# Southport Lifeboat Station

The Southport Lifeboat Station, currently operated by the Southport Offshore Rescue Trust, is located in the Victorian seaside town of Southport, situated to the south of the River Ribble estuary, historically in the county of Lancashire, now Merseyside.
A lifeboat was first stationed at Southport by the Southport Lifeboat Society in 1812, but was removed from service by 1817 as it was deemed unsafe. A new boat was provided in 1840.
Management of the station was passed to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) on 2 August 1860. The station operated under the RNLI banner until 1925 when it was closed due to the silting up of the River Ribble. The Southport and St Anne's lifeboats disaster of 1886 occurred during that period.
Following loss of multiple lives along the coast at Southport during the 1980s, there were campaigns for a new lifeboat at Southport in 1987. A new independent lifeboat operated the Southport Offshore Rescue Trust began service in December 1988.

## History
### Southport Lifeboat Society 1812–1860

In 1812, the Southport Lifeboat Society was established, to provide a lifeboat for Southport, 12 years before the formation of the RNLI. A boat similar to those used by the Liverpool Dock Trustees is thought to have been used, but no specifications of the boat are available. A wooden boathouse was constructed to house the boat. There is only one record of service, on 10 September 1816, when two survivors of 11 crew were rescued from the brig Sutton of Dublin, on passage to Liverpool.
The boat was crewed by local fishermen, and apparently was not well liked. In 1817, the boat, carriage and boathouse were all sold at public auction, raising £30.
During this period, the Southport Marine Fund was established to provide financial rewards to local fishermen who assisted in the rescue of ships in distress.

### The Rescue 1840-1861

In 1840, Lloyd's agent Lt. H. G. Kellock, RN, recommended that a lifeboat once again be stationed at Southport. With the assistance of local businessman Caesar Lawson, £40 was raised. Further donations from Lloyds, and £50 from the Liverpool Dock Trustees and the Southport Marine Fund, a boat, of a design by Thomas Costain specifically for the shallow waters of the River Mersey, was ordered from Cato of Liverpool. Lt. Kellock was appointed Honorary Secretary, and the boat, named Rescue, was housed in a wooden boathouse opposite (what is now) Coronation Walk.
The first service of Rescue came on 26 October 1842, to the Liberty of Caernarfon, on passage from Poole to Liverpool. Driven ashore at Birkdale, the five crew were rescued.
Rescue would serve for 21 years. Service records are incomplete, but it is thought she was launched at least 25 times, rescuing 175 lives.

### RNLI 1860–1925

In 1860, discussions were held between the RNLI and the Southport Lifeboat Society, and it was agreed that the RNLI would take over management of the station. This usually involved some agreement for funds to be raised locally. A new 32-foot Self-righting 'pulling and sailing' (P&S) lifeboat, one with oars and sails, costing £202, was ordered from Forrestt of Limehouse, and a 40-foot brick boathouse was constructed by William Wright and Sons, costing £150. On 7 September 1861, a grand procession took place, and the lifeboat was hauled through the town to the boathouse. The boat, and all her equipment, had been funded by a gift of Mr J. Knowles of Bolton, and was named Jessie Knowles after his youngest daughter.
On 20 September 1863, Jessie Knowles launched to the aid of the barque St. Lawrence, on passage from Liverpool to Cardiff, when she ran aground on Salthouse Bank. In a full westerly gale, the lifeboat took 2½ hours to reach the vessel. The captain, chief officer and two crewmen stayed aboard, but the captains wife and child, and 12 crew, were rescued. The boat was eventually recovered to Lytham, with the help of both Southport and Lytham lifeboat crews.
The Jessie Knowles was launched to the aid of the barque Tamworth on 29 October 1863, on passage from Liverpool to Havana, when she ran aground on Trunk Hill Bank. 3 hours hard rowing were needed to reach the vessel, but eventually the lifeboat got alongside, and 17 crew were rescued.
On the 9 December 1886, the German barque Mexico was driven ashore at Trunk Hill Brow, Ainsdale. Much has been documented about the Mexico disaster. All 13 crewmen aboard the St Annes lifeboat Laura Janet, and 14 of 16 crew of the Southport lifeboat Eliza Fearnley, were lost, the greatest ever disaster for the RNLI. As it turned out, the Southport and St Annes boats need not have launched at all, as all 12 crew aboard the Mexico had already been rescued by the Lytham lifeboat. No medals or commendations were received from the RNLI at Southport, but the station was awarded a silver medal by the Societe des Sauveteurs, Medailles du Gouvernement de la Gironde, for courage and devotion to duty.
The Eliza Fearnley was returned to RNLI HQ, and subsequently broken up. The Southport lifeboat was quickly replaced, arriving on station on 22 December 1886. The new boat, a 34-foot (10-oared) Self-righting lifeboat, was provided from funds from an anonymous gentleman from Lancashire, via the New Brighton branch of the RNLI, and was named Mary Anna (ON 72).
She would later be housed in a new boathouse constructed in 1886, located at the southern end of the promenade. The boathouse survives to this day. In the following 18 years on station, she would be launched only twice.
After the Mexico disaster, the crew requested a bigger sailing lifeboat, and a second station was established, with a 42-foot 6in long non-self-righting Watson-class (P&S) lifeboat, moored at the end of the pier. Built by the Barrow Naval Company, the boat was sailed down to Southport in June 1888. Funded from a gift of £750 from two local philanthropists, the Misses MacRae, at a ceremony on the 28 June, the boat was named Edith and Annie (ON 208). Later that same day, ceremonies would be held to unveil the memorials constructed to remember the Mexico Disaster.
Edith and Annie was the much preferred boat, and would launch 9 times in 14 years, and save 12 lives. In July 1902, she was immediately withdrawn, when found to be unfit for service. It would be 2 years before she was replaced, by the John Harling (ON 518), another Watson-class lifeboat, which arrived on 18 June 1904. Six months later, the Mary Anna was withdrawn after 18-years service, and the No.1 station closed. A reserve lifeboat, The Three Brothers (ON 241), built in 1889 and formerly at Whitelink Bay, would be placed at the promenade boathouse, to be used for demonstration purposes.
The last effective service of Southport lifeboat John Harling, was to the aid of the steamship Chrysopolis of Genoa on 21 February 1918. The vessel had run aground on Horse Bank some days earlier, but all attempts to refloat the vessel failed. When the weather deteriorated, the vessel broke her back, and the lifeboat rescued the 42 people aboard.
By 1925, silting of the coast was so serious, that the lifeboat could only be launched in a 2-hour window every high tide. As a result, it was decided to close the station. Southport Lifeboat closed on 30 April 1925.
John Harling (ON 518) was sold locally for use as a pleasure boat. In 1927, the demonstration boat The Three Brothers was relocated to Cork, and the boathouse on the promenade was returned to the landowner.
After over 60 years as a council store, the boathouse would serve many years as the home of the Southport Offshore Rescue Trust, from 1988 until 2022.

### Southport Offshore Rescue Trust 1988–present

Following a series of accidents off the coast in which several people lost their lives, bereaved relatives launched a campaign to restore a lifeboat service to Southport. By December 1988, the Southport Offshore Rescue Trust was operating the first lifeboat in Southport since 1925, stationed in the old RNLI lifeboat house.
The vessel was a 6-meter (20-foot) Carson rigid inflatable boat (RIB), originally equipped with twin 40 hp (30 kW) Mariner outboard engines. In 1995, it was refitted with a single 85 hp (63 kW) Suzuki engine and a 10 hp (7.5 kW) auxiliary engine. Designed with self-righting capability and integral fuel tanks, the boat could reach a top speed of approximately 30 knots. It was named Geoff Clements in honor of one of the young men who lost their lives in the 1987 accidents. His mother, Kathleen Wilson, was a founding member of the charity and played a key role in raising the funds necessary to acquire the vessel.
In 1995, the Bessie Worthington, a 6.6 m (22 ft) RIB built by Delta Power Services in Stockport, entered service for the Southport Lifeboat. Designed to meet SOLAS safety standards, the vessel featured full self-righting capability and was equipped with Delta-supplied electrics and navigation systems, including GPS, radio, echo sounder, and EPIRB.
During the years following the millennium two quad bikes and a former RNLI D-class Inshore lifeboat, were added to the equipment. The quads provide rapid response and enable efficient searches across the large beach and dune areas. The D-class served as a vital training platform and was useful for searching the shallow waters north of Southport Pier or in Southport Marine Lake.
In early 2005, a campaign was launched to replace the Bessie Worthington, setting a £120,000 target for a VT Halmatic Arctic 24 lifeboat, similar to one used by Sidmouth Lifeboat. By September 2006, sufficient funds were raised to commission its construction. However, rising costs increased the final price to approximately £140,000 by delivery. The Heather White entered service in May 2007.
With the opening of a charity shop in Birkdale in 2005, the Southport Lifeboat have been able to continually update the kit available for the crew.
The engines on the Heather White were upgraded from twin 135 hp (101 kW) to twin 150 hp (110 kW) outboards in 2011.
In 2016, the Trust purchased a new D-class (IB1) inshore lifeboat from the RNLI, naming it Christopher Taylor in memory of a Southport man who drowned in the River Avon at Bath.
The Honda ATV quad bikes were replaced every three years to prevent corrosion issues. In 2018, the Trust switched manufacturer to Can-Am ATVs, adding a third quad in January 2021.
In January 2022, the new Southport Lifeboat Station opened on Marine Drive. It was dedicated to charity founder Kathleen Wilson in recognition of her fundraising efforts, primarily through the lifeboat shop, which funded most of the building.

## Station honours

The following are awards made at Southport.
* RNIPLS Silver Medal
       William Rockcliffe, Coxswain – 1852
* RNLI Silver Medal
       William Rockcliffe, Coxswain – 1873 (Second-Service Clasp)
* Silver Medal, awarded by King Carl XV of Sweden and Norway
       William Rockcliffe, Coxswain – 1863
* Silver Medal, awarded by the Societe des Sauveteurs, Medailles du Gouvernement de la Gironde for courage and devotion to duty
       Southport Lifeboat Station – 1886
* Liverpool Shipwreck & Humane Society Certificates
       Robert Forshaw, Keith Porter, Neil Henshall, Coxswains - 1992
* Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
       Southport Lifeboat Crew - 2002
* Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
       Southport Lifeboat Crew - 2012
* Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal
       Southport Lifeboat Crew - 2022
* King Charles III Coronation Medal
       Southport Lifeboat Crew - 2024

## Roll of honour

In memory of those lost whilst serving Southport lifeboat.
* Lifeboat Eliza Fearnley, capsized on service to the Mexico, 9 December 1886
       John Ball
       Charles Hodge, Coxswain
       Henry Hodge
       Peter Jackson
       Thomas Jackson
       Benjamin Peters
       Ralph Peters, Second Coxswain
       Harry Rigby
       Thomas Rigby
       Timothy Rigby
       John Robinson
       Richard Robinson
       Thomas Spencer
       Peter Wright
* Lost when their small boat capsized, while attempting to change the lifeboat moorings, 26 June 1899
       William Robinson, Coxswain (64)
       John Robinson (44)
       Frederick Rigby (37)

## Southport lifeboats

Pre RNLI lifeboats
| Name | On Station | Class | Comments |
| Unknown | 1812−1817 | | |
| Rescue | 1840−1861 | 30-foot non-self-righting | |
RNLI lifeboats
| ON | Name | On Station | Class | Comments |
| Pre-378 | Jessie Knowles | 1861−1874 | 32-foot Self-righting (P&S) | |
| Pre-576 | Eliza Fearnley | 1874−1886 | 34-foot Self-righting (P&S) | |
| 72 | Mary Anna (Southport No.1) | 1886−1904 | 34-foot Self-righting (P&S) | |
| 208 | Edith and Annie (Southport No.2) | 1888−1902 | 42-foot 6in Watson (P&S) | |
| 518 | John Harling (Southport No.2) | 1904−1925 | 43-foot 6in Watson (P&S) | |
| 241 | The Three Brothers | 1905−1927 | 34-foot Self-righting (P&S) | Reserve / Display Lifeboat stored in Southport No.1 boathouse |
* ↑ ON is the RNLI's Official Number of the boat.
    Pre ON numbers are unofficial numbers used by the Lifeboat Enthusiast Society to reference early lifeboats not included on the official RNLI list.
Southport Offshore Rescue Trust lifeboats
| Name | On Station | Class | Comments |
| Geoff Clements | 1988–1995 | 6m Carson | |
| Bessie Worthington | 1995–2007 | 6.6m Delta RIB | |
| Unnamed D-Class | 2005–2016 | D-Class (EA16) | Previously RNLI D-437 'Jill Gatli' |
| Heather White | 2007– | VT Halmatic Arctic 24 RIB | |
| Christopher Taylor | 2016– | D-class (IB1) | |