Lifeboat memorial 1956, St Davids

Lifeboat memorial 1956, Memorial Gardens, St Davids

photo_of_ieuan_batemanThis is a memorial to Ieuan Bateman, a crew member of the St Davids lifeboat. He drowned aged 22 after being swept off the boat when two giant waves hit the lifeboat off St Ann’s Head.

The lifeboat had been called to assist the French trawler Notre Dame de Fatima, which had got into difficulties 7km off Skokholm island. All eight men from the trawler were safely removed, although the lifeboat, called Swn-y-Môr, was damaged when waves dashed it against the trawler’s side. The weather prevented the lifeboat from returning to its station at Porthstinan, so the crew headed instead for the sheltered waters of Milford Haven. The large waves which hit the boat from behind injured one lifeboat crew member and carried away Ieuan Bateman (pictured right). His body was recovered two days later.

The French Government posthumously awarded him its silver medal for lifesaving, The French Lifeboat Society awarded him its bronze medal.

Also in the Memorial Gardens is a memorial to three lifeboat men who drowned in 1910.

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