1899: Launch from Porlock Weir

During a severe gale, Lynmouth volunteers dragged their lifeboat for 13 miles to launch in aid of a vessel in distress.

On 12 January 1899, RNLI lifeboat volunteers undertook one of our most arduous feats to date – dragging a lifeboat overnight in terrible weather to launch in aid of a ship in distress.

The Forrest Hall was a 1,900 ton ship sailing from Bristol to Liverpool, which carried 13 crew and 5 apprentices. The stormy weather threatened to run the ship ashore at Porlock, several miles east of Lynmouth. It had been under tow, but the cable had snapped and the rudder washed away in the strong winds.

At 7.52pm, the Lynmouth Lifeboat Station received a telegram reporting that the Forrest Hall was drifting ashore at Porlock Weir. The squally weather prevented the crew from launching their lifeboat from the harbour, but Coxswain Jack Crocombe proposed the lifeboat be taken overland and launched from Porlock Weir, where it was more sheltered. This was a 13-mile journey which included a quarter gradient climb of 434m over Countisbury Hill and a trek across Exmoor.

The overland launch

Around 100 local people gathered to haul the Louisa, which was 10m long and weighed 10 tons, aided by 18 horses sent from a local farm. Six men were sent ahead with shovels to widen parts of the road.

After the difficult climb up Countisbury Hill, the crowd stopped for refreshments at the Blue Ball Inn, where they had to repair a carriage wheel that had fallen off. Most of the 100 helpers turned back, leaving just 20 men, including the 14 lifeboat crew, to control the boat down the hill into Portlock. At one stage, the boat was dragged on skids, as the road was too narrow for the carriage and could not be widened.

The 20 men were able to safely navigate their way down the hazardous terrain of Portlock Hill – even having to break down part of a garden wall to let the carriage and horses through.

The rescue