Content area
Full Text
"On all hands, the bravery of the Whitby lifeboatmen is highly spoken of, and of the many gallant feats performed by them this is accounted to be one of the most praiseworthy."
- The Northern Echo, January 20, 1881
WHEN Captain William Todd Anderson set sail from Tyne Dock on Sunday, January 16, 1881, all the talk was about the weather. The North-East had been gripped by the hardest frost for many a decade, minus 20 degrees most nights, and it was said that further down the coast the rivers Wear, Tees and Skerne were frozen almost solid.
Capt Anderson, from Robin Hood's Bay, was master of the Visiter, a 180 ton brig built in Sunderland in 1823. He, and his five man crew, were carrying coal to London.
But as they left Tyne Dock, one of the most severe storms of the century was lying in wait for them - and the crew of the Visiter would find themselves embroiled in a rescue which is still talked about to this very day. In fact, the "gallant feats" of the Whitby lifeboatmen will be re-enacted this weekend to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
As the Visiter slipped down the Durham coast, the weather worsened. On land, railways and roads were blocked by heavy snowfall.
As she went by Yorkshire, a gale blew up, tossing her violently across boiling seas. Off Flamborough on Tuesday, the wind suddenly changed direction, ripping the sails off her two masts and battering her back north.
At 2am on Wednesday, Capt Anderson weighed anchor in Robin Hood's Bay, hoping to ride the storm out. But within six hours, there was five feet of water in the hold and waves were swamping the deck.
Capt Anderson gave the order to abandon ship. Its little lifeboat was launched and five of the six crew scrambled aboard. A young apprentice, Algernon Dodd, found himself stranded on the sinking ship. With the Visiter wallowing in her watery grave beneath his feet, he plucked up courage after an hour, lashed himself to a life buoy and hurled himself into the foaming sea. When he reached the open lifeboat, he...