Historic Fernebo Shipwreck Pictures Legendary Lifeboat Drama Again Revealed After 91 Years

It is a rusting metal skeleton which is usually hidden by the sand and the waves - but every now and then it appears as a reminder of a legendary lifeboat rescue from nearly 100 years ago.


These photographs were captured in recent weeks by local lensman Andreas Yiasimi on the beach to the east of Cromer pier.


Sand stripping currents and a low tide sometimes reveal what remains of one half of the Fernebo, which was lost off Cromer in 1917. The other half of the Swedish ship sank separately after the boat was blown in two by a mine.


The January day all those years ago was the scene of Cromer lifeboat coxswain Henry Blogg's first of three RNLI gold medals.


A lengthy account of the rescue is available in at least two books, but in short Blogg and his men saved the lives of nearly 30 men that day.


Around the middle of the day 16 were plucked to safety from the Greek ship Pyrin in an extremely challenging rescue.


But the real story of the day was yet to be revealed.


Despite their exhaustion from the earlier rescue, Blogg and his crew twice tried unsuccessfully to launch and get to the Fernebo.


On the third attempt they made it through the crashing seas and rescued 11 more men. Six men had already got themselves near to shore on a small boat which capsized, but they made it to safety thanks to the efforts of some of the many hundreds of people gathered to watch what was one of the most dramatic days Cromer had even witnessed.


Cyril Jolly, in his book Henry Blogg of Cromer, The Greatest of the Lifeboatmen, noted how one Cromer man recalled the Fernebo rescue 40 years on, having seen it all happen at the age of nine.


He too had yelled himself hoarse acclaiming the lifeboat-men and there and then had placed Henry Blogg alongside Horatio Nelson and Robert Falcon Scott as his boyhood heroes.


Hardly surprising - in all it had been an on and off 14 hour battle to help both ships.


While most tourists walking the beach at Cromer today would never see the Fernebo wreck, a large proportion of locals will have little or no knowledge of it either.


Some will have seen the odd jagged lump of metal in the past but unable to see the full form of a keel.


One of those who knows the wreck better than most is Frank Muirhead, the archivist at the town's Henry Blogg Museum.


I used to play in it as a little kid, said Mr Muirhead.


There was a bit more of it left then of course.


When there are scarring tides and you go down there at the right time, there is often quite a bit of it on show.


There had been deliberate removal of parts of the ship many years ago, said Mr Muirhead, with explosive charges used to remove some sections.


Mr Yiasimi said he took the photographs about a month ago during an unrelated photo shoot.


It was quite something to see, he said, and I thought it would be a good idea to record it before it was covered up again.


Article By ED FOSS EDP


Pictures By Andreas Yiasimi © Fuoco Photography