Margate Surfboat

[1] She was almost wrecked on 13 February 1860 attempting to rescue the crew of the Spanish brig Samaritano, which, at about 5.30am, ran onto the Margate Sands in a squall.

The alarm was sounded at daybreak by the lugger Eclipse, which sent eight men onto the brig, in the hope that she could be refloated at high tide.

The small Margate boat was launched, but in their haste they did not secure their buoyancy tanks and were driven ashore, barely afloat, in Westgate Bay.

[1] She saved the lives of 38 men from 6 ships in the great storm of November 1877,[1] but the damage inflicted during the rescues led to her retirement.

The Friend to all Nations became famous in the great storm of 1897, which damaged much of Margate and destroyed the Switchback Railway.

The remaining nine were all beaten to a pulp on the rocks, except for Joseph Epps who was found, barely alive, underneath the capsized boat.

Improvements in lifeboats meant that she was largely restricted to local salvage work with the occasional rescue.