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Dunbar lifeboat station
Dunbar lifeboat station
	Dunbar Lifeboat Station
	Dunbar, East Lothian
General information
Type	RNLI Lifeboat Station
Location	Victoria Harbour
Address	Victoria Place
Town or city	Dunbar, East Lothian, EH42 1HS
Country	Scotland
Coordinates	56°00′18″N 2°30′54″W / 56.00504°N 2.51499°W
Opened	1808
Owner	Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Technical details
Material	Brick
Website
	Dunbar RNLI Lifeboat Station

Dunbar Lifeboat Station is a lifeboat station located in Dunbar Harbour at Dunbar, on the south-east coast of Scotland, operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. The station operates a Trent-class all-weather lifeboat and a D-class (IB1) inshore lifeboat. Dunbar is one of the earlier British ports to be served by a lifeboat, the first station being constructed in 1808.

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; it is located on the North Sea coast of south-east Scotland, venue for many thousands of shipwrecks over the centuries. 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;^[1] in 1824 the Royal National Lifeboat Institution 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.

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.^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[1]

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.^[4] 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.^[5] 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 occasioned to the Greathead boat went unrepaired, and it was found to be unavailable to assist with an 1821 wrecking.^[6] 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; by 1865 the Wallace had been supplied, and a new boathouse erected by the Victoria Harbour.^[7] The current boathouse dates from 1901, and was extended and refurbished in 1996.^[8]

^ Thorntonlock: 55°57′45″N 2°23′50″W / 55.96237°N 2.39728°W / 55.96237; -2.39728. The exact position of the wreck is not recorded

Sir Ronald Pechell Bt

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 lifeboat, 14-35 John Neville Taylor (ON 1266) from the charity's relief fleet, has been allocated to the station as a permanent replacement.

Station honours

The following are awards made to the crew of Dunbar Lifeboat Station:^[9]^[10]

RNLI Silver Medal

1827 - for the rescue of the master of the sloop Brothers on 4 March 1827

Mr Randal Stap, chief officer of coastguard,

1852 - for rescuing the master and one of the crew of the schooner Susan on 9 January 1852.

James Brown, coastguard

1852 - for rescuing the skipper and his nephew of the fishing yawl William and James on 28 February 1852.

Robert Turnbull, a fisherman

1905 - for the rescue of six from the SS King Ja Ja of Swansea on 13 October 1905.

Walter Fairbairn, Coxswain

RNLI Bronze Medal

1970 - for the rescue an injured man in the water on 23 December 1970.

David Brunton

2010 - for the rescue of two people from their yacht Ouhm on 15 May 2009

Gary Fairbairn, Coxswain

Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum

1970 - for the rescue an injured man in the water on 23 December 1970.

Jonathan J A Alston

1991 - for his seamanship and leadership searching for divers on 6 October 1990

Robert Wight, Coxswain

Framed Letters of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution
1970 - for the rescue an injured man in the water on 23 December 1970.

to the remaining five crew members.

Lady Swaythling Trophy for outstanding seamanship
awarded by the Shipwrecked Mariners and Fishermen’s Royal Benevolent Society

2010 - for the rescue of two people from their yacht Ouhm on 15 May 2009

Gary Fairbairn, Coxswain

Royal Human Society’s Testimonial on Parchment

1953 - for the rescue of a boy who had fallen over the cliffs.

R G Brunton, Second Coxswain

Letter of Appreciation from the German Government

1932 - for the assistance given by the lifeboat to the S.S. Berkenan of Bremerhaven

Dunbar Lifeboat

British Empire Medal

2015 - For services to Maritime Safety

Kenneth John Headley, Fundraiser, RNLI^[11]

Dunbar lifeboats

All-weather lifeboats

ON^[a]	Op. No.^[b]	Name	In service^[12]	Class	Comments
–	–	Dunbar Lifeboat	1808–1821	Greathead	Original lifeboat^[13]
220	–	Wallace	1865–1893	33-foot 1in Self-Righting (P&S)
345	–	Sarah Pickard	1893–1901	34-foot Self-Righting (P&S)
443	–	William Arthur Millward	1901–1931	35-foot Liverpool (P&S)
749	–	George and Sarah Strachan	1931–1959	45ft 6in Watson	First motor lifeboat at station
947	–	Margaret	1959–1986	47ft Watson
971	–	Joseph Soar (Civil Service No.34)	1986–1988	47ft Watson
1020	48-015	Hugh William, Viscount Gough	1988–1993	Solent
1034	44-013	Thomas James King	1993–1995	Waveney
1207	14-09	Sir Ronald Pechell Bt	1995–2008	Trent	Storm-damaged beyond economic repair
1204	14-06	Windsor Runner (Civil Service No.42)	2008	Trent
1266	14-35	John Neville Taylor	2008–	Trent	^[14]

Inshore lifeboats

Op. No.	Name	In service^[15]	Class
D-169	Unnamed	1968–1983	D-class (RFD PB16)
D-292	Castle House	1983–1989	D-class (RFD PB16)
D-397	Banks' Staff III	1989–1999	D-class (EA16)
D-544	The Hastings	1999–2009	D-class (EA16)
D-708	Jimmy Miff	2009–2019	D-class (IB1)
D-844	David Lauder	2019–	D-class (IB1)

^ ON is the RNLI's Official Number of the boat.
^ Op. No. is the RNLI's Operational Number of the boat carried on the hull.

References

^ ^a ^b Anderson 2002, p. 92.
^ Anderson 2002, p. 96.
^ Anderson 2002, p. 91.
^ Anderson 2002, p. 94.
^ Anderson 2002, pp. 95–96.
^ Anderson 2002, p. 106.
^ Anderson 2002, p. 109.
^ "Dunbar, Victoria Harbour, Lifeboat House". Canmore. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
^ "Dunbar's station history". RNLI. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
^ Cox, Barry (1998). Lifeboat Gallantry. Spink & Son Ltd. ISBN 0-907605-89-3.
^ "British Empire Medal (Civil Division)". The Gazette. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
^ Leonard, Richie; Denton, Tony (2021). Lifeboat Enthusiasts Handbook 2021. Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society. pp. 2–120.
^ 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. ISBN 1-85794-129-2.
^ "New Lifeboat for Dunbar". Yachting and Boating World. Retrieved 9 May 2008.
^ Leonard, Richie; Denton, Tony (2024). Lifeboat Enthusiasts Handbook 2024. Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society. pp. 4–132.