Gone but not Forgotten!

It was an unusually dark Winters evening, which was devoid of any comforting light from either the, ‘usually bright’, moon or any twinkling stars, and there was also a chilling silence around this small town, ‘as if’, other people knew something that I didn’t! “It could have had something to do with the weather”?

This little town, in where I lived, was very quiet for a Friday evening and I didn’t see anyone else roaming around the streets, like they’re usually seen scuttling from one pub to another one(‘for a relatively small town it had 4 pubs, 2 other drinking clubs, and numerous amateur brewers”!) The unusual silence and stillness around this town was slightly unnerving, but then, it had just started to rain! The rain was only very light when I initially started on my ‘round’, and I was hoping that it might cease midway through my Friday night ‘pocket money job’, which was collecting some Charity Money(“from participating customers”), and besides, I was ‘a man of routine’, and I didn’t want to disrupt this routine just because of a little bit of rain, nor did I want to disappoint any customers who were expecting me! On Friday evening I collected the Charity money from the upper half of this little town, and then on Sunday morning I would collect Charity money from the lower half of this town.

The streets were no further than a third of a mile away from the beach, and the waves could be heard greeting the shore with regular, and yet, comforting slaps! Those, ‘comforting slaps’, would soon become heavier and angrier and could clearly be heard throughout this very Wintry evening, repeatedly and repeatedly thumping the rocks; This sea was angry and the sky now echoed this anger, as the rain became uncomfortably heavier in both droplets and in its consistency!

I was already ‘soaked through to the skin’, and I would also receive a kind reminder of this fact from an occasional cold breeze, that silently blew up from an alleyway or from any other strip of open land, which would press your cold and wet clothes firmly to your, previously warm, skin! The leaflets, that I was delivering, could not be totally protected from the rain, and unfortunately, were now limp and damp pieces of coloured paper, BUT, after enduring these conditions for almost two hours, my work would soon be finished and I longed to return home to take off these wet clothes, revive my cold skin by having a warm wash and then by putting on some dry and warm clothing, before I could finally enjoy a hot drink in front of the open fire and relax!

‘Meanwhile’, back out in this foulest of nights, was I, ‘for now’,

and my daydreams about relaxing at home could not materialise until my work was done, BUT the backdrop noise from the sea was intensifying and could not be ignored and I just felt that it would have some significance tonight- “The Sea was certainly in a foul-mood, and the sound of its anger was this evening’s loud and thumping beat!

The rain gradually increased and the wind was becoming stronger, that warned us that a storm was ‘coming in’(“approaching the land”!), and I was literally running around the town now to complete my collection quickly and as soon as I had finally completed it, I sprinted home in ‘record time’(“my record-time obviously”!) and as I entered our home, I looked back outside, with sheer relief, at this horrendously wild evening with both pride and satisfaction, a satisfaction with the fact that I had successfully completed my job in such foul weather, and I felt proud of myself in knowing that the collection was for charity!

Under the shelter from being in the hallway, I got transfixed for a moment, looking deeply into this black, uninterrupted darkness that was so depressing, and I wasn’t either physically or mentally comfortable and I eventually closed the door and went to revive and refresh myself in the bedroom, and as I slowly retreated back indoors a rumble of thunder was clearly heard, which was quickly followed by a flash of lightning!

“I ran some steamy hot water in the sink,

and my skin, so white and cold, turned quickly pink,

there was a ‘tingling sensation’ from under my skin,

that let me know that my blood’s rushing in!

I was, ‘at last’, downstairs and I was dry and warm,

and I was safely indoors and away from this storm,

and just for one moment, before I could eat and relax,

I returned downstairs to receive some worrying facts”!

“The lifeboat has gone out to rescue the crew of a ship”, said my Dad, with both concern and intrigue in his voice! He had, in this year of 1981, just become the proud owner of a CB(‘Citizens Band’) Radio, and had tuned into the RAF Coastguard in this area, and he had heard this very concerning news, and this concern was intensified by my recent outdoor experience!

”The weather is absolutely atrocious ‘out-there’, it’s so rough and windy” - “those poor men”, I replied with genuine sympathy and concern, and I returned upstairs and into my bedroom to relax, but meanwhile the wind rattled the windows and the rain accompanied this worrying noise; Occasionally I would go into one of the sea-facing bedrooms to look out into the wild sea, but it was so dark and the activity was around the opposite side of the coast, and no lights could be seen!

The date was the 19th of December 1981, and a ship named the Union Star, had lost its power and was heading for the rocks off-of the nearby Cornish coast; 11, very brave and kind, crewmen answered the emergency call, but only 8 were required, and the Coxwain(‘Captain’) of the crew chose the most appropriate 8 crewmen from this 11!

A rescue helicopter would also assist them in this very difficult and threatening mission, but despite its attempts to positively assist; the windy conditions, it’s proximity of being too close to the coast and the ships wavering mast, along with hurricane force 12 winds and 18 metre waves, all combined to convince the RAF helicopter pilot to abandon his efforts and he returned to the ‘relative-safety’ from being over the land!

The lifeboat would bravely continue in its mission and got alongside the stricken vessel, but the conditions were worsening, and yet, this devoted and determined crew continued in their mission and attempted another effort to rescue all of those on board, before they, along with the stricken vessel, crashed into the jagged rocks and all radio contact ceased!

The lights from the lifeboat could not be seen anymore, and at daybreak the reason why was, sadly, very clear- the stricken vessel, ‘The Union Star’, was not a floating useful cargo ship anymore, and was instead a capsized and broken upturned hull on the jagged rocks, whilst debris from the Lifeboat gradually, and very sadly, washed ashore!

The ‘once ferocious’ waves were now gently tapping the ships upturned hull, ‘as if’ they were gently reminding us all of its destructive capabilities!

There were, sadly, no survivors and debris/wreckage from the Lifeboat began to wash ashore over the following weekend (‘the days afterwards’); This disaster was the last time that the RNLI lost an entire crew in action!

The nearby village of Mousehole, Cornwall, that was home for some of the crew, have a colourful display of Christmas lights at every Christmas time, and two displays commemorate the date of this disaster and look down upon the villages harbour and town every year, there’s a large shining Cross and an Angel, which to me are images that represent ‘good, kindness and caring’- “they risked their lives to save others, but very sadly, this risk would tonight be fatal”!

The disaster was the last time that the RNLI lost an entire crew in action!

‘God Bless’.