This life size bronze statue designed by Frederick Callcott RBS and cast by
Elkington & Co Ltd Foundry, commemorates the 9 men lost at sea when the Margate
Surf Boat " Friend To All Nations" capsized in the early hours on 2nd December
1897. It stands overlooking the infamous Nayland Rock and opposite where the
survivors were washed a shore on that dreadful day. The "Friend To All Nations"
suffered just minor damage to her mast and rigging and was returned to Margate.
She was soon back out saving people, however she was lost on the 30 November
1898 while under tow in the Kentish Knock, but was finally recovered near Great
Yarmouth and although she was repaired she was not used again.
From an article written Mick Twyman:
Any historic town which has earned its living from the sea has a sad tale to
tell of lives lost by its boatmen fighting the elements, and Margate is no
exception. At the Nayland Rock is a fine bronze statue of a Lifeboat man in full
gear shading his eyes as he gazes at the spot where 9 brave boat men perished
when the surfboat ‘FRIEND TO ALL NATIONS’ capsized early one wild, dark winter’s
morning whilst putting out on an errand of mercy to a vessel in distress. It is
necessary here to point out the Surfboat had nothing to do with the R.N.L.I, but
a craft of relatively shallow draught and light build (similar in design to
those still in use by the Australian Lifeguards), specially constructed for use
over sandbanks, of which there are many out in the Estuary. Owned and maintained
on a share system by a co-operative of the town’s Boatmen, the main part of the
income was through salvage work of which there was much in the days of sail, but
saving life was always the first and foremost priority when duty called.
In the evening of the 28th of November, 1897, a South-Westerly gale blew up, and
overnight the wind flew to Nor-Nor-West and increased in strength to Storm
Force, with some gusts being recorded of Hurricane Force. As a result of this a
tempest struck our shore as huge seas whipped up by those winds crashed directly
against our waterfront, causing much damage and the destruction of the marine
palace on the 29th. this storm was to continue blowing with varying ferocity but
always with that destructive Northern slat for several days, and it was in the
early hours of the 2nd of December that tragedy struck.
At around 5:15 a.m., the ‘FRIEND TO ALL NATIONS’ was launched from the Harbour
slipway into the inky blackness of that wild night, her mission to assist the
London full-rigged ship ‘PERSIAN EMPIRE’, which had been damaged in collision
with the West Hartlepool steamship ‘CARLISLE CITY’ the previous evening. As the
Surfboat with her crew of 13 men reached the toe of the Nayland Rock to begin
their long slog of tacking out into the Estuary in the teeth of the wind, one
wave that was described by a survivor as ‘ a monster, a long, curling roller’
struck the boat, filling the sail and knocking her onto her beam ends before
capsizing her completely to drift her in to the shore below Beach Houses through
the seething cauldron over the rocks.
Oblivious to this drama in the darkness, the National Lifeboat ‘QUIVER launched
some 15 minutes later and proceeded on her way to complete a successful service
to ‘PERSIAN EMPIRE;. But here at Margate daybreak disclosed a sad scene as the
bodies were recovered from the foreshore and it was realised that only 4 men had
survived from the 13 who had set out into that storm.
The 9 dead men were the Coxswain, William Cook senior, his son also William,
another son Robert Cook, George Ladd, Henry Brockman, John Dike, William Gill,
Edward Crunden and Charles Troughton, not himself a boatmen but the
Superintendent of the Margate Ambulance Corps who regularly went out in the boat
to provide medical assistance when needed. The 4 survivors were Robert Ladd,
Henry John Brockman, John James ‘Jacko’ Gilbert and Joseph ‘Joey’ Epps, a
veteran Boatmen whose life was saved by him being trapped in an air pocket under
the upturned boat.
The grief felt in Margate at the loss of so many loved ones, and just before
Christmas too, was total and the whole town, dressed in black , plunged into
mourning for their heroes. A national subscription to relieve the plight of the
5 widows and the orphans of the bereaved families was immediately started, and
on the 8th of December, in a bitingly cold wind, the funeral procession left The
Parade, which was a solid mass of people, to wind it’s way to St. Johns Church,
where a service was read over the coffins before they were taken to the
Cemetery. The whole length of the route was lined 3 or 4 people deep, and it was
estimated that in the procession itself were as many as 3,000 folk.