On February 27, 1874, the lifeboat St George, of Stonehaven, launched in a gale to go to the aid of the Grace Darling of Blyth, which was flying signals of distress off the Aberdeenshire coast.
When the lifeboat reached her the signals of distress were taken down. Unable to return to Stonehaven through the gales the St George made for Aberdeen Harbour. Unfortunately, disaster struck when the lifeboat capsized as it entered the harbour.
Four of her crew, Coxswain James Leiper, 2nd Coxswain John Brown, Alexander Main and James Lees, were lost and the boat smashed beyond repair.
Their names are forever recorded on the memorial headstone in St Mary's of Cowie churchyard overlooking Stonehaven Bay and on the RNLI memorial sculpture in Poole, Dorset, which honours the courage of all those lost at sea while endeavouring to save the lives of others.
Now, ahead of the 150th anniversary of the disaster, Stonehaven RNLI has launched an appeal to trace the descendants of the crew of the St George.
READ MORE: Rescue launched after trawler runs aground on rocks
On Sunday, February 25, Stonehaven RNLI will hold a commemoration ceremony in recognition of the those were lost that day, and would like to invite family members of the crew of the St George to attend the event.
Andy Martin, volunteer Lifeboat Operations Manager at Stonehaven RNLI, said: "We hope to reach any relatives via the press and social media so that they can attend on the 25 February along with our current volunteer crew and other members of the community."
Stonehaven lifeboat station was re-established in 2013, although the tradition of lifesaving goes back as far as 1854.
The commemoration event comes as the RNLI gets set to mark its 200-year journey from 1824 to 2024, with a series of celebratory events in Torbay on Devon's south coast over the year, starting with two on Sunday, March 3 and Monday, March 4.
These two events, organized by RNLI Torbay and led by Simon James, will kick off a year of activities which will be a testament to the dedication and bravery of the RNLI's volunteer crews throughout its rich history.
Earlier this week, Kyle & Mallaig RNLI lifeboats launched after a fishing trawler with seven people on board ran aground on rocks off Kylerhea on the east coast of Skye.
Kyle RNLI lifeboat, which launched in a snowstorm, was the first to arrive and, as the tide came in to the narrows, there were concerns the trawler may capsize as it was being pivoted around and forced further aground.
However, as the tide continued to rise, the vessel came off the rocks.
The trawler then headed to Mallaig to be inspected for damage under escort by Mallaig RNLI lifeboat, which arrived at the scene at around 6.30pm on Tuesday.
Jonathon MacKinnon, RNLI helm for the Kyle lifeboat, said: “This was a rapidly evolving situation which became extremely serious when the tide began to force the vessel over.
READ MORE: Boy rescued by lifeboat after falling from rocks at Scots harbour
“There was the potential for it to go wrong quite quickly, so it was a relief to see the vessel float free 20 minutes later.”
The seven crew on the 72ft (22m) fishing boat were not injured.
The launch of Kyle & Mallaig RNLI lifeboats came a week after Dunbar RNLI lifeboat volunteers were called out twice in one day (Monday, January 8), initially launching for a dog that had fallen from cliffs before coming to the aid of a fishing boat sinking in the harbour.
The week prior to that also saw Oban RNLI Lifeboat launched for the first time in 2024 to assist with a medivac from the island of Lismore.
The volunteer crew departed Oban on Wednesday, January 3, at the request of HM Coastguard to go to the island to assist with the recovery of a casualty, with a suspected broken leg, approximately one mile inland from the pier.
Due to the nature of the casualty’s injuries, the lifeboat departed her berth in Oban with her usual compliment of seven volunteer crew members along with two paramedics and five members of the Oban Coastguard Rescue Team onboard.
The casualty was treated on the pier by the paramedics before being brought aboard the lifeboat for transfer to Oban lifeboat station and then to Oban hospital.
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