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
SS Vega reaches starving Jersey
- When food started to run dangerously short late in the Occupation, the Red Cross ship SS Vega was sent with emergency rations.
- Read more…
Author and Chinese army chief William Mesny dies
- William Mesney was born in the Channel Islands and became a distinguished officer in the Chinese army.
- Read more…
Jersey lifeboat crew performs a daring rescue
- The crew of Jersey's lifeboat rescued the crew of the Norwegian yacht Festina Lente in good visibility but rough seas.
- Read more…
Finnish au pair is murdered in St Clement
- Tuula Hoeoek was murdered in Jersey on New Year's Eve 1966. Several decades later, police were still trying to solve the case.
- Read more…
