THE WRECK OF THE BALTIC NEAR MOUSEHOLE IN 1907 & THE RESCUE: A NEW POEM...

Once There Were Three Boats In Mount’s Bay…

The Baltic ran aground,

Was blown by a harsh south-easterly gale

Upon St Clement’s Island, near Mousehole in Mount’s Bay;

The Thames vessel, a barge with sail  

Carried cement from Ireland for Newlyn and its new harbour construction,

But it lay askew, its course astray

So that a lifeboat rescue was essential

And Penzance would receive an S.O.S. instruction…

The Elizabeth and Blanche 

Was hauled onto harbour mud abundant 

But stuck fast and was not launched into the stormy bay;

The pull and sail vessel, its oars redundant,

Tarried lame and helpless, its crew forlorn and frustrated;

They stood askance in disarray

So that the lifeboat’s rescue was abandoned

And the Mousehole fishermen’s ingenuity was duly demonstrated…

The Lady White, a crabber,

Was lifted out of the wind battered quay,

Over the protective winter baulks and into the wild bay;

The small vessel, lowered into the swell

Parried the lash of high seas, taking on a gale’s indignation;

It bore the tumult and the affray,

So that it became a lifeboat, the rescue performed

And lives saved in a drama which brought it fame and admiration…  

Pete Ray

October 2018

THE BALTIC AGROUND ON ST CLEMENT'S ISLAND...

The Penzance lifeboat did indeed become stuck in the low-tide mud on 1st November 1907 and although the Mousehole winter baulks had closed the harbour entrance, somehow a crabber was lifted over the top of them and into the sea to effect the rescue.

The Elizabeth and Blanche was later covered by tarpaulin from 1908 until the Penlee Lifeboat Station was built to enable an easier and more effective slipway launch.

The Lady White has also been called The White Lady.

The Baltic was eventually abandoned as a hulk in a creek in Essex.

The Elizabeth and Blanche might well have been named after two famous Newlyn fisherfolk, Betsy Lanyon and Blanche Courtney, although it is odd that Queen Elizabeth I’s personal attendant was one Blanche Parry…

 

THE ELIZABETH AND BLANCHE II LIFEBOAT...

 

MEDAL AWARDED TO WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY FOR BRAVERY IN THE RESCUE.
INSCRIBED: 'BALTIC WRECK, MOUSEHOLE, CORNWALL'

ON MOUSEHOLE'S HARBOUR WALL...

THE SAME LIFEBOAT LATER AT PENLEE...