These sound files are extracts (short edited pieces) from longer oral history interviews that Northumberland Archives recorded.

Joss Wheatley was born in 1889 in Cambois, Northumberland. He joined the Cambois Lifeboat crew in 1911. The lifeboat house was where the schoolmaster’s house stood, just above Bolkcow’s Yard (shipbreakers). Joss was Coxswain for the Cambois Lifeboat from 1923 to 1926, before becoming Coxswain for the Blyth Lifeboat in 1926. The Coxswain was responsible for making sure the boat was maintained and prepared for launch at a minute’s notice.

The lifeboat at Cambois was the only vessel in Great Britain crewed by miners. In those days there were no motors, and the boat was rowed. The crew needed to be tough men, often going up to their ‘waists to get it away.’ The boat was maintained by the National Lifeboat Institution. There were other fleet vessels locally at Newbiggin, Blyth, Cullercoats, Tynemouth and Sunderland. All the men were volunteers.  

The Newbiggin boat went up and down a cement swatch-way and the sand at low tide to launch. By 1971 they had a tractor at Newbiggin but in the old days the ‘wives’ were well known to go ‘up to their necks’ when launching and hauling out the boat. Cambois also had a swatch-way and sand launch. The lifeboats were on wheels to help move them and there were shafts for horses if necessary.

Joss remembers a call out on July 24th, 1924, for the Cambois Lifeboat. The Norwegian cargo ship, Solhaug got into difficulty in thick fog. It was carrying four to five thousand tons of iron ore. Mr. Wheatley ‘heard a ship blowing’ and knew she was coming close to the shore. They sent up distress signals and the lifeboat went out to them, finding her easily with her siren. The Solhaug threw a Jacob’s Ladder down and the lifeboat men went on the ship. The captain was very off course, thinking he was 40 miles east of where he was and heading on a course for Hartlepool. He could not believe that he was just off the north side of Blyth.

This document is a postcard view of a photograph of the lifeboat and crew at Cambois, Northumberland. The lifeboat is being pulled by four horses and their riders. The man sitting at the front of the lifeboat and the riders are wearing army uniforms.  This suggests that the photograph was taken during World War One – between 1914 and 1918. The lifeboat crew were all volunteers who risked their own lives to save the lives of others.