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The sea at Eyemouth
Jun. 5th, 2012 09:32 pmWe're just back from spending a couple of days away on the east coast. We went down to visit a little port town called Eyemouth (more of which in a later post). Eyemouth is remembered for a tragedy that struck the little port in 1881. The town's fishing fleet had just put to sea on the morning of Friday 14th October when a ferocious hurricane blew up and destroyed 19 of the 45 boats. In a single afternoon 129 local men were killed, 73 women widowed and 213 children orphaned. Due to the difficult entrance to Eyemouth harbour, none of the boats were able to return to port and several were wrecked within sight of the town. After the tragedy a public disaster fund raised an incredible £54,000 which was used to pay a pension to the bereaved women and children and the entrance to the harbour was also improved to make it much safer to navigate.
The danger of the sea and the harbour at Eyemouth was tragically underlined again on Monday when two teenage girls were swept off the sea wall and barely escaped with their lives. One was rescued by members of the public and the other was pulled from the sea by the police and flown to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where she remains in a stable but critical condition. We were by the sea wall when the accident happened, though mercifully we were a couple of hundred yards away so our daughter wasn't really aware of how serious the situation was. The lifeboat put out immediately but due to the huge breakers, it couldn't get close enough to be of assistance. The tide was extremely high and there was a huge swell running and breaking over the sea wall. The fact that the girls survived such a ferocious sea is nothing short of miraculous and I have nothing but admiration for the courage of the members of the public who risked their own lives to save them. I could't help but think of Pellew and the Dutton. The thing that really horrified me though, was that while there were lifebelts at regular intervals around the harbour quays used by the fishing boats, there were none on the sea front of the town where the accident happened. I was born and brought up in a harbour town and I am used to seeing lifebelts on almost every street corner, the fact that there didn't appear to be any on the front in Eyemouth beggars belief.
Our thoughts remain with the family of the injured girl.
The danger of the sea and the harbour at Eyemouth was tragically underlined again on Monday when two teenage girls were swept off the sea wall and barely escaped with their lives. One was rescued by members of the public and the other was pulled from the sea by the police and flown to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where she remains in a stable but critical condition. We were by the sea wall when the accident happened, though mercifully we were a couple of hundred yards away so our daughter wasn't really aware of how serious the situation was. The lifeboat put out immediately but due to the huge breakers, it couldn't get close enough to be of assistance. The tide was extremely high and there was a huge swell running and breaking over the sea wall. The fact that the girls survived such a ferocious sea is nothing short of miraculous and I have nothing but admiration for the courage of the members of the public who risked their own lives to save them. I could't help but think of Pellew and the Dutton. The thing that really horrified me though, was that while there were lifebelts at regular intervals around the harbour quays used by the fishing boats, there were none on the sea front of the town where the accident happened. I was born and brought up in a harbour town and I am used to seeing lifebelts on almost every street corner, the fact that there didn't appear to be any on the front in Eyemouth beggars belief.
Our thoughts remain with the family of the injured girl.
