125th Anniversary of the Eliza Adams tragedy October 2005

The tragic capsize of the Wells Lifeboat Eliza Adams in 1880 was marked 125 years on with a day of commemoration attended by current crew and station personnel and invited guests including families and descendents of the lifeboat's crew and the crews of the two vessels that the lifeboat launched to rescue, along with representatives from other lifeboat stations and members of the public.

At 15:30, after a reading and bagpipe lament, two maroons were fired and both Wells lifeboats launched to a short service at sea near the spot where the Eliza Adams capsized. The service was relayed by radio to guests and public at the boathouse and members of the current crew cast a rose for each of the eleven crewmen lost. After a flypast by an RAF search and rescue Sea King helicopter, the boats ran up to Wells quay and crew and guests attended a service at the recently restored memorial to the disaster.

In the evening, members of the Granary Players, joined by lifeboat crew and a local coastguard, re-enacted the inquest into the disaster, in a marquee on the Buttlands.

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