Qualla: Derrynane RNLI Lifeboat Station

Derrynane RNLI Lifeboat Station: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gillfoto, CC BY-SA 4.0. Derrynane Lifeboat Station opened in 1844 and closed in 1855. In its eleven years of existence no one ever wrote down a record of a rescue. The whole episode might be a footnote in maritime history - except that the man who pushed for the station to be built had a particular grudge to settle with the local landlord, and the local landlord happened to be Daniel O'Connell, the most powerful Irish politician of the century.

Image: Gillfoto | CC BY-SA 4.0

Derrynane RNLI Lifeboat Station: Mr Palmer of South Essex

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gillfoto, CC BY-SA 4.0. George Palmer (1772-1853) was born into the family of an East India merchant and learned the sea from the bottom up, working through the ranks on his father's ships. In 1788, aged sixteen, he spent three days clinging to an upturned ship's boat after it capsized - a near-drowning...

Image: Gillfoto | CC BY-SA 4.0

Derrynane RNLI Lifeboat Station: Palmer Versus O'Connell

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. And here is where things turned personal. In Parliament, Palmer's chief adversary in trade-policy debates was Daniel O'Connell, MP for Cork and uncrowned king of Catholic Ireland. The two men disagreed on much, but on timber ships they were unexpectedly on the same side. O'Connel...

Image: Nilfanion | CC BY-SA 3.0

Derrynane RNLI Lifeboat Station: A Boat With Nothing to Do

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gillfoto, CC BY-SA 4.0. The original station opened in 1844 under the RNIPLS, with a boathouse on Derrynane Beach and an unnamed 26-foot lifeboat propelled by five oarsmen. The boat sat. And sat. The RNIPLS reorganised in 1854 to become the Royal National Lifeboat Institution; the Derrynane station pass...

Image: Gillfoto | CC BY-SA 4.0

Derrynane RNLI Lifeboat Station: A Long Pause, Then Resumed

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gillfoto, CC BY-SA 4.0. For nearly a century and a half after closure, this stretch of the Kenmare River had no local rescue boat. Then, in 1991, the drowning of a father and son who had set out from Ballinskelligs prompted local volunteers to revive the idea. The independent Derrynane Inshore Rescue st...

Image: Gillfoto | CC BY-SA 4.0