The Ramsgate lifeboat 'Prudential' at her naming ceremony circa 1925The Ramsgate lifeboat was the 'Prudential' under the command of Coxswain Howard Knight with a crew of eight. They sailed at 2.30pm on the 30th May 1940, towing eight wherries filled with water and supplies for the troops at Dunkirk. Once the supplies had been unloaded, her job was to tow these boats, laden with eight troops each, between the beaches and the larger vessels offshore. Operating for the most part off La Panne and under constant fire, she helped bring off some 2,800 men in 30 hours.
Ramsgate's wartime lifeboat crew:Back row, from left to right: E. Cooper, E. Attwood (master mechanic), A. Liddle, J. Hawkes, J. Goldfinch. Front row: C. Knight, A Moody (acting 2nd coxswain), Howard Primrose Knight DSM (coxswain), T. Read (assistant motor mechanic).
The troops on the beaches were full of admiration for the civilian RNLI crews who were risking their lives to save them. A typical reaction came from a British officer, who upon hearing a crew member hailing the shore, called out,
"I cannot see you who you are; are you a Naval party?
The crew member replied,
"No we are the crew of the Ramsgate Lifeboat and we have come to take you off."
The astonished officer was then heard to say,
"Thank God for such men as you, how many can you take?"
'Prudential' as she is today.