Caister Volunteer Lifeboat Service

[3] At around midnight on 22 July 1885 the Caister lifeboat, the yawl Zephyr, was launched to the aid of a stranded schooner on the Lower Barber Sand.

The assistant coxswain, James Haylett, Senior, was at the helm and as the yawl neared the Barber he called out "now dear boys, keep a lookout for that old stump" referring to the mast of a stone-laden schooner, the crew of which had been saved by the Caister men some nine years earlier.

Asked at the inquest to their deaths why the crew had persisted in the rescue, retired coxswain James Haylett in response to the question from the coroner "I suppose they had given up the job and were returning."

A monument to the men lost in the disaster bearing this inscription stands in the cemetery at Caister and the pub nearest to the lifeboat shed is named the "Never Turn Back".

On Sunday, 1 September 1991, coxswain Benny Read was killed after a flare accidentally exploded in his hand, whilst responding to a false alarm.