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| St Andrews Lifeboat c1910 |
In 1938 the R.N.L.I. closed the Lifeboat Station in St
Andrews. On Saturday, 10th September of that year a large crowd
gathered at the harbour to see the lifeboat, the “John and Sarah Hatfield”
leave for the last time. She was heading for Portobello where alterations would
take place to convert her into a pleasure boat.
The coxswain was David Fenton who had been a member of the
lifeboat crew for 40 years. His gallantry and outstanding skill had been
recognised by the R.N.L.I., the Carnegie Hero Fund and the Royal Humane
Society. Other lifeboat men such as James Chisholm, Alex Hill Gourlay, Robert
Wilson Senior and Robert Wilson, Junior had also received medals and
certificates during their long careers.
The “John and Sarah Hatfield” had come into service in St
Andrews in 1910. She was a 25 ft. self-righting Rubie Class vessel. During her
28 years of service she had aided many vessels in distress and 43 lives in all
had been saved. Her impressive record includes:-
1912 3 lives
saved- “The Resolute”
1912 9 crew
members saved- “Prinses Wilhelmina”
1914 13 lives
saved - the destroyer, “H.M.S. Success” driven ashore at Kingsbarns
during
a hurricane
1931 10 crew
members saved – the steam trawler, “Loch Long”
We must remember that lifeboats at that time had no engines
and had to be rowed by the crew who were all volunteers and mainly the local
fishermen. The lifeboat was launched on the East Sands with the help of local
men from the town who waded into the water and pulled on ropes.
The Lifeboat House is now home to St Andrews Sailing Club.
On one of the walls there are boards which give details of the names of the St
Andrews Lifeboats and their record of service since 1860, i.e. “Annie” changed
to “Polly and Lucy”, “Ladies Own”, “Louisa” and “John and Sarah Hatfield”.
These boards make very interesting reading. It was in 1860 that the Royal
National Lifeboat Institution established a Lifeboat Station in St Andrews.
There had been 2 lifeboats before 1860. The first one came
into service in 1800 and the second one in 1824. Between 1824 and 1860 more
than 70 lives had been saved.
Thinking of St Andrews today, it is surprising to note that
the prosperity of the fishing industry was reaching its peak around 1881 when 3
of the largest boats fishing in Scotland, “Sea King”, “Our Queen” and “Fisher
Lassie” were fishing from St Andrews.
In 1938 when the Lifeboat Station was closed there was an
article in the local press which referred to the lifeboat men as the “Red Cross
Men of the Sea” – “splendid types of the rugged, hardy heroic toilers of the
deep whom the Fife coast and the seaboard of Scotland have bred for centuries
past”.
