SEA SHIFT

Series

Series Name
Mining Review 10th Year

Issue

Issue No.
5
Date Released
Jan 1957
Stories in this Issue:
  1. 1SEA SHIFT
  2. 2TRAINING FILM
  3. 3OLYMPIC FLAME
  4. 4TEN YEARS ON: The Chairman sums up.

Story

Story No. within this Issue
1 / 4
Summary
BFI synopsis: Shows a sea rescue by the miner crew of the Newbiggin Lifeboat.
NCB Commentary - Close to the North Sea’s shores stands Lynemouth Colliery. Off shift at tea-time goes underground worker, Harry Brown, home to his family at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, a few miles south along the coast.
Out on the cold waters two men in a small boat have come to grief on a fishing trip. The Newbiggin Lifeboat picks up their signal and the alarm is sounded. Out dashes stoneman, Henry Rowe, and transit worker, James Arkle; between them they can number 30 years volunteer membership in the Lifeboat Service. Other miners come running in at the double to Newbiggin’s lifeboat station.
Launching Newbiggin’s seventeen thousand pound lifeboat is a well-rehearsed and critically timed operation; to every man on the crew falls his allotted task. Coasting the boat down to the beach is the quickest part of the drill; then she has to be man-handled along the intervening stretch of shingle and sand with the help of a caterpillar tractor which will launch her into the waves. The turn-out of the lifeboat is an occasion when local people are always on hand to help.
Rough seas or calm seas, the sturdy "Richard Ashley" can take them all as they come.
Once in the water with the engines thundering, Harry Brown, with 25 years lifeboat service, can take a breather while others in the crew step the mast.
Close now to the distressed dinghy, a heaving line is thrown aboard, and the tow homeward can start.
Not a very spectacular rescue perhaps, but maybe two more lives were brought safely to shore, and who knows how many it might be next time.
Whatever the weather, by day or by night, the men of Newbiggin Lifeboat, and of every lifeboat, stand ready to go to the help of those in peril on the seas.
The miner members of the crew may find at any time they are wanted on sea shift in the North Sea, far above the seams of their own collieries, searching not for coal but for mariners in distress.
Keywords
Ships and boats; Mining; Emergency services
Written sources
British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
Film User   Vol.11 No.128 June 1957, p258.
The National Archives COAL 32   /12 Scripts for Mining Review, 1956-1960
Credits:
Production Co.
Documentary Technicians Alliance
Sponsor
National Coal Board

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