Henry Blogg
| Henry George Blogg | |
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Henry Blogg GC BEM
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| Born |
6 February 1876 Cromer, Norfolk, England |
| Died | 13 June 1954 (aged 78) Cromer |
| Occupation | Crab fisherman Coxswain of the Cromer lifeboat (1909–1947) |
| Parent(s) | Mother: Ellen Blogg |
Henry George BloggGC BEM (6 February 1876 – 13 June 1954) was a lifeboatman from Cromer on the north coast of Norfolk, England and the most decorated in RNLI history.
Blogg of the Cromer Lifeboat Station is referred to as "the greatest of the lifeboatmen". From the rescue of the crew of the Pyrin and then of half of the crew of the Fernebo in 1917, through to his near drowning in the service to the SS English Trader in 1941, he was awarded the gold medal of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution three times and the silver medal four times, the George Cross, the British Empire Medal, and a series of other awards.
Born the son of Ellen Blogg, he was brought up in the family of James Davies (whose son John became Henry's stepfather after John Davies married Ellen Blogg in 1881), himself coxswain of the Cromer lifeboat. He first went to sea as a lifeboatman in 1894 in the rowing lifeboat Benjamin Bond Cabbell and then served in the Louisa Heartwell as second coxswain under Jimmy 'Buttons' Harrison. When coxswain Harrison retired in 1909 due to ill health, Blogg won the vote to take on the leadership role.
Away from lifeboat duties, Blogg was foremost a crab fisherman but Cromer being a popular holiday resort, he also ran a deckchair and beach hut hire business.
At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century lifeboats around the coast of Britain relied on the strength of the oarsmen and the power of the wind. The Cromer boat was launched from an open beach, and judgement and determination were the prime requirements of the coxswain. In the early hours of a fierce January morning in 1917 the Cromer lifeboat was launched to aid a vessel just in sight off Cromer, the Pyrin. The Cromer men rowed their boat through the breakers, succeeding in coming alongside the stricken vessel, and taking off her crew. They rowed back to Cromer. As they reached the beach the Swedish vessel the Fernebo struck a naval mine and was blown in half. The two-halves drifted towards the beach.
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Wikipedia