Lifeboatman who died on Christmas Day honoured

A Devon lifeboatman who died at sea on Christmas Day in 1956 is being honoured by the station's crew.

Will Carder, a volunteer at the Exmouth lifeboat station, was swept overboard by a 20ft (6m) wave during a gale while rescuing the crew of a stranded Dutch ship.

He will be commemorated as part of the charity's Launch a Memory campaign, with his name inscribed on the side of Exmouth's newest Shannon class lifeboat.

Ian Taylor, from Exmouth RNLI lifeboat, said: "We are such a close crew and can only imagine the feelings of our counterparts in 1956 when they lost one of their own – and especially on Christmas Day."

Mr Carder, who was 53 when he died, is the only person in Exmouth's 200-year history to lose his life while on duty.

Mr Taylor said it would be "very special" for the current crew to "have him by their side every time we launch, joining the thousands of others whose loved ones want to remember them in this special way".

According to the Lifeboat Magazine Archive, the coastguard called the Exmouth lifeboat shortly before 17:00 GMT on Christmas Day in 1956 to tell them Dutch vessel the MV Minerva had fired burning, red flares four miles (6.4km) south-east of Orcombe Point.

The crew of the Maria Noble, Exmouth's Liverpool type lifeboat, launched from the sheltered, but swollen, waters of the River Exe.

A south-easterly gale, driving rain and swollen river made conditions treacherous and Mr Carder was swept overboard along with another crew member, Jack Phillips.

The coxswain, Harold Bradford, continued to the Minerva and radioed to shore about the men overboard, having decided it was too dangerous to return for them.

The crew of the Minerva was rescued with the help of the Torbay lifeboat, the George Shee, while the crew member made his way safely to shore.

Mr Carder, however, was found unresponsive in the water and efforts to revive him failed.

The RNLI said Mr Carder was a popular member of the lifeboat crew and ran a local pub, The Volunteer.

When the pub was demolished, the sign was moved to the lifeboat station, with a portrait of Mr Carder later added in a tribute to him.

The RNLI said the inscription will sit alongside nearly 10,000 others on the decal of the current lifeboat, the R&J Welburn, as part of the Launch a Memory campaign.

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