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This is the lifeboat "Anne Miles" sent to this station at Longhope in 1906 until 1926 when a motor boat took over.
The "Anne Miles" was always refered to as the "Annie Miles" and had the utmost respect of all who sailed in her- she was said to be the finest boat ever under sail.
On one service going to a ship in distress in a full gale the skipper of a Grimsby trawler said that they overtook his trawler, and his report estimated the Lifeboat to be doing 17 knots.
When the "Annie Miles" was replaced by the motor boat "K.T.J.S she was then sailed by a local crew to Ireland and this went on record as the fastest and longest non-stop passage by a sailing lifeboat ever done in the history of the RNLI.
View Large VersionPicture added on 25 February 2008
Bill (Wildack) Mowat was coxwain on both occasions mentioned above. The "Annie Miles" also did a long service in April 1922 to the S.S. Pretoria, which had broken adrift from her two tugs off Loch Eriboll in a northerly gale with heavy rain. She sailed the 45 miles in four and a half hours, which was amazing for a boat of this size under sail. The service lasted 13 hours, which must have been horrendous, in a boat with no shelter. The coxwain on this occasion was Jake Swanson, another legendary figure.
Added by Fred Johnston on 27 February 2008
Hoy and Walls
