History
On 19 October 1865, before the establishment of a lifeboat station at Alderney, Gunner James Moore of the Coast Brigade, Royal Artillery, was awarded the RNLI Silver Medal, when along with two colleagues, rescued all 17 men from the French vessel Carioca, on passage from Le Havre to Rio de Janeiro, when it struck the rocks at Point d'Else. [3] [4]
At a meeting of the RNLI committee of management on Thursday 5 March 1869, with consideration to an application by local residents, and the report by the Inspector of Lifeboats, it was decided to establish a lifeboat station at St Anne on Alderney. "As shipwrecks have occasionally taken place there with a lamentable loss of life, and as there was no difficulty in procuring a good crew, it was considered highly desirable that there should be a life-boat stationed on the Island, and the local residents had made application to the Society accordingly." [5]
A strategic location was found for a boathouse, constructed at a cost of £235, which would allow the lifeboat to be conveyed on its carriage to suitable launching sites. In October 1869, a 33-foot self-righting 'Pulling and Sailing' (P&S) lifeboat, one with both oars and sails, was dispatched by rail to Weymouth, from where it was towed by HMS Seamew to the Island, carrying the carriage and equipment onboard. [6]
The day after arrival on Alderney, the lifeboat was taken in procession through the streets of St Anne to the pier, followed by members of the lifeboat committee, members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and other societies, seamen from HMS Seamew, soldiers of the Royal Artillery, and the band of the Royal Alderney Militia Artillery. [6]
A gift to the Institution of £450 for a lifeboat was received from George Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford PC, and at his request, the lifeboat was named Mary and Victoria. [6]
In her 15 years on station, the lifeboat was never required. With many fishermen leaving the island in the 1880s, it became impossible to maintain a crew, and the station was closed in 1884. The lifeboat was relocated to St Helier on Jersey. [1]
1984 onwards
A period of 100 years would pass, before the RNLI would re-establish a lifeboat station on Alderney. In January 1984, a new design Brede-class lifeboat, 33-08 Foresters Future (ON 1090), was sent there, initially for a 12-month evaluation period. A new station was officially opened on 10 May 1985 by H.R.H. The Duchess of Kent, who presented "The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum" to John Kay-Mouat, President of the States of Alderney, for the life-saving work carried out by private boats during the previous 100 years, when there was no lifeboat on the island. [1]
During a remarkable period of four months in 1986, Alderney would see the award of three bronze medals, and five crew members accorded 'The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum'. On 4 May, four people and the yacht Sea Victor were saved after suffering engine difficulties in a southerly gale. Six people and the yacht Seylla II were saved in a force 10 gale on 25 August, and the following day, one person and the yacht Gypsy Rover were saved in another force 10 gale. Coxswain Stephen Shaw and Second Coxswain Martin Harwood would both received the RNLI Bronze Medal, with Shaw awarded a second medal (second-service clasp). [1] [3] [8]
The Waveney-class lifeboat 44-019 Louis Marchesi of Round Table (ON 1045) replaced Foresters Future in 1986, serving at Alderney for the next eight years. In 1994, Alderney would be the first station to receive the new Trent-class lifeboat. Relief and trial lifeboat 14-01 Earl and Countess Mountbatten of Burma (ON 1180) was placed on service temporarily on 7 March 1994, awaiting the arrival of a new production version lifeboat. [10]
Mr Fredrick Roy Barker (1909–1992), known as Roy, was the only son of a Lincolnshire farming family, and after studying animal medicine and husbandry at university, followed by a business degree in the US, he went on to become the managing director and Chairman of Banbury Stockyard in Oxfordshire, the largest livestock trading centre in Europe. Selling the company in the early 1970s, he moved to Jersey, where he was able to fully enjoy his love for sailing and the sea. He left his entire estate to the RNLI, with the request that the income received from the fund be known as the Roy Barker Memorial Fund. The Roy Barker Memorial Fund has helped fund the Tamar-class lifeboat and boathouse at The Mumbles, a Shannon-class lifeboat at New Quay, and three other Trent-class lifeboats, including ones at Wick in Scotland, and Howth in Ireland. It has also funded the SLARS tractor unit at Llandudno. [11]
The first of the Trent-class life boats funded by the Roy Barker Memorial Fund, was named 14-04 Roy Barker I (ON 1199), arriving at Alderney on 21 July 1995.
Alderney would receive an additional lifeboat in 1997, when the D-class (EA16) Inshore lifeboat Bacchus (D-410) was placed at the station. Two years later, the Inshore lifeboat was replaced with another D-class (EA16) boat, Spirit of Alderney (D-551).
On 9 August 2002, a 13-year-old was swept into the sea at the Fort Clonque causeway, followed by her 16-year-old friend and a passer-by, in their attempts to help the girl. Awards were made to five members of Alderney lifeboat station, for their exceptional efforts in the rescue of all three people. Helm of the Inshore lifeboat Philip Murray was awarded the RNLI Bronze Medal. [13]
In 2008, towards the end of her 10-year service, it was decided not to replace the Inshore lifeboat, and Spirit of Alderney (D-551) was withdrawn in 2009. The station maintains a former D-class (IB1) lifeboat with reduced equipment levels as a boarding boat, Ollie Naismith (D-741-BB) (2022–), which can still be used as an Inshore lifeboat if required.
In September 2024, after 30 years service, Roy Barker I (ON 1199) was retired. The replacement is a newer Trent-class lifeboat, a 24-year-old boat built in 2000. RNLB 14-29 Inner Wheel II (ON 1245) had previously served at Barry Dock in South Wales. [15]
Royal National Lifeboat Institution