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Picture No:208
Courtesy of:Estelle Quick
Year:1958
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Visiting the boats

Estelle with her mother Joyce Quick looking at the boats, including RX171. They lived in Brede and often visited the coast at weekends. The large building is "Squatters Right" on the golf course on the other side of the river - it was demolished in 1983.
Picture Added on 19 December 2006.

Comments

The first bomb of WWI fell infront of "Squatters Right" and between it and the 11th Green of RGC. The house used to belong to the Owens family - Mr Owen was a lawyer and had chambers in London. The small tarred house to the right was the original Harbourmasters house in which old Mr Coote and his family used to live before Jack Doust took over as the HM about 1933/34. This cottage has also been torn down!

The fishing trawler in the foreground is the "Happy Returns" which belonged to the Mills family I believe. The other trawler RX270 - can't remember her name, but she belonged to the Caister family who used to lived on the main street of Rye Harbour next to the Seamans' Mission Hall.

My father was the HM at RH from 1933/34 until 1970. He died in 1987 while living with his youngest daughter Theresa at Finchingfield, Essex. His funeral service was held in RH Church and then he was cremated at Hastings Crematorium where his ashes are buried in the crematorium grounds. On the entrance gate arch to the village church you will see both my uncle Jim's (who used to own the RH Garage), and his brother Wilfred's names in gold lettering. Jim served as a soldier in Flanders during WWI, was taken as a POW, escaped and arrived back with his regiment, while Wilfred served in the RN as a Yeoman at the Battle of Jutland.

When I was first born, mother and father rented a house at the bottom of Strand Hill, Winchelsea, near Strand House which used to belong to my great grandma Naomi Elizabeth Doust Then we moved to No1 Coast Guard Cottages in RH, then to No1 Inkerman Cottages nextdoor to the Inkerman Arms pub. From there we moved across to to the current HM's house on the opposite side of the Rother opposite the Conqueror pub Aug'39. It was from that house that I joined the Royal Navy in 1950 to serve 33 yrs retiring in 1983. I now currently live with my wife and family in Virginia.

My grandpa, James Albert Doust, was drowned in Rye Bay along with his crew, I believe one was called Cutting, on their maiden voyage in the "Naomi Lizzie" when they were rundown by the Greman barque "Lawhill" while they were fishing. This occured on the 13th May 1912. When the Australian Police boarded the "Lawhill" in Freemantle, Australia, the ship's captain committed suicide - he had been drunk at the time of the collision!! Grand Dad Doust and his crew were buried in Rye Cemetary.

Added by Michael J.DOUST, Commander RN(Rtd) on 14 January 2007.
Rx 270 was named "rose" and was bought my father sometime in the sixties and worked out of Whitstable both fishing and as the local pilot boat. Last seen by us lifted out at Ramsgate sometime in the eighties.
Added by Richard Judge on 22 April 2015.



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