Alice of Riga

The Worst Lifeboat Disaster in the History of the United Kingdom

In the early hours of the morning of 15 November 1928 a chain of events started that was to lead to the worst Lifeboat disaster in the history of the United Kingdom.

The steamship Alice of Riga, a collier carrying a load of bricks, and crewed by 14 Latvian seamen, was making her way through ever roughening seas down the Channel. As she rounded Dungeness Point the weather worsened and huge seas began breaking over her bows. She was slow ship and struggled to keep from being blown off her westward course. Visibility was reducing by the minute and her stern lights may have been extinguished by the breaking waves as her crew struggled to fight her through the storm. Continue reading Alice of Riga

Port of Rye

Fishmarket and Strand

Since Norman times Rye has been an active port with its own fishing fleet and boat building industry. It is all scaled down in these modern times but still fishermen leave Rye on every tide to fish for whatever Brussels allows them to catch. These fishermen are a tough lot, the Rother is not an easy river to navigate Continue reading Port of Rye

Rye Harbour Lifeboat Disaster

November the fifteenth is the seventy fourth anniversary of The Mary Stanford Disaster. All seventeen crew of the Rye Harbour Lifeboat were lost in 1928 when going to the aid of The Alice of Riga. A Memorial service will be held on the 17th November at 3pm, in Rye Harbour Church. Continue reading Rye Harbour Lifeboat Disaster