SALCOMBE Sculptor Jim Martins has been working on two plaques that will help commemorate the Salcombe Lifeboat disaster of 1916.

Salcombe RNLI are gearing up to remember the thirteen lifeboatmen who died on October 27, a hundred years ago, when their lifeboat the ‘William and Emma’ capsized attempting to cross the bar in horrendous seas.

Jim is currently carving an image of a lifeboatman about to throw a heaving line with a ‘monkey’s fist’ - a knot tied around a weight to make it easier to throw - into two stone plaques that carry the words: ‘Sacrifice supreme they offered, Every soul save two, Men who simply did their duty, Yet were heroes true’.

Jim said it was ‘a privilege’ to be carving the plaques and disclosed that he is distantly related to two of the men who died, Frank and John Cudd, through his grandmother. He said he was ‘very happy to be part of it’.

Jim looked at different designs before settling on the lifeboatman and the hauling line. He designed one of the lifeboat capsizing, but thought the design he settled on would capture the spirit of the lifeboatmen.

‘Heaving a line like that is something anyone with a boat or certainly any lifeboatman of that era would have done a hundred times’, said Jim, ‘I decided not to base his face on any of the men specifically and rather chose to represent lifeboatman of the time undertaking part of a common procedure’.

The location of the stones is of personal significance to Jim too as his father and grandfather placed a directional stone out at Sharpe Tor in 1939, very close to where the stones will be placed.

These plaques will be placed in two three-and-a-half tonne stones which have been locally sourced and cut by stonemasons in Ivybridge. They will be placed on the coast path on either side of the site of the disaster.

Salcombe RNLI are hoping to display the stones before they are moved up to the coast path by local farmers, meaning people unable to make their way up to the coast path will be able to see them.

Salcombe RNLI are planning a range of events to mark the centenary, including a plaque and a ‘lifeboat corner’ in the church, a commemoration service on October 27, 100 years to the day that the lifeboat capsized and a wreath-laying at sea by the Bishop of Plymouth.

The thirteen gravestones of the men who died have already been restored and cleaned and have had small commemorative noticed placed next to them in Shadycombe cemetery so they are easily identifiable for anyone wishing to pay their respects.

You can find out more about the 1916 disaster on the Salcombe RNLI website: www.salcombelifeboat.co.uk or by ready Roger Barrett’s book: The Salcombe Lifeboat Disaster, which you can find in the lifeboat shop in Salcombe, local bookshops or online on Amazon. You can also order one by emailing: [email protected].

You can also watch a film about the disaster on YouTube or in the lifeboat museum and find out more about Jim on his website: www.jimmartinssculptor.co.uk. We will be following the run-up to the commemorations as they go along so keep an eye out.