Holyhead Lifeboat Station

Holyhead Lifeboat Station (Welsh: Gorsaf Bad Achub Caergybi) is a Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) lifeboat station in the coastal town of Holyhead, Anglesey, Wales. It is one of the three oldest lifeboat stations situated on the North Wales coast, a disused building of which houses the Holyhead Maritime Museum.

Location shown on Anglesey, Gwynedd
General information
TypeRNLI Lifeboat Station
LocationAnglesey
CountryWales, United Kingdom
Coordinates53.318°N 4.642°W / 53.318; -4.642
Opened1828
OwnerRoyal National Lifeboat Institution

History
Holyhead Lifeboat 1950 until 1980 Barnett Class ON884 St Cybi (CS No 9) at Chatham

Holyhead Lifeboat Station was first mentioned in 1825 when it was decided a lifeboat would be built for the coastal town of Holyhead. A local committee was formed three years later and the first lifeboat arrived at the station shortly afterwards.[1] The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) took over control of the station in 1855 and an lifeboat house was built three years later. The station covered the shipping lane in and out of Liverpool. In 1890 Holyhead Lifeboat Station received its first steam lifeboat, which was one of six to serve in the RNLI. The lifeboat was involved in an operation to rescue crewmembers of the SS Harold in 1908 which anchored near rocks between North Stack and South Stack. It was retired in 1928 when it was replaced by a motor-powered lifeboat and twenty-one years later a new boathouse and slipway were constructed on Salt Island.[2] The boathouse and slipway were used until 1980, when a new Arun-class boat was allocated to the station and kept afloat in the harbour. Unfortunately, wash from the ferry traffic led to the boat's GRP hull being damaged, and as a temporary measure a steel-hulled Waveney-class boat was placed on station while the boathouse and slipway were reconditioned and a new Tyne-class boat was constructed for the station. The new boat entered service in 1985, and slipway launching continued until 1997 when a new, more protected, berth was found for an Arun-class boat to take over, to be replaced in 2003 by the present Severn class.

An inshore lifeboat station was established on the site in 1967. The boathouse was expanded in 1987 to fit a D-class lifeboat (EA16) and its launching trolley. Its current inshore boat, the D-791 Mary & Archie Hooper, entered service in 2016; the current all-weather boat that serves the station, the Severn-class ON 1272 Christopher Pearce, was first used in 2003.[2] Lead was stolen from the station's roof in the morning of 16 June 2011.[3] In February 2015 the station appointed its first female helm.[4]

Fleet

All Weather Boats
Dates in service Class ON Op. No. Name
1929–1950 Barnett-class ON 717 A.E.D.
1950–1980 Barnett-class ON 884 St.Cybi (Civil Service No. 9)
1980–1983 Arun-class ON 1086 52-15 Hyman Winstone
1984–1985 Waveney-class ON 1003 44-004 Faithful Forrester
1985–1997 Tyne-class ON 1095 47-004 St.Cybi II (Civil Service No. 40)
1998–2003 Arun-class ON 1123 52-37 Kenneth Thelwall
2003–present Severn-class ON 1272 17–41 Christopher Pearce

Inshore lifeboats
Dates in service Class Op. No. Name
1967–1976 D-class (RFD PB16) D-116 unnamed
1976–1988 D-class (Zodiac III) D-249 Caribbean I
1988–1996 D-class (EA16) D-358 unnamed
1996–2005 D-class (EA16) D-507 Spirit of Bedworth and Nuneaton
2005–2016 D-class (IB1) D-654 Angel of Holyhead
2016–present D-class (IB1) D-791 Mary & Archie Hooper

References
  1. "About". Holyhead Lifeboat Station. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  2. "Holyhead lifeboat station". History Points. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  3. "Thieves steal lead from Holyhead lifeboat station". North Wales Chronicle. 17 June 2011. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  4. Wyn-Williams, Gareth (19 February 2015). "Holyhead RNLI gets its first female helm in almost 200 years". Daily Post. Archived from the original on 19 January 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
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