The station currently operates the Trent-class All-weather lifeboat 14-35 John Neville Taylor (ON 1266), on station since 2008, and a D-class (IB1) Inshore lifeboat, David Lauder (D-844), on station since 2019. Due to access issues at Dunbar harbour at low tide, since 1993, the All-weather lifeboat is kept on a mooring approximately 4.2 nautical miles (7.8km) to the east of Dunbar, in the bay next to Torness nuclear power station.[2]
History
Dunbar Harbour has been a fishing and trading port since at least 1574, and for a considerable period was classified as a port of refuge. In Britain, the history of lifeboats dates (two outliers excepted) to Henry Greathead's 1790 boat at South Shields on the River Tyne in England;[3] in 1824 the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNIPLS) was founded, to take a nationwide interest in the provision of lifeboats, but it was relatively ineffective in its earliest years. Lifeboat provision prior to about 1850 was a matter for local communities, with little institutional support. In 1854, the RNIPLS was renamed the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).
Dunbar ranks amongst the earlier harbours to be equipped with a lifeboat, equipping itself with a boat of Henry Greathead's design and manufacture, together with a boat-carriage, boathouse and a Manby apparatus, in 1808.[4] The initiative to establish a station at Dunbar came from George Miller, a native of the town, son of a merchant and established as a bookbinder and bookseller, but having had a long fascination with seafaring. By his own account, he had as a child conceived of mortar-launched lines as a means of reaching shoreline wrecks, many years in advance of George William Manby's successful implementation of the idea, and remained fascinated by shipwreck and rescue.[5] Miller became acquainted with South Shields' lifeboat initiative, when he spent some days from 6 April 1789 undertaking work experience with a bookseller in the town. 1789 was a year in which the town was the 'epicentre of lifeboat innovation', arising out of the highly visible and protracted wrecking of a vessel, the Adventure, on the Herd Sands to the north-east of the South Shields on 14 March. The Newcastle-upon-Tyne Trinity House to hold a competition for the design of a lifeboat, which led to the adoption of Greathead's design.[3]
Miller, with others, campaigned from as early as 1793 for the establishment at Dunbar of a lifesaving operation, suggesting both a mortar and line, and a lifeboat, but their aspirations came to nothing.[6] It took until 1807, prompted by the death of a sailor on 6 September in a shoreline wreck at Thorntonlock, to the east of Dunbar,[a] before Miller's ideas got traction. He floated a proposal for a lifeboat in the Edinburgh Evening Courant and quickly a committee of local worthies was formed, and as quickly, a subscription raised above £366, which by 1808 yielded lifeboat, station, carriage and minimal float for expenses.[7] David Anderson's 2002 paper on The Dunbar Lifeboat notes five occasions on which it responded to mariners in distress, but notes that there are no good records of its employment.
Lack of competent management of the affairs of the lifeboat station brought the Dunbar service to an end sometime after 1818, when damage to the Greathead boat went unrepaired, and it was found to be unavailable to assist with an 1821 wrecking.[8] From about 1830, Dunbar was served by a Rocket Brigade using Mandy apparatus. It was not until 1864 that the town petitioned to the reinvigorated RNLI for a replacement boat.[9]
It was announced in the RNLI journal "The Lifeboat" of 2 October 1865, that the Institution had established a lifeboat station at Dunbar. "It is anticipated that the boat will be of great service to the fishing-boats of the place on occasions of storms, as well as to other vessels that may be wrecked in the locality. The life-boat will be available for a considerable length of coast, as there are sandy beaches, both north and south of Dunbar, with good roads leading to them, which will enable the boat to be readily transported thither on its carriage."[10]
A 33-foot self-righting 'Pulling and Sailing' (P&S) lifeboat, one with sails and (10) oars, along with its carriage, was transported to Dunbar free of charge by the Great Northern, North Eastern, and North British Railway Companies, arriving in Dunbar in April 1864. A new boathouse was constructed by the Victoria Harbour, at a cost of £165. The lifeboat was funded by the gift of £300 from Lady Cuningham-Fairlie, and at her request, the lifeboat was named Wallace.[10][11]
In a strong northerly gale on 7 March 1877, the steamshipJames was seen drifting towards Belhaven. After much effort, both horses and men dragging the lifeboat out over soft sand, the lifeboat was launched, By now, the vessel had gone ashore, but the crew of four were rescued. The vessel broke up soon afterwards.[12]
On 13 October 1877, the Dunbar lifeboat capsized whilst out on exercise. Two crewmen, R. Clements and Robert Harkes were lost.[1]
Three men were brought ashore by the lifeboat on 27 February 1882, when the lighterSophia, was seen displaying a signal of distress, whilst on passage to Dunbar from Newcastle-upon-Tyne with a cargo of coal. She was riding the sea at anchor, after her tugboat broke a shaft, and was set loose, but was in danger of being lost in the poor conditions.[13]
In 1901, the first boathouse was demolished, and a new one constructed on the same site at Victoria harbour by Mr A. Gordon, at a cost of £633. Since 1968, it has housed the Inshore lifeboat. It was extended and refurbished in 1996.[1][14]
Skateraw lifeboat station
In 1907, to resolve the difficulties that were encountered transporting the Dunbar lifeboat overland, it was decided that a satellite lifeboat station be established at Skateraw, 5 miles (8.0km) to the south-east of Dunbar. When required, the lifeboat would also be operated by the Dunbar crew. The station remained in service until 1943.[15] For further information, please see:–
14-09 Sir Ronald Pechell Bt (ON 1207) was a Trent-class All-weather lifeboat that operated at Dunbar from 1995 to 2008. During the Easter weekend of 2008, the lifeboat was damaged beyond economic repair, after her moorings snapped during severe storms and she was driven ashore. The Sir Ronald Pechell Bt, valued at £208K in 2008, cost £1.05M to build in 1995 and in her 13 years of service at Dunbar had launched 206 times and rescued 171 people. The Trent-class lifeboat, 14-35 John Neville Taylor (ON 1266) from the relief fleet, was allocated to the station as a permanent replacement.
↑ Leach, Nicholas (1999). For Those in Peril: The Lifeboat Service of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, Station by Station. Kettering: Silver Link. p.204. ISBN1-85794-129-2.
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Royal National Lifeboat Institution 
