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- London Plant Region Associates -
The Launch of James Stevens No. 14.
Posted: 30 September 2009
London Associate Gerry Hughes sees 10 years voluntary work come to fruition.
The big day - getting the boat ready for the launch.
Gerry Hughes has been a member of The Frinton & Walton Heritage trust that set about restoring the boat (above) and over the past ten years has been busy raising funds for this project. The work came to a climax on September 5th when she was relaunched at Titchmarsh Marina by Griff Rhys Jones, who lives in Suffolk, and has recently completed a television series about British rivers. Gerry tells the story of the James Stevens No.14 and how she came to be rescued.
Preparations - before the crowds arrive.
James Stevens was a Birmingham businessman who sold building materials during the industrial expansion of the West Midlands in the 19th century. He never married, and left his fortune to the RNLI to provide 20 lifeboats, all to be named after him and numbered 1-20. The James Stevens No 14 was the second lifeboat to be stationed at Walton-on-the-Naze. She was named on the 30th August 1900 and served at Walton until 1928. The James Stevens was a Norfolk & Suffolk class and was a 43 foot long sailing boat fitted with 12 oars, double banked. She was built by the Thames Iron Works Company. The James Stevens was returned to the Thames Ironworks in 1905 for conversion to motor power when a 40hp Blake petrol engine was fitted, and then returned to Walton and was moored off the pier. The James Stevens was launched 126 times and saved 227 lives. The most famous of these rescues was of the crew and passengers of the Peregrine 92 persons, and a dog, in all, clearly a considerable achievement.
The Frinton & Walton Heritage trust found and rescued her from a mud berth in Maldon Essex she had been used as a houseboat for a number of years and suffered badly from neglect. That was in 1998. Funds were then raised and after 10 years and some £200,000 pounds she was relaunched at Titchmarsh Marina by Griff Rhys Jones, 3,000 people attended the launch, and 250 descendants of the crews including 2 grandsons of Henry Britton Coxswain. The James Stevens No.14 is in the National Register of Historic Vessels as the oldest motorised lifeboat in the world.
A better use of champagne for the launch.
The funds were raised by donations, from local people, the Heritage Lottery fund, and lots of companies donated equipment and time, a grant for safety equipment was received from London Plant Employees Charity Fund (ECF).
The restored boat can be seen at Titchmarsh Marina, on an outside pontoon.
Well wishers gather for the launch ceremony.
Use your browser zoom to enlarge the image.
Gerry Hughes
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