15th December 1953
Lifeboat rescues crew after mine strike
When the 662-ton Brockley Combe ran aground on Minquiers in the middle of December 1953, the captain thought he’d struck a mine left over from the Second World War. The hull was holed and started taking in water, and a tug with a pump had to be brought across from Cherbourg as the Jersey lifeboat raced to its aid.
There was some hope that the ship might be towed to St Helier if she remained seaworthy, but it quickly became clear she was a wreck, with the lifeboat crew reporting that, having more or less broken in half, the Brockley Combe was a total loss.
The lifeboat took ten of the eleven crew members to shore, leaving only the captain on the stricken ship to supervise the attempt to pump out the water that was flooding its engine room. When it became clear that the attempt was fruitless he, too, left his broken ship.
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Other events that occured in December
Elizabeth Castle is bombed into submission
- Forces loyal to King Charles I held out for two months in Elizabeth Castle during the English Civil War, despite heavy bombardment.
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Jersey and Guernsey papers agree to merge
- The saga of the Guernsey Press and Jersey Evening Post had been running for over nine years by the time the two agreed to merge in 1998.
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Last ever episode of Bergerac is broadcast
- The BBC's long running Jersey-set detective drama series, Bergerac, finally drew to a close on Boxing Day 1991.
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Militiaman dies after he’s thrown from his horse
- When a Jersey militiaman's horse was startled by a slamming door, it threw him off, and the militiaman died of his injuries.
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