December, 1845.
On the 12th December, 1845, William Richardson, A.B., of Her
Majesty's steam-sloop 'Hecla,' was washed off the forecastle, whilst
securing the anchor, between the islands of Cyprus and Rhodes: a
heavy sea was running at the time. The ship was backed and stopped
within a short distance of the unfortunate man, who was then
exhausted, and on the point of going down, when Mr. Henry W. Hire,
First-lieutenant, in a most gallant manner, at the risk of his own
life, jumped overboard, and supported him until a boat was lowered
that picked them both up.
COMMANDER WOOLDRIDGE AND MR. BIRTWHISTLE,
MATE, R.N., SHEERNESS,
June, 1845.
On the 9th June, 1845, whilst at anchor off Sheerness, when reefing,
owing to a point slipping through the hand of one of the seamen, he
fell from the fore-topsail yard of H.M.S. 'Spy' overboard, striking
the fore-rigging and spars in the chains, broke his arm, and received
violent contusions in many parts of his body. Lieut.-Commander
Wooldridge, being on deck and seeing the man sinking, jumped after
him, dressed as he was, with the hope of getting a rope round him;
finding, however, when he was in the water, from having heavy clothes
on and a thick pair of wash-deck shoes, and not being a very good
swimmer, he was too heavy to trust himself too near a sinking man, he
swam round him, occasionally lifting him, and encouraging him by
talking to him. Mr. Birtwhistle, mate, the moment he saw the danger,
threw off his jacket and shoes, and sprang after them, and being a
strong swimmer and disencumbered, kept the man up. The tide was
running very strong at the time, and they had thereby drifted about
four times the 'Spy's' length from her, when they were all eventually
picked up in a very exhausted state by a boat crossing the harbour.
LIEUT. NEWMAN, R.N., AND BOAT'S CREW, COAST-GUARD,
DUNGENESS,
January, 1846.
The 'New Flora' pilot-boat of Dover was wrecked at Dungeness on the
22nd January, 1846. On the circumstance being made known to Lieut.
Newman, R.N., of the Dymchurch Coast-guard station, by one of the men
who had providentially succeeded in swimming on shore through the
surf, he proceeded immediately to the spot, and ordered his boat to
be drawn round by land, a distance of a mile and a half, to a
convenient place for launching, where she was manned by the
lieutenant with a hardy crew of five men. After buffeting for some
time with the waves, they succeeded in reaching the ill-fated vessel,
and found the boats washed away, and the crew, consisting of five
men, obliged to take to the rigging, the sea making a clean sweep
over her, and thereby rendering it very hazardous for the galley to
approach. The gallant commander and tars, nothing daunted,
determined to rescue their fellow-creatures, which they ultimately
effected.