A dark cloud fell over Christmas – Exmouth
had lost one of its brave sons

• At around 5.50pm, the lifeboat was again engulfed in a wave. William Carder, 53, the licensee of the Volunteer Inn, which used to stand in Chapel Street, was washed overboard. Lifeboatman Carder was never seen alive again.

• THE Liverpool-type lifeboat, The Maria Noble, pictured 50 years ago at Exmouth. Manned by eight crew, it answered a maroon and slid into the stormy seas at 5.20pm on Christmas Day.

Becca Gliddon reports on a tragedy that shook Exmouth 50 years ago –
on Christmas Day, 1956.

becca.gliddon@archant.co.uk

FIFTY years ago on the stormiest Christmas night of Exmouth’s history, December 25, 1956, when most families were gathered together next to the fire after a day of festivities, food and presents, the town’s lifeboat maroons echoed through the streets – calling its crew on a rescue mission that would result in a tragedy.

Hearing the familiar booms, eight Exmouth lifeboatmen left their families and homes and ran out into the night to man the lifeboat, The Maria Noble, after reports that a Dutch vessel was burning a red distress flare four miles southeast of what was then known as Okram Point (Orcombe).

But when Coxswain Harold Bradford launched the Liverpool-type lifeboat into the sheltered River Exe and the waters quickly turned rough with poor visibility, strong wind and heavy rain, he was not to know that the rescue mission would result in the death of one of his own men.

The Maria Noble slid into the cold grey sea at 5.20pm. On board was Coxswain Harold Bradford, second coxswain Jack Phillips, mechanic William Mann, assistant mechanic Cecil Hockings, bowman Bernard Bradford and lifeboatmen Ted Lane, Brian Rowsell and William Carder.

Its mission was to rescue the 336-ton Dutch registered vessel the MV Minerva of Amsterdam, which had anchored because of engine failure and was in danger of being dragged by the strong sea and wind.

While the boat launch went without a hitch, Coxswain Harold Bradford was soon faced with driving the boat through a rough, confused sea in poor visibility while heavy wind and rain lashed down.

For 10 minutes the lifeboat battled through the treacherous sea as 20-foot waves slammed into the sides of the vessel, drenching the deck and the crew and carrying away the boat’s mast.

As The Maria Noble neared Orcombe ledge buoy, three of the lifeboat crew, bowman Bernard Bradford, Ted Lane and William Carder, stood at the bow. The heavy sea crashed over the starboard bow, causing her to steer violently to port.
At around 5.50pm, William Carder, 53, the licensee of the Volunteer Inn, which used to stand in Chapel Street, shouted that he was moving back to shelter. As he did, the lifeboat was again engulfed in a wave and he was washed overboard. Lifeboatman Carder was never seen alive again.

Coxswain Bradford was later reported saying: “I have never seen such mountainous waves out there.

“I have never seen such seas. I tried to keep the bows to the seas all the time, but it was impossible. Near the bell buoy, the seas were massive and we were under water. We were being knocked for six and at times the masthead light was under water as we went over.”

After a few minutes, bowman Bernard Bradford went to check on Carder. By this time the lifeboat was almost clear of the sandbar, but the sea continued to thrash against the vessel and three huge waves crashed in quick succession over the starboard side.

The first wave caused the aerial down lead plug to come adrift. Crew member Brian Rowsell tried to plug it back in, but was knocked against the mizzen mast and injured his head.

At the same time, a wave snatched second coxswain Jack Phillips, washing him over Brian Rowsell and out of the lifeboat, bending the mizzen mast as he struck it.

Learning that two of his crew were now overboard, Coxswain Bradford took the unenviable decision not to search for them, believing that, because of the condition of the sea, such actions would be hopeless and endanger the remaining crew members.

Instead of turning the boat around to search, Bradford radio-telephoned back to shore that two men were missing and a search party was set up from Exmouth to Sandy Bay.

After making a distress call from the lifeboat, Coxswain Bradford then carried onto the Minerva where The Maria Noble stood by the Dutch vessel in heavy seas until the Torbay lifeboat crew, aboard The George Shee, relieved the Exmouth crew.

Back on the shore, the search party had not gone far when their torches picked up Mr Phillips who was trying to struggle onto his feet at the water’s edge.

A second search party, made up of Michael Hayward and Fred Veal, of the Budleigh Salterton rescue team, and Michael Heard, the Exmouth lifeboat winch-man, discovered the body of Will Carder not far away, lying face down at the edge of the water.

The team applied artificial respiration at the foot of the cliffs, having sent back a call for aid. Police and ambulance men joined them but, after a time, Dr Hardy declared Mr Carder dead.

Mr Phillips, a harbour pilot and deputy coxswain of the lifeboat, later told of his escape: “It was the luckiest break of my life,” he said.

“The boat was taking 20ft high waves and I wondered that she did not turn right over. I was standing aft with some of the others when I suddenly felt myself being swept away.

“There was nothing I could do, but float with my cork life jacket.

“I knew I was being swept towards the shore and, when I felt the sand under my feet, I half crawled out of the water.
“I remembered that there was a beach hut cafe somewhere near and I found it.

“Then I thought of the tide coming up and, not wanting to be trapped, walked along the beach looking for some steps.
“I saw the lights of the search party coming towards me and I certainly was glad. When I was in the water I never thought I would make it.”

Unmarried Mr Carder’s funeral took place at Littleham Parish Church on December 28.

In a break with tradition, the Volunteer Inn’s brewery commissioned a new sign depicting a lifeboat man in modern uniform as well as that of 50 years ago.

The sign now stands in the lifeboat station after the pub was demolished in 1985 to make way for the Magnolia Centre.

Two brave crew members still live with memories of that night

• TRAGEDY awaited when The Maria Noble and its eight crew took to the seas on Christmas Day, 1956. It was a day the town would not forget...

• In a break with tradition, the Volunteer Inn’s brewery commissioned a new sign depicting a lifeboat man in modern uniform as well as that of 50 years ago. The sign now stands in the lifeboat station after the pub was demolished in 1985 to make way for the Magnolia Centre.

By Becca Gliddon
becca.gliddon@archant.co.uk

THE crew members of The Maria Noble never forgot that fateful Christmas night in 1956 when Will Carder drowned after being washed overboard during the worst seas in Exmouth’s history.

Two of the brave crew, Brian Rowsell, who suffered head injuries at the time, and bowman Bernard Bradford, who so selflessly boarded the lifeboat on that storm-struck night, are now the only surviving members of that terrible night.
They still live with the memories of the tragedy.

Reports that followed the tragedy showed the whole crew suffered from shock and bruising and had to be offered overnight accommodation in Brixham because the boat was unable to make its way back to Exmouth due to the violent storm.

When the boat returned to Exmouth on Boxing Day, in calm, fine weather, the town was charged with emotion as it welcomed back its heroes of the sea.

Large crowds turned out to witness the crews’ return. Some crew members, spotting their relatives standing on the shore, leaped from the boat as soon as it beached, amid a flurry of hugs and tears.

The crew, looking grim and shaken after their ordeal, some with torn clothes, said they were surprised the boat didn’t capsize.

“We don’t know how we came out of it alive,” they said.

The Maria Noble Coxswain Harold Bradford said he had never seen such seas and massive waves.

But even though the crew had been ripped apart by the tragic loss of crew member Will Carder, Coxswain Bradford said, if the maroons had sounded again the following night, the crew would still turn out.

“We took one particularly big sea, then we found that Will Carder had gone when we got the boat right again. Nobody saw him go,” said Mr Bradford.

“Even had we seen him, we could not have turned the ship round. Then another terrific wave hit us in the same way and afterwards we found that Jack Phillips had gone. I was knocked flat myself, with Billy Mann, the engineer, on top of me.”

Assistant mechanic Cecil Hockings said: “I think that Will Carder must have hit something and been knocked out when he went over because, where he went in, he really had a better chance than Jack Phillips of getting ashore.”

And lifeboat engineer Billy Mann described the sea as being “like a sponge cake that came upon us layer upon layer.”

The skipper of the Brixham lifeboat said he had seen nothing like it in 30 years.

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