Fleetwood Lifeboat Station is located on The Esplanade at the port of Fleetwood, a Lancashire town at the north end of The Fylde, situated at the mouth of the River Wyre.
In November 1858, in response to a letter from Capt. Edward Frodsham Noel K. Wasey, RN, H.M. Coastguard, the RNLI agreed to place a lifeboat at Fleetwood. A new boathouse was constructed opposite the North Euston Hotel at a cost of £174-18s-6d, and a Peake-class 30-foot 6-oared rowing lifeboat was constructed by Forrestt of Limehouse, London costing £140. The boat arrived on station on 20 March 1859. John Fox was appointed Coxswain, and Capt. Wasey appointed Honorary Secretary.[3]
The request for a lifeboat by Capt. Wasey could not have come a moment too soon, as in 1860, the boat was involved in no less than three medal rescues. On 22 January 1860, the Fleetwood lifeboat was towed over four miles by a steam-tug to the Ann Mitchell, where after 7 attempts, the sole survivor was rescued. Coxswain Fox and Capt. Wasey both received RNLI Silver Medals. In a further two services, on 19 February 1860, rescuing 4 men, and on 20 October 1860, rescuing 15 men and the Pilot, Capt. Wasey was awarded second and third service clasps to his silver medal, a remarkable achievement in one year.[4]
In 1862, following a gift of £340 from Miss Mary Wasey, a new lifeboat was provided for Fleetwood, a 32-foot 10-oared self-righting boat, built by Forrestt. She arrived in November 1862, transported free of charge from London to Fleetwood by the London and North Western Railway Company, and was named Edward Wasey.[2]
Fleetwood boathouses
The 1858 lifeboat house was nearly washed away in a storm of 1863, and so a new brick-built boathouse, costing £161-17s-10d, was constructed at Pharos Place, next to the Pharos Lighthouse. Today it is a private residence.
Following a gift of £900 from Col. William Blackburn, a new lifeboat was provided for Fleetwood in 1879, Child of Hale, and the residue of the money funded the construction of a third boathouse and slipway, now thought to have been close to the site of the current lifeboat station. A larger 46-foot boat arrived in Fleetwood in 1887, Edith (ON 76) to become the No.2 boat, and was moored afloat.[3]
Fleetwood had for a long time been a key Railway Hub and Steamer terminus, with vessels arriving and departing from and to the Isle of Man, Belfast, Barrow and Ardrossan, tying up right alongside the railway station. In 1840, the fastest way to Glasgow from London was via a steamer from Fleetwood to Ardrossan.[5]
In 1893, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, and the London and North Western Railway, needed to extend their harbour moorings, right over the site of the lifeboat station slipway. Funded by the railway companies, a fourth boathouse and slipway was constructed in 1894, which was large enough to accommodate the 46-foot lifeboat; by now the single remaining boat in Fleetwood, the Child of Hale (II) (ON 75) having been retired in 1892.[1]
However, the slipway location meant it suffered from a regular build up of sand and shingle, to the point where the boat was having to be kept moored afloat, so in 1901, a fifth site was acquired 80 yards east of the Beach Lighthouse, or Low Light as more commonly known, and a new slipway constructed. Having been the cause of the previous relocation, the railway companies moved the 1894 boathouse, and re-constructed it over the new slipway. This boathouse remained in use for the next 75 years, although the station was closed between 1930 and 1933 for alterations, and the construction of another new slipway, ready for the arrival of a new motor-powered lifeboat, the Sir Fitzroy Clayton (ON 628).[3]
The 1901 boathouse finally became redundant in 1976, and was demolished in 1977, when the new Waveney-class lifeboat Lady of Lancashire (ON 1036) arrived. This boat was designed to be moored afloat, and required the construction of a mooring pen.[3]
A small boathouse, constructed in the late 1960s to house a D-class Inshore lifeboat, was washed away in a storm of November 1977, and completely destroyed. The launch tractor was found buried in deep sand, and the Inshore lifeboat (D-187) was found on Pilling Sands, returning to service after repairs.[3]
Finally, a new RNLI and Coastguard building was constructed in 2006, complete with crew facilities, a retail outlet, and secure storage for the D-class lifeboat, which is launched with the aid of a davit.[1]
