Qualla: Bull Bay Lifeboat Station

Bull Bay Lifeboat Station: Introduction

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mat Fascione, CC BY-SA 2.0. Dense fog, calm water, and the 530 passengers and crew of a transatlantic liner aground on rocks under the cliffs. That was the morning of 9 March 1877 for the Bull Bay lifeboat crew. The SS Dakota, a Liverpool steamer bound for New York, had blundered onto the rocks near East Mouse and stuck fast. The lifeboat Eleanor was launched into the still water and reached her quickly. Twenty people came off in the lifeboat itself; she then stood by while local fishing boats ferried the rest ashore. No lives were lost. The ship broke in two the next day. The wreck of the Dakota was Bull Bay's most famous service in 58 years of saving lives along one of the most dangerous coasts in Britain.

Image: Mat Fascione | CC BY-SA 2.0

Bull Bay Lifeboat Station: Why Here

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mat Fascione, CC BY-SA 2.0. The decision to put a lifeboat at Bull Bay was made by the RNLI in 1867 with a blunt assessment: 'an additional life-boat would be useful on that rocky coast, there being a large passing trade, and a long gap between the two life-boat establishments at' Cemlyn and Penmon. The cli...

Image: Mat Fascione | CC BY-SA 2.0

Bull Bay Lifeboat Station: Four Boats and Many Names

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mat Fascione, CC BY-SA 2.0. Lifeboats were almost always paid for by individual donors and named after their benefactors, families, or causes. Bull Bay had four boats in succession. Eleanor served sixteen years. Curling came in 1884, paid for by Miss Curling of Camberwell. A new Curling replaced her in 1889...

Image: Mat Fascione | CC BY-SA 2.0

Bull Bay Lifeboat Station: The War and the Cambank

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrew Abbott, CC BY-SA 2.0. On 20 February 1915, the Cardiff cargo steamer Cambank was torpedoed off Point Lynas by the German submarine U-30. Four of her crew of 25 were lost when the torpedo struck. The remaining 21 abandoned ship in one of the lifeboats, where Bull Bay's James Cullen found them and broug...

Image: Andrew Abbott | CC BY-SA 2.0

Bull Bay Lifeboat Station: Closure and Continuation

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit P L Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0. The RNLI committee of management met on 22 April 1926 and decided to close Bull Bay. Two world-class motor lifeboats - one at Holyhead, one at Moelfre - could now cover the same coast with far greater range and reliability than a rowing-and-sailing boat could ever achieve. The st...

Image: P L Chadwick | CC BY-SA 2.0