Dungeness 04.30". The Rye Harbour Coast Guard Station was informed at 04:55 am, and maroons were fired just after 5 am to summon the lifeboat crew. The lifeboat crew responded to the maroons. It was practically low water and, in the severe weather, it took three attempts to get the boat away, at 06:45. All of the crew by now would have been wet through. It was just beginning to break daylight, when at 06:50 Rye Coastguard received the message saying that the crew of the Alice of Riga had been rescued by the Smyrna. This message had originally been received by Ramsgate Coastguard Station at 6:12 am. As it was not a 'life saving message' it was not considered to be 'entitled', i.e. priority. There was then a further delay in sending the recall to Rye Coastguard when an attempt to call Dungeness via Lydd proved futile. The recall reached Rye Harbour lifeboat station just 5 minutes after the Mary Stanford had been launched. Flares were fired to recall the lifeboat but, due to the severe conditions, they were not seen. At around 09:00 the mate of the S.S. Halton saw the lifeboat 3 miles (5 km) W.S.W from Dungeness and all appeared well. A bit later the lifeboat was also seen by a boy sailor on the Smyrna. About 10:30 a young boy, Cecil Marchant, collecting drift wood at Camber saw the lifeboat capsize. He told his parents who reported it to Jurys Gap Coastguard. Soon rumours were going around Rye Harbour village that the boat had 'gone over', and the vicar thought that he had seen this from an upstairs window at the Vicarage. By 12 noon it had been confirmed as the lifeboat could be seen bottom up floating towards the shore. Within ten minutes, Rye Harbour Coastguard was informed and the maroons were fired to assemble the launchers. It is said that over 100 men rushed to the shore where the upturned lifeboat lay. A tank was brought along from Lydd Camp to right the lifeboat. Over the next two hours the bodies of the crew were washed up, a total of 15 on that day, with efforts made to revive the bodies. They were taken to Lydd for formal identification. Aftermath Eva Southerden, 15 at the time, remembers her father Charles, returning home that night and breaking down as he told his wife he