First stationed at Walmer in January 1857, the new 30 foot, ten oared lifeboat ROYAL THAMES YACHT CLUB, which cost 156, was launched on its first service to this barque, rescuing all 15 crew. The donors of the new lifeboat were so proud of this achievement that they added a further 10 to the 13 award made to the crew by the Institution. After the RELIANCE became a total wreck and was beginning to break up, a large quantity of her cargo and stores were salvaged. To ensure a fair valuation of the goods recovered, on which depended the payment which would be made by the owners to the boatmen, one of their number named Pearson, went to London on 8th February as their representative. Amongst the goods in the Customs warehouse were several chests of soap, each of which was opened and probed with a steel rod. One chest contained a small wooden box which on opening was found to conceal a badly decomposed human head in a canvas bag. No identification was possible. Crew: 15 Crew Lost: 0 Passengers: 0 Date of Loss Qualifier: R Additional sources cited in United Kingdom Shipwreck Index. RCSG.10.02.1857(R); Walmer RNLI.Records

<1> United Kingdom shipwreck index, Page Nos. N/a (Bibliographic reference). SKE6340.