Wikipedia knows absolutely everything. So much does Wikipedia know and know well, that it is now entirely redundant to attempt to impart any knowledge at all in your own words. After all, Wikipedia will always know it better and explain it better…
‘At 7:52pm on 12 January 1899, a 1,900 ton three-masted ship Forrest Hall, carrying thirteen crew and five apprentices, was in trouble off Porlock Wier on the North Somerset coast due to a severe gale which had been blowing all day. She had been under tow, but the tow rope had broken. She was dragging her anchor and had lost her steering gear. The ship’s destruction was a distinct probability. The alarm was raised for the Louisa (the Lynmouth lifeboat) to be launched to assist. However, due to the terrible weather, it was impossible for the lifeboat to be launched. Jack Crocombe, the coxswain of Louisa proposed to take the boat by road to Porlock’s sheltered harbour — 13 miles around the coast — and launch it from there.
The boat plus its carriage weighed about 10 tons, and transporting it would not be easy. 20 horses and 100 men started by hauling the boat up the 1 in 4 Countisbury Hill out of Lynmouth. 6 of the men were sent ahead with picks and shovels to widen the road. The highest point is 1423 feet above sea level. After crossing the 15 miles of wild Exmoor paths, the dangerous Porlock Hill had to be descended with horses and men pulling ropes to stall the descent; during this they had to demolish part of a garden wall and fell a large tree to make a way. The lifeboat eventually reached Porlock Weir at 6:30 A.M. and was finally launched.
Although cold, soaking wet, hungry and exhausted, the crew rowed for over an hour in treacherous seas to reach the stricken Forest Hall and rescue the thirteen men and five apprentices with no casualties; but four of the horses used died of exhaustion. The Forrest Hall was towed into Barry, Wales.’
The empty glass cabinet pictured below used to house a barometer which was built to commemorate this incredible rescue. However, the small white label explains that some git stole it, back in the 1980’s.
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