Qualla: Ilfracombe Lifeboat Station

Ilfracombe Lifeboat Station: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jaggery, CC BY-SA 2.0. On 13 November 1949 the Spanish freighter SS Monte Gurugu lost her rudder in a severe storm off Morte Point. The Ilfracombe lifeboat Richard Silver Oliver launched into the gale, hauled the disabled ship clear of the shore, and took all twenty-three crew aboard before bringing them back to Ilfracombe. Coxswain Cecil Irwin received the RNLI silver medal. The Spanish government sent its own award. Two hundred years of similar work, much of it quieter, has happened on this coast since 1828.

Image: Jaggery | CC BY-SA 2.0

Ilfracombe Lifeboat Station: From pilot boat to RNLI

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Philip Halling, CC BY-SA 2.0. Ilfracombe got its first lifeboat in 1828, a pilot boat fitted out for rescue work, before the modern RNLI existed in its current form. In 1850 local people bought a new lifeboat themselves and operated it from a boathouse in Hiern's Lane near the harbour. The RNLI's official ser...

Image: Philip Halling | CC BY-SA 2.0

Ilfracombe Lifeboat Station: Three boats, one name

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Roger Cornfoot, CC BY-SA 2.0. In 1892 the RNLI received a legacy from the late Rev. Theophilus Sidney Echalaz of Surbiton, Surrey, which paid for three new lifeboats. In a quirk that still confuses RNLI historians, all three boats were given the same name: Theophilus Sidney Echalaz. One went to Morte Bay near...

Image: Roger Cornfoot | CC BY-SA 2.0

Ilfracombe Lifeboat Station: Volunteers who do not expect thanks

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chris Wood (Chris j wood (talk))., CC BY-SA 3.0. The RNLI is a volunteer service. Its records note carefully that crews 'do not expect reward or recognition for their work,' which makes the long list of letters, certificates, and medals more, not less, meaningful. The 1949 silver medal to Cecil Irwin sits in that tradition. So ...

Image: Chris Wood (Chris j wood (talk)). | CC BY-SA 3.0

Ilfracombe Lifeboat Station: The boats at Ilfracombe today

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Geof Sheppard, CC BY-SA 4.0. Two lifeboats currently operate from the harbour. The all-weather lifeboat is the Shannon-class 13-09 The Barry and Peggy High Foundation, ON 1316, in service since 2015. Her predecessor was the Mersey-class Spirit of Derbyshire, on station from 1990 to 2015. The inshore lifeboat...

Image: Geof Sheppard | CC BY-SA 4.0

Ilfracombe Lifeboat Station: Why the station matters

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Geof Sheppard, CC BY-SA 4.0. The North Devon coast is one of the most beautiful in England and one of the most dangerous. Cliffs run to 318 metres at Great Hangman, the highest sea cliff on mainland Britain. The Bristol Channel funnels Atlantic weather into a tide range that exceeds nine metres on spring tid...

Image: Geof Sheppard | CC BY-SA 4.0