life
ISLAND HISTORY
Photo: '7' Cafe and Bar, The Village Hall and local bus shelter
salvaged from the remains of the lifeboat
house at Grange Chine. In 1860 when
the yacht ‘Rescue’, owned by the Royal
Victoria Yacht Club, was launched at
Brighstone and the boat ‘Dauntless’ was
launched at Brook, they were the first
lifeboats on the Island, thanks to the
rectors of Brighstone and Brook who had
petitioned the Royal National Lifeboat
Institution for lifeboat stations on this
particularly dangerous part of the Island
coast. The Brighstone crews saved 433
lives before the stations were closed after
the introduction of fast motor boats by
the R.N.L.I at Yarmouth and Bembridge.
So ended an important part of the
village’s life when the boats were manned
by local volunteers including those who
lost their lives when they went to the
rescue of the American barque ‘Syrenia’.
Another connection with the sea was
smuggling and in Brighstone there lived a
William ‘Bung’ Russell who invented the
ghostly ‘flying hare’ in Moortown Lane
to scare nosey parkers from watching
his nefarious activities. But let’s be fair,
in the 18th century a labourer earned as
little as ten shillings a week and smuggling
was part of Island life. James Buckett,
coxswain of the first lifeboat, had been a
notorious smuggler and served five years
in the Navy as punishment. Ironically,
his first rescue was to save 191 convicts
aboard the barque ‘Cedarime’ when the
ship was wrecked. At Casses Cottage
carved in the chalk blocks you can see the
silhouettes of ships supposed to have been
secret smugglers’ signs.
In the days when wagons and pedlars
arrived for the Whitsun Fair or Lady
Day the village was called ‘Fighting
Brighstone’ because the villagers
celebrated with some hard drinking, free
for the day from working the land, fishing
or risking their lives at sea. But in 1806
the “Sporting Magazine” heard of a
couple, the husband aged 105 and his wife
aged 102, living here and reported, “The
sheltered position of the village makes
for longevity”. Brighstone has grown in
size since then but it’s lost none of its old
world charm.
Photo: Ye Olde Shop and Village Museum
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