Alnmouth Lifeboat Station

Alnmouth Lifeboat Station is a former Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) station, which was located at the village of Alnmouth, near the town of Alnwick, in the county of Northumberland.

A lifeboat was first stationed here by the RNLI in 1854. The station was closed in 1935.

History
In 1851, Algernon Percy, 4th Duke of Northumberland, of Alnwick Castle, had been appointed president of the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNIPLS). He set a competition for the design of a Self-righting lifeboat, with the reward of £100, which was won by James Beeching of Great Yarmouth.

Beeching presented a 22-foot version of his boat, named Lucy, to the Duchess of Northumberland, intended for personal use. A boathouse was built on Northumberland's land at Alnmouth, and the boat was delivered in September 1852. However, the boat was then used for lifeboat trials by Capt. John Ross Ward, RN, Inspector of Lifeboats. With a crew of local men, they rowed the boat through the surf, eventually managing to roll the vessel, pitching Capt. Ward into the sea. The boat performed as designed, righting itself, and Capt. Ward was quickly recovered. Many subsequent lifeboats would follow this design. For his efforts, Capt. Ward was awarded the Silver Medal.

With the boat and boathouse already in place, there was effectively a lifeboat station in Alnmouth from 1852. In 1854, the Duke of Northumberland formally transferred the lifeboat and boathouse to the (now renamed) RNLI, thus creating Alnmouth Lifeboat Station. The boat was sent to Forrestt of Limehouse for some modifications, returning in December 1854. A launch carriage was provided in 1856, and a larger boathouse was funded by the Duke and constructed in 1860.

Three further lifeboats would see service at Alnmouth. In 1865, the RNLI would order a 32-foot 10-oar pulling and sailing lifeboat (one with oars and sails) from Forrestt of Limehouse. A gift of £320 from Miss Wardell of Tunbridge Wells funded the boat, which was transported to Alnwick free of charge by the Great Northern and North Eastern Railway Companies, arriving in March 1865. The boat was named John Atkinson. In 1888, Alnmouth would receive Allen Scott (ON 171), a 34-foot 10-oar Self Righting (P&S) lifeboat costing £329, constructed by Woolfe of Shadwell, and funded from the legacy of Mr T. W. Allen of Newbury, Berkshire. Then in 1909, a 34-foot 10-oar Self-righting Dungeness-class lifeboat constructed by Thames Ironworks, provided by a gift from Miss Maria Mercer of Clayton-le-Moors in Lancashire, and named John and Robert C. Mercer (ON 591).

Alnmouth lifeboat station was closed in 1935. In 82 years service, the lifeboats would be launched only 19 times, and rescue 15 lives. The John and Robert C. Mercer (ON 591) was transferred to Newburgh, serving a further six years. Both the 1852 and 1860 boathouses remain, and are currently used by the Alnmouth Community Rowing Club.

Alnmouth lifeboats

 * Pre ON numbers are unofficial numbers used by the Lifeboat Enthusiast Society, to reference early lifeboats not included on the official RNLI list.