AN AUTHOR has unearthed fresh revelations about a legendary sea rescue from a hospital ship, which sank off the Yorkshire coast a century ago.
The HMHS Rohilla had been on its way to Dunkirk to pick up wounded soldiers when it ran aground near Whitby on October 20, 1914.
Although the ship was only about 600m offshore, conditions were appalling.
Six lifeboats were known to be involved in a legendary three-day rescue operation. Whitby’s lifeboat could not be launched from the harbour and had to be lifted over an 8ft seawall and carried across rocks to reach the sea. After two trips to the stricken ship, the boat was also damaged and another lifeboat had to be carried down cliffs.
Although 85 of the 229 people stranded on the stricken ship lost their lives, the remainder were saved by the efforts of those involved in the marathon rescue, one of the toughest in the RNLI's history.
Whitby author, Colin Brittain, is part of a team who are organising events in Whitby to mark the centenary.
He has spent three decades researching the stricken ship and in 2002 released his book on the subject, Into the Maelstrom the Wreck of HMHS Rohilla. He first became interested in the story of the ship after regularly diving around the wreck site.
In updating the book for the centenary, he discovered a number of new revelations.
He said a little known fact was that one of the boats involved in the rescue was the Tynemouth motor lifeboat, the Henry Venon, which travelled over forty miles in similar conditions to that which had caused the loss of the Rohilla and rescued the final survivors.
The lifeboat was sold many years later and converted in a sailing boat, renamed the Rohilla. In 1959 a boarding school charted it to take pupils to the Channel Islands, but it sank in bad conditions, resulting in the deaths of five boys and two adults.
He also discovered a 15-year-old scout, Arthur Naylor Shepherd, from Middlesbrough, also played a part in the rescue, carrying distress rockets and messages up and down the cliff face. The founder of the scouting movement, Baden Powell, was so impressed with his courage, that he created a new award to mark the teenager’s bravery, the Cornwell Badge.
Mr Brittain said writing the book has helped him navigate his own treacherous waters. He discovered he was suffering from three benign brain tumours, one of which is inoperable.
“This book has been my saving grace,” he said.
“It’s kept me busy for many years and stopped me dwelling on things.
“There are so many stories involved in the rescue. The lifeboat rescues were quite remarkable.
“If that had happened today it would still be a supreme effort to get people off, because although it was so close, there was nothing anybody could do.”
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