Hoylake Lifeboat Station

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Hoylake Lifeboat Station
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Hoylake Lifeboat Station
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Hoylake, Wirral
General information
Type RNLI Lifeboat Station
Location55 North Parade, Hoylake Lifeboat Station, Hoylake, Wirral, Merseyside, CH47 3AL, England
Coordinates 53°23′57.0″N3°10′38.9″W / 53.399167°N 3.177472°W / 53.399167; -3.177472
Opened
  • 1803 Liverpool Dock Trustees
  • 1894 RNLI
Owner Flag of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.svg Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Website
Hoylake RNLI Lifeboat Station

Hoylake Lifeboat Station is located on the North Parade promenade in the town of Hoylake, on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside.

Contents

A lifeboat was first stationed at Hoylake by the Liverpool Dock Trustees in 1803. The station was transferred to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in 1894. [1]

The station currently operates 13-06 Edmund Hawthorne Micklewood (ON 1313), a Shannon-class All-weather lifeboat, and Hurley Spirit (H-005), a Griffon Type 470TD Hovercraft. [2]

Hovercraft H-005 Hurley Spirit on Hoylake beach RNLI hovercraft on Hoylake beach, May 2021-2.jpg
Hovercraft H-005 Hurley Spirit on Hoylake beach

History

On 16 September 1803, the Liverpool Dock Trustees ordered that a lifeboat, purchased from Henry Greathead in 1802, be placed in service at Hoylake, one of 6 lifeboat stations in the area provided by the Dock Trustees. The boat was to be housed in a newly constructed wooden boathouse, under the supervision of the local Tide Surveyor, Mr. Marlowe. The first Master (coxswain) was Thomas Seed, Lower Lighthouse Keeper. Thomas Seed died in 1808, and the Dock Trustees appointed Capt. Joseph Bennett, already an experienced Liverpool pilot, as Master of Hoylake lifeboat, and Keeper of the Lower Lighthouse, on a salary of 40 guineas. [3]

With enormous waves battering the beach, Hoylake's Greathead-class lifeboat was launched on the 29 December 1810, to the aid of the ship Traveller, on passage from Demerara to Liverpool, when she was driven ashore on the Hoyle Bank. Rowing out to the vessel, the lifeboat capsized. Eight crew were lost. A memorial now sits outside Hoylake lifeboat station. [1] [4]

Following an wreck of the Athebaska in 1838, when none of the lifeboats from Hoylake, Point of Air or Magazine village were able to effect a rescue, with the loss of all aboard, the Dock Trustees decided to place a No.2 boat at Hoylake in 1840, specially constructed by local boat-builder Thomas Costain to suit the local conditions. So pleased were the crew with the new boat, they requested another one, to replace their No.1 boat, which arrived in 1841. [3]

By 1847, launching of either Hoylake boat was proving difficult at certain times due to silting. So it was decided to create a station on Hilbre Island. A stone built boathouse and slipway were constructed, a caretaker was appointed to live on the island, and in 1848, the Hoylake No.2 boat was transferred to Hilbre Island. [1]

Liverpool Dock Trustees handed over control of all their lifeboat stations to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board in 1858. However, by the 1890s, with an ever increasing work load due to rising levels of port traffic at Liverpool, negotiations took place between the two parties, and on 1 July 1894, all the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board lifeboat stations were handed over to the RNLI. The Hoylake boat was only two-years-old, so after being sent away for some modification work, the boat was returned to Hoylake and was named Coard William Squarey (ON 377). [3]

In 1898, the RNLI gave up their existing wooden boat house and site, to allow Hoylake Council to create an Esplanade. A new site was provided by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, and the council paid £200 towards the construction of a new lifeboat station, which cost £922, and was completed in 1899. The council also constructed a new slipway opposite the new boathouse at no cost to the RNLI. [3]

Hoylake was one of the first stations to trial a launch tractor, receiving a Clayton tractor T1 in 1921. They also got a new lifeboat in 1931. She was the first of the new motor-powered Liverpool-class lifeboats, with a single 35-hp engine, capable of 7.3 knots. [5]

The first of thirteen Fowler Challenger III amphibious tractors was introduced at Hoylake in 1953. [6]

With motor lifeboats at Hoylake and New Brighton, and one due at Rhyl, it was considered that there was enough lifeboat coverage for the area, and it was announced that Hilbre Island station would close in 1938. [1]

Nearly 110 years since the building of Hoylake's 1899 lifeboat station, at a cost of £922, a new station was constructed on the site of Hoylake's old open air baths, located about half a mile to the east of the old station, on the sea-side of North Parade. It followed two years of fundraising, and cost £2 million to construct. [7]

Station honours

The following are awards made at Hoylake [1] [8]

George Davies, Coxswain – 1851
Thomas Dodd, Coxswain – 1902
George Davies, Coxswain – 1864
Herbert Jones, Coxswain – 1943
Benjamin Stanton Armitage, boatman – 1943
William G. Widdup, late Coxswain, H.M. Coastguard – 1943
Harold Triggs, Coxswain – 1971
Thomas Henry Jones, Coxswain – 1980
Peter Jones, Acting Motor Mechanic – 1980
Alan Tolley, Acting Assistant Mechanic – 1980
Geoffrey Ormrod, crew member – 1980
Gordon Bird, crew member – 1980
Each of the Hoylake Lifeboat Crew – 1902
Capt. Joshua Armitage – 1896
John McDermott, Second Coxswain – 1980
David Dodd, crew member – 1980
Jeffery Kernigan, Acting Tractor Driver – 1980
Jesse Bird, Acting Assistant Tractor Driver – 1980
David Arthur Dodd, Coxswain – 1998QBH [9]
David Anthony Whiteley, Coxswain – 2016NYH [10]

Roll of honour

In memory of those lost whilst serving Hoylake lifeboat. [3]

Henry Bird (40)
Henry Bird (18)
John Bird (43)
John Bird (16)
Joseph Hughes (38)
Richard Hughes (36)
Thomas Hughes (16)
Nicholas Seed (27)
Edward Lilley, shore crew (30)
John Isaac Roberts, crewman (23)

Hoylake and Hilbre lifeboats

Liverpool Dock Trustee lifeboats

Hoylake

NameBuiltOn station [3] ClassComments
Unnamed18021803−c.1818 Greathead
Unnamed18261826−184030-foot Non-self-righting
  • [Note 1]
  • With no specific records, it has been assumed that this boat was identical to the boat supplied to Point of Air at the same time.
Unnamed18401840−186230-foot Non-self-righting (P&S) [Note 2]
Unnamed18621862−189234-foot Whale-boat (P&S) [Note 3]
Unnamed18921892−189434-foot Non-self-righting (P&S)
  • [Note 4]
  • Transferred to RNLI in 1894, modified, returned to station and named Coard William Squarey (ON 377)

Hoylake No.2

NameBuiltOn station [3] ClassComments
Unnamed18391840−184830-foot Non-self-righting (P&S)

Hilbre Island

NameBuiltOn station [3] ClassComments
Unnamed18391848−186430-foot Non-self-righting (P&S)Previously Hoylake No.2
Unnamed1864
  • 1864−1890
  • 1891−1895
33-foot 6in Non-self-righting (P&S)

RNLI lifeboats

Hilbre Island

ON [a] NameBuiltOn station [11] ClassComments
383Admiral Briggs18951895−1914 35-foot Liverpool (P&S) [Note 7]
413 James Stevens No.2 18981914−1924 35-foot Liverpool (P&S)
461Chapman19011924−1938 35-foot Liverpool (P&S)
Station Closed, 1938

Hoylake (P&S) lifeboats

ON [a] NameBuiltOn station [12] ClassComments
377Coard William Squarey18921894−190634-foot non-self-righting (P&S)
  • [Note 10]
  • Transferred to RNLI in 1894, modified, returned to station, and named Coard William Squarey (ON 377)
555Hannah Fawsett Bennett19061906−1931 38-foot Liverpool P&S [Note 11]

Hoylake Motor lifeboats

ON [a] Op.No. [b] NameBuiltOn station [12] ClassComments
750−Oldham19311931−1952 Liverpool
894−Oldham IV19521952−1970 Liverpool
862−Thomas Corbett19481970−1974 Liverpool
100037-29Mary Gabriel19731974−1990 Rother [13]
116312-005Lady of Hilbre19901990−2014 Mersey
131313-06Edmund Hawthorne Micklewood20142014− Shannon [14]

Hovercraft

Op.No. [b] NameBuiltOn station [15] ClassComments
H-005Hurley Spirit20052016− Hovercraft

Launch and recovery tractors

Op.No. [b] Reg. No.TypeOn station [17] Comments
T1TC 648Clayton1921
T3MA 6793Clayton1921–1928
T23PP 7515FWD Co.1928–1929
T24UW 2641FWD Co.1929–1949
T45KGJ 58Case LA1949–1953
T56MYR 426 Fowler Challenger III 1953–1960
T67YLD 792 Fowler Challenger III 1960–1969
T61PLA 561 Fowler Challenger III 1969–1975
T63PFX 163 Fowler Challenger III 1975–1978
T68YUV 742 Fowler Challenger III 1978–1982
T56MYR 426 Fowler Challenger III 1982–1983
T91UAW 558Y Talus MB-H Crawler 1983–1986
T94B567 FAW Talus MB-H Crawler 1986–1997
T92A462 AUX Talus MB-H Crawler 1997–2007
T99C82 NUX Talus MB-H Crawler 2007–2014
SC-T06HF14 HLK SLARS (Supacat) 2014–Named Roland Hough
  1. 1 2 3 ON is the RNLI's Official Number of the boat.
  2. 1 2 3 Op.No. is the RNLI's Operational Number carried on the hull or vehicle.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 30-foot x 9-foot 3in (12-oared) non-self-righting lifeboat.
  2. ↑ 30-foot x 9-foot 3in (12-oared) non-self-righting lifeboat, built by Thomas Costain of Liverpool, costing £180.
  3. ↑ 34-foot (12-oared) non-self-righting Whale-boat lifeboat, built by Lamb and White, of Cowes.
  4. ↑ 34-foot 3in x 9-foot 9in (12-oared) non-self-righting lifeboat, built by Charles Howson & Co. of Liverpool.
  5. ↑ 30-foot x 9-foot 3in (12-oared) non-self-righting lifeboat, built by Thomas Costain, costing £180.
  6. ↑ 33-foot 6in x 9-foot 6in (12-oared) non-self-righting lifeboat, built by Thomas Costain of Liverpool.
  7. ↑ 35-foot x 10-foot (12-oared) Liverpool-class non-self-righting (P&S) lifeboat, the gift of Maj-Gen. W. L. Briggs CB , built by Rutherford & Co of Birkenhead, costing £453.
  8. ↑ 35-foot x 10-foot (12-oared) Liverpool-class non-self-righting (P&S) lifeboat, legacy of Mr J. Stevens of Birmingham, built by Reynolds of Lowestoft, costing £538.
  9. ↑ 35-foot x 10-foot (12-oared) Liverpool-class non-self-righting (P&S) lifeboat, legacy of Mrs M. A. Chapman of West Brompton, built by Thames Ironworks of Blackwall, London, costing £922.
  10. ↑ 34-foot 3in, 12-oared, built by Charles Howson & Co. of Liverpool
  11. ↑ 38-foot x 10-foot (12-oared) non-self-righting (P&S) lifeboat, legacies of Mrs L. H. F. Bennett and Mr C. H. Lear, of West Kirby, built by Charles Howson & Co. of Liverpool, costing £1,160.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Hoylake's station history". RNLI. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  2. ↑ Leonard, Richie; Denton, Tony (2025). Lifeboat Enthusiasts Handbook 2025. Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society. p. 130.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Morris, Jeff (January 2003). Hoylake and West Kirby Lifeboats 1803–2003 (4th ed.). Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society. pp. 1–46.
  4. 1 2 "Remembering the Hoylake Lifeboatmen". Howard Williams. Retrieved 30 October 2025.
  5. ↑ Leonard & Denton 2025, p. 103.
  6. ↑ "A New Life-boat Tractor". The Meccano Magazine. XXXIX (4): 173–4. April 1954.
  7. ↑ "New lifeboat station opens doors". BBC. 1 November 2008. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  8. ↑ Cox, Barry (1998). Lifeboat Gallantry. Spink & Son Ltd. ISBN   0907605893.
  9. ↑ "Ordinary Members of the Civil Division of the said Most Excellent Order of the British Empire". The Gazette. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  10. ↑ "British Empire Medal (Civil Division)". The Gazette. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  11. ↑ Leonard & Denton 2025, pp. 30–34.
  12. 1 2 Leonard & Denton 2025, pp. 30–71.
  13. ↑ "MARY GABRIEL". National Historic Ships. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  14. ↑ "Generous legacy from former Wren to fund Hoylake's new RNLI lifeboat". Wirral Globe. 28 February 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  15. ↑ Leonard & Denton 2025, p. 101.
  16. ↑ "20 years of saving lives: Hoylake RNLI mark the anniversary of the hovercraft". RNLI. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  17. ↑ Leonard & Denton 2025, pp. 103–106, 113.
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