Hollon the 3^rd

A new lifeboat arrived at Filey on April 18^th 1907 and her public inauguration took place on 4^th May that year. She was a 35ft x 8’3” 10 oared self righter and was fitted with 2 water ballast tanks and a drop keel .  She had been built by the boatyard of Thames Ironworks at a cost of 955, this cost being defrayed from a bequest to the RNLI from the late Mr R.W Hollon of York.  After a service of dedication conducted by the Rev A.W Dibb the new lifeboat was christened “Hollon the Third”

The first service by the lifeboat took place on February 22^nd 1908 when she was launched to escort 6 Cobles home in worsening weather conditions.

The first lives saved by her came on January 31^st 1912 when she went to the aid of coble “Sallie” in trouble 3 miles south east of Filey the lifeboat crew passed lifejackets to the coble crew, and towed the boat back to Filey.

On July 15^th 1912 a dense fog came down on the Yorkshire coast and the pleasure steamer Cambria on a day trip from Scarborough ran aground on Filey Brigg the lifeboat launched at 6:10 pm and took 33 passengers off the stranded vessel the crew remained aboard to help salvage the vessel.

The First World War brought a number of additional services for the lifeboat. On December 22^nd 1914 the S.S “Boston” of Christiania struck a mine off Filey, the lifeboat saved 8 of the steamers crew the other 10 crew reached Scarborough in their own boat, then in the early hours of April 16^th 1915 while she was trying desperately to escape from a german submarine the S.S “Eglantine” of North Shields ran onto Filey Brigg, her crew of 9 took to their ships boat and were rescued by the lifeboat.

On March 1^st 1916  a vessel had been reported stranded on the rocks at the North side of Filey Brigg, in dense fog and heavy seas the lifeboat found the S.S “Manx Queen” of Grimsby, and got in close enough to rescue 10 of the crew the captain and 2 remaining crew were rescued by the local rocket apparatus team with a breeches bouy.

On July 16^th of the same year, again in dense fog the S.S “Alfa” of Copenhagen was stranded under cliffs to the south at Speeton. As heavy seas pounded the vessel the lifeboat got close enough in to rescue the whole crew of 16, only minutes later the steamer broke in two and became a total wreck

On a number of occasions off Filey, the crews of the local cobles have been helped by their fellow fisherman, in their own boats before the lifeboat could reach them. One such incident took place on 12^th June 1919 when a SSW gale blew up and in heavy seas the local cobles headed for the shore.  One of them the “Leslie” capsized in the heavy seas and her 2 crew were thrown into the water. On seeing this William Robinson who was the Second Coxswain of the lifeboat and his fellow fisherman George Boynton immediately headed for the capsized boat in their own coble. In the rough seas they had great difficulty in getting  close to the men in the water, but skillfully they manouvered their boat close to the men and hauled them aboard, the rescued men were totally exhausted and would not survived much longer in the water, for their gallantry  both men were awarded the RNLI Bronze Medal for Gallantry.

The last service performed by the lifeboat was 26th March  1937 two cobles were reported still at sea in worsening weather, the lifeboat launched and located them North of Filey Brigg and escorted them to safety, two months later the RNLI decided to replace the lifeboat with a motor lifeboat as soon as one could be built, until that time a sailing and pulling lifeboat the “Thomas Mastermen Hardy” was sent to Filey  from the RNLI depot by rail on May 8^th 1937, arriving at Filey a few days later.