Qualla: Whitehaven Lifeboat Station

Whitehaven Lifeboat Station: Introduction

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nilfanion, created using Ordnance Survey data, CC BY-SA 3.0. On 30 September 1803, in a meeting room above a busy Cumbrian harbour, a group of trustees made a decision that would shape Whitehaven's relationship with the sea for the next 121 years. They ordered the largest lifeboat that pioneering builder Henry Greathead of South Shields produced — a twelve-oar, twenty-eight-foot vessel costing £149 — and waited. The boat travelled overland from South Shields, a four-day journey by cart, arriving in Whitehaven on 10 January 1804. Then it sat. For nearly ten years, it sat.

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

Whitehaven Lifeboat Station: The First Test

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nilfanion, created using Ordnance Survey data, CC BY-SA 3.0. When the call finally came, the lifeboat was not where it needed to be. On 17 November 1813, the vessel Brothers of Workington washed ashore at the harbour entrance, and nobody quite knew where the lifeboat had been stored. The harbour boat went out instead, five men aboard, into...

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

Whitehaven Lifeboat Station: Miss Leicester's Gift

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nilfanion, created using Ordnance Survey data, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution took over in 1865, prompted by an offer of £300 from a Miss Leicester of London. The boat that arrived for her — a 33-foot self-righting craft built by Forrestt of Limehouse — had served briefly at another station before being deemed too he...

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

Whitehaven Lifeboat Station: The Rescues

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nilfanion, created using Ordnance Survey data, CC BY-SA 3.0. On 14 November 1871, the sloop Demetian Lass was abandoned by her crew of four en route from Runcorn to the Isle of Skye. The boat drifted back out to sea after they left her. The Whitehaven lifeboat brought all four men home. On 10 May 1885, the Norwegian barque Thorsbjerg parte...

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

Whitehaven Lifeboat Station: Quiet Endings

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nilfanion, created using Ordnance Survey data, CC BY-SA 3.0. By 1924, the world had changed. Steamships had replaced sail, port traffic had shifted to Bristol and Liverpool, and the Whitehaven station had not been called out since February 1918 — more than six years. On 18 December 1924 the RNLI's Committee of Management voted to close the...

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