A Perilous Escape

Heroes

of the

Goodwin Sands

By the Rev.

Thomas Stanley Treanor, M.A.

Chaplain, Missions to Seamen, Deal and the Downs

Author of "The Log of a Sky Pilot," "The Cry from the Sea and theAnswer from the Shore."

With Coloured and other Illustrations

LONDON
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY
4 Bouverie Street & 65 St. Paul's Churchyard
1904

PREFACE

For twenty-six years, as Missions to Seamen Chaplain for the Downs, thewriter of the following chapters has seen much of the Deal boatmen,both ashore and in their daily perilous life afloat. For twenty-threeyears he has also been the Honorary Secretary of the Royal NationalLifeboat Institution for the Goodwin Sands and Downs Branch; he hassometimes been afloat in the lifeboats at night and in storm, and hehas come into official contact with the boatmen in their lifeboat work,in the three lifeboats stationed right opposite the Goodwin Sands, atDeal, Walmer, and Kingsdown. With these opportunities of observation,he has written accurate accounts of a few of the splendid rescueseffected on those out-lying and dangerous sands by the boatmen he knowsso well.

Each case is authenticated by names and dates; the position of thewrecked vessel is given with exactness, and the handling andmanoeuvring of the lifeboat described, from a sailor's point of view,with accuracy, even in details.

The descriptions of the sea—of Nature in some of her most tremendousaspects, of the breakers on the Goodwins—and of the stubborn courageof the men who man our lifeboats are far below the reality. Eachincident occurred as it is related, and is absolutely true.

The Deal boatmen are almost as mute as the fishes of the sea respectingtheir own deeds of daring and of mercy on the Goodwin Sands. It is butjustice to those humble heroes of the Kentish coast that an attemptshould be made to tell some parts of their wondrous story.

T. S. T.
DEAL, 1904.

CONTENTS