RNLI hero's clock returns to Bridlington after 110 years

Coxswain Richard Purvis volunteered with the RNLI for 25 years

A clock presented to a Bridlington lifeboat hero 110 years ago has been returned to the town.

It was given to coxswain Richard Purvis in 1913, to mark his retirement from the RNLI after 25 years' service.

Among his many rescues, Mr Purvis saved the crew of a sinking vessel during a storm in 1893.

The clock will be on display at the Bridlington Harbour Heritage Museum from 29 March.

Coxswain Richard Purvis was involved in many rescues over 25 years

‘Horrendous seas’

The museum said it was fitting Mr Purvis was being remembered in the same year as the RNLI’s 200th year.

They said the clock had travelled all over the country after being handed down through the generations.

Mr Purvis' great-great-granddaughter has handed it over to go on public display.

Volunteers at the museum recalled how, on 19 November, 1893, Mr Purvis and four others launched from Bridlington harbour in darkness in a 24ft (7.2m) sailing coble after distress flares were spotted in the bay from a schooner.

They said a fierce gale was raging and how the lifeboat crew was caught in “horrendous seas”.

When they arrived at the schooner Victoria two lifeboatmen went aboard and found five of the exhausted crew lying on the deck with the master still clutching the ship's wheel.

No sooner had the lifeboat got away from the doomed Victoria, the schooner sank.

Mr Purvis retired from the RNLI in October 1913 after serving as coxswain of both the Barmston and Bridlington lifeboats.

The museum said money was raised through subscriptions to pay for Mr Purvis' clock.

Richard Purvis' great-great-granddaughter Ann-Marie Wastling presents the clock to Alan Ball at the museum

The Silver Medal for Gallantry was awarded to Mr Purvis by the RNLI for his part in the rescue of the master and six crew from the Victoria.