A LIFEBOAT station was first set up in Shoreham in 1865 for just £133. In the intervening 150 years it is thought to have saved more than 1,000 lives. To mark the milestone, a series of free events have been planned. Flora Thompson speaks to Peter Huxtable, the station’s oldest-serving coxswain, about life at sea.

IT is 3am. You are in a deep sleep but rousing you from the foggy depths of your slumber is the sound of a persistent alarm.

Within moments you are out of bed, scrambling around for your clothes, rushing out of the door with just four minutes to get to the station and launch the lifeboat because someone out at sea needs your help.

This is the role of an RNLI lifeboat volunteer like Peter Huxtable.

For 150 years Shoreham Lifeboat Station crew members like him have rescued hundreds of people.The station’s oldest serving coxswain was once on call for 365 days.

As a 17-year-old Mr Huxtable was a budding fisherman and took to the water in a boat borrowed from an RNLI mechanic who urged him to sign up.

Now aged 64 he has stepped down as coxswain – the senior lifeboatman in charge of the boats – but he still acts as a deputy taking calls at the station from the coastguard to organise the launch of the boats.

He lives in Buckingham Road in Shoreham, continues to run a fish shop, La Poissonerie, in Brighton Road, and has served in the RNLI for 47 years.

He said: “You go into the boat with confidence. You have to have faith in the crew and the lifeboat and focus on the job at hand. You never worry about yourself or what’s going to happen, you just do it.”

He and his team saved the lives of two elderly yachtsmen who were having trouble sailing the Trimley Maid into Brighton Marina in gust force nine winds and rough seas on June 2, 1999.

“They were in their late 70s and in good weather were perfectly capable of sailing their boat, but in the bad weather they could hardly get up to take control,” he said.

“We were trying to help them get into the harbour safely and a massive wave knocked them over. We were worried the yacht would not come back up. But they appeared and we got them to shore and they were fine.”

He received the RNLI’s Thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum, and the rest of the crew were also praised for their work.

It was the most notable rescue for the Tyne-class all-weather community-funded lifeboat Hermione Lady Colwyn, which was launched for its final trip down the slipway from the boathouse, in January 2009 before the demolition of the original lifeboat station.

In January that year the crew were called out to an emergency just moments before the building was knocked down.

They missed the historic occasion in what became a poignant day for the crew with the series of events that followed. A French fishing vessel had run aground near Worthing.

The skipper was missing, believed to have fallen overboard in the early hours of the morning.

Despite an extensive search also involving coastguard helicopters and a police spotter plane, the man was still missing when they stood down four hours later.

Mr Huxtable said: “Just as we were preparing to watch the contractors begin the demolition, the pagers went off.

“On one hand it was an emotional day because we were saying goodbye to the lifeboat station, but we were also really excited about the prospect of our new station being built.”

Mr Huxtable was also commended as a crew member when the team helped the Athina B – a 3,500-ton Greek-registered vessel which got into difficulty in bad weather on January 21, 1980.

The captain’s wife and two children were saved from being overwhelmed by a huge wave. Another woman was also brought back to safety in Shoreham.

The lifeboat then turned back to evacuate 11 crew members in gale force ten winds.

The ship re-launched but started drifting after running out of fuel and it ran aground just east of Palace Pier in Brighton where the lifeboat crew rescued another ten men.

Mr Voice was awarded a RNLI silver medal for superb seamanship and the Thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum were awarded to the crew.

Most people know of the RNLI but the majority do not realise its crew and helpers are volunteers.

Unlike the other emergency services, it is a charity and without the selfless dedication of its helpers, lives would not be saved.

The Kingston Beach lifeboat station was built in 1933 to house an eight tonne lifeboat – Shoreham's fifth vessel, the 41ft Watson-class Rosa Woodd and Phyllis Lunn.

It was used until 1963, taking part in the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940, crewed by Royal Navy personnel.

Later the weight of the 28-tonne Tyne-class lifeboat caused the slipway at the boathouse to sink and collapse. There were no dedicated changing facilities for the crew and much of the lower floor flooded at high tide.

In 2007 the RNLI launched a £1 million appeal to fund the new station and to house a new state-of-the-art Tamar lifeboat. It now has around 25 volunteers.

For the person struggling in the water, what may have begun as a fun day out has turned into a nightmare. 

Your life flashes before your eyes as waves crash over your head and pull you under.

You gasp for breath and suddenly the big orange boat is speeding towards you and you are pulled from the water. The lifeboat crew has just saved your life. 

You will not know the volunteer who has just risked their life to save yours but you will probably forever feel indebted to them. 

The sea, in its worst mood, is still capable of testing the skill, nerve and stamina of a modern lifeboat coxswain and his crew to just the same extent as it did the man at the helm of an open pulling lifeboat years ago. 

No-one has ever made money from being a lifeboat volunteer but there is still no shortage of people keen to sign up at their station.

Mr Huxtable added: “It's great to see how the station has progressed over the years. “We started out with nothing to take out with us but a chart and a radio, now there is much better technology and more people have mobile phones now.”

 

Anniversary events

The Hope in the Great War, Kingston Beach lifeboat station, from Wednesday, June 6 to June 28.

An exhibition to commemorate the centenary of the First World War, it honours the courage and determination of RNLI volunteers who saved lives in the midst of a time of great conflict.

Victorian pulling lifeboat, Shoreham farmers market, East Street, Saturday, June 13, from 9am to 1pm. Crew will be dressed in modern day kit and the uniforms worn throughout the ages.

Regatta, Kingston Beach, Sunday, June 14, from 10am. A Victorian pulling boat will be launched and rowed and the Shoreham all-weather and inshore lifeboats, flank station lifeboats from Brighton and Littlehampton, and the coastguard will all re-enact a rescue scenario with a commentary.

Shoreham Lifeboat Station annual open day, Sunday, June 28, from 10am to 4pm. There will be a chance to tour the two lifeboats, see them launch, meet the crew and see neighbouring lifeboats, as well as stalls and activities.

Anniversary ball, The Grand hotel, Brighton, Saturday, October 10, from 7.15pm. The event will round off the celebrations with a live band, casino, photographer, raffle and a three course meal. Tickets cost £55 each.

For details visit shorehamlifeboat.co.uk or follow @SLifeboatRNLI on Twitter.

 

The history of the lifeboat station

1865-66 - The RNLI established a station and a boathouse was built on Kingston Beach, Shoreham.

1870 - A slipway was built to improve launching.

1875 - A silver medal was awarded to William Sheader for attempting to rescue Robert Brasier who had drowned when the lifeboat capsized on exercise on December 16, 1874.

1924 - The station closed when the harbour’s entrance silted up.

1929 - The station was re-opened when the sand bar had disappeared. The station’s first motor lifeboat was placed on service.

1933 - A new boathouse and slipway were built on Kingston Beach.

1940 - The Shoreham lifeboat Rosa Wood and Phyllis Lunn took part in the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk in May.

1941 - A silver medal was awarded to acting coxswain James Upperton and bronze medal to motor mechanic Henry Philcox for rescuing 22 people from the minesweeper President Briand.

1948 - A silver medal was awarded to coxswain James Upperton for rescuing six crew from the yacht Gull.

1965 - The station was presented with a Centenary Vellum (parchment).

1967 - An inshore lifeboat (ILB) was established in July with a D-class lifeboat.

1968 - A framed letter of thanks was sent to the coxswain and crew for saving the two crew from the yacht Jean Ann.

1972 - A bronze medal was awarded to coxswain John Fox and the Thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum to assistant mechanic Ken Everard for rescuing five crew members from the drilling rig William Allpress on October 19, 1971.

1973 - August 5: A bronze medal was awarded to coxswain John Fox for rescuing three people from the yacht Albin Ballad. Thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum was awarded to assistant mechanic Ken Everard and crew member Geoff Tugwell who leapt aboard the yacht to secure a towline.

September 20: The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum was awarded to coxswain John Fox for rescuing two people from the yacht Lugger.

1977 - The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum was awarded to helmsman Michael Fox for rescuing three people from the capsized sailing dinghy Serendippy.

1980 - A silver medal was awarded to coxswain Kenneth Voice and The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum was awarded to second coxswain Kenneth Everard, motor mechanic Jack Silverson, assistant mechanic Michael Fox, emergency mechanics Geoff Tugwell and John Landale and crew member Peter Huxtable for rescuing 26 crew members from the cargo vessel Athina B. The rescue took 15 hours in gale force winds and violent seas.

1990 - The boathouse was adapted for the new Tyne-class all weather lifeboat, Hermione Lady Colwyn, which arrived at the station on September 30.

1996 - The D-class inshore lifeboat, Forest Row Choir, was placed in service on May 14.

1999 - The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum was awarded to coxswain Peter Huxtable for finding and towing in the yacht Trimley Maid in very rough seas and gust force nine winds on the evening of June 2, 1999.

2001 - A framed letter of thanks was presented to coxswain Peter Huxtable when the lifeboat rescued two people and saved the fishing vessel Stephanie B on October 25, 2000.

2005 - Coxswain Peter Huxtable was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours. The new D-class lifeboat Barry Lazell was placed on service.

2008 - RNLI Trustees decided a Tamar class lifeboat would come to the station in 2010.

2010 - A new boathouse was built in September costing £4.2 million. The new Tamar class all weather lifeboat Enid Collett started service on December 10, 2010. This lifeboat was funded by the bequests of Enid Marjory Collett and other gifts and legacies.

2011 - The new boathouse was officially opened by Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, on June 16.