Qualla: Cemlyn Lifeboat Station

Cemlyn Lifeboat Station: Introduction

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeff Buck, CC BY-SA 2.0. On 26 March 1823, the Reverend James Williams and his wife Frances stood on the cliffs at Llanfair-yng-Nghornwy and watched a ship called the Alert break up in the storm. One hundred and forty people died in their view. Williams was the parish priest. For the next five years he and Frances raised money, lobbied, organised, and argued for a lifeboat for this stretch of coast, and on 3 November 1828 a 25-foot eight-inch lifeboat costing £55 arrived at Cemlyn from a builder in Limehouse, London. It was the first lifeboat ever stationed on Anglesey, and the founding station of what would become the Anglesey Association for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck. Williams' son Owen took on the unpaid post of coxswain.

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Image: Jeff Buck | CC BY-SA 2.0

Cemlyn Lifeboat Station: The Steamship Leeds and Three Men

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. When the steamship Leeds struck Harry Furlong Rocks, the Cemlyn lifeboat launched into rising seas. By the time the boat reached the wreck, a second steamship, Commerce, had also come up and was taking off most of the passengers in her own boats. One small boat, however, had drif...

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Image: Eric Jones | CC BY-SA 2.0

Cemlyn Lifeboat Station: Five Boats Over Ninety Years

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeff Buck, CC BY-SA 2.0. The original boat served until 1853. A series of replacements followed - some new builds, some transfers from other Welsh stations. The Sophia, a 30-foot self-righting boat, arrived in 1865 and stayed until the station was first closed. The naming of the lifeboats often reflected...

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Image: Jeff Buck | CC BY-SA 2.0

Cemlyn Lifeboat Station: Closed, Reopened, Closed

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeff Buck, CC BY-SA 2.0. By 1872, raising a crew at Cemlyn had become impossible - the men were not living close enough to launch in a hurry, and the RNLI decided to close the station and open a new one at Cemaes a few miles east. The Cemlyn boathouse stood empty for five years. Then enough experienced s...

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Image: Jeff Buck | CC BY-SA 2.0

Cemlyn Lifeboat Station: The Memorial

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeff Buck, CC BY-SA 2.0. In 1978, on the 150th anniversary of the original Cemlyn station - and of the founding of the Anglesey Association for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck - a memorial was erected near the site of the boathouse. It commemorates the first Anglesey lifeboat station and the two ...

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Image: Jeff Buck | CC BY-SA 2.0