Cruel Sea: The Penlee Lifeboat Disaster

Directed by Sally Thomson

A moving documentary made to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Penlee Lifeboat Disaster on 19 December 1981. The eight-man crew of the RNLB Solomon Browne, the lifeboat from the Penlee station in Mousehole, Cornwall, put to sea in an exceptionally severe gale to rescue the five-man crew of the MV Union Star, a cargo ship whose engines had failed two miles off the coast and which was in danger of being swept onto the rocks. The Solomon Browne was initially able to rescue the captain's family and one of the crew from Union Star but, as they attempted to rescue the captain and the remaining crewmate, radio contact with the Solomon Browne was lost and both crews perished.