Augusta (lifeboat)

Before The Augusta was commissioned the fishermen of Sheringham would use their fishing boats to rescue vessels in distress, in particular a large fishing boat called Upcher which was owned by a man by the name of Harry West. Mr West had been lent the money for his boat by Charlotte Upcher who, along with her husband had always had shown interest in the lives and welfare of the local fishermen and their families.

Charlotte Upcher had been, for sometime, concerned with the appalling loss of life in the local fishing industry. During one particularly severe gale along the East coast on 29 November 1826,[2] seven Sheringham fishermen lost their lives when their two boats overturned just offshore. Then, in January 1838, a large Sheringham fishing boat known locally as a "twenty footer" was damaged and sunk on Sheringham Shoal. These incidents prompted Charlotte to fund the establishment of a lifeboat service in Sheringham.

The new lifeboat was built by a local builder, Robert Sunman. It was made from timbers grown in the nearby Sherringham Park and the boat was built in the style of the local herring fishing boats. The Augusta was 33 feet 6 inches[3] long and 10-foot 3 inches[3] wide. The power for the boat was provide by 16 oars.[2] She was equipped with a dipping lug mainsail, mizzen sail and had fittings for a rudder at either end to avoid turning her in heavy seas.[3]

The lifeboat was launched on 14 November 1838[2] with coxswain Robert Long at the helm. She was named The Augusta[2] after the Augusta Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of Abbot and Charlotte Upcher. Augusta had been much loved around the village of Sheringham but unfortunately she had died of consumption at the age of 20 some two years before the lifeboat's launch.

The first records of a launch of The Augusta took place on 7 June 1839[2] when she was launched to assist the brig Request of South Shields. There was a strong heavy on-shore swell with a strong east by north wind. When the lifeboat came across the distressed brig some of the vessels nine crewmen wanted to abandon ship. The captain was not to desert his ship and asked the lifeboat Augusta to take the Request in to tow. A line was thrown and the brig was towed astern for the rest of the night until it was safe.

By 1895 the Augusta was declared unseaworthy. In the late 1940s she was being used by the Norfolk Sea Scouts on the Norfolk Broads. By 1953 the now derelict lifeboat was found, cut in half and being used as a shelter at the Broads village of Ranworth. In recent years some of the Augusta's original planking has been preserved in a tank in Sheringham by a local businessman.