Qualla: Arranmore Lifeboat Station

Arranmore Lifeboat Station: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Michal Osmenda from Brussels, Belgium, CC BY-SA 2.0. At 00:30 on the morning of 7 December 1940, the Arranmore lifeboat crew assembled in hurricane-force wind. The Dutch steamer Stolwijk had been driven onto rocks east of Tory Island, 3,500 tons of vessel breaking up in seas no one would launch into. During the night, a Royal Navy destroyer had tried to reach her and lost four crew, including the captain. Ten of the Stolwijk's own crew had launched her ship's boat and been killed when it smashed against the wreck. The Arranmore coxswain, John Boyle, waited until 06:30, when the worst had passed but the seas were still impossible. Then he launched. Four hours later, every one of the remaining eighteen Dutchmen aboard the Stolwijk was alive in his boat.

Image: Michal Osmenda from Brussels, Belgium | CC BY-SA 2.0

Arranmore Lifeboat Station: Ironbound Coast

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Lifeboat journal, reporting in February 1884 on the new Arranmore station, described the surrounding coast as 'mostly ironbound (harsh and rugged) and unsuitable for lifeboat work.' The RNLI committee placed a boat here anyway because there were occasional small inlets with p...

Image: Nilfanion | CC BY-SA 3.0

Arranmore Lifeboat Station: The Stolwijk Service

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Billy McCrorie, CC BY-SA 2.0. Coxswain John Boyle launched the lifeboat K.T.J.S. into the morning gale with a full crew. They reached the Stolwijk to find her broken-backed on the reef. The technique was to anchor up-sea of the wreck and veer down on the cable, controlling the lifeboat's drift, then fire a li...

Image: Billy McCrorie | CC BY-SA 2.0

Arranmore Lifeboat Station: From Leabgarrow to Poolawaddy

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Laura.early, CC BY-SA 4.0. The station moved more than once. The original boathouse was at Leabgarrow. In 1901, the lifeboat was moved seasonally to Rannagh Point on Rossillion Bay for winter service, and a new boathouse was built there in 1903. Lightning struck the Rannagh house in 1916. The boat returned...

Image: Laura.early | CC BY-SA 4.0

Arranmore Lifeboat Station: Nephele in a Force 11

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Billy McCrorie, CC BY-SA 2.0. On 2 July 2005, the yacht Nephele was in trouble in southwest gale-force 10 to 11 conditions, in seas above 10 metres. The Arranmore lifeboat under Coxswain Anthony Kavanagh found her and stayed at the rescue for over 20 hours, eventually saving the sole occupant. The Thanks of t...

Image: Billy McCrorie | CC BY-SA 2.0

Arranmore Lifeboat Station: Volunteer Crew

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Niamh Stephenson, RNLI Media Manager, CC BY 4.0. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is funded by donations, not the state. Every coxswain and crew member at Arranmore is a volunteer. The boat goes out when it is called. The station has been continuously operational since 1883, through two world wars, decades of rural decli...

Image: Niamh Stephenson, RNLI Media Manager | CC BY 4.0