# Criccieth Lifeboat Station

Criccieth Lifeboat Station is the base for Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) search and rescue operations at Criccieth in Gwynedd, Wales. It was opened in 1853 but was known as Portmadoc Lifeboat Station until 1892. It operates B-class (Atlantic 85) and Arancia-class lifeboats.

## History

The Portmadoc Lifeboat Station was opened by the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners’ Royal Benevolent Society (SFMRBS) in 1853. All SFMRBS lifeboats were handed over to the RNLI in 1854 but it was decided to provide it with a new lifeboat. The station was renamed as Criccieth in 1892. The original building is still in use but has been rebuilt and improved on several occasions, the first time in 1892 and most recently in 2018.
Early lifeboats were known as 'pulling and sailing', which means they were rowed by the crews but had sails for when conditions allowed. The lifeboat was wrecked in October 1910 when it was on a service. A temporary replacement came from the Reserve Fleet but that too was damaged on another service within a month and so another had to be provided from the reserve. A new lifeboat was built and arrived on station in September 1911.
The Criccieth lifeboat station was closed in 1931, when a motor lifeboat was stationed at Pwllheli, but was reopened in 1953 with its own motor lifeboat, following a disaster in 1951. Due to silting of the harbour entrance, the Pwllheli lifeboat couldn't get out at dead-low water, and on 3 September 1951, a school master and 4 boys were drowned when their boat Dorothy capsized, and the Pwllheli lifeboat couldn't attend. The Pwllheli lifeboat was subsequently replaced with a smaller carriage-launched boat, housed in the 1891 boathouse, which could then be launched off the beach.
The RNLI started to provide Inshore Lifeboats (ILBs) in the 1960s and one was sent to Criccieth for evaluation in 1967. It proved successful so the old All-weather lifeboat was withdrawn in 1968 and ILBs have been successfully used ever since. On 1 September 1977 it went to the aid of a yacht that was aground on Portmadoc Bar in rough seas and a strong wind. The ILB helmsman, John Owen, and crew members Robert Williams and Kenneth Roberts were presented with 'The Institution's thanks inscribed on Vellum' for the difficult service in which they rescued all four people from the yacht.
Starting in 1983, larger and faster ILBs have been stationed at Criccieth, but since 2009 there has also been a smaller inshore rescue boat of the type more usually used by beach lifeguards. It can get into shallower parts of the Glaslyn and Dwyryd estuaries than the larger boats can reach.

## Criccieth lifeboats

* Doris Joan (2007–2023)
| At Criccieth | ON | Name | Built | Class | Comments |
| 1853–1854 | — | Dauntless | 1853 | Self-righter | SFMRBS lifeboat. |
| 1854–1867 | — | — | 1853 | Peake | |
| 1867–1886 | — | John Ashbury | 1867 | Self-Righter | |
| 1886–1910 | 65 | Caroline | 1886 | Self-Righter | |
| 1910 | 275 | James and Caroline | 1889 | Self-Righter | Originally stationed at St Agnes. |
| 1910–1911 | 348 | Jane Hannah MacDonald | 1893 | Standard Self-Righter | Originally stationed at Clovelly and Appledore where it was named Elinor Roget. |
| 1911–1931 | 624 | Phillip Woolley | 1911 | Rubie | Sold in 1935 and rebuilt as a yacht. |
| 1953–1961 | 794 | Richard Silver Oliver | 1937 | Liverpool | Motor lifeboat, previously stationed at Cullercoats, Newquay and Ilfracombe. Sold in 1963 for further use as a lifeboat in Chile. |
| 1961–1968 | 874 | Robert Lindsay | 1950 | Liverpool | Motor lifeboat, previously stationed at Arbroath and Girvan. Awaiting restoration at Stiffkey, Norfolk |

### Inshore lifeboats

| At Criccieth | Op. No. | Name | Class | Model | Comments |
| 1967–1971 | D-117 | — | D | RFD PB16 | |
| 1972–1974 | D-207 | — | D | Zodiac III | |
| 1974–1980 | D-140 | — | D | RFD PB16 | First stationed at Aberystwyth in 1967. |
| 1980–1983 | D-272 | — | D | Zodiac III | |
| 1983–1991 | C-510 | — | C | Zodiac Grand Raid IV | Initially numbered D-510. |
| 1991–1993 | C-523 | British Diver IV | C | Zodiac Grand Raid IV | Initially deployed in the relief fleet in 1990. |
| 1993 | C-513 | Sebag of Jersey | C | Zodiac Grand Raid IV | First stationed at St Catherine in 1984. |
| 1993–1994 | B-531 | Foresters | B | Atlantic 21 | First stationed at Great Yarmouth and Gorleston in 1975. |
| 1994–2007 | B-707 | Mercurius | B | Atlantic 75 | |
| 2007–2023 | B-823 | Doris Joan | B | Atlantic 85 | |
| 2009–2010 | A-70 | — | A | Arancia | |
| 2010–2011 | A-73 | — | A | Arancia | |
| 2011– | A-76 | Margaret and Nantw | A | Arancia | |
| 2023– | B-938 | Frank Townley | B | Atlantic 85 | |