IT was 50 years ago today – on March 17, 1969 – that the Longhope lifeboat disaster occurred in the Pentland Firth off the isle of Hoy in the Orkneys. All eight crew members lost their lives when their Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) Watson-class lifeboat – named TGB after an anonymous donor – capsized in mountainous seas.

Those who died were coxswain Daniel Kirkpatrick, 2nd coxswain James Johnston, bowman Ray Kirkpatrick, mechanic Robert Johnston, assistant mechanic James Swanson, crew members Jack Kirkpatrick, Robert Johnston and Eric McFadyen. They were all relatives and friends from the tiny hamlet of Brims on Hoy which in a single night lost a quarter of its population.

As you may have surmised, coxswain Kirkpatrick, who had been awarded the RNLI silver medal for gallantry three times, had two sons in the crew.

Daniel Kirkpatrick was well known to the public, for after his first acts of heroism, Eamonn Andrews surprised him with the big red book and he was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1964.

Robert Johnston, the mechanic, was the oldest member of the crew at 62. He also had two sons who were in the crew. The youngest crew member was Eric McFadyen, who was just 24.

The lifeboat had been launched in darkness at about 7.30pm after reports that a Liberian-registered 2000 tonne cargo ship, the Irene, was in serious trouble, adrift in the Firth and bound for the rocky shores of the Orkneys.

In fact, the captain of the Irene was way out in his estimate of their position, saying they were 18 miles off South Ronaldsay when in fact they were just three miles off the island. It was later established the ship had run out of fuel and the captain was convinced they had drifted to be nearer Scotland than Norway.

The lifeboatmen, as with almost every other RNLI crew, were volunteers, but did not hesitate to launch their craft into the teeth of a force nine gale.

Minister of State at the Board of Trade Bill Rodgers would tell Parliament the following day: “This is one of the worst stretches of water in the world, and it is an act of singular courage for the boat to put out in the prevailing conditions of last night.”

In what was described as conditions of zero visibility, they put to sea and headed for the stricken ship with the intention of removing its crew of 17 sailors of various nationalities.

The last sighting of the lifeboat was of her stern lights at 9.35pm as she made her way through waves which some experienced observers estimated to be 30ft to 50ft high.

At some point shortly afterwards, the lifeboat ceased to be in radio contact, and by 11pm the onshore observers feared the worst. Lifeboats were summoned from around the Firth to look for their RNLI colleagues, with the Grace Paterson Ritchie from Kirkwall and her crew reaching the approximate scene and firing flares, but to no avail.

Soon afterwards, a shore-based rescue got under way after the Irene foundered on South Ronaldsay. Members of HM Coastguard raced to the scene and were able to attach a line to the ship, bringing all the 17 officers and crew ashore to safety in a breeches buoy, the largest rescue operation of its kind ever carried out on Orkney.

The search was now under way for the missing lifeboat, and the fears of everyone on Orkney were confirmed when it was found floating upturned early the following afternoon.

The RNLI lifeboat from Thurso made the tragic discovery. The bodies of seven of the crewmen were recovered from the wreck – they had all drowned, the coxswain having suffered a broken neck as the vessel overturned. The body of James Swanson was never found.

The Orcadian newspaper wrote: “All Orkney this week mourns over the tragic loss of the Longhope lifeboat with its crew of eight fine men.

‘‘Right up until the last minute, everyone was hoping against hope that the lifeboat crew who had so often snatched others from what looked like certain death might still themselves have a chance.

‘‘Then came the sad, final messages. There was no hope. The crew of the Longhope lifeboat were dead.”

The seven recovered bodies were buried together in the same plot in Osmondwall Cemetery where there is a statue in their memory.

An inquiry into the disaster centred on the fact that the TGB was not self-righting, but experts testified that the waves of the Pentland Firth that night would probably have overwhelmed her anyway.

The shock and pain felt across Scotland and beyond was deeply heartfelt and genuinely sincere. A huge public collection raised more than £100,000 for the bereaved families, and a new crew was found in days from among the relatives and friends of those who died.

The TGB was recovered and returned to service in England. She is now in the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine.

Today’s commemorations at Longhope will rightly feature the families of those who died, many of whom still reside in the area. Theirs is a living history for which they have all our sympathies.