COXSWAIN DAVID GRUBB OF THE 'JAMES STEVENS'
MICHAEL P. GRUBB

I have long been proud of my great grandfather, David Grubb. He was the coxswain of the steam lifeboat 'James Stevens' based at Padstow, Cornwall and was drowned 'on service' in April 1900. There was a commemorative service held at Padstow Parish Church exactly 100 years later and this led to a presentation of a photograph of David Grubb which today hangs in the Crantock Bay Hotel, West Pentire, Cornwall.

The story begins on 11 April 1900 when the trawler 'Peace & Plenty' from Lowestoft was reported in a dangerous position in the lee of Stepper Point. a headland in Padstow Bay. There were very heavy seas in the prevailing strong gale conditions. Signals were fired to assemble the lifeboats' crews and the steam lifeboat 'James Stevens' was soon proceeding down the narrows and onwards to the Point. Here they found that the trawler was on the rocks and the 'Arab', a rowing lifeboat, was in attendance but was burning red flares indicating that she was also in distress. David Grubb turned the ìJames Stevensî towards the 'Peace & Plenty' but it was caught by a huge wave that as one survivor described it 'seemed to lift her clean out of the water at the stern like a shell. It then broke on the bow and, in an instant, she was keel upwards'. Three of the crew managed to reach the shore safely but the other eight members were drowned among them being David Grubb and his son, James.

An account of the disaster took up the whole of one page of the broadsheet ìRoyal Cornwall Gazetteî for 19 April 1900 wherein it is described in some detail in the dramatic prose of the period. We read that the 'James Stevens' had only been stationed at Padstow for a few months and this was the first time that she had been called out for practical service. She had undergone one or two trials locally and had answered well. The article makes much of the fact that since the 'James Stevens' was a steam lifeboat, probably the first of its kind, it had a cramped engine room occupied by two engineers and two firemen none of whom had a chance to escape.

The most poignant part of the newspaper account is the reference to the families of those who died. David Grubb left behind him a wife and five children under 16 years old. They were a close family as demonstrated by the statement of Orson French, one of the crew saved. After being thrown into the sea when the boat capsized, he found another crewmember, Ernest Tippett, swimming nearby 'We made an attempt to reach her and then we saw that the propellers were still rapidly revolving. I called out and heard a voice near me but did not know whose it was. Presently it shouted Oh, Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy and I then knew it was David Grubb'.

The Gazette tells us - ** Jimmy was his son and, having had an injured foot for which he had undergone two or three operations in hospital and from which he still suffered occasionally, was regarded with the tenderest solicitude by his parents and brothers and sisters - a solicitude which was paramount with the father in his struggle with death as evinced in his thrilling cry. In reply to his fatherís remark that that someone had said at the time the steam lifeboat was placed under his command that she would be a coffin for him, he (Jimmy) had said 'Well Father, if she will drown you, she will have to drown me, too!'**

As a result of many family holidays in Padstow, I soon developed a real taste for the sea. My father, Archie Grubb, was a headmaster in London and also Commanding Officer of the Acton Sea Cadets and I am sure he soon realised my nautical interests. I applied for a cadetship to the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth and was successful and joined the College in January 1951. A fellow officer of my father was Derek Silcock, RNVR who had a great interest in yachting. I soon found myself sailing with him and, in fact, met my future wife on board his yacht 'Ceol Mara'!

My naval service included time spent in vessels ranging from aircraft carriers to submarines and I had also specialised in clearance diving and bomb disposal (just for a quiet life!). I decided on a career change when I married and I left the Navy in 1970 but I was very fortunate and found myself serving as an Inspector of Coastguard. Appointments followed to Shoreham, Newcastle, Great Yarmouth and, finally, Falmouth. I retired here and now have grandchildren close by. Although I had finally retired from active work, my love of the sea came to a peak as I decided to sail across to the Caribbean from Falmouth. This was a quite superb trip but did mean I was away from home for ten months (a very understanding wife). Four years later, a further cruise to the Caribbean followed and I wrote an article about 'this cruise of a lifetime'. Hopefully the Editor might see fit to allow it to appear in the pages of this newsletter.

(Editor's Note. The Editor will be delighted to do so and the first part of Mike's story will appear in the Summer 2005 Newsletter) *****