The Volunteer. Story of an inn sign

We went on a tour of Exmouth Lifeboat Station today. We were with a group( the curiously named Curious Club) but anyone can go on a Saturday. Inside is this old inn sign. The volunteer is Will Carder and he ran the Volunteer public house in Exmouth. When the pub was demolished for redevelopment the inn sign, which commemorates Carder, and his connection to the pub, was given to the station. Carder was born in 1903 and volunteered for the Exmouth lifeboat crew in June 1953. On Christmas Day 1956 he was on board when the lifeboat, the Maria Noble was called out to the MV Minerva which was burning distress flares 4 miles (6.4 km) south east of Orcombe Point.

The lifeboat launched at 5:20 pm into a Force 6 to 8 wind and 20-foot (6.1 m) waves. About 10 minutes out a large wave pushed the boat far over onto her side and the radio aerial was also damaged. Will Carder was near the front of the boat with two colleagues at the time and told them that he was going aft to get some shelter. Another large wave then broke over the boat. Although no one saw it happen, this is believed to be when Will Carder was swept overboard. Brian Rowsell was trying to repair the aerial and was knocked into the mast and sustained a head injury. A few minutes later Second Coxswain Jack Phillips was also washed overboard.

Coxswain Harold 'Dido' Bradford took the decision to continue to the ship that was in distress. To turn the lifeboat around to search for the missing men would have been extremely difficult and dangerous in that storm. While the main radio was inoperable, a message was broadcast on the wavelength used by trawlers and this was picked up in Exmouth and relayed to the lifeboat station. Jack Phillips was found staggering in the surf. He was helped up the cliff and taken to hospital. The body of Will Carder was later found nearby.

The lifeboat reached the Minerva at 6:45. They found that the engines had failed and the anchor was barely holding. They stood by until 8 o'clock when the Torbay Lifeboat George Shee arrived to take over. Sea conditions made it difficult to return to their station so they sailed instead to Torquay where Brian Rowsell was taken to hospital to have his injuries seen to. The crew stayed here to rest and then returned home at 2 pm on Boxing Day, the RNLI flag flying at half mast.
We were lucky in that the boat was launched while we were there to go on an exercise to Brixham. We also saw it return which is a fascinating procedure. The boat approaches the shore at speed, is beached on the sand, and a tractor is coupled to it. A complicated device then turns the boat round, and the almost amphibious tractor returns it up the ramp and into the station.
They are an extraordinary team of dedicated volunteers.