Wednesday 14 November 2007

Survivor of The Wells Lifeboat Disaster - (when the lifeboat, Eliza Adams, was upset)
12th October 1880

Captain Thomas Kew - he wrote a letter
"Dear Friend, Eliza Adams was upset
Of thirteen men - just two of us were rescued
Will Bell died - but Tom Kew has not gone yet

Twenty-eight young orphans and ten widows
Were left to mourn the loss of those brave men
So now I tell you - Nothing marks their passing
And Wells will never see their like again

The bodies found still lie there in the churchyard
No monument commemorates their life
The whole town and their children need a solace
Each widow must be proud she was a wife

And I'm the one who's left alive to tell you
The one who left the sea - and still has breath
We need a monument to all these brave men
Whose bravery resulted in their death"

The photograph beside the old memorial
Shows Tom - a big old man who had his way
He raised the money for a new memorial
To honour them It still stands there today

Captain Thomas Kew - he wrote a letter
"Dear Friend, Eliza Adams was upset
Of thirteen men - just two of us were rescued
Will Bell died - but Tom Kew has not gone yet"

2002 © Charlotte Peters Rock

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