The unpredicable North Sea has claimed a fortune in ships and cargo and a huge toll in loss of life. But for the bravery and determination of local people and the formation of the RNLI the scale and extent of such maritime tragedies would have been far greater. Chronicled within this publication are the events surrounding some of the shipwrecks and details relating to the men who perfomed rescues from the Tees to the Tyne until early years of the last century.Places such as Seaton Carew, Hartlepool, Blackhall, Seaham, Sunderland, Tynemouth, Shield and Cullercoats formed the backdrop for both famous and long forgotten maritime disasters. The author has made special reference to recording the names of fatalities, including the loss of twenty lives from the SS Clavering, wrecked at the mouth of the Tees, its centenary commemorated in January 2007.