BUDE RNLI Lifeboat Station crew were delighted to accept a silver medal belonging to a great Victorian seaman recently.

On Tuesday, September 18, the crew from Bude Lifeboat Station accepted a silver medal from Roger Donkin, great, great-grandson of William Richard Morley-May (William May), who saved 16 crewmembers from the Defence, which wrecked on the Cornish coast in 1858.

An account provided to the Post tells the brave and frightening episode of the night the Defence wrecked near Bude.

Born in Stoke Damerel in 1816, William was based in and around Plymouth. He was married to Jane Miller in 1840 and together they went on to have 12 children. As an able seaman, in 1839 he was discharged to coastguard service, becoming boatman coastguard from 1843 to 1849, and then chief boatman coastguard from 1849.

The last ship William served on was the Ajax from 1851 until 1858, and was awarded the RNLI silver medal for his part in rescuing 17 men from the Defence of Liverpool on March 13, 1858, using ropes.

On this date, a large ship (the Defence) was spotted off the coast of Bude during ‘thick and dirty weather’ with strong gales. The chief boatman, William Tredgidgo, was quick to consult other parties in the situation of the ship in distress, first seen at 4pm, but the weather was deemed unsafe, along with the distance to the ship.

However, William proceeded by land, taking boatman Henry Ellis with him, to a place where he thought the Defence would drive on shore, a distance of 14 miles.

On arriving at the wreck, William and Henry found Mr James Stone, chief boatman at the Boscastle station, with his crew, including boatman William May, along with John Shanock, who had got the rocket line and warp on board.

At this point, the ship lay wedged up under a perpendicular cliff of 300ft, with the condition of the sea worsening. The crew made signals of distress by burning torches, but they were due to remain there for many hours with no means of escape.

At 3am, destruction of the ship commenced, and in a short time went in fragments. The lifeboat crewmembers were forced to make their way to a difficult point, but succeeded in rescuing all 17 crew from the Defence by sliding the coastguard down a dangerous cliff with the aid of a small line, and holding onto each other, managed to haul the crew onto the cliffs.

The Defence was from the coast of Africa, and had lost cables and anchors in the Western Islands. While travelling to Milford, the ship struck in the crow rock and lost her rudder, and was led by a steamer through the awful weather when she drove on shore.

The RNLI silver medal and 1l was then awarded to William, James Stone, John Shanock of Boscastle and William Tregidgo and Henry Ellis of Bude for recognition of their services in rescuing all 17 crew of the Defence.

After the medal, belonging to William, was presented by his great, great-grandson Roger to the crew at Bude Lifeboat Station, Chris Wilson, lifeboat operations manager at Bude Lifeboat Station said: “We were really proud to welcome Roger and Karen Donking from Barry in Wales to our station on Tuesday evening. Roger had contacted us after finding and researching his great, great-grandfather’s RNLI silver medal. The medal was awarded to William R May for his part in the rescue of the vessel ‘Defence’, which ran aground under the cliffs of Benney, St Juliot, on March 13, 1858.

“After much thought, both Roger and Karen felt the medal would be best placed back in Bude and very generously offered the medal to the Bude station for safekeeping. We were obviously extremely humbled to be offered the opportunity to accept this offer, and it was fantastic to meet Roger and Karen and look through all their research.”

The station are currently working with Seventh Wave Gallery in Bude to identify the best way in which to prevent any further deterioration of the original scroll, also presented to the crew along with the medal, and proudly display the medal, scroll and accompanying paperwork in the lifeboat station.

Chris added: “Once this work is completed, we would be happy for anyone interested or with family connections to this historic rescue to visit the station and view the medal.”

Do you have any stories or know of relatives involved in the 1858 wreck of the Defence? Email [email protected] to share your story.