The rescue of 144 people from a wrecked hospital ship off the North Yorkshire coast is one of six relatively unknown missions to be featured in an upcoming exhibition about the First World War.

Whitby Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) crews made the rescue from the HMHS Rohilla, a Royal Navy Hospital Ship, in 1914.

Now the heroism of those involved will be showcased in Hope In The Great War, a four-year touring exhibition which coincides with the centenary of the First World War.

The free-to-attend exhibition, funded by Arts Council England, will acknowledge and honour the bravery of RNLI volunteers who risked their lives to save others during the conflict “by raising awareness of six relatively unknown heroic lifeboat rescues”, says the charity.

HMHS Rohilla, travelling to Dunkirk to pick up the wounded, struck Whitby Rock on October 30, 1914. Although only metres from shore, high seas and storm force winds made any rescue difficult.

Whitby’s RNLI lifeboat was carried by hand over a seawall to be launched from the beach. Eventually six lifeboats battled the sea to reach the ship, fill up with desperate passengers and return them to the shore.

Volunteer RNLI lifeboat crews and the community of Whitby worked for more than 50 hours and saved 144 lives.

Hope In The Great War opens on February 4 at the RNLI’s Henry Blogg Museum in Cromer, Norfolk.

It will go on the other RNLI museums and lifeboat stations nationwide. From July 23 to August 31 it will be at Pannett Art Gallery in Whitby.