Victoria Lifeboats I and II 1838-1946

Tom Wynn's book: 

Descendants of the Victoria Lifeboats I and II

Press play and hear a small excerpt of my TV interview followed by 7 mins of pictures from the book:

Lifeboat History Sought

Newcastle Herald

By MARTIN DINNEEN

A PIECE of maritime history and the descendants of those closely connected to it were brought together at the Maritime Centre at Lee Wharf in an effort to add to the details of its story. The Victoria lifeboats 1 & 2 were instrumental in the rescue of sailors off the Newcastle coast prior to 1946. Victoria 2 takes pride of place in the new museum. Descendants of those who crewed the boats saw a new film on the subject and discussed recording a digital history of the Newcastle Lifeboat Service. The Victoria 2, which was manned by 12 rowers and a coxswain, was used to help ships in trouble both inside and outside Newcastle Harbour and could carry 32 passengers plus crew. The Victoria Lifeboats Descendants and Friends group have tried to find relatives of the brave crew.  Historian Tom Wynn, whose great-great-grandfather William Ahern was a coxswain of the Victoria I, said relatives of only 6 per cent of the crew had been found but he hoped to find more. "We've identified 330 men [who manned the boat] . . . and we've found descendants of only 18," he said. "We are now searching for relatives of the other 312 men."

Above: William Ahern is on the front cover of the book (bottom left corner), with his seated wife, Charlotte Rebecca Ahern (nee Barwell). On the right is Henry Spruce and family. Glynda Nolan's husband Michael is a descendant of Henry. Glynda was instrumental in helping with the fact-checking for the book.