Looe Lifeboat Station

Looe Lifeboat Station is the base for Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) search and rescue operations at Looe, Cornwall in the United Kingdom.

Looe Lifeboat Station
Looe
General information
TypeRNLI Lifeboat Station
LocationLooe
AddressChurch End, West Rd, Looe PL13 1AH
CountryUnited Kingdom
Coordinates50.352021°N 4.453168°W / 50.352021; -4.453168
Opened1866
OwnerRoyal National Lifeboat Institution
Website
www.looelifeboats.co.uk/index.html

History

To the east of Looe is the expanse of Whitsand Bay. While attempting to run for the safety of Plymouth Sound many sailing ships became embayed, unable to sail around Rame Head. Wrecks were frequent and Looe men made many rescues before the lifeboat station was established. In 1824, John Miller received the Institutes Silver Medal, and three others, monetary awards for rescuing seven men from Harmonie, wrecked in Whitsand Bay. Ten years later, in 1834, monetary awards and a Silver Medal was awarded for saving twelve crew from the Konigberg. A third Silver Medal was awarded in November 1838 to William Jennings who swam to the brig Belissima, carrying a line, and saving thirteen men. Rescuing the crew of the Fletan resulted in a fourth Silver Medal in February 1851.[1]

A lifeboat house was erected in 1866 and the first lifeboat, Oxfordshire was paraded through the streets on 28 December 1866 and named by Mrs W H Carew.[2] The RNLI withdrew services from Looe in 1930 on the grounds that the lifeboats of Fowey and Plymouth could cover the area.[3]

From 1991 the RNLI stationed a lifeboat at Looe for the summer season and three years later the Spirit of the ROAC was housed in a temporary lifeboat house, provided by the East Looe Town Trust. A new lifeboat station was built on the old Albatross warehouse site on the quay, construction starting in Autumn 2002.[4]

Former lifeboats

'ON' is the RNLI's sequential Official Number; 'Op. No.' is the operational number painted onto the boat.

Pulling and sailing lifeboats
ON Name Built At Looe[1] Class Comments
Oxfordshire 1866– Paid for by the legacy of Sir John Willoughby, 4th Baronet[2]
Boys' Own No. 1 Shadwell 1882–1902 Costs and equipment paid for by the readers of The Boy's Own Paper[5] |- Ryder Thames Ironworks 1902–1930

Current lifeboats

Inshore lifeboats
D741 Ollie Naismith
ON Op. No. Name Built At Looe Class Comments
B894 Shiela and Dennis Tongue II 2016– Atlantic 85-class
D741 Ollie Naismith 2010– D-class (IB1)
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See also

Notes
    1. Bird 1991, p. 149.
    2. Bird 1991, p. 150.
    3. Bird 1991, p. 152.
    4. Looe Lifeboats.
    5. The Cornishman 1882, p. 5.

    Sources
    • Bird, Sheila (1991). Mayday! Preserving Life from Shipwrecks off Cornwall. Bradford on Avon: Ex Libris Press. ISBN 0-948578-31-9.
    • "A History of Looe Lifeboat Station - Established 1866". Looe Lifeboats. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
    • "Looe". The Cornishman (210). 20 July 1882. p. 5.
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