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Arbroath

Lifeboat Disaster: Miraculous rescue

Source: Arbroath Herald

Charles Smith of the rocket brigade was roused at 5:30 am on 27 October 1953. Moving towards the harbour entrance with 'tons of water tumbling over us' he could see the white bottom of the boat bobbing up. Shouts for help could be heard and, in the dark, he fired a line from his pistol. Miraculously, it struck Archie Smith.

The survivor explained in hospital, "I went under the boat and when I came up I gripped one of the ropes looped along the gunwhale. I heard a man shouting in the water then someone yelled to me to climb up beside him on the upturned hull. I was frightened to let go my hold on the rope and the next big wave washed my mate off the hull. I did not know who it was. Then I lost my grip on the line. As I was floating away I felt something strike my body and made a desperate grab for it. It was a rope and after what seemed an eternity I was hauled in. That is all I remember."