The Gale
Vessel Aground at the Mouth of the Tyne
The weather during last night was of most boisterous and stormy character, and, although, in the early hours of the morning, the wind shifted and moderated, a heavy sea still runs on the bar and navigation of the entrance has to be conducted with great skill and precaution. At the Brigade Houses at both sides of the Tyne, Watch was kept, but, except for one slight casualty, no brigade services were needed. About seven o'clock a small vessel was making a difficult passage in the cross-seas between the piers, when she was struck by an unusually heavy sea and thrown over to the Black Middens. She escaped wreck here, however, to meet danger elsewhere, for another sea took her, carried her to the southward, and grounded her on the Herd Sand. A signal having been made from the coastguard station South Shields, two lifeboats were put off to the rescue. The captain and crew of the vessel, however, decided to stay by their little vessel, but asked for tug assistance. Mr R. Wells afterwards communicated with Mr Lawson, two of whose tugs brought the vessel from the ground and into the harbour. The wind is now almost due east, but weather prospects are somewhat improved.
Source: Shields Daily Gazette 26 November 1885