Qualla: Kirkcudbright Lifeboat Station

Kirkcudbright Lifeboat Station: Introduction

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Oast House Archive, CC BY-SA 2.0. On 29 February 1928, the Kirkcudbright lifeboat crew set out from Cutlers Pool for Maryport, on the English side of the Solway Firth, to swap their old pulling-and-sailing boat for a brand-new prototype motor lifeboat. The wind got up. After eleven hours of fighting heavy seas and headwinds in an open rowing boat, they turned around and came home. The next day they tried again - sixteen hours at the oars to reach Maryport, an overnight to recover, and then just three hours back home in the new boat, the Priscilla MacBean, gifted by the estate of Edward MacBean of Helensburgh. That single weekend, more than anything else, explains why a small Galloway town needed - and still needs - a lifeboat.

Image: Oast House Archive | CC BY-SA 2.0

Kirkcudbright Lifeboat Station: An Anonymous Gentleman, 1861

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Parrot of Doom, CC BY-SA 3.0. On 4 July 1861, the RNLI committee in London received a letter from Mr Samuel Cavan of Kirkcudbright. An anonymous benefactor, identified only as 'N. L.,' had pledged the cost of a lifeboat and carriage for the port. The Institution agreed at once, and the following year a 30-foo...

Image: Parrot of Doom | CC BY-SA 3.0

Kirkcudbright Lifeboat Station: The Schooner William Henry

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nilfanion, created using Ordnance Survey data, CC BY-SA 3.0. The earliest documented service came on 30 November 1868. The schooner William Henry, out of Belfast and bound for Maryport with cargo, was driven ashore and wrecked on St Mary's Isle just south of the town. The Helen Lees launched into the November sea; five lives were saved. By...

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

Kirkcudbright Lifeboat Station: The Bottle in the Sand

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Johnny Durnan, CC BY-SA 2.0. On 14 October 1934, a bottle washed up at West Preston Shore at Kirkbean. Inside was a message dated a week earlier: 'We are stranded in Barlocco Caves. Rescue us quick or too late.' The Kirkcudbright lifeboat launched. Nobody was there. Whether the message was a prank, a confuse...

Image: Johnny Durnan | CC BY-SA 2.0

Kirkcudbright Lifeboat Station: Honours and Names

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Elizabeth MacNicol, Public domain. Awards line the wall of the modern station. Andrew Lusk, a farmer, received the RNLI Silver Medal in 1865 for a rescue conducted before the lifeboat itself was on station. George Parkhill won the Royal Humane Society's Bronze Medal in 1908. Coxswain/Mechanic George Cossar Davidso...

Image: Elizabeth MacNicol | Public domain

Kirkcudbright Lifeboat Station: Sheila Stenhouse

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andy Farrington, CC BY-SA 2.0. The station today operates an Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat named Sheila Stenhouse (B-814), on station since 2009. She lives 3.5 miles south of the town proper, at the boathouse near the mouth of the River Dee where it spills into the Solway Firth. The Solway is a treacherous body...

Image: Andy Farrington | CC BY-SA 2.0