Local MP Sheryll Murray was invited on Saturday to celebrate a new relationship which has been forged between Looe and the town of Marathon on the Florida Keys in the United States.
When local historians researched vessels which bore the town’s name they found that several vessels had been named HMS Looe. Amongst them was a 44-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She grounded when she hit a reef on Looe Key (named after the ship) off the coast of Florida on 5 February 1744, during a war with Spain. The wreckage of the ship forms part of the Looe Key National Marine Sanctuary in the Florida Keys.
A plaque was presented to the crew of the RNLI lift station in Looe as an act of friendship from the United States Coast Guard station in Marathon and it reads “from your brothers and sisters from across the sea.”
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For further information please contact Sheryll’s office on 01579 344428.
Pictured: Sheryll Murray MP with representatives of the local coastguard and RNLI at the unveiling of the plaque.