Remembering Amble stories from WW1
Zeppelin over Coquet Island
In 2014, in commemoration of the centenary of the beginning of the First World War, the Amble GPX group created a video interview. The video, which is available to view on YouTube, was with John Scott, a retired journalist, reflecting on the story his mother, Helen Scott, used to tell him about being stuck on Coquet Island when a zeppelin flew over the lighthouse. Helen’s father worked on Coquet Lighthouse during WW1, and it seems on March 13th, 1918, a German zeppelin got lost over the North Sea, potentially on the way to Hartlepool, and stopped over Coquet Island to gather its bearings.
As one of the people involved in the initial project, it seems quite appropriate to look back at it, especially as four years later we are commemorating the 100 year anniversary of the Armistice, the end to World War 1. To think that so close to Amble, just at Coquet Island, a Zeppelin once hovered over is unbelievable.
Helen’s own version of events was told in Flash Magazine in 1988, where she explained that her father recognised the noise of the motors and told her to ‘don’t speak, just crouch’, whereupon a man was lowered from the airship and then lifted back up.
If you would like to watch the video, you can access it from the YouTube page ‘AnnaAtTheAmbler’ by searching for ‘Zeppelin Over Coquet Island’.
Louise Brook
