29th February 1952
Coal-filled steamer strikes the rocks
The wind was still and the sea was smooth on leap year’s day 1952, but that didn’t save the SS Lyntre from striking rocks off Noirmont Point as the sun came up. She put out an SOS at 6.05am and, 20 minutes later, the Jersey lifeboat, Elizabeth Rippon, motored to her aid.
The lifeboat crew found a cargo ship bringing anthracite, a particularly hard variety of coal, from Swansea to the island. She was holed below the waterline, taking on water and listing to the starboard side. She had also damaged both her rudder and propeller, leaving her powerless and drifting.
The captain’s wife was lowered into the lifeboat, carrying the ship’s log and other documents, but Captain Williams himself remained onboard to await the tug, which eventually towed the 730-ton ship, stern-first, to the harbour at St Helier.
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Other events that occured in February
Blue Islands takes to the skies
- Blue Islands officially came into existence on Valentine’s Day 2006. Before that, the airline had operated under various other names.
- Read more…
Gerald Durrell marries the woman who will help him found his zoo
- Gerald Durrell married opera singer Jacquie Wolfenden in 1951 and the two went on to found the zoo in Jersey.
- Read more…
Murder appeal saves man’s life but results in his transportation
- A man who killed his lover in a suicide pact was spared hanging, but transported to Australia after his appeal.
- Read more…
Jersey author John Lemprière dies
- Lempriere's Bibliotheca Classica, published in 1788, was considered a standard text and definitive reference on classical mythology.
- Read more…
