Shrimp Davies had a near-fatal involvement in the famous rescue of the SS English Trader on 26 October 1941. At 8.15 am on that day the Cromer lifeboat H F Bailey, crewed by twelve men including crewman Shrimp Davies and coxswain Henry Blogg, was launched to aid the stricken ship. By 11.35 that morning the life-boat had reached the site, the Hammond Knoll sandbank. Unfortunately by this time three of the English Trader's crew had been swept off the foundering ship to their death. By the time the H F Bailey reached the ship the gale was at full force and things looked bleak. The remaining 44 crew of the stricken ship had taken refuge in the chart room, the highest and safest point on the ship. The life-boat made two attempts to get a line to the English Trader without any success. A further attempt at rescue resulted in a near disaster for the H F Bailey and in the death of one of her crew. Coxswain Henry Blogg had attempted to approach the stricken vessel and a wall of water hit the lifeboat on her port side which washed five of the lifeboat men including Shrimp Davies and coxswain Blogg, overboard into the raging sea. The five men were hauled back on to the lifeboat but the signalman, Edward "Boy Primo" W. Allen after being in the water for 25 minutes fell unconscious and died a short time later. Despite these traumas, H F Bailey was able go on and rescue the crew of 44 from the English Trader, taking them to the safety of Great Yarmouth.
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