Great Yarmouth and Gorleston Lifeboat Station, (not to be confused with on the Isle of Wight), is located at Riverside Road in Gorleston, at the mouth of the River Yare, on the east coast of Norfolk.
Management of Great Yarmouth Lifeboat Station, established in 1825, was transferred to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in 1857. Gorleston Lifeboat Station was established by the RNLI in 1866, although a number of other lifeboats had been in operation at Gorleston since 1802, and continued until 1939. The two RNLI branches merged in 1926, to form Great Yarmouth and Gorleston Lifeboat Station.
The station currently operates the All-weather lifeboat 14-10 Samarbeta (ON 1208), on station since 1996, and a Inshore lifeboat, John Rowntree (B-925), on station since 2021.
Great Yarmouth received its first lifeboat in 1802. No records of any call have been found. In 1825, the Norfolk Association for Saving the Lives of Shipwrecked Mariners (NASLSM) stationed its first lifeboat at Great Yarmouth. In 1833, the NASLSM established a No. 2 station, placing a second boat at Great Yarmouth.
The station was taken over by the RNLI in 1857, and the following year, two new lifeboats were sent to Great Yarmouth. The No. 1 lifeboat was a 38-foot Self-righting 'Pulling and Sailing' (P&S) lifeboat named Harriett, one with sails and (12) oars, originally built in 1852 by Beeching of Great Yarmouth, and later modified with an iron keel and wooden ballast, to Peake's design. The boat was placed on station on a trial basis, the boatmen there used to a different design lifeboat, and the 1833 lifeboat was retained for comparison. Records show that the Harriett lifeboat was only on station for one year, with the station reverting to their much preferred 1833 boat.
The second lifeboat to arrive in 1858, for the No. 2 station, was the smaller 30-foot 6-oared rowing lifeboat, named Admiral Mitchell, designed for close shore work. No details have been found of its shortcomings, but it was swiftly replaced, following the report of the RNLI district inspector. It's replacement was approved at a meeting of the RNLI committee of Management of 5 May 1859, and an unnamed 28-foot Surf lifeboat was sent to the station later that year.
A new lifeboat house at Great Yarmouth was constructed and completed in 1859, to the design of the Institute's honorary architech, Mr C. H. Cooke, at a cost of ã375, (). Although with modification to the front, the Great Yarmouth lifeboat house mostly still exists, located on the southern corner of Standard Road and Marine Parade.
In 1866, the Institution received the anonymous gift of ã620 from "X.Y.Z." of Chatham, Kent, which was appropriated to the Great Yarmouth station. In accordance with the donor's wishes, the 28-foot previously unnamed Great Yarmouth No.2 lifeboat was named Duff, after the first missionary ship that left England for the South Seas. In 1875, the lifeboat was renamed Abraham Thomas.
A private lifeboat had existed at Gorleston since 1802, operating under various banners, Gorleston Rangers, Gorleston Storm Company and Gorleston Volunteer Lifeboat Association. In October 1855, the boatmen of Gorleston Rangers, through local subscription, the assistance of friends, and with a donation of ã50 from the RNLI, were able to order a 40-foot lifeboat, built by Beeching of Great Yarmouth, at a cost of ã200.
Following the capsize of the private lifeboat Rescuer on 13 January 1866, resulting in the loss of 13 crew, the Gorleston boatmen appealed to the RNLI, to be supplied with a self-righting life-boat, as such a boat may not have cost so many lives. A new RNLI station was established at Gorleston in July 1866, when a new 33-foot self-righting lifeboat Leicester was dispatched to the station. The lifeboat was first exhibited in Leicester, where funds raised there had helped defray the costs. The lifeboat and carriage had been transported free of charge by the Great Northern and Great Eastern railway companies.
From the 1860s, Mr Kains-Jackson collected funds each Christmas, at the London Corn Exchange, for the Mark Lane Life-Boat Fund, to be appropriated to the Gorleston station. Three successive lifeboats at Gorleston took the name Mark Lane, which is not after a person, but after the London address of the London Corn Exchange.
In 1881 a new boathouse was built at Gorleston, at a cost of ã329 () and a second boathouse (Gorleston No.2) was built alongside in 1883.
During 1897 the station received its first steam lifeboat City of Glasgow (ON 362) and during 1921, its first motor-powered lifeboat.
By 1919, both Great Yarmouth stations had been closed, and in 1924, the Gorleston station, which at times had as many as four lifeboats, was now operating just one lifeboat, the 46-foot 6in motor-powered John and Mary Meiklam of Gladswood (ON 670). Great Yarmouth and Gorleston branches of the RNLI merged in 1926, and the station was renamed Great Yarmouth and Gorleston Lifeboat Station.
In 1963, a Inshore lifeboat was placed at the station, joined in 1975 with the larger Inshore lifeboat Foresters (B-531). The was subsequently withdrawn in 1977.
During 1993 crew facilities were upgraded, a gift-shop built and a display area created for the former Gorleston lifeboat John and Mary Meiklam of Gladswood (ON 663). The boathouse was further extended in 2002.
In 1996, Princess Alexandra officially named the station's new lifeboat 14-10 Samarbeta (ON 1208), Swedish for âÂÂworking togetherâÂÂ.
A new lifeboat 13-44 George and Frances Phelon (ON 1351) had been assigned to Gt. Yarmouth and Gorleston to replace Samarbeta, and was expected to be on service in 2022. She is a "Legacy Lifeboat", and carries the names of RNLI benefactors within the numbers on her hull. However, ongoing problems with the mooring at the station prevented the new lifeboat from going on service, with the boat remaining in storage. In October 2024, it was announced that George and Frances Phelon would begin operations with the relief fleet, and as of December 2025, is currently being used for training at .
On 27 April 2025, it was announced that an agreement had been reached, between the Great Yarmouth Port Authority and the RNLI, and that the Gt. Yarmouth and Gorleston lifeboat station will relocate upriver, to the former Pilot station. Once works are completed, it is hoped that this will provide a better mooring site for the lifeboat, which was due to replace the existing lifeboat Samarbeta.
In October 1922, after a struggle lasting 32 hours, the Gorleston pulling and sailing lifeboat and the motor lifeboat brought to safety, the whole crew of 24, and a black kitten, from the steamship , wrecked on Scroby Sands.
In 1927, lifeboats from Great Yarmouth & Gorleston, , and took part in the rescue of the Dutch oil tanker . This service is considered to be one of the greatest in the history of the RNLI.
The lifeboat Louise Stephens (ON 820) was one of 19 lifeboats involved in the Dunkirk evacuation of 1940.
The following are awards made at Gt Yarmouth and Gorleston:
Gorleston Lifeboat Station established by the RNLI in 1866
Gorleston No.2 Boathouse built and opened in 1883.
Gorleston No.3 Boathouse constructed in 1891.