For current information on North Carr, contact -

Bob Richmond,  Taymara tel.  01382 542516

The North Carr Lightship

is sponsored by -

The Heritage Lottery Fund

Apex Hotels

Forth Ports (Port of Dundee)

Dundee City Council

Contact us at -

contact @taymara.org

The assistance of National Historic Ships in the production of this website is gratefully acknowledged.

Web design - Ken Bushe

Research, Text - Susan Coyne

On December 8th 1959 the crew of the RNLB Mona were lost while coming to the aid of the North Carr in atrocious weather conditions.

RNLB Mona at Broughty Ferry

In December 1959 the East coast of Scotland was experiencing one of the worst storms in recorded history.  Given its location the North Carr was particularly vulnerable.  According to the report of G Rosie the Senior Master on board at the time ".... at 02.02 am on Tuesday 8th December whilst riding out a gale of Southeast wind and very heavy sea the anchor cable parted".  As a result the North Carr began to drift. At 2.20am the Fifeness Coastguard noticed North Carr moving off station. The nearest lifeboat stationed at Anstruther, was alerted but was not given permission to launch and this was the same for the lifeboats at Dunbar and Arbroath. At 2.50am the crew of the North Carr managed to deploy the port emergency anchor and bring the vessel to a halt, but their situation remained perilous.   At about the same time the Broughty Ferry Life boat the Mona was given Permission to launch in order to come to the aid of the North Carr. 

The Mona launched at 03.13 for the 30th time.  At 03.36 the Fifeness Coastguard made radio contact with the Mona. At 04.06 in a radio exchange wit Fifeness Coastguard the Mona gave her position as being abreast of the Abertay Light ship. At 04.48 Carnoustie Coastguard radioed the Mona to ask if she had seen the latest flare launched by the crew of the North Carr. The Mona replied that they had seen the flare and stated "we have reached the bar". The Mona was not heard from again.  The vessel was found on the morning of 9th December washed up on Buddon Sands near Carnoustie with 8 crew still inside. The body of the 9th crew member  was never found. 
 

Attempts to rescue the crew of the North Carr continued and they were eventually evacuated by the Royal Air force  in the early afternoon of the Wednesday the 9th of December . After the crew had cut down North Carr's mast a Bristol Sycamore Helicopter from RAF Leuchars was able to wince each crew member off the North Carr from the top of the watch box.   In his report Mr. Rosie stated " I wish to recommend my crew on their behavior in the face of all this danger, they never showed any sign of panic and carried out every order promptly and efficiently".  Mr. Rosie himself was later awarded an MBE in recognition of his distinguished service as Master of the North Carr. 

On December 11th in improving weather conditions a crew was able to get aboard the North Carr and supervise her towing to the dockyards at Leith.  After repairs the North Carr was put back on station on March 16th 1960.

The tragic loss of the Mona and her crew attracted world wide interest.  Peggy Seeger wrote a ballad about the incident  which is still performed by groups and individual artists to this day. 

In April 1966 the incident was the subject of a lecture given in the Sorbonne by Monsieur Petry the then Director of the French Lighthouse service and also the Administrator of the French Life boat Service . 

The Royal National Lifeboat Institute eventually took the decision that the Mona should be destroyed. In 11 years of operating the Mona and her crew had saved 118 lives. In the galley of the  North Carr there is a simple brass plague commemorating the loss of crew of the Mona in their selfless attempt to save the crew of the lightship.

S.C. - 7th Jan 2009

Timeline of Events - 8th Dec 1959