Transcribed from Eastern Daily Press,
Wed. 7th May 1913.
The tiny hamlet of Horsey, on the Norfolk
coast, some twelve miles north of Yarmouth, was yesterday at
one swoop bereft of three breadwinners, and the village was
almost silenced by consternation at the disaster which was
caused by the remorseless sea. This tragic happening, as far as
could be ascertained by our Yarmouth correspondent, was
witnessed by but a single person, and three good men went to
their death within eighty yards of the beach without it being
possible for a hand to be raised to save them. All three were
fishermen, all competent men, one a skipper, and no more
capable crew could have been got together, and yet in an
instant their boat was filled by a wave and then
capsized. The men, smothered with the nets
and gear, had no opportunity to save themselves, even had they
been strong swimmers, and three homes are now mourning their
dead. The victims were John PEGGS, aged
about 50, married; Frederick JOHNSON, 45, no family; and James
BRADY, 25, who leaves a widow and two children. Two bodies have been washed
ashore, that of JOHNSON at Bushes Gap, Waxham, and that of
PEGGS, at Harvey's Gap, Waxham. They have been placed side by
side, and now await the Coroner's inquiry into the
circumstances attending their tragically sudden
deaths.(BRADY's body was later washed ashore at
Walcot Gap) Horsey, to those unfamiliar with
the Norfolk seaboard, would appear one of the most desolate
stretches of coast. Beyond the boulder-strewn beach rises the
long line of serrated sandhills that are the sole protection to
the low-lying agricultural lands behind from the inroads of the
sea. To reach Horsey Gap, one has to leave the road from
Yarmouth, cross for some hundred yards or more a more or less
sodden, marshy waste, then climb the sandhills, and through the
Gap descend to the beach. Late in the afternoon, several
hundred yards north of Horsey Gap, our correspondent came upon
the grim evidence of the disaster in the hauled-up boat, now
practically ruined. Beside it, her owner, George PEGGS, brother
of the unfortunate man John PEGGS, one of the three drowned,
told the harrowing story of the disaster, with a sob in his
voice. There was only one house within sight, and a gaunt
coastguardsmen's lookout was just visible in the opposite
direction, perched on spidery legs on the crest of the
sandhills. The sea was thundering on the shore in breaking
masses of surf, driven by a heavy south-east wind, and for all
else the scene was as wild and desolate as could well be
imagined. George PEGGS said that the boat
in which the deceased men went out was formerly a ship's
lifeboat that had never been given a name, and which had been
worked from the beach for several years past. It is 22 1/2 feet
long and of 7 ft. beam, and therefore roomy. Three men would
certainly appear to be a small crew for so stout and spacious a
craft that to the eye of a landsman looked more capable of
accomodating a score hands, but PEGGS said they were all good
men and could easily manage her. They put off in fine weather
for mackerel about 6.30pm on Monday, the boat being launched
from her usual station about a hundred yards north of the
coastguard lookout. The method is to shoot the nets, and then
hang on to them till morning, when they are hauled, and the
boat then returns to the shore with her catch. She was expected
in about 7 o'clock on Tuesday morning and George PEGGS was on
the look-out for her on the beach. Between 8 and 9am yesterday, he
saw her making for the beach. The men were rowing, as the boat
was not fitted with mast or sail. There is a bank off the
beach, and PEGGS thinks she crossed this safely, but when 80
yards off the shore calamity overtook her. He saw her running
for the beach, and thinks she got ahead of a sea. Next moment
her bow went down, "dived" was his expressive description, and
then the wave swamped her. He at once realised the men were
helpless, and knew he could do nothing to aid them. He
started to run for the nearest house, but he had scarcely
started when the boat "turned turtle", and came keel uppermost.
He knew that the unfortunate men were doomed, as they were
underneath the upturned craft, and could only make vain
struggles amid the raffle of gear and nets inside till death
mercifully ended their agonies. Three-quarters of an hour later
the boat, battered and crushed by the waves, was tossed up with
coils of nets hanging about her sides, but no signs of her
unfortunate crew. Later in the day two of the bodies were
washed ashore, and it was found that the watch of one of them
had stopped at half-past eight. There were no boats nearby that
could render help at the time, and none on the beach to launch
to the aid of the drowned men, though it is doubtful if one
could have been of the smallest assistance. Four boats were also out from
the neighbouring village of Palling at the time, but the
sea had become too heavy for them to put in, and they laid off
until the lifeboat came out to them, and they went north to
Cromer, where they found refuge after a hard struggle to hold
their own. No trouble had ever been
experienced with this boat before. John PEGGS had once
previously been in a boat that capsized, but was fortunately
picked up. BRADY's fate is especially hard, for he was a young
man in early manhood who, only six weeks ago, passed his
examination at Yarmouth Custom House, where he qualified as
skipper, and had engaged to proceed shortly on the Scotch
herring voyage in one of the steam drifters of the Bloomfield
fleet from Yarmouth. All the drowned men had been fishing on
the North Sea, and were therefore skilful boat-handlers who
could be trusted anywhere, but against an untoward combination
of wind and sea, their efforts were unavailing. Some of the nets have been salved
and were being placed on the beach as they came ashore last
evening.
