'SS Suevic - A Tale of Shipwreck and Survival'

The SS Suevic was a steamship, built specifically to service the Liverpool-Cape Town-Sydney route.

She ran aground in a storm near the Lizard Point in Cornwall 117 years ago, in 1907. 456 people were rescued by the RNLI over some 16 hours with no lives lost, still the largest number of people rescued by the RNLI in a single operation.

Galen Bartholomew is a keen family historian. Two of his relatives were amongst those rescued. His illustrated talk will describe how he pieced together an extraordinary story – how the Suevic ran aground; the dramatic circumstances of the rescue; the salvage and rebuilding of the ship (in what was the largest salvage operation ever undertaken at that time); and the Suevic’s final years as a whaling factory ship in the Antarctic, before being scuttled off Norway to avoid capture by German warships. A truly remarkable tale! 2024 being the 200th anniversary year of the RNLI, this talk, first aired and sold out in 2023, is being repeated by popular demand.

Venue: Ecgwins Club, 117 High Street, Evesham. WR11 4EQ

Tickets: £10