One hundred years ago today, Redcar witnessed one of the most dramatic rescues in the history of its lifeboat service. Claire Burbage reports on the battle to save those on board the Awa Maru.

IT was Christmas morning 1906, and the Awa Maru left Antwerp in Belgium and headed for Middlesbrough. On board were 114 people, including two passengers. The passage was to prove tumultuous from the beginning as the Awa Maru battled severe gales and thunderstorms.

She reached the North-East coast at 4pm on December 27 and anchored off the mouth of the Tees. That was when she ran into trouble. About four hours later, her anchor cables parted and the 6,000 ton liner drifted onto a reef called Westscar, off the shore of Redcar.

Battling against the elements, a major rescue mission was launched and, for the people of the east Cleveland town, it was a mission that would go down in history.

As soon as it crashed onto the reef, the master of the Awa Maru ordered the siren to be sounded and distress rockets fired. A large crowd quickly gathered on the Esplanade in Redcar and, as they peered through the heavy showers of snow, they could dimly make out the lights of the steamer.

It was low water and the exposed rocks gave sufficient shelter for a small boat, manned by two members of the Picknett family and a Mr Raine, to be launched. After about 20 minutes they returned with three members of the crew from the liner and the two passengers.

David Phillipson, who has been a member of the Redcar Lifeboat crew for 25 years, says: "In the meantime, a large number of onlookers had dragged the Redcar lifeboat, Brothers, across the sands and launched her during a violent hailstorm.

'A long and anxious wait ensued before the lifeboat returned with 26 Japanese seamen. The rocket brigade had also arrived, but the wind was too strong and the distance too great for the rockets to be of any use.

"Around 10pm, two lifeboats were lowered from the liner, and despite a perilous passage through the breakers, they reached the shore safely. The Brothers was launched for a second time, but the weather conditions had worsened and she was forced to turn back. Her crew had tried to drive her over the rocks and the pounding had broken her back.

"Nevertheless, another attempt was made to launch her, and was only prevented by the lifeboat carriage becoming embedded in the soft sand."

At 5am the next morning, more distress rockets were seen but the fishermen decided to wait until daylight before going off in their own boats to bring the rest of the Japanese crew ashore.

Recalling how the lifeboatmen must have felt, Mr Phillipson says: "It would have been very, very hard. The boat would probably have been constantly filled with water. The lifeboat would have been propelled by oars and it would have to be dragged across the sand to launch.

"It would have been a terrific struggle to reach the ship. The lifeboat crew were all fishermen in those days."

Ultimately, the Awa Maru remained firmly aground, and some of the rock around her had to be blasted away before she was eventually refloated on January 14, 1907.

But the Brothers was not so fortunate and was never launched again. During 1907, she was replaced by what was to be Redcar's pulling lifeboat, the Fifi and Charles.

"When the Awa Maru was towed away she passed into Redcar's history," says Mr Phillipson. "A hundred years later the only tangible reminders are postcards produced at the time by enterprising local photographers, that still turn up at postcard fairs, and three large stones that can be seen from the shore at Redcar at certain states of the tide. Known by older fisherman as Maru Stones, they are pieces that were blasted from the rock to free one of Redcar's involuntary visitors."

Today, Mr Phillipson, 62, talks enthusiastically about the events from long ago and is eager to mark the anniversary of the daring rescue mission.

"It is something I have always been aware of," he says. "It was quite a significant happening at the time so a lot of people, especially the older people, used to talk about it. It is just forgotten now but such a big moment in Redcar's history should be commemorated 100 years on."

Like so many, Mr Phillipson became fascinated by the lifeboats as a young boy. Leaving school at the age of 15, he was given a place on the shore crew, which involved servicing the boats when they returned from the sea.

At 17, he officially joined the crew - starting at the bottom and gradually working his way up.

It was the endless hours spent in the lifeboat house with members of the crew which inspired Mr Phillipson, a local historian, to start researching and recording moments of the lifeboat history.

He says: "I would sit in the boathouse and there would be chaps there in their 50s and 60s who were born just at the start of the century. They lived through a lot of shipwrecks so I would just sit listening to them and hearing their stories. I started to record them and look into them.

"I started just writing notes down and started gathering information from newspaper cuttings. From that I started going to the library and would look through old newspapers and things."

Five books later, Mr Phillipson is still passionate about his hobby. But it is the rescue in 1906 which is of significant note.

"Stranded ships were a regular occurrence in those days," says Mr Phillipson. "But with that one being such a big one it caused quite a stir. It was also quite good business for the town - people would travel from around the area to come and see it.

"It was such a significant rescue I think because of the size and the number of people on board. One of the local photographers had 17,000 pictures produced of the ship - that was the sort of impact it had. I think it was really the last big rescue."