Cruel Sea: The Penlee Disaster (2006)

A moving documentary made to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Penlee Lifeboat Disaster on 19 December 1981. The eight-man crew of the RNLB Solomon Browne, the lifeboat from the Penlee station in Mousehole, Cornwall, put to sea in an exceptionally severe gale to rescue the five-man crew of the MV Union Star, a cargo ship whose engines had failed two miles off the coast and which was in danger of being swept onto the rocks. Also on board the Union Star were the captain's wife and two step-daughters. A Royal Navy rescue helicopter attended but tragically the extreme wave conditions meant that they were unable to winch anyone off the ship. The Solomon Browne was able to rescue the captain's family and one of the crew from Union Star, but then radio contact with the Solomon Browne was lost. All the crew of the Solomon Browne and all the crew of the Union Star perished. The skipper of the Solomon Browne was posthumously awarded the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's gold medal and the remainder of his crew were posthumously awarded the bronze medal.