Lynmouth is a English village in the county of Devon located on the norther Exmoor edge. The village is situated in a gorge where the East and West Lyn rivers meet just below the city of Lynton. The Lynmouth Cliff Railway gives it a connection to Lynton. The two towns are governed together by the Lynton and Lynmouth Town Council. Thomas Gainsborough and his new bride, Margaret, honeymooned there. He is said to have referred to as one of the most delightful places a landscape painter could find in all of England.
In January of 1899 Forest Hall, a nineteen hundred ton ship with three masts, got into to trouble of of the Porlock Weir which is located on the North Somerset coast. The 13 crews members and 5 apprentices, were battling a severe storm that had been brewing all day. They had the ship under tow but the tow rope broke cause it to drag its anchor and lost the steering gear. The Lynmouth lifeboat, the Louisa, was signaled to launched to rescue them but the storm made them unable to. The captain of the Louisa, Jack Crocombe, had the idea to take the lifeboat to Porlock's sheltered harbor by road, which was 13 miles away, and then launch it safely there. This was not an easy feat at the boat and carriage weighed roughly 10 tons together. It was their only chance, however, so they decided to try it.
It took 100 men and 20 horses to move the lifeboat. They first started by hauling it up the Countisbury Hill that lead out of Lynmouth as six men were ahead of them widening the road with shovels. They had to take if up 1,423 feet, cross 15 miles of rugged Exmoor path and then went down the treacherous Porlock Hill. All of this with just men and horses pulling ropes both to move it forward and allow the lifeboat to slowly descend. During its journey the lifeboat required that a large tree be removed and a garden wall be demolished. Even with all the obstacles the lifeboat reached the Porlock Weir in just about 11 hours after the first cry for help was heard and was launched. Then crew then rowed for over an hour to reach the sinking Forest Hall, where all the men were able to be rescued. While no human lives were lost, four horses died from exhaustion.
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