On this day in 1934

Five men set out from Jersey in a converted lifeboat called Joy Bell, on the last day of March 1934. They were expected back within a few hours, so when they still hadn’t reappeared by the following morning, the Duke of Normandy tug was sent out to look for them. When the tug came back without the men, the search was called off for 24 hours, to wait for the rough seas to subside and, on 2 April, a final attempt was undertaken. The lifeboat was launched to see if it had any more luck. If not, the search would be called off a second time and, unless the men made it to the French coast, it would be assumed they had drowned.

Fortunately, on a 10-hour journey out and back, the lifeboat crew at last spotted them, 12 miles offshore, stranded on Maitre Ile on Les Minquiers reef. As the men explained to the lifeboat crew, they had got as far as Pipette Rocks before the storm had arisen and, finding themselves unable to make it back to Jersey, been forced to seek shelter.

A refuge is found

Fortunately, they’d been able to break into some huts on the island, so had managed to find some shelter, but would still have been cold and tired after their ordeal. They wouldn’t have been too hungry, though, as they’d taken a small amount of bread with them and caught fish on their first day, which they’d been able to cook on a small fire they’d lit on the reef.

They may even have seen the Duke of Normandy, which had passed within 200m of Les Minquiers but been unable to get any closer, due to the storm, and the crew had been unable to see anybody on the reef.

Two of the men came back to Jersey on the lifeboat, but as Joy Bell was undamaged the other three were left behind to bring it back themselves as soon as conditions improved. The lifeboat crew left behind fresh supplies and cigarettes.

The Leeds Mercury of 3 April reported that “when the lifeboat with the two men aboard arrived back at St Helier… crowds lined the quayside and cheered the heroic seamen”.

 

...and on this day in 2012

Although the law legalising civil partnerships on Jersey took effect on 2 April 2012, it had been voted on almost three years earlier. On 20 October 2009, the States Assembly voted 48 in favour, with one against and four abstaining, on the principle of allowing same sex couples to register their partnership, but it took until December 2011 for the resulting Bill to be signed off by the queen, and January 2012 for it to be registered by the Royal Court.

Administrative concerns

The member who voted against the proposal in 2009 was Senator Bryan Le Marquand, the minister for Home Affairs. He was concerned that the amount of drafting required to introduce same sex civil partnerships would take too long to rapidly improve the rights of same sex couples, such as who should be able to make decisions regarding a partner’s treatment when in hospital. Further, as noted in Hansard, he felt that the approach “ignores other long-term relationships such as same-sex friends who live together without a sexual relationship or long-term heterosexual relationships particularly with children outside of marriage”. He had been hoping that it “would be possible to create a level of legal recognition for a number of relationships, including homosexual relationships, below the level of marriage and yet providing the necessary safeguards… for these reasons, I am unable to support the proposition”.

Support from the church

The 2009 debate was significant and included several lengthy speeches. The Very Reverend RF Key, Dean of Jersey, was one of those who spoke. Having reminded the chamber that Christianity, Judaism and Islam characterise marriage as being between a man and a woman, he commented that “I think civil partnerships will certainly come, I think this legislation is the way to do it and I commend the Chief Minister for it…  It seems to me, today, we should have our minds on a society that is united, that cares for all people, that is unafraid of its Christian and Judeo-Christian basis, but also which seeks to build a society of consensus and care and that does not engage in teaching the generations that come after us that we cannot work with those who are different from us; for that would be the denial of the fundamental love of God”.

A move to allow same-sex marriages was passed by a very similar margin in 2015, with 43 States Assembly members voting in favour and just one against. Jersey allows couples who previously entered into a civil partnership to convert this to a marriage, which will take effect retrospectively from the date of the original civil partnership.