Redcar Lifeboat Station
Redcar Lifeboat Station is a Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) lifeboat station based in the town of Redcar in North Yorkshire, England. The station is the furthest north in Yorkshire. The station operates Inshore Lifeboats (ILB) with All-Weather Lifeboats being stationed at to the north, and to the south. Redcar operates two Inshore Lifeboats (ILB); the "Leicester Challenge III" and the "Eileen May Loach-Thomas". History. A lifeboat, operated by local fisherman, first operated from the town in 1802. It was constructed by Henry Greathead, and at the time Redcar was just a small fishing hamlet  consisting of two rows of terraced houses. The lifeboat was named "Zetland" and served the area and the "Teesbay Lifeboat and Shipwreck Society" until 1859 when the RNLI took over. Under the auspices of the RNLI, it served for six more years before being damaged and scheduled to be broken up. However, the local population arranged for the boat to be kept, which the RNLI agreed to on condition that it not be used in competition with their replacement boat, "Crossley". The "Crossley" itself only lasted three years on the station; its self-righting buoyancy airboxes made the lifeboat too  small and so the "Burton-on-Trent" was brought to the station in 1867. In the early days of the lifeboat station, before it was taken over by the RNLI, a drummer boy would alert the lifeboat crew to a launch by playing "Come Along, Brave Boys, Come Along". The lifeboat station itself was supplied by Lord Zetland, and the modern day (1970s) lifeboat station is located on this site too. A former lifeboat house was built in 1877 to house the lifeboat "Emma" and is now grade II listed. In 1936 the RNLI purchased the building and it is  now the lifeboat museum and houses "Zetland", the world's oldest surviving lifeboat. "Emma" was named after Emma Dawson and was a gift to the townspeople by local benefactors, but "Emma" and her lifeboat station were completely outwith the responsibilities of the RNLI, being purely a local concern with money and support also being provided by the Order of Free Gardeners. In 1910, the RNLI built a new lifeboat house on the promenade to house their boat ("Fifi and Charles"), the "Emma" having fallen into disrepair a decade earlier. This building was in turn demolished in the early 1970s after  a new lifeboat station was constructed nextdoor. In 1970, the County Borough of Teesside Council built a new lifeboat station for the RNLI on the seafront at Redcar. In 2014 the exterior of the lifeboat station was refurbished.