engine.

With winds raging in excess of 100 miles per hour, the Cornish Coastguard was unable to perform an air rescue of the eight people aboard the vessel. As a result, a lifeboat manned by experienced members of the Mousehole community launched from nearby Penlee Point to mount a rescue effort in 50 foot swells of water. Eight of Mousehole's most able seamen were aboard the Solomon Browne. The lifeboat struggled to reach the stranded vessel and after numerous attempts managed to come along side long enough for four of the Union Star's passengers to come aboard. And then the unthinkable occurred. Penlee Point lost radio contact with the crew of the Solomon Browne.

At the break of dawn, the Union Star was found broken in pieces along the Cornish Coast. Seven bodies were eventually recovered. The Penlee Lifeboat was never found and her remaining crew, as well as those aboard the Union Star, was all presumed dead. Radio transmissions prior to their silence revealed the likelihood that the rescue vessel collided with the hull of the Union Star just before its destruction.

The men who lost their lives while trying to rescue those aboard the cargo vessel were experienced seaman with many successful rescue attempts to their credit. The families and friends of the small fishing community of Mousehole were devastated at the monumental loss of eight husbands and fathers; eight of the same men who had successfully rescued many from the unforgiving, churning waters of the bays and channels along the Cornish Coast.

The Lifeboat Station at Penlee Point stands today as a constant reminder of those who so gallantly gave their lives in an attempt to rescue the passengers and crew aboard the Union Star. The moving events of this true story have been told in a television documentary that pays tribute to the Penlee Point lifeboat crew. Each year the inhabitants of Mousehole turn off their Christmas lights for one hour on the anniversary of the deaths of those who died onboard the Solomon Browne. During that time of uninterrupted darkness, the descendants of the Solomone Brown pause to remember those who perished in the Penlee Lifeboat Disaster. Perhaps their names are called out one-by-one by those who still pay tribute to their sacrifice:

Coxwain Trevelyan Richards

2nd Coxwain James Stephen Madron

Mechanic Nigel Brockman

Mechanic John Blewett

Kevin Smith

Barrie Torrie

Charles Greenhaugh, Landlord of the Inn at Mousehole

Gary Wallis

Learn more about this author, Dr. Deborah Bauers.
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