Upcher Fishing and Rescue Boat

The Augusta lifeboat

Henry Ramey Upcher Lifeboat

These Sheringham lifeboats are called 'private' to distinguish them from those supplied by the RNLI.  They were all contributed through the generosity of the Upcher family of Sheringham Hall.

The first of them was a large fishing boat, The Upcher, which was also used for rescues because it was the largest boat available.

There is not a great deal of information about this boat. In 1826 Charlotte Upcher loaned money to Harry West, enabling him to build a boat which was larger than the other fishing boats in use at the time.

Rescues were not systematically recorded in those days, so it is not clear how many lives were saved. The coxswain and crew were probably chosen on an ad-hoc basis. The dimensions are unknown, but a contemporary painting of the boat survives.

 The second lifeboat was purpose built in 1838 and was named The Augusta. The boat was provided by Hon. Mrs Charlotte Upcher and her family in response to loss of life in the seas off our coast, including the tragedy of 29^th November 1836 when seven Sheringham men, including three brothers, were drowned in the “Great Hurricane”. It was built by Robert Sunman, from timbers grown in Sheringham Park. The name was a tribute to the youngest daughter of the family, Augusta Elizabeth Upcher, who had recently died of consumption, aged only 20.

 Systematic records of rescues were not kept in those days. Tradition has it that the Augusta was launched over 200 times and saved over 1,000 lives, without a single lifeboatman being lost. The numbers may be exaggerated, but could be true, considering that she was in service for 56 years. At this time there was still a huge amount of coastal traffic, many vessels were overloaded and poorly maintained and entirely at the mercy of the elements.

 By the 1890’s the Augusta was suffering from “nail sickness”. The iron nails were rusting and causing the timbers to split and rot. After being replaced by the Henry Ramey Upcher in 1894, the Augusta was stored for more than 50 years in a shed which stood alongside the present shell gallery. At the end of the 1940’s she was briefly used on the Broads by the Norfolk Sea Scouts and was then cut up to be used as garden shelters. Fortunately a scale plan had been made in 1934. 

The third and last of the Upcher boats was The Henry Ramey Upcher which was in service from 1894 until 1935.  The Henry Ramey Upcher (HRU for short) can be seen still in its original shed, at the top of the "Fishermen's Slope" above Sheringham's West Beach.

The boat was built in 1894 to replace the Augusta which had been in service since 1838.  Up to 1867 there was no RNLI lifeboat in Sheringham, but from this date until the HRU was decommissioned in 1935, Sheringham could call on the services of two lifeboats. For much of the HRU's service the RNLI boat was stationed a mile west of of Sheringham town, which made it difficult to reach in an emergency.

 There was quite a lot of (usually) friendly rivalry between the crews of the two boats, such as competing in regatta races - the HRU crew won most of these contests.

Like most lifeboats built during this period, the HRU had no engine.  It relied on either the muscle power of the crew at its 16 oars or on its sails and wind power if conditions allowed. It was built by Lewis 'Buffalo' Emory, one of a celebrated family of local boat builders.

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