Qualla: Fowey Lifeboat Station

Fowey Lifeboat Station: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pline, Public domain. On 6 May 1856, a ship foundered on Gribben Head between Fowey and St Austell Bay, and people died. William Rashleigh, the local landowner, sat down and wrote a cheque. Fifty pounds towards a lifeboat for Fowey, plus land and building stone for a boathouse. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution accepted. Three years later the first lifeboat arrived at Lostwithiel railway station, was rowed down the river through Fowey and around St Austell Bay to show the public, and was set to work at Polkerris, a fishing village on the eastern shore of the bay. They named her Catherine Rashleigh, after William's wife, who had also given heavily towards the cost. The first launch happened in 1859. Lifeboats have been launching from this stretch of coast ever since.

Read more: Fowey Lifeboat Station on Qualla

Image: Pline | Public domain

Fowey Lifeboat Station: Polkerris and the Six-Oared Boat

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Geof Sheppard, CC BY-SA 4.0. The mouth of the River Fowey faces directly south. When the wind blows hard from that quarter, a sailing-and-rowing lifeboat cannot get out of the harbour against the seas. So the first station was placed at Polkerris, on the more sheltered eastern side of St Austell Bay. The boa...

Read more: Fowey Lifeboat Station on Qualla

Image: Geof Sheppard | CC BY-SA 4.0

Fowey Lifeboat Station: C.D.E.C. and the Motor Age

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit David Johnson [1], CC BY-SA 3.0. Fowey itself finally got its own lifeboat in 1922, though the first boat there was still a pulling-and-sailing twelve-oared craft. The first motor lifeboat arrived in August 1928, a temporary loan from Thurso, until Fowey's own boat C.D.E.C. came on station on 6 December that yea...

Read more: Fowey Lifeboat Station on Qualla

Image: David Johnson [1] | CC BY-SA 3.0

Fowey Lifeboat Station: The Killyvarder Rescue

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nilfanion, created using Ordnance Survey data, CC BY-SA 3.0. Before dawn on 23 March 1947 distress signals were reported near Par Sands. The relief lifeboat The Brothers set out from Fowey at 4:40 in the morning. An hour of searching through rain-swept heavy seas brought her to a sunken ship near Killyvarder Rock, with the crew gathered on...

Read more: Fowey Lifeboat Station on Qualla

Image: Nilfanion, created using Ordnance Survey data | CC BY-SA 3.0

Fowey Lifeboat Station: The Brede, the Trent, and a Triple Ceremony

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Geof Sheppard, CC BY-SA 4.0. On 16 October 1982 a new kind of boat went on station at Fowey: Leonore Chilcott, the first Brede-class lifeboat ever put into service. The Bredes were intermediate boats, not capable of operating in storms over Force 8, but doing twenty knots in moderate weather with a range of ...

Read more: Fowey Lifeboat Station on Qualla

Image: Geof Sheppard | CC BY-SA 4.0

Fowey Lifeboat Station: Volunteers and the Channel

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit EvaK, CC BY-SA 2.5. The RNLI's aim is to reach any casualty within 50 nautical miles of any station, in any condition, within two hours in good weather. Fowey covers its stretch alongside its neighbours: Looe to the east with an inshore boat, Plymouth to the east with both inshore and all-weather, F...

Read more: Fowey Lifeboat Station on Qualla

Image: EvaK | CC BY-SA 2.5