The Story Behind the Song

On the night of 12 January 1899, the Lynmouth lifeboat Louisa couldn't launch from her own harbour — the sea was too wild, the shorefront already flooding. So her crew did something unprecedented: they hauled the ten-ton lifeboat thirteen miles overland, across Exmoor, to launch her instead from the calmer waters of Porlock Weir. It's one of the most remarkable rescues in the RNLI's history, and "13 Miles" is the song that carries it to a very different kind of audience.

Written by the London folk-punk band Skinny Lister for their 2023 album Shanty Punk, "13 Miles" is a modern composition rather than a traditional working shanty — but it borrows the working shanty's driving, call-and-response energy on purpose. An anvil beat runs through the track, mimicking the rhythm of a haul, while the chorus counts out the numbers of the night: the miles, the men, the horses. It's built less for quiet listening than for a room full of people stamping along.

The song has become genuinely woven into this stretch of coast. Skinny Lister performed it live at the Bottom Ship in Porlock Weir in January 2024, during celebrations marking the 125th anniversary of the original rescue, and the band's official video credits the Lynmouth Shanty Crew directly. The Crew also has its own original song about the same night, called simply Louisa — a different song, telling the same story from a different angle.

Lyrics

Reproduced with kind permission of Skinny Lister

Curse the squally weather

A vessel in distress

But we cannot launch from Lynmouth

There's a gale in from the west

So not to be defeated

Jack has an idea

To haul the lifeboat over land and

Launch at Porlock Weir

Chorus:

13 miles as hard as hell

80 men by the wayside fell

20 haulers tough as rock

With 18 horses

Pulling on, pushing on through to Porlock

Call every able body

And every stable horse

United for a moment

In a greater common cause

Now onward through the squally

There is no turning home

With tired arms and heavy legs all

Soaking to the bone

Chorus

Dig deep then dig again friends

We'll find the strength and will

To keep Louisa rolling

Up Countisbury hill

All 10 tonne and 10 metre

Her size you can't ignore

It must have been a sight to see her

Sail upon the moor

Chorus

Down with wall and gate post

To make way for the load

And with pick and shovel

We'll widen out the road

Miss Marlow in her cottage

Could not believe her eyes

A lifeboat in her garden well it

Came as some surprise

Chorus

At last we made the weir

Louisa hit the waves

Freed the Forrest Hall and all

Her 18 lives were saved

Well we recall it proudly

When a storm does blow and roar

The story of Louisa and the

Night she sailed the moor

Chorus (x2)

See The Original Song Here