IT was a poignant moment for Valerie Thorpe when she saw the George Elmy lifeboat for the first time in nearly 50 years.

It brought back vivid memories of the night her father, Len Brown, died along with eight others when the vessel sank only yards from Seaham Harbour, in County Durham, on November 17, 1962.

Mrs Thorpe, 60, recalled the tragedy as the George Elmy was being taken into shelter for restoration after it was bought on an internet auction site and returned to its home town.

She said: “I was 13 at the time, but can remember it as though it was yesterday.

“My father was a mechanic on the George Elmy. We had gone out shopping on the day and I was having a lie down at home afterward when my father was called out. That was the last I saw of him.

“It was not until later on that evening that a relative phoned to ask my mother if she had heard that the lifeboat had been involved in an accident.

That is how we found out.

“I was very close to my dad.

They were coming back to the pier after rescuing five people off a fishing coble when a giant wave capsized the boat.

“I could not believe it when I heard the George Elmy had been found on eBay.

“I am pleased see it back. It belongs to Seaham and will serve as a reminder of the men who died that day.”

The George Elmy, delivered to Seaham on January 13, 1950, came to grief after it rescued five people from the fishing vessel Economy.

One of the Economy’s crew, Donald Burrell, a 32-year-old miner, was the sole survivor of the disaster. He lost his nineyear- old son, David.

He told an inquest how the vessel was picking up lines when sudden gale-force winds left it floundering off the coast near Dawdon Colliery.

As dusk gathered, they sent up a flare to alert the lifeboat, but it had already been launched to find them.

After the crew transferred safely to the lifeboat, Mr Burrell described seeing the Seaham lights through a porthole when “monstrous” waves tipped the vessel over.

He said: “We fought our way from under the boat.

“I tried to get hold of my son and did so. I had hold of my son’s arms and someone with a yellow oilskin had hold of my other arm, but the sea parted us.”

He surfaced to find he was one of eight people clinging to the boat, with no sign of his son.

Another big wave came and washed everyone off the boat.

Mr Burrell died several years ago.

East Durham Heritage Group treasurer Brian Scollen, who saw the boat for sale on eBay, said that more than £14,000 had been raised so far for its restoration, including a £100 donation from the crew of HMS Bulwark.

■ To mark the 60th anniversary of the George Elmy’s arrival in Seaham, an exhibition will be staged at Seaham Library, during normal opening times, from Monday to Friday, January 11 to 15.