Edward Z Dresden

Back on the slipway

A Lifeboat service by the beach, in the mid 1930's

The Watson class Lifeboat The Edward Z Dresden, 45 feet 6ins long this Lifeboat was officially named on July 1930 by the Prince George, later The Duke of Kent. This Lifeboat saved 112 lives before finishing in 1952.

A gale was blowing from the north west, making a very rough sea, and it was raining in squalls when at 03:30 on November 19th 1939, the coastguard reported seeing lights four miles south west of their lookout. It was at that time of early morning when one's vitality is at its lowest, but within half an hour the crew had assembled and the Edward Z. Dresden had gone down the slipway. As day broke the lifeboatmen found the Tollesbury stowboating smack Charlotte Ellen, which had been out fishing for sprats with a crew of three. She was anchored in a dangerous position at Swire Hole with the sands close under her lee and was quite helpless. Her stowboat gear was standing out 15ft on the starboard side, so it was impossible for the lifeboat to approach on that side. Coxswain Ellis had to bring the lifeboat alongside on the port side, easing her between the smack and the sands, no easy task in the heavy seas, to get the three men off.

When the lifeboat arrived back at her station the coxswain learnt that the smack was not the vessel that had been firing the very lights, so off went the lifeboat again. This time they found the barge Lorna, deeply laden with cotton seed, at anchor between the South Whitaker and Middle sands, the sea breaking right over her deck. The coxswain attempted to take the lifeboat alongside to take off the two man crew, but the barge swung so violently in the raging seas that he had to back away. With the casualty swinging dangerously from side to side, coxswain Ellis dared not approach again. It was useless to fire the line throwing gun, for the seas breaking right over the barge's deck her crew would never have been able to fix the rope and block so they could be hauled by breeches buoy to the lifeboat.

The coxswain took the only course left to him. He ran the lifeboat right on to the deck of the barge and lifeboatmen seized the skipper and mate in the brief interval before a heavy sea washed the lifeboat back off the deck. The lifeboat stem had been damaged when it smashed into the barge's hatches, but its crew were saved.

For these two rescues coxswain Ellis was awarded the Silver Medal, his second coxswain and the motor mechanic both being awarded the Institution's thanks on vellum.

Most of the East coast piers had been built with the object of providing means of landing passengers, and it was necessary to ensure that invading forces could not take advantage of such facilities. Southend Pier had been taken over by the Navy even before the declaration of war and became the headquarters of the Thames and Medway Control, but other piers were breached in order to render them useless. Clacton pier was blown up without warning while the lifeboat Edward Z Dresden was in her boathouse and considerable damage was done to the lifeboat and her equipment. After that the station had to be closed for a couple of months while the lifeboat went to Rowhedge for repair, and then the lifeboat operated from Brightlingsea for three months. The Walton on Naze lifeboat just seven miles along the coast, which normally lay at mooring off the pier head (the only lifeboat in Britain to have permanent mooring in the open sea) was based in the Walton Backwaters for a time until it was decided to bridge the gap blown in the pier.

The Clacton lifeboatmen had had experience of aircraft in distress during the first World War, but this was little preparation for the work that had to be performed during the 1939- 45 war. On the second day of 1939 the lifeboat crew turned out because a flying boat was reported to be in down in distress, but it was later learned that the aircraft was safely at anchor and the lifeboat was recalled by radio, and in July both Walton and Clacton lifeboats were called when an aircraft crashed between Walton pier and the Gunfleet lighthouse, but the pilot baled out and was picked up by an aircraft taking part in the search.

In the next six years Clacton lifeboat were called out 29 times to search for survivors from crashed aircraft, but usually they found nothing, sometimes wreckage or a patch of oil was discovered but no sign of life. On one occasion in 1941 both the Clacton and Walton lifeboats, plus the motor boarding boat then at Walton, put to sea when a British fighter came down in the sea, but the pilot was rescued by a barge. A few days later the reserve lifeboat J.B.Proudfoot, which was then on duty at Clacton, picked up a Polish pilot from the sea after his bomber had crashed in the early hours of the morning. The lifeboat found the bomber's dinghy, but a search revealed nothing of the rest of the aircraft,s crew.

In September that year the Edward Z. Dresden helped to rescue three men from a British bomber which had crashed on the Gunfleet. When the lifeboat arrived the airman were standing on the wing, but the water was too shallow for the lifeboat to approach, so the airman paddled towards the lifeboat in their rubber dinghy. They were picked up, not by the lifeboat, but by an air sea rescue launch from Brightlingsea, the lifeboat staying at the scene to help prepare for the recovery of the aircraft later.

The Edward Z. Dresden went to Dunkirk with other lifeboats at the end of May 1940, working with the Walton boat in Dunkirk harbour.

Pictured above Clacton Lifeboatmen, from left to right. Paul Evans, Mick Lynn, Dave Mantripp, and Dave Wells. With the Red Ensign which is now hanging in the lifeboat house on Clacton pier.

Clacton on Sea`s Lifeboat station has been presented with the Red Ensign which the towns lifeboat Edward Z. Dresden, flew when she took part in the evacuation of Dunkirk more than 50 years ago. On May 30th 1940, the Edward Z. Dresden was sent to Dover for special duty under a directive from the Ministry of shipping. Under Admiralty control she spent several days ferrying troops to larger ship offshore at Dunkirk Harbour. The flag, which was flown throughout this historic service, was presented to the RNLI by David Trotter, whose father was a crew member of the Edward Z. Dresden.

Nearly sixty years after the Albert Edward capsized, disaster again struck the Clacton Lifeboat, resulting in the loss of one of the crew. It was lunchtime on April 6th 1943, when the lifeboat was called out to the assistance of the barge Tam o'Shanter, which had a load of brick rubble for Maldon. When the lifeboat reached her she was anchored a mile and a half east of the Swin bell buoy. The skipper refused to leave the leaking barge and asked the coxswain to tow her into Brightlingsea, so second coxswain Frank Castle, assistant motor mechanic Arthur Liddiard and bowman A. Griggs were put on board the barge to help get the anchor up, the barge crew consisted only of the skipper and a boy. Forty minutes later the lifeboat took the barge in tow, but after she had towed the Tam o'Shanter only a mile and a half the towline parted and it was decided to anchor for the night to await a more favourable tide.

During the night the wind and sea fell, and it seemed that the next day would be fine. In the morning, however, the wind increased again to an exceptionally strong gale from the west, with a heavy sea. Again the coxswain tried to persuade the skipper to abandon the 39 year old barge, but he refused and suggested the lifeboat should tow her to Harwich in view of the changed conditions. The tide was against them, so the two vessels remained at anchor until one in the afternoon. The lifeboat then took the barge in tow, but after getting her though the Swin Spitway the towline again parted, so the crew made sail on the barge and she went on her way, escorted by the lifeboat. Wind and sea were now almost abeam, and both lifeboat and barge were rolling heavily and shipping a good deal of water.

"What's all this water ?" one of the lifeboatmen on board the barge asked as he heard water swilling about below. Suddenly the barge capsized, throwing the skipper, boy and the three lifeboatmen into the water. The lifeboat went at once to their aid, picking up Liddiard and Griggs, the crew managed to reach Frank Castle with the boathook but his oil skin tore and they lost him, he seemed to be either dead or unconscious. Liddiard had been supporting the skipper of the barge, but before the lifeboat crew could get hold of him the latter had lost his hold and disappeared. The lifeboat searched for over an hour, but nothing could be found of the three who had disappeared.

At the end of 1951 the Edward Z. Dresden was transferred to Stronsay, in the Orkneys, when that station was reopened after being closed for 37 years.After three years there the Edward Z. Dresden was replaced by a new boat and joined the reserve fleet. While acting as a reserve boat she herself suffered shipwreck, being driven ashore in Luce Bay, off the Mull of Galloway, as a result of a mechanical defect as she put into Portpatrick to refuel while on her way from Workington to Port Askaig. She survived and went back into the reserve fleet.

Meanwhile Clacton had her replacement, the 46ft 9in Watson lifeboat, Sir Godfrey Baring.

If anyone has anymore information on the Edward Z. Dresden I would be very pleased to hear from you.

On reserve duty from January to March 1952, the ex-Clacton lifeboat 'Edward Z Dresden' being recovered onto the slip at Cromer (this photo was taken on her first day at Cromer - hence the tide mark on the boat where she had been kept afloat!)