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Ramsgate Lifeboat Station

Ramsgate Lifeboat Station is located on Western Crosswall in the Ramsgate Royal Harbour. Ramsgate is a town on the south-east corner of the Isle of Thanet peninsula, in north-east Kent.

A lifeboat was first placed at Ramsgate in 1802 by the Harbour Trustees, operating until 1824. It was re-established by the trustees in 1851. From 1865, the station was jointly managed by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the Board of Trade, passing solely to the RNLI in 1922.

The current lifeboat station, on the harbour wall between the inner and outer pools of the main harbour, opened in 1998, and currently operates an All-weather lifeboat, 16-23 Diamond Jubilee (ON 1303), on station since 2023, and a Inshore lifeboat, Claire & David Delves (B-878), on station since 2014.

History

A lifeboat station was first established at Ramsgate Harbour in 1802 by the Ramsgate Harbour Trustees, pre-dating the formation of any national lifeboat organisation by more than 20 years, and is one of the oldest to operate in the British Isles. A lifeboat was purchased from Henry Greathead, and operated at Ramsgate until 1824.

In 1851, Algernon Percy, 4th Duke of Northumberland, of Alnwick Castle, had been appointed president of the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNIPLS), the Institution becoming the RNLI in 1854. He set a competition for the design of a Self-righting lifeboat, with the reward of £100, which was won by James Beeching of Great Yarmouth. The prize-winning lifeboat was purchased for £250 by the Ramsgate harbour trustees, and placed on service at Ramsgate in late 1851. Whilst no formal naming records have been found, the boat was subsequently referred to as Northumberland.

In 1863, management of Ramsgate harbour was transferred to the Board of Trade. With the sanction of the Board, at a meeting of the RNLI committee of management on 3 August 1865, it was agreed that a new lifeboat was to be placed at Ramsgate. Funding was appropriated from the Bradford Lifeboat Fund, a sum of £425 raised by the efforts of Charles Semon, Mayor of Bradford and eleven other gentlemen, to pay for the cost of the lifeboat, transporting carriage and equipment.

A new lifeboat was ordered from Forrestt of Limehouse. At the same time, whilst the new Ramsgate boat was in construction, another new lifeboat was dispatched to Selsey Lifeboat Station, and their old 29-foot lifeboat Friend was transferred to Ramsgate, both boats transported free of charge between London and Chichester by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. In lieu of the new lifeboat not to be exhibited in Bradford, the committee of the Bradford Lifeboat Fund requested via letter from Charles Semon, Mayor, that an exact model be supplied, to be permanently exhibited to the subscribers of Bradford, which was agreed.

A 40-foot Self-righting 'Pulling and Sailing' (P&S) lifeboat, one with both sail and (12) oars, was towed to her station from London by the Ramsgate steam tug Aid in February 1866. The lifeboat was named Bradford, and was the first of four Bradford lifeboats at Ramsgate.

During the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk in 1940, Ramsgate lifeboat Prudential (ON 697) was the first little ship to the rescue. The lifeboat left Ramsgate at 14.20 in the afternoon with Coxswain Howard Primrose Knight in command with her own crew of eight men. They had been issued with gas masks, steel helmets and the lifeboat was loaded with four coils of grass warp and cans of fresh water for the troops. She took in tow eight boats, most of them wherries, manned by eighteen naval men, and when she reached Dunkirk her role was to tow the wherries between the beaches and the waiting ships. In total she rescued 2,800 troops from the beaches. For his 'gallantry and determination,' Coxswain Howard Knight was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.

The lifeboat Prudential, on service since 1925, and the first motor-powered lifeboat on station at Ramsgate, was one of four lifeboats that took part in the Coronation Review of the Fleet by the Queen at Portsmouth on 15 June 1953

Station honours

The following are awards made at Ramsgate.

:Howard Primrose Cooper Knight, Coxswain - 1940
:Charles Edward Fish, Coxswain – 1881
:Charles Edward Fish, Coxswain – 1891 (Second-Service clasp)
:William Miller, Boatman – 1826
:Capt. Edward Gimar, of the French Brig Le Norman – 1829
:James Hogbin, Coxswain – 1857
:Isaac Jarman, Coxswain – 1864
:Isaac Jarman, Coxswain – 1870 (Second-Service clasp)
:Charles Edward Fish, Bowman – 1870
:Daniel Reading, Master of Ramsgate Harbour Steam Tug Vulcan – 1872
:James Simpson, Mate of the Ramsgate Harbour Tug Aid – 1874
:William Wharrier, Engineer of the Ramsgate Harbour Tug Aid – 1874
:Richard Goldsmith, Second Coxswain – 1881
:Henry Belsey, crew member – 1881
:David Berry, crew member – 1881
:Thomas Cooper Snr. crew member – 1881
:Thomas Cooper Jnr. crew member – 1881
:Thomas Friend, crew member – 1881
:John Goldmith, crew member – 1881
:Stephen Goldsmith, crew member – 1881
:Henry Meader, crew member – 1881
:Robert Penney, crew member – 1881
:Charles Verion, crew member – 1881
:Alfred Page, Master – 1881
:William Wharrier, Engineer – 1881 (Second-Service clasp)
:William Austen, crew member – 1881
:Charles Knight, crew member – 1881
:Edward Revell, crew member – 1881
:George Woodward, Stoker – 1881
:Richard Yare, Stoker – 1881
:
:William Wharrier, Engineer of Ramsgate Harbour Tugs – 1890 (Third-Service clasp)
:Alfred Page, Tug Master – 1892 (Second-Service clasp)
:Thomas James Watson – 1892
:William Burton – 1892
:Edwin Hurle – 1892
:Arthur E. Fisher – 1892
:
:Alfred Page, Tug Master – 1898 (Third-Service clasp)
:John Hawkins, Harbour Boatman – 1906
:William Cooper, Coxswain – 1916
:Thomas William Read, Second Coxswain – 1917
:Ronald Nicholas Cannon, Coxswain/Mechanic – 1986
:Ronald Nicholas Cannon, Coxswain/Mechanic – 2000 (Second-Service clasp)
:Coxswain William Cooper – 1911
:The Master of the Ramsgate Tug Aid – 1911
:Douglas Stephen Kirkaldie, Coxswain – 1952
  • Royal Harbour Ramsgate (Indian Chief) Medal for Conspicuous Gallantry
:Charles Fish, Coxswain – 1881
:Richard Goldsmith, crew member – 1881
:Henry Belsey, crew member – 1881
:David Berry, crew member – 1881
:Thomas Cooper Snr. crew member – 1881
:Thomas Cooper Jnr. crew member – 1881
:Thomas Friend, crew member – 1881
:John Goldmith, crew member – 1881
:Stephen Goldsmith, crew member – 1881
:Henry Meader, crew member – 1881
:Robert Penney, crew member – 1881
:Charles Vernon, crew member – 1881
:Alfred Page, Master – 1881
:William Wharrier, crew member – 1881
:William Austen, crew member – 1881
:Charles Knight, crew member – 1881
:Edward Revell, crew member – 1881
:George Woodward, crew member – 1881
:Richard Yare, crew member – 1881
:
  • The Maud Smith Award<br/>
:Douglas Stephen Kirkaldie. Coxswain – 1952
:Ronald Nicholas Cannon, Coxswain/Mechanic – 1985
:Ronald Nicholas Cannon, Coxswain/Mechanic – 1999
  • Lady Swaythling Trophy<br/>
:Ronald Nicholas Cannon, Coxswain/Mechanic – 2000
  • James Michael Bower Endowment Fund Award<br/>
:Ronald Nicholas Cannon, Coxswain/Mechanic – 2000
  • The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum
:Thomas J. H. Cooper, Coxswain – 1968
:Michael Petts, crew member – 1975
:Timothy Hurst, crew member – 1975
:Malcolm H. R. Llewellyn – 1980
:Bryan L. E. Morgan – 1980
:
:Timothy E. Hurst, Helm – 1985
:Timothy Hurst, Emergency Mechanic – 2000
:Lance Oran, crew member – 2000
  • A Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution
:R. Cannon, Coxswain/Mechanic – 1983
:D. Pegden, Second Coxswain/Assistant Mechanic – 1983
:D. Cooper, Emergency Mechanic – 1983
:W. Blay, crew member – 1983
:T. Brown, crew member – 1983
:T. Hurst, crew member – 1983
:Ronald Nicholas Cannon, Coxswain/Mechanic – 1984
:D. Pegden, 2nd Coxswain/Assistant Mechanic – 1984
:T. Hurst, crew member – 1984
:M. Mett, crew member – 1984
:N. Stephens, crew member – 1984
:R. Noble, crew member – 1984
:Timothy Hurst, crew member – 1984
:Ronald Nicholas Cannon, Coxswain/Mechanic – 2000
:Christopher Andrews, Helm – 2008
:Harvey Cole, crew member – 2008
:John Rabbatts, crew member – 2008
  • Inscribed Silver Plaques<br/>
:Coxswain and Crew – 1940
:Gold watch to the Coxswain – 1919
:Binoculars to the Second Coxswain – 1919
:Gold Medals to the Lifeboat Crew – 1919
:Ronald Nicholas Cannon, Retired Coxswain/Mechanic – 2017QBH

Roll of honour

In memory of those lost whilst serving Ramsgate lifeboat.

  • Lost when washed overboard, whilst on service to the barge Sarpsborg of Norway, 2 February 1873
:William White

All-weather lifeboat gallery

Ramsgate lifeboats

Pulling and Sailing (P&S) lifeboats

Motor lifeboats

Inshore lifeboats

See also

Notes

References