Ramsgate Lifeboat Station

Ramsgate Lifeboat Station is a Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) station located in the Port of Ramsgate in the English county of Kent. The station is one of the oldest to operate in the British Isles and has launched to many notable services. Among the awards won by its crews over the years are 42 RNLI medals, including 2 gold, 39 silver and 1 bronze, the last being awarded in 2000.

History
A lifeboat station was first established at Ramsgate Harbour in 1802 by the trustees of the harbour, pre dating the formation of any national lifeboat organisation by more than 20 years. After a lapse in service between 1824 and 1851 a station was re-established by the trustees.

In 1865, the lifeboat station was taken over by the Board of Trade and the RNLI, who ran it jointly until 1922, when the RNLI it took over full responsibility, and who run the service to this day.

The current lifeboat station, on the harbour wall between the inner and outer pools of the main harbour, opened in 1998, and services both an inshore lifeboat, the D-class Claire & David Delves (B-878) and offshore Tamar-class lifeboat, the RNLB 16-23 Diamond Jubilee (ON 1303).

RNLI 16-23 Diamond Jubilee (ON 1303)

Dunkirk evacuation
During the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk in 1940, Lifeboat Prudential, of Ramsgate was the first little ship to the rescue. The lifeboat left Ramsgate at 2.20 in the afternoon with Coxswain Howard Primrose Knight in command with her own crew of eight men. They had been issued with gas masks, steel helmets and the lifeboat was loaded with four coils of grass warp and cans of fresh water for the troops. She took in tow eight boats, most of them wherries, manned by eighteen naval men, and when she reached Dunkirk her role was to tow the wherries between the beaches and the waiting ships. In total she rescued 2,800 troops from the beaches. For his 'gallantry and determination,' Coxswain Howard Knight was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.

Station Honours
The following are awards made at Ramsgate


 * Distinguished Service Medal
 * Howard Primrose Cooper Knight, Coxswain - 1940


 * Gold Medal
 * Charles Fish, Coxswain - 1881


 * Charles Fish, Coxswain - 1891 (Second Service Award)


 * Silver Medal
 * William Miller - 1826


 * Captain Edward Gimar - 1829


 * James Hogbin, Coxswain - 1857


 * Isaac Jarman, Coxswain - 1864


 * Isaac Jarman, Coxswain - 1870 (Second Service Award)


 * Charles Fish, Bowman - 1870


 * Mr Daniel Reading, Master of Ramsgate Harbour Steam Tug - 1872


 * James Simpson - 1874
 * William Wharrier - 1874
 * (mate and engineer respectively of the Ramsgate Harbour Tug)


 * Richard Goldsmith, crew member - 1881
 * Henry Belsey, crew member - 1881
 * David Berry, crew member - 1881
 * Thomas Cooper Snr. crew member - 1881
 * Thomas Cooper Jnr. crew member - 1881
 * Thomas Friend, crew member - 1881
 * John Goldmith, crew member - 1881
 * Stephen Goldsmith, crew member - 1881
 * Henry Meader, crew member - 1881
 * Robert Penney, crew member - 1881
 * Charles Vernon, crew member - 1881


 * Alfred Page, Master - 1881
 * William Wharrier, crew member - 1881 (Second Service Award)
 * William Austen, crew member - 1881
 * Charles Knight, crew member - 1881
 * Edward Revell, crew member - 1881
 * George Woodward, crew member - 1881
 * Richard Yare, crew member - 1881
 * (Master and crew of the tug Vulcan)


 * William Wharrier, engineer, of the Ramsgate Harbour Tug - 1890 (Third Service Award)


 * Alfred Page, Tug Master - 1892 (Second Service Award)


 * Thomas James Watson - 1892
 * William Burton - 1892
 * Edwin Hurle - 1892
 * Arthur E Fisher - 1892 (the crew of the smack Britain's Pride of Ramsgate)


 * Alfred Page, Tug Master - 1898 (Third Service Award)


 * John Hawkins - 1906


 * William Cooper, Coxswain - 1916
 * Thomas W Read, Second Coxswain - 1916


 * Ronald N Cannon, Coxswain/Mechanic - 1986


 * Ronald N Cannon, Coxswain/Mechanic - 2000 (Second Service Award)


 * Bronze Medal
 * Douglas S Kirkaldie. Coxswain - 1952


 * Royal Harbour Ramsgate (Indian Chief) Medal for Conspicuous Gallantry
 * Charles Fish, Coxswain - 1881
 * Richard Goldsmith, crew member - 1881
 * Henry Belsey, crew member - 1881
 * David Berry, crew member - 1881
 * Thomas Cooper Snr. crew member - 1881
 * Thomas Cooper Jnr. crew member - 1881
 * Thomas Friend, crew member - 1881
 * John Goldmith, crew member - 1881
 * Stephen Goldsmith, crew member - 1881
 * Henry Meader, crew member - 1881
 * Robert Penney, crew member - 1881
 * Charles Vernon, crew member - 1881


 * Alfred Page, Master - 1881
 * William Wharrier, crew member - 1881
 * William Austen, crew member - 1881
 * Charles Knight, crew member - 1881
 * Edward Revell, crew member - 1881
 * George Woodward, crew member - 1881
 * Richard Yare, crew member - 1881 (Master and crew of the tug Vulcan)


 * The Maud Smith Award 1952 (for the bravest act of lifesaving during the year by a member of a lifeboat crew)
 * Douglas S Kirkaldie. Coxswain - 1952


 * The Maud Smith Award 1985 (for the bravest act of lifesaving during the year by a member of a lifeboat crew)
 * Ronald N Cannon, Coxswain/Mechanic - 1986


 * The Maud Smith Award 1999 (for the bravest act of lifesaving during the year by a member of a lifeboat crew)
 * Ronald N Cannon, Coxswain/Mechanic - 2000


 * The Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners Royal Benevolent Society Lady Swaythling Trophy
 * Ronald N Cannon, Coxswain/Mechanic - 2000


 * James Michael Bower Endowment Fund Award 1999 as one of the two Silver Medal awardees of 1999
 * Ronald N Cannon, Coxswain/Mechanic -2000


 * The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum
 * Thomas J H Cooper, Coxswain - 1968


 * Michael Petts, crew member - 1975
 * Timothy Hurst, crew member - 1975


 * Malcolm H R Llewellyn - 1980
 * Bryan L E Morgan - 1980 (Coxswain and Launch Seaman of the Trinity House Pilot Vessel Versatile)


 * Timothy E Hurst, Helmsman - 1985


 * Timothy Hurst, Emergency Mechanic - 2000
 * Lance Oran, crew member - 2000


 * A Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution
 * R Cannon, Coxswain/Mechanic - 1983
 * D Pegden, Second Coxswain/Assistant Mechanic - 1983
 * D Cooper, Emergency Mechanic - 1983
 * W Blay, crew member - 1983
 * T Brown, crew member - 1983
 * T Hurst, crew member - 1983


 * Ronald N Cannon, Coxswain/Mechanic - 1984
 * D Pegden, 2nd Coxswain/Assistant Mechanic - 1984
 * T Hurst, crew member - 1984
 * M Mett, crew member - 1984
 * N Stephens, crew member - 1984
 * R Noble, crew member - 1984


 * Timothy Hurst, crew member - 1984


 * Ronald N Cannon, Coxswain/Mechanic - 2000


 * Christopher Andrews, Helmsman - 2008
 * Harvey Cole, crew member - 2008
 * John Rabbatts, crew member - 2008


 * Awarded by the Prudential Assurance Company donors of the lifeboat, in recognition of the Dunkirk service Inscribed Silver Plaques
 * Coxswain and Crew - 1940


 * Member, Order of the British Empire (MBE)
 * Ronald N Cannon, Retired Coxswain/Mechanic - 2017


 * Awarded by The King of Denmark Silver Medal
 * Coxswain W Cooper - 1911
 * The Master of the Tug Aid - 1911


 * Awarded by The President of the United States of America
 * Gold watch to the Coxswain- 1919
 * Binoculars to the Second Coxswain - 1919
 * Gold Medals to the Lifeboat Crew - 1919