Louisa – Exmoor 4 all

Plans are steaming ahead for the premiere showing of the new film “The Journey of the Louisa” – a story of ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary deeds. In 1899 during a fierce storm, the Lynmouth lifeboat ‘Louisa’ had to be hauled 13 miles, which included going over the Countisbury Hill and down the infamous 1 in 4 Porlock Hill, to launch in the more sheltered harbour of Porlock to go to the aid of a ship in distress.

This powerful new film has been produced by Ken Blakey of Lynton, using state-of-the-art computer graphics mixed with real-time footage along the route as well as narration. The premiere of the film will be shown to a full house at Lynmouth Pavilion on Friday 11 April, which coincides exactly with the 160th birthday of Jack Crocombe (coxswain of the Louisa). Copies of the film will be available to buy from Saturday 12 April.

In addition to members of the RNLI, as many descendants of the original team as possible have been invited as special guests to the evening celebration, including the great granddaughter and great grandson of Jack Crocombe, together with the re-enactment crew who dragged and pushed the sister lifeboat one hundred years later. The granddaughter of the telegraph boy who ran the message from Porlock Weir to Porlock post office for transmission to Lynmouth has just been discovered and will join the grandson of the man who received that telegram which instigated the haul.

For further information please contact Jo Backhouse on 01598 753562 or jobackhouse@btinternet.com
The event is supported by the Heritage Lottery Funded Lynmouth Pavilion Project.

In addition to this Flat-Broke Films Ltd, in association with Next Dimension Entertainment, is delighted to announce that the filming of “Louisa”, the feature film, will commence on location in Lynton & Lynmouth, Exmoor and Porlock Weir this Autumn 2014.

Directed by Simon J Miller and with Academy Award Nominated Alexandra Bekiaris and David & Maralyn Reynolds producing, this motion picture will capture the dramatic and heroic account of the 1899 “Overland Launch” of the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute) “Louisa” lifeboat.

For further information please visit the Flat-Broke Films Ltd website.

Captain Jack Crocombe and crew and their beloved LOUISA lifeboat at Lynmouth Lifeboat Station
in the early 1900s

The Lynmouth Lifeboat, Louisa.

I first became aware of this story some years ago. What remains long after you have read it, is the heroism of the people involved, the unwavering commitment to save life, no matter what the effort, and the absolute belief, against all odds, that you will succeed. I am grateful to John Lerwill for permission to re-publish this account, and to E.J. Fisher, the author of the article, for his enlightening account of this event.

Peter French, 2013

On 12th January 1899 Edward Pedder, who owned the post office in Lynmouth, received a telegram for Jack Crocombe, which he passed to the latter at 7:52p.m. Jack was coxswain of the Louisa, the Lynmouth lifeboat, and the telegram reported that a large ship was drifting ashore at Porlock Weir. Watchet lifeboat station reported shortly afterwards that severe weather prevented them from launching their boat, so the Lynmouth boat was the ship’s only hope. A gale had been blowing all day and had already flooded several houses and a shop in Lynmouth, and it was clear that the boat could not be launched at Lynmouth. Not to be beaten, the coxswain proposed to take the boat by road to Porlock’s sheltered harbour, and launch it from there. This meant using whatever horses and men could be obtained to haul the boat and its carriage (which together weighed about 10 tons) the distance of 13 miles, including climbing up the 1 in 4½ Countisbury Hill, reaching a height of 1,423 feet above sea level, and later taking it down the 1 in 4 Porlock Hill. 20 horses were brought from the local coach proprietor, and six men were sent ahead with shovels and pickaxes to widen the road. The combined efforts of the horses and 100 local men eventually brought the boat to the top of Countisbury Hill, where a wheel came off the carriage and had to be put back on.

Most of the helpers gave up at this point, leaving only 20 to help the crew for the rest of the journey. At one stage the road was too narrow for the carriage and could not be widened, so the boat was dragged on skids while the carriage was taken off-road over the moor to get round the obstacle. Porlock Hill was especially dangerous, but with the horses, and all the men using ropes, to hold the carriage back they managed to get down safely, only to meet another obstacle. Here a garden wall blocked the road. The old lady who owned the property was not pleased to be woken in the early hours by the noise of her wall being demolished, but when she discovered the cause agreed to a corner of her cottage being removed as well to let the carriage through. The next problem was finding the road to the coast was impassable as a result of a sea wall having been washed away. During the diversion onto a higher road they had to fell a large tree, but they eventually reached Porlock Weir at 6:30a.m. The crew were, of course, soaked, hungry and exhausted, but immediately launched the boat. It took an hour to reach the ship, which had drifted dangerously close to Hurlstone Point. It was the Forrest Hall, a 1,900 ton ship with a crew of 13 men and 5 apprentices, on its way from Bristol to Liverpool. The ship had been under tow down the Bristol Channel because of the headwind when the cable snapped and the rudder was washed away. Since the ship was safe as long as the anchors held, the lifeboat stood by until daybreak, when the original tug appeared. The lifeboat was used to get a line from ship to ship, and some of the lifeboat crew even went aboard the ship to raise the anchors because the ship’s crew were too exhausted to do it. A second tug was needed to avoid drifting into Nash Sands, but eventually the ship was towed safely to Barry, accompanied by the lifeboat in case the cable snapped again. Darkness had fallen by the time they docked at Barry.

The crew of the lifeboat were: