From the
Norwegian Steamer,
'Pine Branch',
making course
From Rotterdam to
Shields,
Off the British
coast,
Launched a small
boat,
With three men -
Rasmussen, a
Danish Seaman,
Thomas Malone and
a mate -
To row to
Yarmouth harbour.
The weather on
10th December,
Had raised the wind
and tides,
Catching the
small boat off course.
The three men in
a struggle,
Tried to land, on
Gorleston Beach.
The rough sea
tipped the boat,
To capsize - not
quite in reach
Of the shore -
the mate
Started to swim
to land -
As the boat spun
to right itself.
Seaman Rasmussen
gripped
To the rocking craft,
Then, in a moment,
he lost hold -
Disappearing with
the waves.
With no further
sign seen
Again of the mate
- to leave
One man Thomas
Malone,
Who held
stubbornly to the boat.
A group of
Territorial’s,
Witnesses on the
beach, rushed
Forth and as a
unit, set out,
To save the final
man.
Holding hands to
make a line,
The territorial’s
waded waist deep,
Out into the churning
sea -
To where the boat
and man
Drifting close -
the outermost
Territorial took the
reach
And pulled the
exhausted man,
To safety of the
shore.
Thomas Malone was
carried
By the party to a
nearby hotel.
Given rest,
warmth and no doubt
Whisky, he
recovered well.
Within the
evening of that day.
A body of one of
the other
Men, was washed a
shore,
To lay in
Yarmouth mortuary.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1914. Yarmouth
Boating Fatality, [online]
11
Dec. p.5. Col.4. Available
at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11285819/Daily-Telegraph-December-11-1914.html
[Accessed: 11 December 2014].
Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 11 December 2014).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered
