Gales of Wind on the N.E. Coast – Gallant Conduct of the Cullercoats Fishermen. Very heavy gales of wind from the N.E. have prevailed with a serious loss of life and property. On Tuesday morning, about three o'clock, three fishing boats, with their complement of three men, and a boy in each, put off from Cullercoats Bay for the fishing ground, about nine miles out to sea. There was a fresh breeze from the E., and E. by N., which during the morning freshened up to a gale of wind. As soon as the gale came on, the boats made for the shore, but the sea rose as rapidly as the wind, and when the men got towards the beach, a very heavy surf was breaking on the coast, and it was with the greatest difficulty and danger that the principal fleet go in. Four boats were left outside, and when they arrived off the bar, to attempt to take it would have been inevitable destruction, and under ordinary circumstances, the lives of the crew would have been sacrificed, as there seemed no place of safety to run to; but fortunately for the village, the life-boat presented by the Duke of Northumberland had been placed on the station a few weeks before, and she was immediately run down to the beach and manned by William Storey, and John Clark, coxswains; and the following crew, Francis Storey, George Armstrong, John Chisholm, Thomas Robson, John Storey, Robert Taylor, Robert Carr, Andrew Oliver, John Clark, and William Stokes. By the time the men got into the life-boat, the ...
