Friend to all Nations

The Friend to all Nations was the second surfboat stationed at Margate for maritime rescue. She entered service on 6 July 1878 and was retired after being damaged in a storm on 30 November 1898. She became famous for a failed rescue in the great storm of 1897, during which 9 of her 13 crew were lost.

A considerable sum was donated for the benefit of the families of those who had died, which were spent on two large memorials in Margate. One is in the local cemetery, and the other is on the parade overlooking Nayland Rock, where the tragedy took place.

After the loss of the first Margate surfboat, the Friend of all Nations, funds were raised by local boatmen for a replacement, to be built by the builders of the first boat, White’s of Cowes. The new boat could still be launched by four men without the need of horses. Its arrival in Margate on 6 July 1878, was attended with the traditional procession, and at her naming ceremony she was christened with the slightly altered name the Friend to all Nations.

In December 1890 she rescued 6 crewmen from the tankship Ville de Calais in a blizzard off the Nayland Rock.

The great storm of 1897 blew up into a cyclone and all but destroyed the town, its harbour, sea front and main roads. Yet still at daybreak the men of the Friend to all Nations surfboat remained undaunted, and responded to a distress flag put out by the crew of a passing barge. After some difficulty finding a safe launch, the surfboat was maneuvered into position. The rescued crew were taken to the Arcadian Hotel and placed into the care of Mr. and Mrs. Lilley who for many years had acted on behalf of the Shipwrecked Mariners Society.

Conditions that night could not be matched to any other natural disaster known of in local history from living memory. Such was the suddenness and ferocity of that storm that not only did it wreck the Surfboat, it also caused considerable damage to the little town of Margate nestled beside the sea, and stands as an exceptional occasion, with the sea breaching the town causing considerable flooding of shops and homes.

The storm raged throughout the night and allowed so little of an ebb tide when it was due, that when the heavy seas came in again they flowed some eight feet above the normal sea level and thundering against the sea front shops, inns and houses reduced the substantial sea wall to a mass of tangled wreckage, broken timber and confused heaps of stone.

"Huge slabs of masonry were hurled along the torn up surface of the promenade as waves cut six feet into the structure. Chaos reigned and ruin was rampant as coastal defenses, buildings and roadways were washed away. Dense volumes of seawater flooded the streets and locals rowed boats along King Street (behind the Harbour) under the spray from masses of water being thrown as high as the lighthouse. The decking of the jetty was torn away, its iron piles dislodged and thrown, as if by giants hands, on to the shore."

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Wikipedia