The Caister lifeboat JAMES PEARCE. Birmingham No. 2 built
by
Mills and Blake at Yarmouth in 1865. R.N.L.I.
Picture late J Woodhouse collection.
The James Pearce of Birmingham was on station in 1865 to 1878 she was renamed Covent Garden due to money being donated to the London Market and was the first vessel of a line of three at Caister to bere that name.
JAMES PEARCE |
Specification |
| Years on station | October 1865-1883 |
| Record | 135 launches, 484 lives saved. |
| Donor | Birmingham Lifeboat fund; apprpriated to the Covent Garden Lifeboat Fund in 1878. |
| Type | Norfolk & Suffolk |
| Year built | 1865 |
| Builder | Mills & Blake, Great Yarmouth |
| Dimensions | Length 42ft, breadth 11ft 10in Depth 4ft 4in |
| Notes | Named at Great Yarmouth by Miss Steward daughter of the Mayor on 25th October 1865 |
Click to a full
list of services by this lifeboat as JAMES PEARCE
Click to a full
list of services by this lifeboat as COVENT GARDEN
On the
beach at Caister about 1870
Picture Caister Lifeboat Station
The Caister lifeboat COVENT GARDEN II
J Woodhouse collection
COVENT GARDEN II |
Specification |
| Years on station | 1st November 1883-5th December 1899 |
| Record | 135 launches, 484 lives saved. |
| Donor | Covent Garden Lifeboat Fund. |
| Cost | £300 |
| Official Number | 17 |
| Type | Norfolk & Suffolk |
| Year built | 1883 |
| Builder | Beeching, Great Yarmouth |
| Dimensions | Length 42ft, breadth 11ft 6in Depth 3ft 11in |
| Notes | Named at Great Yarmouth on 3rd November 1883 |
| Disposal | Broken up on January 1900 |
The Norlolk and Suffolk type lifeboat
Covent Garden lying on Caister beach about 1910.
J Woodhouse
collection
COVENT GARDEN III |
Specification |
| Years on station | 5th December 1899-1919 |
| Record | 153 launches, 166 lives saved. |
| Donor | Covent Garden Lifeboat Fund. |
| Cost | £1,295 7s 5d |
| Official Number | 431 |
| Type | Norfolk & Suffolk, 12 oared |
| Year built | 1899 |
| Builder | Thames Iron Works, Blackwall, London |
| Dimensions | Length 40ft, breadth 12ft Depth 4ft 5in |
| Disposal | Condemned and broken up January 1920 |
Click to a full
list of services by this lifeboat
Caister
Lifeboat Station
A carvel-built lifeboat of the Norfolk and Suffolk type,
the James Leath.
J Woodhouse collection
The NANCY LUCY Lifeboat No2 left, JAMES LEATH Lifeboat No1
right on the beach at Caister
J Woodhouse collection
JAMES LEATH |
Specification |
| Years on station | November 1919-1929 (served at Pakefield from 1910) |
| Record | 23 launches, 18 lives saved. |
| Donor | Legacy of James Leath, London. |
| Cost | £1,933 16s 3d |
| Official Number | 607 |
| Type | Norfolk & Suffolk |
| Year built | 1910 |
| Builder | Thames Iron Works, Blackwall, London; yard no.TL52 |
| Dimensions | Length 42ft, breadth 12ft 6in Depth 4ft 8in |
| Disposal | Now on display at Chatham Historic Dockyard |
Click to a full
list of services by this lifeboat
Originally built for the Pakefield station this boat
arrived at Caister in 1919 and served until 1929 when the
No1 station closed.
THE
BOYS/GODSEND
Above is the No2 lifeboat GODSEND formally
known as THE BOYS.
Exact date unknown but it looks like Ben Hodds seated on
trestle with
Philip George standing left centre.
Picture Caister Lifeboat station.
THE BOYS / GODSEND |
Specification |
| Years on station | No2 lifeboat, Sept 1867-21 Jan 1892 |
| Record | 125 launches, 410 lives saved. |
| Donor | Gift of Routledge's Magazine for Boys, through collection by edmund Routledge, Editor; renamed GODSEND in 1875 after being apprpriated to the gift of Lady Bourchier, Hampton Court Palace. |
| Naming | 10th September 1867 |
| Cost | £152 9s 4d |
| Official Number | 18 |
| Type | Norfolk & Suffolk - 12 oars |
| Year built | 1867 |
| Builder | Beeching, Great Yarmouth |
| Dimensions | Length 32ft 6in, breadth 10ft |
| Disposal | Sold |
Click to a full
list of services by this lifeboat as THE BOYS
Click to a full
list of services by this lifeboat as GODSEND
S.S Lady
Flora aground on Caister beach 1869.
Caister Lifeboat station
Service by Lifeboat THE Godsend to S.S. Lady Flora
On 28th April 1869 the Godsend assisted the rescue of the crew. The S.S. Lady Flora was later refloated by jacking up the vessel on to a slipway by James Beeching the famous Yarmouth Boatbuilder and relaunched from the beach. Sadly later that year she was lost in the Baltic. The Beeching Yard continued to flourish until just after the first world war.
On the day of its naming 21st January 1892
the vessel was to
become famous through the 1901 disaster
Caister Lifeboat station
Caister
Lifeboat station
A later photograph used on the 84th anniversary of the
1901 disaster.
Caister Lifeboat station
BEAUCHAMP |
Specification |
| Years on station | No2 lifeboat, January 1892-1901 |
| Record | 84 launches, 146 lives saved. |
| Donor | Gift of Sir R. Proctor-Beauchamp, Bt Langlay Park Lodden Norfolk |
| Naming | January 21st 1892 |
| Cost | £266 3s 9d |
| Official Number | 327 |
| Type | Norfolk & Suffolk - 12 oars |
| Year built | 1892 |
| Builder | J.H. Critten, Great Yarmouth |
| Dimensions | Length 36ft, breadth 10ft 6in, depth 3ft 11in |
| Disposal | Subsequently a houseboat broken up in the early 1970s |
Click to a full list of services by this
lifeboat
The Naming Ceremony
On January 21st 1892 (a Thursday morning), the new
Norfolk & Suffolk designed lifeboat registration
number — ON 327 — was launched at Caister She
was 36’ in length, with a 10’ 6” beam,
carried twelve oars had a heavy steel keel and took on
water ballast once afloat. The boat had been built on the
River Yare at the boatyard of Mr. W. H. Critten in
Cobholm. It was named Beauchamp on a fine cold day, where
a large number of people were present, in memory of Sir
Thomas Beauchamp and his two late sons, by Sir Reginald
Procter Beauchamp Bt., who gave the donation of money to
build the lifeboat to the R.N.L.I. He was accompanied by
Lady Violet Beauchamp.
After the naming, a brief service was held with the
gathering singing the hymn “Eternal Father Strong to
Save”. The lifeboat was then launched, with the
Mayor of Great Yarmouth Mr. F. Burton, Sir Edward
Birkbeck M.P., chairman of the R.N.L.I. and Sir Reginald
on board for a short cruise. James Haylett Jnr. Coxswain,
made a speech in which he said, “They could all rest
assured that whatever services Caister Lifeboat were
required to undertake, they were ready and willing to do
so, and to go out to risk their own lives to save their
fellow men, as they always had done.
Sir Reginald was also presented with the Boat Builder
Scale Model, which survives today. It was not until March
that a dinner was held to celebrate the launch of the
Beauchamp, at the Old School Room, where the crew were
entertained by Sir Reginald. It had been deferred due to
the illness of the Reverend E. Murrell. The entertainment
included selections on a violin, songs and speeches.
A more detailed
review of Beauchamp disaster of 1901
J woodhouse collection
Caister No. 2 lifeboat Nancy Lucy
J woodhouse collection.
NANCY LUCY |
Specification |
| Years on station | No2 lifeboat, 12 June 1903-1929 |
| Record | 42 launches, 144 lives saved. |
| Donor | Gift of Sir Henry W Lucy, MP. London |
| Naming | 23 July 1903 by Countess of Selbourne |
| Cost | £1,603 9s 8d |
| Official Number | 506 |
| Type | Norfolk & Suffolk 'improved' - 12 oars |
| Year built | 1903 |
| Builder | Thames Iron Works, Blackwall, London; yard no.TL27 |
| Dimensions | Length 35ft, breadth 10ft 9in, depth 4ft 5in |
Click to a full
list of services by this lifeboat
Designed by the Caister crew the Caister No. 2 lifeboat Nancy Lucy. a clinker-built Norfolk and Suffolk type boat which took the place of the Beauchamp, with the Caister No. 1 boat James Leath in the background.
CHARLES BURTON Slipway launch at Grimsby
1904 - 1927
Whilst at Grimsby was launched 16 times
saved 7
J woodhouse collection
The Caister Lifeboat CHARLES BURTON
the last pulling and sailing lifeboat to carry out the
saving of life from the minesweeper Charles Bayes in 1940.
CHARLES BURTON |
Specification |
| Years on station | November 1929 - May 1941 |
| Record | 31 launches, 15 lives saved. |
| Donor | Legacy of Charles T H Burton. |
| Cost | £1,044 |
| Official Number | 526 |
| Type | Liverpool |
| Year built | 1904 |
| Builder | Thames Iron Works, Blackwall, London |
| Dimensions | Length 38ft, breadth 10ft 9in Depth 4ft 4in |
| Notes | Originally stationed at Grimsby, where she served 1904 -27 |
| Disposal | Sold February 1942, became the fishing boat Silver Queen; current whereabouts unknown. |
Click to a full
list of services by this lifeboat
The
Crew on the boat at Caister Beach Christmas 1935-36
JOSE NEVILLE launches.
The first lifeboat involved in a rescue by helicopter
The JOSE NEVILLE at the the centenary of the RNLI
involvement
which was to end 12 years later.
Picture E.D.P.
JOSE NEVILLE ready for launch crossing the beach and
again
below moved by the Roadless Case LA launching tractor T48
this vehicle came to Caister in 1949 as a new tractor.
The
boat being launched or "pulled off" with the
haul off warp.
As spoken by Norfolk Beachmen to this very day.
JOSE NEVILLE was the first motor powered lifeboat at
Caister lifeboat station it was a Liverpool class vessel.
J Woodhouse collection
Recovery up the beach 1957 the wire used to haul the
carriage can be seen.
J Woodhouse collection
Shown arriving at Great Yarmouth harbour on 8th April
1963,
after the rescue of the crew of the Lowestoft trawler
Kirkley
which ran aground at Caister and eventually broke up
The person holding the bow rope is the late coxswain
Benny Read
Picture E.D.P.
JOSE NEVILE |
Specification |
| Years on station | May 1941 - February 1964 |
| Record | 107 launches, 75 lives saved. |
| Donor | Legacy of Mrs Ellen Nevelle, Barnes, Surrey. |
| Cost | £4,473 15s 11d |
| Official Number | 834 |
| Type | Liverpool class |
| Year built | 1941 |
| Builder | Groves & Guttridge, Cowes, Isle of Wight |
| Dimensions | Length 35ft 6in, breadth 10ft 3in |
| Engines | Single 35hp Weyburn AE six-cylinder petrol |
| Disposal | Renamed Concorde and now a fishing vessel at Southwold |
Click to a full list of services by this
lifeboat
Presentation of the Centenary Vellum to the station 28th
July 1957. in the
foreground are, left Honorary Secretary M. McAvoy
receiving the
certificate from, right, Sir Edmund Bacon, Lord
Lieutenant of Norfolk.
The three crew in the lifeboat are, left to right Jimmy
Brown,
Jack Plummer and Skipper Woodhouse.
Picture E.D.P.
The Jose Neville approaches Caister beach during the
stations
Flag Day August 1961
J Woodhouse collection
J Woodhouse collection
JOSE NEVILLE made ready for launch 1964
Caister photograph sold in the Lifeboat station as a
Postcard
A practice launch employing the Case T72 soon after the
arival of the ROYAL THAMES at Caister April 1964
J Woodhouse collection
The ROYAL THAMES entering Great Yarmouth harbour prior to
having the numbers painted on the engine cowling
J Woodhouse collection
J Woodhouse collection
ROYAL THAMES |
Specification |
| Years on station | February 1964 - 17th October 1969 |
| Record | 30 launches, 15 lives saved. |
| Donor | Legacy of Mr D.A. Forster, gifts from Mr G.J.F.Jackson and Miss Gwladys Ellison; and RNLI funds. |
| Cost | £31,749 |
| Official Number | 978 |
| Type | Oakley |
| Year built | 1964 |
| Builder | J.Samuel White, East Cowes, Isle of Wight |
| Dimensions | Length 37ft, breadth 11ft 6in |
| Engines | Twin 52hp Parsons Porbeagle four-cylinder diesels |
| Disposal | After Caister, transferred to Runswick 1970-78, then Pwllheli 1979-91 and finally Clogher Head 1991-93. Currently in private ownership. |
Click to a full
list of services by this lifeboat
J Woodhouse collection
Flag day at the station in August 1964
J Woodhouse collection
The last service given by the ROYAL THAMES operating as
an
RNLI Lifeboat out of Caister, shown here entering Great
Yarmouth
harbour towing the Lowestoft fishing vessel Winaway
August 1969.
Picture E.D.P.
Naming day for SHIRLEY JEAN ADYE 5th August 1973.
Picture E.D.P.
Picture E.D.P.
Launch practice using the International D8 Tractor the
first
tractor purchased by CVRS for £3,850 in 1973.
Picture K
Williams
Picture K
Williams
Picture K
Williams
Recovery on the beach at Caister note the Launching
trolly possitioned at the stern.
Caister photograph sold in the Lifeboat station as a
Postcard
Brought into service at Caister in 1973 this former St Abbs Head 35'-6" Liverpool class lifeboat was purchased and renamed SHIRLEY JEAN ADYE. This lifeboat was launched 88 times on service and saved 57 lives.
|
THE FIRST VISIT BY HRH PRINCE
CHARLES 1988.
The Crew meet HRH Prince Charles on his first visit to
the station.
Picture E.D.P.
On board with Coxswain Benny Read.
Picture E.D.P.
Picture E.D.P.
Lifeboat Day 6th August 1989 CVLS supporter, comedian
Jim Davidson is winched out of SHIRLEY JEAN ADYE
into the RAF's Wessex helicopter.
Picture E.D.P.
Entering service 1991.
Picture E.D.P.
Seen during a practice launch at Caister
Picture John Cannell
Preparing for launch 13th January 2002
Picture Anthony Benson
BERNARD MATTHEWS |
Specification |
| Years on station | August 1991 - 2004 |
| Donor | Local Appeal and generous donation by Bernard Matthews. |
| Cost | £400,000 approx |
| Official Number | 38-01 |
| Type | Lochin |
| Year built | 1990 |
| Builder | Lochin Marine, Rye; fitted out by Goodchilde Marine Services, Burgh Castle |
| Dimensions | Length 38ft 6in, breadth 10ft 8in |
| Engines | Twin 282hp Ford Sabre diesels, speed 18 knots. |
| Disposal | Sold to Blyth Valley Lifeboat Service, renamed Spirit of Blyth and Wansbeck |
Click to a full
list of services by this lifeboat
Leaving
Great Yarmouth Harbour
Picture EDP
Excercise
with RAF Air Sea Rescue and HM Coastguards
9th March 2003
Picture
Anthony Benson