# 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 nautical miles (48 km; 30 mi) 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

## Scarborough Lifeboats
### All-weather lifeboats

| ON | Op. No. | Name | In service | Class | Comments |
| – | – | Unknown | 1801–1823 | | |
| – | – | Unknown | 1823–1852 | | |
| – | – | Unnamed | 1852–1861 | 25-foot Self-righting (P&S) | This was the first self-righting lifeboat to serve at Scarborough. |
| – | – | Amelia | 1861 | 32-foot Self-righting (P&S) | The Amelia was the first boat used when the RNLI assumed control of Scarborough Lifeboat Station. She was wrecked in the storm of 1861. |
| – | – | The Mary | 1861–1872 | 29-foot 5in Self-righting (P&S) | |
| – | – | Lady Leigh | 1872–1887 | 35-foot Self-righting (P&S) | A gift from the Freemasons of Warwickshire. |
| 111 | – | Queensbury | 1887–1895 | 37-foot Self-righting (P&S) | A gift from Herbert Foster of Queensbury in West Yorkshire. |
| 6 | – | Queensbury (II) | 1895–1901 | 34-foot 4in Self-righting (P&S) | |
| 344 | – | Edward and Lucille | 1901–1902 | 34-foot Self-righting (P&S) | |
| 484 | – | Queensbury (III) | 1902–1918 | 35-foot Self-righting (P&S) | |
| 574 | – | Reserve No.6E | 1918–1924 | 35-foot Self-righting (P&S) | Previously Brothers Brickwood at Brighstone Grange |
| 683 | – | Herbert Joy | 1924–1931 | 35-foot Self-righting (Single Motor) | This was the first motor boat to serve at Scarborough Donated by Alex Joy and named after his brother who drowned in the bay at Scarborough. |
| 742 | – | Herbert Joy II | 1931–1951 | 35ft 6in Self-righting motor | |
| 879 | – | ECJR | 1951–1956 | 35ft 6in Self-righting motor | |
| 792 | – | Annie, Ronald and Isabella Forrest | 1956–1958 | Liverpool | |
| 942 | 37-01 | JG Graves of Sheffield | 1958–1978 | Oakley | The prototype Oakley Class lifeboat. |
| 979 | 37-12 | Amelia II | 1978–1991 | Oakley | |
| 977 | 37-10 | Charles Fred Grantham | 1990–1991 | Oakley | (Relief fleet) |
| 1175 | 12-18 | Fanny Victoria Wilkinson and Frank Stubbs | 1991–2016 | Mersey | Sold to the Chilean rescue service in 2018 and works out of Valparaíso, 75 miles (121 km) to the north west of the capital, Santiago. |
| 1322 | 13-15 | Frederick William Plaxton | 2016– | Shannon | Officially unveiled by the Duke of Kent in April 2017 |

### Inshore lifeboats

| Op. No. | Name | In service | Class |
| D-68 | Unnamed | 1965 | D-class (Dunlop) |
| D-85 | Unnamed | 1966–1967 | D-class (RFD PB16) |
| D-20 | Unnamed | 1967 | D-class (RFD PB16) |
| D-40 | Unnamed | 1968–1969 | D-class (RFD PB16) |
| D-183 | The Young People of Scarborough | 1970–1984 | D-class (RFD PB16) |
| D-304 | Unnamed | 1984–1992 | D-class (RFD PB16) |
| D-434 | John Wesley Hillard | 1992–2001 | D-class (EA16) |
| D-560 | John Wesley Hillard II | 2001–2009 | D-class (EA16) |
| D-724 | John Wesley Hillard III | 2009–2021 | D-class (IB1) |
| D-856 | John Wesley Hillard IV | 2021– | D-class (IB1) |

### Launch and recovery tractors

| Op. No. | Reg. No. | Type | In service | Comments |
| T5 | IJ 3424 | Clayton | 1947–1950 | |
| T25 | UW 3881 | FWD Ltd | 1949–1955 | |
| T42 | JXR 933 | Case LA | 1955–1958 | |
| T64 | PXF 575 | Fowler Challenger III | 1958–1967 | |
| T62 | PLA 698 | Fowler Challenger III | 1967–1976 | |
| T61 | PLA 561 | Fowler Challenger III | 1976–1984 | |
| T63 | PXF 163 | Fowler Challenger III | 1984–1988 | |
| T106 | F760 BUJ | Talus MB-H Crawler | 1988–2001 | |
| T103 | E589 WAW | Talus MB-H Crawler | 2001–2015 | |
| SC-T10 | HF65 HPJ | SLARS (Clayton) | 2016– | The Cairns |
* ↑ ON is the RNLI's Official Number of the boat.
* 1 2 3 Op. No. is the RNLI's Operational Number of the boat carried on the hull.