Qualla: St Bees Lifeboat Station

St Bees Lifeboat Station: Introduction

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Percy Henry Patmore survived the trenches. He won the Military Medal in the First World War, was awarded an MBE between the wars, and was then killed as a civilian in the Second. His widow, Florence, eventually left a legacy to the RNLI - and on 18 May 1996, a new Atlantic 75 lifeboat at St Bees was christened in his name. In its fourteen years on station, the Percy Henry Patmore launched 158 times and rescued 125 people. Some lives, it turns out, finish their service to others long after the body has gone.

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St Bees Lifeboat Station: The Westernmost Edge

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

St Bees Head is the most westerly point on the coast of Cumbria, where red sandstone cliffs drop suddenly into the Irish Sea. Three miles south, on the modest promenade of the village of St Bees, sits one of the RNLI's small inshore stations. It opened in May 1970, part of a wave...

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St Bees Lifeboat Station: Bigger Boats, Bigger Boathouse

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The station grew in steps. In 1980 a 26-foot concrete boathouse went up to house the boat. In 1985 a larger, faster twin-engined model arrived, requiring an extension. Then in 1995, St Bees received its first Atlantic-class lifeboat - the first generation of rigid inflatable boat...

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St Bees Lifeboat Station: The Crew Behind the Numbers

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Lifeboat stations measure themselves in shouts and saves, but the names on the honours board are what make a station real. In 1993, Senior Helm Ian McDowell received the RNLI Bronze Medal for a rescue off these cliffs; the same callout brought Vellum Letters of Thanks to helm Ala...

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St Bees Lifeboat Station: Joy Morris

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The boat on station today is Joy Morris (B-831), an Atlantic 85 placed in service on 7 April 2009. She was funded by the RNLI's North Regional Appeal together with the legacies of Mrs Violet Cissie Mayberry and Mrs Joan Margaret Boorman - three more names, mostly unknown, that qu...

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St Bees Lifeboat Station: What the Cliffs Demand

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The waters off St Bees Head are not particularly forgiving. Swimmers misjudge the rip currents, kayakers get pushed offshore in a freshening wind, walkers on the Wainwright Coast-to-Coast - which starts here - underestimate the tide along the cliff base. The lifeboat goes out to ...

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