# Galway Lifeboat Station

Galway Lifeboat Station is located on New Docks, in the Port of Galway, County Galway, Ireland, established at Galway in 1996 by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).
The station currently operates the B-class (Atlantic 85) Inshore lifeboat, Binny (B-853), on station since 2011.

## History

In a violent storm of 20 November 1830, the brig Lillies was wrecked on Black Rock, near Galway. After several attempts to rescue the men failed, H.M. Coastguard boatman Bartholomew Hynes, with a crew of nine fishermen, managed to save four of the crew.
On 7 February 1847, H.M. Coastguard Chief Boatman James McKenzie saved one man from the rigging, when the vessel Sea Horse was driven ashore at Galway.
The Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNIPLS), later to become the RNLI in 1854, would award medals for deeds of gallantry at sea, even if no lifeboats were involved. Bartholomew Hynes and James McKenzie were each awarded the RNIPLS Silver Medal.
It would be another 80 years before Galway Bay Lifeboat Station was established in 1927, on the Aran Islands, at the entrance to Galway Bay, and a further 69 years, before a lifeboat station was established at Galway.
In 1996, with the RNLI looking to increase lifeboat coverage on the west coast of Ireland, and an increased number of incidents in the Galway Bay area, it was decided to establish a station on New Docks (road), in Galway Docks, for a one-year evaluation period. A succession of temporary B-class (Atlantic 21) lifeboats were sent to the station, the first being Foresters (B-531). Temporary crew facilities were provided, but with no boathouse, the lifeboat was kept at the workplace of the station's secretary, able to be towed to a variety of launch sites. With no slipway available at the base location, a davit was installed, to lower the lifeboat into the water.
Following the successful completion of the evaluation period, the station becoming one of the busiest in Ireland in that first year, it was agreed that a permanent station was necessary. Plans were submitted for the construction of a boathouse on the revetment next to the davit, which were approved. Work began in February 1997, and the station was completed in the September of the same year.
On 3 September 1997, the station received their permanent B-class (Atlantic 75) Inshore lifeboat. The cost of the lifeboat, £75,000, was raised locally, and a further £75,000 was donated to the station. At a naming ceremony on Saturday 4 October 1997, the lifeboat was named Dochas (B-738), after a competition in the local media. 'Dochas' is an old Irish word for 'Hope'.
Dochas (B-738) was withdrawn from service in 2010, and for a short time was replaced by the relief lifeboat Miss Miriam and Miss Nellie Garbutt (B-757).
In 2011, the boathouse was refurbished, and the davit was replaced with a more powerful version, now allowing the crew to be lifted with the lifeboat. A new larger B-class (Atlantic 85) was placed on service. At a naming ceremony on Saturday 6 October 2012, the €244,000 lifeboat, funded by Audrey Lydia Finch of Devon, was named Binny (B-853), in memory of her first husband Jack 'Binny' Binstead. Between arriving on station in 2011, and the naming ceremony, the lifeboat was launched 19 times, and had brought 10 people to safety.

## Station honours

The following are awards made at Galway.
* RNIPLS Silver Medal
       Bartholomew Hynes, Boatman, H.M. Coastguard - 1830
       James McKenzie, Chief Boatman, H.M. Coastguard - 1847

## Galway lifeboats

| Op. No. | Name | In service | Class |
| B-531 | Foresters | 1996 | B-class (Atlantic 21) |
| B-533 | Unnamed | 1996 | B-class (Atlantic 21) |
| B-590 | Wolverson X-Ray | 1996–1997 | B-class (Atlantic 21) |
| B-738 | Dochas | 1997–2010 | B-class (Atlantic 75) |
| B-757 | Miss Miriam and Miss Nellie Garbutt | 2010–2011 | B-class (Atlantic 75) |
| B-853 | Binny | 2011– | B-class (Atlantic 85) |
* ↑ Op. No. is the RNLI's Operational Number of the boat carried on the hull.