John Woodford and John Luff on Saving Lives at Sea

John W: A lot of the local fishermen joined the Lifeboat didn’t they? Alan Holbrook was on the Lifeboat. He’s just left as Cox of the Lifeboat. Who else? Well I mean Alan Holbrooks and the Bakers, they’ve been on the Lifeboat for generations.

John L: The first one that I remember having anything to do with was the ‘Jesse Lumb’. ‘Jesse Lumb’ was the first boat I can remember.

John W: That took over from the ‘Langham’. The ‘Langham’ was the first motor one. They had the Pier built to house it, the ‘Langham’ and then I don’t … what was after the ‘Jesse Lumb’ but she did all the War service, the ‘Jesse Lumb’ with Bert Baker as Coxswain. The crew was summoned by maroons. They were fired, one from the Coast Guard and one from Weaver’s Yard weren’t they. They raised the crew …

The maroons were a sort of two-way thing. To call the crew and also to tell the people at sea that they had been recognised they were in danger. But that stopped.