Qualla: Portaferry Lifeboat Station

Portaferry Lifeboat Station: Introduction

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. Strangford Lough is the largest sea inlet in the British Isles. One hundred and fifty square kilometres of water pour in and out twice a day through a single kilometre-wide gap, the Strangford Narrows, and the tidal race that gap produces is one of the strongest in Northern Europe. For most of the lough's history, the nearest lifeboat was hours away. By the late 1970s, after years of sailors and dinghy crews getting into trouble in the Narrows and waiting for help that came too late, the case for a station at Portaferry had become unanswerable. In 1980 the RNLI placed a single twin-engined inflatable on the slipway opposite the Strangford ferry. It has been there ever since.

Image: Eric Jones | CC BY-SA 2.0

Portaferry Lifeboat Station: The Lobby

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ardfern, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1978 the situation at the mouth of the lough got worse. The Cloughey-Portavogie lifeboat Glencoe Glasgow, which had been the de facto coverage for the wider Ards Peninsula, was withdrawn from service due to development works at Portavogie harbour. A boat capable of ten knots w...

Image: Ardfern | CC BY-SA 3.0

Portaferry Lifeboat Station: Blue Peter V

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. In 1984 the children's television programme Blue Peter, on BBC One, ran one of its periodic fundraising appeals, this time for the RNLI. The appeal far overshot its target. Enough money came in to replace four existing lifeboats, place an extra one in the relief fleet, and put a ...

Image: Eric Jones | CC BY-SA 2.0

Portaferry Lifeboat Station: The Greenhill

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. On the night of 10 January 2006 Blue Peter V was out on a training exercise when the call came. The fishing vessel Greenhill had sunk suddenly with three crew aboard. The conditions were cold and dark and the seas were poor. The lifeboat reached the scene and recovered one man al...

Image: Eric Jones | CC BY-SA 2.0

Portaferry Lifeboat Station: Stone and Copper

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. On 5 June 2010 the village marked a double event. The arrival of the current Blue Peter V (B-833), and the formal handover of a new lifeboat house on the Strand. The boathouse cost an estimated £750,000, funded through a local appeal and through the legacy of Ms Elsie Sturgeon, a...

Image: Eric Jones | CC BY-SA 2.0