The Margate surfboat refers to three surfboats used for maritime rescue at Margate, on the eastern tip of Kent. They were run as cooperatives, with local boatmen clubbing together to buy them and then receiving a share of any salvage money received. The first, the Friend of all Nations was wrecked in 1860 but returned to service until 1877. Nine crew of the second boat, Friend to all Nations, died in the storm of 1897, but the boat survived both that and being lost while under tow the following year. A memorial to the nine men stands on the Margate seafront. A third boat was built in 1899 but by then surfboats powered by oar and sail had been largely superseded by lifeboats. The third boat served as a tender at Chatham during the Second World War and was lost off Ostend in 1957. All three were built by J. Samuel White of Cowes. Friend of all Nations After the dramatic rescue in January 1857 of the crew of the Northern Belle in which the Margate lugger Victory was lost with all hands, 50 boatmen decided to establish a dedicated surfboat service for maritime rescue. This first boat, the Friend of all Nations could be launched by four men without the need of horses and entered service in November 1857. She was almost wrecked on 13 February 1860 attempting to rescue the crew of the Spanish brig Samaritano, which, at about 5.30am, ran onto the Margate Sands in a squall. The alarm was sounded at daybreak by the lugger Eclipse, which sent eight men onto the brig, in the hope that she could be refloated at high tide. However the gale returned and they soon gave up hope of saving the ship. The small Margate boat was launched, but in their haste they did not secure their buoyancy tanks and were driven ashore, barely afloat, in Westgate Bay. Then the Friend of all Nations was launched but it too was overpowered by the storm and was driven onshore about a mile west of Margate. Eventually all those on the remains of the Samaritano were rescued by the Ramsgate lifeboat. The Friend was repaired and returned to service. She capsized during a rescue in January 1866 and her crew spent 85 minutes in the winter seas before they were rescued. She saved the lives of 38 men from 6 ships in