Oct. 21st. Festival service to commemorate the partial restoration of St. Nicholas’ Church, which was thrown open for the first time for 200 years—the time of Cromwell, 1649.
Nov. 15th. The Rev. G. Firth, five years and four months pastor of the Independent Chapel, Gorleston, presented with an electro-plated tea service, as a mark of esteem, by his friends, previous to his leaving Gorleston.
Nov. 24th and following nights, very heavy gales. Six vessels out of several hundreds then lying in the Roadstead were driven ashore, and 10 lives lost off the coast. The barque “Sea Serpent” came ashore 20 yards off the Wellington Pier. Through the exertions of Capt. Bevon and Mr. J. M. Petts, ten men were brought ashore in the cradle of Manby’s apparatus. The s.s. “William Hull,” laden with 600 tons of coal, foundered in St. Nicholas’ Gat, and her crew of 16 hands all perished, except one. At Gorleston 23 sailors were saved by the beachmen and Manby’s apparatus.
Dec. 7th. A crew of 13 hands gallantly rescued by the Yarmouth lifeboat from the Austrian brig “Zornizza,” which foundered on Scroby Sands. The National Lifeboat Institution sent the beachmen £25, and they also received an acknowledgment of thanks from the Austrian Government.
Dec. 15th. The Haven Bill adopted by the Town Council.
St. Nicholas’ Churchyard contained 3,847 gravestones.
Deaths: Jan. 17th, Wm. Briggs, Esq., J.P., aged 63.—May 7th, Lieut.-Colonel C. S. Naylor, at Bognor, aged 75.—May 21st, John Brightwen, Esq., partner in Gurney’s banking firm, died at Thorpe, near Norwich, aged 81.—July 23rd, George W. Steward, Esq., M.B., M.A., second son of the Rev. G. W. Steward, Incumbent of Caister, aged 28.—Oct. 19th, the Rev. Mark Waters, Incumbent of St. George’s Chapel, aged 57.—Nov. 10th, Capt. Barry Haines, R.N.—Nov. 11th, Rev. E. B. Frere, M.A., aged 82.
1865.
Jan. 8th. Hopton Church destroyed by fire. On Sept. 27th, 1866, the new Church was consecrated by the Bishop of Norwich.
Jan. 11th. Mr. Robert Warner Durrell, organist of the Independent Chapel, Gorleston, presented with a splendid timepiece by the choir as a memento of their esteem; and on Jan. 11th, 1870, an easy chair.