Paxman swaps Newsnight for lifeboat to record Lusitania documentary

He’s normally grilling politicians on the top news stories of the day.

But BBC Newsnight anchor Jeremy Paxman donned a survival suit to interview the crew of one of Ireland’s busiest lifeboat stations as part of a documentary on the sinking of the Lusitania.

Crew based at Courtmacsherry RNLI station in 1915 rowed for over three hours in a desperate bid to reach survivors from the torpedoed vessel off the Old Head of Kinsale, Co Cork.

Paxman spent Monday with the present-day crew as filming for the four-part documentary series about Britain and the First World War got under way.

The station’s lifeboat operations manager, Brian O’Dwyer, said they were delighted to welcome the film crew.

“The BBC’s presence is testament to the efforts of the men who rowed for three hours to come to the assistance of those in danger,” said Mr O’Dwyer.

“And it is nice to know that that tradition is still alive and well in Courtmacsherry today.”

Coxswain Sean O’Farrell took Paxman and his crew out on the lifeboat to shoot scenes at Barry’s Point to the west of the Old Head. “I gave a lifeboat man’s perspective on the loss of life during war time, which goes against the grain of all we do and what we are about in saving lives at sea,” he said.

“I was able to show Jeremy the original return of service from the Courtmacsherry lifeboat on the day, which gives a poignant account of the scene from the Rev Canon Forde, the honorary secretary at the time.”

That record shows how at 2.25pm on May 7, 1915, Canon Forde received a message that a large steamer was sinking about 18km off the Seven Heads. He rushed from where he lived at Lislee House Presbytery to the lifeboat station, then based at Barry’s Point, to alert the crew.

The lifeboat launched at 3pm under coxswain Timothy Keohane, with crew Mike Keating, John Maloney, Mike Flynn, Pat Flynn, Pat Madden, John Murphy and son Jerry, Con Whelton and son Con Jr, Paddy Crowley, David Moloney, John Keohane, Lar Maloney, and John Maloney on board.

The lifeboat was a rowing and sailing boat called Keza Gwilt.

Canon Forde wrote: “We had no wind so had to pull the whole distance. On the way to the wreck we met a ship’s boat crowded with people who informed us the Lusitania had gone down.

“We did everything in our power to reach the place but it took us at least three-and-a-half hours of hard pulling to get there and only in time to pick up dead bodies.

“The Queenstown boat reached the wreck towed by a steam trawler almost together with us and we all remained until about 8.40 engaged in that work.

“Everything that was possible to do was done by the crew to reach the wreck in time to save life, but as we had no wind it took us a long time to pull the 10 or 12 miles out from the boathouse.

“It was a harrowing sight to witness; the sea was strewn with dead bodies floating about some with lifebelts on, others holding on pieces of rafts, all dead. I deeply regret it was not in our power to have been in time to save some.

“I went with the boat to the wreck, also Mr Montifort Longfield, member of our local committee and did what we could. The boat was 10 hours on service.’

The series is expected to be broadcast on BBC in 2014.