A photograph of the Walmer RNLI Lifeboat crew with its latest crew member, in front of one of their lifeboats
The Walmer Lifeboat crew pose for a crew photograph during the lifeboat stations open day in 2012, with a surprise new crew member with them! Walmer Lifeboat Station was established in 1830. Over two thousand ships are believed to have been wrecked on the Goodwin Sands, and the masts of several wrecks are visible from the shore at low tide. Hence there have always been two lifeboats located at the joined towns of Deal and Walmer along the coast opposite the sands. In 1830, Gold Medals were awarded to Captain P Graham RN, Lieut HW Johnson RN and Lieut WS Watts RN, and a Silver Medal to John Durban for rescuing 13 crew from the ship Mountaineer and three other Deal boatmen on 24 November 1829. It was 26 years later, however, in 1856, that an actual lifeboat station was established. In 1896 Crew Member E Young drowned when he was trying to board the steamship Trapian from the lifeboat. From 1912 to 1927 the station was closed, but when it re-opened the lifeboat was kept on a launching cradle at the head of the beach and soon afterwards, from 1930, the station had its first motor lifeboat. Walmer's last all-weather lifeboat was the “Hampshire Rose”. In 1964 an inshore lifeboat (ILB) station was established with a D class lifeboat. The "Hampshire Rose" was retired from service on 5 May 1990 and, with the addition of a B class Atlantic 21 lifeboat (for whose launching rig the boathouse was then extended in 1992), Walmer was permanently established as an inshore lifeboat station. A new Atlantic 21, B-589 James Burgess, was placed on service in 1992, in the same year as a visit by the Queen Mother as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and on 22 January 1997 a new D class lifeboat, D-514 Lord Kitchener, was placed on service. A new Atlantic 85 class lifeboat, B-808 Donald Mclauchlan, was put on station in December 2006, along with a new IB1 D Class D-663 Douggie Rodbard.
Size: 3872px × 2592px
Location: Walmer, Kent, United Kingdom
Photo credit: © Trevor Boston / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: coastguard, daleks, deal, dr., emergency, kent, lifeboat, rescue, rnli, sea, search, services, team, volunteer, walmer
