A legacy to be proud of: 200 years of lifesaving maritime history

Sep 21 2007 by Haydon Wood, Liverpool Daily Post

A legacy to be proud of: 200 years of lifesaving maritime history

THE first lifeboat at Hoylake is believed to have been around 30ft long with 10 oars, with local man Thomas Seed the first coxswain.

Little detail is known about the earliest days of the lifeboat at Hoylake, but Mr Seed was employed by the Docks Trustees at Liverpool, who had bought the boat in 1802.

Seed’s job also meant he was keeper of the lighthouse at Hoylake as well as being in charge of the boat.

According to Jeff Morris’s book “Hoylake and West Kirby Lifeboats”, produced to mark 200 years of the lifesaving service in West Wirral, the boat’s first recorded launch was September 14 1806 when the King George ran aground, although ultimately the lifeboat was not needed.

When Mr Seed died six years later his position was taken up by the experienced Liverpool pilot, Captain Joseph Bennet, although upon his retirement in December 1822 the lifeboat suffered neglect.

By 1825 the boat had fallen into such disrepair the Docks Trustees ordered a new one to be built, and no longer required the master of the boat to also be keeper of the lighthouse.

Little more is known about the boat until a launch in 1829 after a ship was driven onto West Hoyle Bank, but because of the violence of the storms none of the three lifeboats launched from across Merseyside were able to save the crew.

Then 149 years ago the Liverpool Docks Trustees handed over the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, which maintained the lifeboat stations.

But as the following decades saw Liverpool ports becoming ever busier in 1894 it was decided to hand over the run- ning of the lifeboat stations to the RNLI. Since the RNLI took over, two silver and five bronze medals have been awarded to the crewmen of Hoylake.

In 1902 a silver medal was awarded to Coxswain Thomas Dodd for the rescue of the crew of nine of the Barque Matador of Riga, on October 16 and 17 in a severe gale and very heavy seas.

TO CONTRIBUTE to the appeal, call 0845 650 3999, log on to rnli.org.uk/hoylakeappeal or send a donation to RNLI Hoylake Appeal, Admail 4049, Hoylake, CH47 1AA.