Launching the Lifeboat

Judging from the onlooking children, this 1960s reproduction of a postcard from the early 1900s appears to record a practice launch, perhaps staged especially for them.

There would of course have been many such occasions during the postcard era and these pictures show that photographers overcame the challenges of capturing them by being present at the right time and place.

This photograph shows the pulling and sailing craft being launched into the harbour with the oars shipped and under sail.

Whether this was a genuine rescue or a practice is not known. Any information on this would be gratefully received.

The message on the back is dated August 26th 1905 and details that the view shows "the lifeboat starting out last Sunday" and that the writer was somewhere in the crowd but not visible in the picture.

The publisher was John White.