A lifeboat crew has paid tribute to a former member who died doing a job that he loved . Today marks the 59th anniversary of former crew member Jimmy Hocking Pentreath, who was swept off the slipway at Penlee Point on December 30, 1961 at the end of a successful rescue. A spokesperson for Penlee Lifeboat said: Jimmy, a Mousehole man, aged 78 years, who had a life-long association with the Penlee lifeboat, died doing a job that he loved. Jimmy s name is etched into the RNLI memorial at Poole. Gone but never forgotten. It was at 4.10pm on that day the Solomon Browne lifeboat had launched from Penlee Point in slight sea and light breeze, following a call for a doctor to go to the British Shell tanker Varicella.
People are being urged to remember the eight extremely brave, fearless and selfless lifeboatmen who lost their lives 39 years today. December 19, 1981 the Penlee Lifeboat Disaster saw the tragic loss of the crew of the Solomon Browne and of the coaster Union Star off the south Cornish coast near Mousehole. It was in hurricane force winds that the cargo ship Union Star was blown off course after it suffered steering and engine failure.
The crew of the Solomon Browne The lifeboat Solomon Browne launched at 8.12pm in an attempt to rescue the eight crew from Union Star as it was about to hit the rocks.