HERITAGE TALK: THE PROVIDENCE LIFEBOAT DISASTER 4 DECEMBER 1849

For our final talk of the year, we are very pleased to welcome back David Kidd who will talk about a lifeboat disaster off South Shields 175 years ago, which resulted in the loss of 20 of the Providence’s crew of 24 within sight of their homes on the Lawe, changed the history of Britain’s lifeboats.

David, who comes from a South Shields seafaring family and has a long-standing interest in sailing and maritime history, will explain how the Providence was attempting to rescue the crew of the Betsy which was stranded on Herd Sand.

The disaster led to a competition sponsored by the Duke of Northumberland for the design of an improved self-righting lifeboat, which was won by a model by James Beeching of Yarmouth. This became the RNLI's standard lifeboat.

The Providence features in John Scott's dramatic large painting "A wreck off the South Pier" in the collection of South Shields Museum. This shows her after the disaster when she was recovered and returned to service until she was sold for use as a diving and salvage boat in 1872.

The Providence Memorial in St Stephen's Church (The Pilot's Church) on the Lawe, was erected in 1896, many years after disaster.

Now retired, David was a teacher, spending the last ten years of his career living and working in Africa. However, the sea has been a part of his life. His extensive sailing experience, after learning to sail on a Thames Barge, includes sailing round the coasts of Britain with the Sail Training Association on their topsail schooners Malcolm Miller and Winston Churchill before crossing the Pacific from Panama to Tahiti on the Ocean Youth Club ketch the James Cook.

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