Scarborough Lifeboat Station

Scarborough Lifeboat Station is a Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) operated lifeboat station in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England. A lifeboat was established at Scarborough in 1801, which makes it the third oldest lifeboat station in the United Kingdom (after Montrose and Sunderland).

Since its opening in 1801 to the present day, a total of 16 crewmen have been lost whilst attempting rescues from the Scarborough lifeboat. In 2016, a new station was opened on the site of the previous one. This houses two lifeboats; 13-15 Frederick William Plaxton (ON1322), a Shannon-class lifeboat and the John Wesley Hillard IV (D-856), an Inshore D-class lifeboat.

History
The first lifeboat in Scarborough was instituted by public donation costing just over £212 and saw its first launch in November 1801, when it went to the aid of a stricken vessel named Aurora in Scarborough Bay. The first boat was actually built in Scarborough to a design by Henry Greathead, who had designed and built a boat for Whitby and Redcar lifeboat stations. A replacement boat was built and supplied to the rescue crews in the town in 1823. The first lifeboat station was at the junction of Foreshore Road and Valley Road in the town. In 1821, the station was relocated near to its present site by the West Pier in the harbour, however it was on the landward side of Foreshore Road.

To aid with fundraising, two cast iron pillar collection boxes were erected in the early 1870s, one at the Old Cliff, just down from the Grand Hotel, next to the gates to the Spa Bridge, and a second one outside the Crown Hotel on the Esplanade.

In 1914, the Scarborough Lifeboat Queensbury was despatched to assist in the rescue of the SS Rohilla off the coast at Whitby. Like many other lifeboats used in the rescue, she couldn't get near to the Rohilla because of the swell.

In 1940, a new lifeboat station was built next to the West Pier; the old lifeboat house was later converted into an amusement arcade on the seafront. The 1940 lifeboathouse had to be adapted for the larger Fanny Victoria Wilkinson and Frank Stubbs in 1991, which involved widening and heightening the door.

A new lifeboat station was opened in 2016, which had been designed by the York architectural firm of Brierley Groom. Approval for the new £3 million building was granted by the Borough Council in 2014.

In 2018, the coxswain of the crew was dismissed; the RNLI released a statement that he had organised an operational training exercise without proper authority. The former coxswain stated that he had "the blessing and clearance of the lifeboat operations manager and several others". After a groundswell of support for the sacked individual, the RNLI later released a further statement detailing their decision to stand down the coxswain citing the lack of trained professionals on the boat when she was put to sea in rough weather.

Notable launches

 * 17 February 1836 – The crew launched to help a sloop named John as it was trying to enter the harbour area at Scarborough to shelter from the storm. As the lifeboat came close to the sloop, it capsized and ten of her crew were washed out to sea on a strong ebb tide. One crew member managed to get back onto the boat and three others were underneath the boat, having secured themselves to the boat to prevent the same fate that had befallen ten of their comrades. The three used the conduiting pipes (used to drain seawater out of the boat) set into the boat to allow them to breathe. A human chain was formed of spectators who eventually managed to rescue the four men from the sea.
 * 2 November 1861 – the crew launched their new life boat Amelia after a storm besieged the east coast. Many ships were trying to make port in Scarborough, and one, the Coupland, missed the harbour entrance and was being dashed against the rocks in the South Bay (where the Spa Theatre is). In the attempted rescue, two of the lifeboatmen died, with a further 22 people dying in the sea, including three who were spectators on the shore but waded into the water to help and were drowned.
 * 9 December 1951 – the Dutch vessel Westkust ran into trouble some 26 nmi off the coast of Scarborough. The ECJR was launched at 11:30 am, but due to the heavy seas, she took over seven hours to reach the Westkust. As the lifeboat came alongside the sinking ship, two of the lifeboatmen jumped onto the Westkust to assess the situation, whilst the crew of the Westkust got into the lifeboat. As the two craft were side by side, they were being buffeted together and apart by the strong swell of the sea. One of the lifeboatmen managed to jump back into the lifeboat, but as the second tried, a freak wave wrenched the two ships apart, leaving him clinging to the rails of the Westkust. The swell then pushed the two boats together and crushed the lifeboatman between them. He fell into the lifeboat with a crushed pelvis and by the time they reached the port of Bridlington, he had died.
 * 8 December 1954 – whilst escorting ships into harbour during a storm, the lifeboat overturned in the South Bay at Scarborough. Three crew members died.

Station honours
The following are awards made at Scarborough


 * RNLI Silver Medal
 * James Fowler, Master Mariner – 1824
 * Smith Tindall, Master Mariner – 1824


 * Thomas Clayburn, Coxswain – 1828


 * Henry Wyrill, Boatman – 1857


 * Lord Charles Beauclerk – 1861 (post.)
 * William Tindall – 1861 (post.)
 * John Iles – 1861 (post.)
 * Michael Hick – 1861
 * Joseph Rutter – 1861
 * Oliver Sarony – 1861


 * John Owston, Coxswain – 1880


 * William Sheader, Coxswain – 1970


 * RNLI Bronze Medal
 * John Nicholas Sheader, Coxswain – 1952
 * Thomas Jenkinson Mainprize, Assistant Motor Mechanic – 1952
 * Frank Dalton, Bowman – 1952 (post.)


 * Thomas Rowley, Acting Coxswain – 1973


 * Rudi Barman, Helmsman – 2015


 * The Maud Smith Award 1969 (for the bravest act of lifesaving during the year by a member of a lifeboat crew) awarded jointly to:
 * William Sheader, Coxswain of Scarborough Lifeboat – 1970
 * (and Eric Offer, Coxswain of Dun Laoghaire Lifeboat – 1970)


 * The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum
 * The Scarborough Lifeboat Crew – 1970


 * Richard Constantine, Coxswain/Mechanic – 1994


 * A Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution
 * Each member of the Scarborough Lifeboat crew – 1966


 * C. J. Bean, – 1968
 * R. Swalwell – 1968


 * Paul Stonehouse, Helmsman – 1995


 * Craig Burnett, crew member, 2015
 * Adam Beston, crew member – 2015


 * Letters of thanks from the Operations Director
 * Dr Peter Billingsley – 2015
 * Jason Hedges – 2015


 * Two silver mounted pipes presented by King Edward VII, then Prince of Wales
 * John Owston, Coxswain – 1902


 * Member, Order of the British Empire (MBE)
 * Stuart Edwin Ogden, Coxswain – 1994


 * Richard Francis Constantine, Former Coxswain/Mechanic – 2003


 * British Empire Medal
 * Donna Loveland – 2020


 * John Percy Porter, Visits Officer, Water Safety Advisor and Fundraiser – 2024KBH