REMEMBERING THE HEROES WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES AT SEA
THE lifeboat men and women are the everyday heroes who save lives at sea in between having a full-time job.
More than 5,000 people, from all walks of life, carry electronic devices which can alert them of emergencies at sea.
When these bleep their holders dash on foot or car to the lifeboat station.
Our readers know only too well how often the RNLI risk their own lives to the aid of those in peril on the sea and it’s something they have been doing for well over 100 years.
One of the darkest days for that community befell the volunteer crew at Rhoscolyn, near Holyhead, on December 3, 1920.
The lifeboat station was open between 1830 and 1929 and, at this time, a 37-foot self-righting rowing boat, the Ramon Cabrera, was on station.
The steamship Timbo, and her crew of eight, had been sheltering in Holyhead harbour from severe westerly gales that had caused much damage and disruption in the last week of November.
But, by early December 1, the wind had decreased so the skipper finally weighed anchor to continue a short passage in ballast from Liverpool to Ireland.
However, no sooner had the Timbo rounded the South Stack lighthouse and into Caernarfon Bay than the wind increased again to storm force, which left the little ship at the mercy of the raging sea.
With her propeller and rudder, more often than not, out of the water the ship became impossible to handle
Capt Baushell had no choice but to call for assistance as the vessel drifted ever closer to the rocky shores of Ynys Cybi.
Rhoscolyn lifeboat crew member Edward Owen saw the drama unfolding and rushed down to the lifeboat station where the crew of 13 gathered.
Launching the boat was difficult as the sea was running very high and it took three hours to reach the Timbo, which was off Aberffraw.
The crew tried several times to get a line aboard the ship and succeeded, but it parted almost immediately.
Coxswain Owen Owens made the difficult decision to return to shore but the lifeboat capsized almost as soon as they turned.
Five of the lifeboat crew lost their lives that day including Owen Owens (61), 17-year-old Richard Hughes and his older brother Evan, who was 34.
Their bodies came to shore at Llanddwyn, along with their colleagues Owen Jones, 38, and William Thomas, 19.
By now the Timbo was being driven close to the Gwynedd coast and Captain Baushell ordered five of the crew into a ship’s lifeboat.
They included another youth, William Jones, 16, who was on his first trip to sea.
The small boat was quickly overcome and only one man reached the shore alive.
The Timbo became stranded on Dinas Dinlle beach. It remained stuck high and dry until a wooden launching ramp could be constructed and, with the aid of tugs, the Timbo was eventually refloated.
A memorial to the sacrifice made by the lifeboat crew can be seen in the cemetery at St Gwenfaen’s Church in Rhoscolyn..
The Ramon Cabrera had arrived at Rhoscolyn in 1899 and remained on station until its closure in 1929. Launched 31 times over the years it rescued 17 people from the sea.
The Timbo continued to trade around the Welsh coast but did not survive long and was finally wrecked on Carreg-y-Trai reef off Abersoch.
Bound for London, the Timbo had just left Pwllheli when she ran on to Carreg-y-Trai reef during darkness on November 15, 1922.
The crew quickly abandoned ship and everyone reached the shore in safety.
Lloyd’s Lists initially reported the ship could be refloated if powerful pumps could quickly be sent to the scene but, by the time these were available, the situation had deteriorated and the ship was described as being underwater at half-tide.
Built at Newcastle in 1883, the Timbo was powered through the water by a single propeller.
The vessel also carried a spare iron propeller, which can still be found immediately south of the reef in about 40 feet of water. The boiler, two large winches, a length of propeller shaft and a tangled mass of ribs, hull-plates and girders all lie close by.
A small, unmarked bell was recovered from the site as recently as May, 2002, and may be from the Timbo.