Relic of heroic rescue returns
Courage of Longhope lifeboatmen helped to save 22 lives from wreck
By Gillian Wylie
(From The Orcadian dated February 27, 2003)

On March 3, 1891, the 1,400 ton merchant vessel SS Victoria succumbed to heavy seas, and sank just off Dunnet Head on the Caithness coast.

Her crew of 22 men survived – thanks to the bravery and resourcefulness of the Longhope lifeboatmen, and their extraordinary seamanship in a small boat – buoyed with air tanks.

Now, almost 112 years after she was lost, the anchor of the SS Victoria – recovered ten years ago by Thurso Sub Aqua Club – has been gifted to the Longhope Lifeboat Museum.

Last Sunday, the anchor was mounted on a plinth and formally accepted by committee members of the Longhope Lifeboat Museum Trust. Some of those involved in the dive a decade ago, came across to Longhope for the presentation.

Museum trustee, John Budge, of Burnhouse in Longhope told The Orcadian that the anchor was brought across the Pentland Firth by Caithness skipper Willie Simpson last August.

A decade ago, it had been rescued from the sea, off Scarfskerry, by Thurso sub aqua club, and the anchor has spent much of the intervening time at the home of Caithness diver, Alistair Jack, who was part of the team who recovered it.

The anchor of the SS Victoria arrived in Longhope from Caithness in August – brought across the Pentland Firth by boatmen Willie Simpson and his cousin Donnie Shearer. It is now mounted on a plinth in front of the Longhope Lifeboat Museum. Pictured here are, from the left: museum trustees Angus Budge, George Taylor and Ian McFadyen; Donnie Shearer, Willie Simpson, Colin Mackay, who organised the hand over; and trustees John Budge, Kevin Kirkpatrick (coxswain) and Alec Norquay.In front: Kevin’s son, Jack Kirkpatrick.

Detonators

The story of the rescue on that stormy night, illustrates the remarkable courage and hardiness of lifeboatmen in the early days of the rescue service in Orkney.

The steamer SS Victoria – built and launched in Sunderland in 1883 – was bound for New York from Hamburg, laden with a cargo of sugar and detonators.

Her crew consisted of seven British men – including her skipper, Captain Harrison from Kent – plus 11 German seamen, and three Scandinavians.

On March 3, 1891, she ran into a gale off Cape Wrath, where heavy seas flooded the engine room to a depth of eight feet – extinguishing the stokehold fires.

Her cargo shifted, her sails were torn to shreds, and she was driven east towards the cliffs of Hoy.

Sea valves

Distress signals were seen from Dunnet Head, and the Longhope Lifeboat – a small reserve vessel – was launched, with Coxswain Benjamin Stout in charge.

The lifeboat the Longhope men used that night was a temporary replacement for RNLI’s first Longhope lifeboat, the Dickinson Edleston, which had been taken to London in 1889 to be refitted and was condemned.

The reserve boat was only 34 feet long, and her name is unknown, but she was to carry 38 men to safety – even though she was holed during the rescue, and her sea valves blocked with tobacco.

Among the 16-strong lifeboat crew was one, Bill Mowat, of The Haven, Brims, Longhope, who more than 40 years after the event, recorded his memories of his years in the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

“The steam ship Victoria of Sunderland, which struck on Scarfskerry, was the first rescue we were called upon to perform in the new boat,” he began

Smashed.

Lifeboatman Bill Mowat, who recorded his memories of the rescue of SS Victoria’s crew, joined the RNLI at 15, when Longhope first acquired a lifeboat. He acted as second coxswain for the last 28 years in the service, and assisted in the saving of 107 lives.

“We caught up with the vessel while she was about a mile off the land. The engine room was full of water, and we took 22 of the crew off.”

Unfortunately, in the wild conditions, the rescue vessel was damaged.

“When coming alongside, the port quarter of the lifeboat was smashed in to a width of two feet and depth of three feet,” Mr Mowat explained.

The crew of the Victoria had to be taken off, a few at a time, using a rope lashed between both vessels. The decision was then made, after one unsuccessful attempt to return to Longhope, to head for South Ronaldsay instead.

“We had a storm sail about the size of a pocket handkerchief, and with a gale blowing, we ran from Dunnet Head to the station. We could not pull, and the boat would not turn into the wind, so we ran for Widewall Bay, where we landed the men.”

But even that was not straightforward.

During the rescue, there was an incident which made already difficult sailing conditions, much worse.

Bill explained: “A curious mishap occurred on this trip. In a lifeboat, one is not allowed to carry luggage of any kind, and when the sailors were throwing their clothes in at one side of the lifeboat, we were chucking it out the other.

“One man had a box of 500 cigars. When he dropped it into the boat, the box burst. The boat was fitted with 12 valves to let the sea water out, and these cigars choked them so that we were waist high in water when running across the Pentland Firth.”

It says a lot for both men and boat, that they were able to reach Widewall in heavy seas, with 38 men aboard a holed boat – and up to their middles in water. It took them eight hours.

Concert

But Bill was quite matter-of-fact about it.

“The big hole in the quarter did not matter much,” he said. “Because the boat had about 120 air tanks in her and would float even when absolutely full of water.”

Once they were safely landed, however, the weather was such that they couldn’t get home in a hurry. The crew were forced to lie in Widewall for three days until the weather moderated.

Meanwhile, the rescued men were taken to Cromarty’s Inn for food and dry clothing. They then travelled across to Stromness on the SS Express for a concert which had been arranged there to raise money for them and other shipwrecked sailors.

Explosion

It is said that the Victoria’s crew were vociferous in their praise of the Longhope men – and less than pleased with a large foreign vessel which was said to have circled the distressed SS Victoria, without offering assistance, before abandoning them to their fate.

Finally SS Victoria sank off Scarfskerry, when a loud explosion was heard – presumably from the detonators on board.

As for the valiant lifeboat crew, Coxswain Benjamin Stout was awarded a silver medal for gallantry. He was also presented with a solid gold watch from the Emperor of Germany, who gave the crew £24.

The little rescue boat suffered a rather different fate, as Bill Mowat explained: “When a new 40 foot boat called after the donor, Symanthus Stannah, came to the station I learned that the previous reserve boat was taken to London, broken up, and sold in souvenirs. She had done very good work at Margate as well as here.