Padstow Lifeboat Station can be found at Trevose Head, approximately west of Padstow, on the north-west coast of the county of Cornwall, England.
A lifeboat was first placed at Padstow in 1827, and stationed at Hawker's Cove on the River Camel estuary from 1829. Management of the station was transferred to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in 1856.
The station currently operates the All-weather lifeboat, 16-04 Spirit of Padstow (ON 1283), on station since 2006.
History The entrance to the River Camel is difficult to navigate because of the Doom Bar sandbank, also known as the Dunbar sands. This, and the steep cliffs and rocks along coast either side of the estuary, has been the site of many shipwrecks. On 26 December 1826, the brig Lord Dupplin was wrecked on the Dunbar sands, whilst on passage from Newport to London. Four pilots set out to assist, but three were lost when their boat capsized.
The following year, a small double-ended lifeboat, Mariners Friend, was built by local boat builder Tredwen for £50, funded by the subscription of local people, with a gift of £10 from the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNIPLS), (later to become the RNLI is 1854).
The Padstow Harbour Association for the Preservation of Life and Property from Shipwreck was founded at a public meeting on 11 November 1829. Additional funding came from Lloyd's of London and several companies involved in shipping along the coast. Equipment was provided to help vessels enter and leave the estuary; Manby's mortars were provided to help crews escape shipwrecks, and a boathouse was built at Hawker's Cove for the lifeboat, which was closer to the Doom Bar than the quay, where it had previously been kept.
However, by 1855, the Harbour Association lifeboat Mariners Friend was in poor condition. A letter stating the necessity of a new lifeboat at Padstow was received from Mr Bryant, the local Receiver of Admiralty Droits, and read at the meeting of the RNLI committee of management on Thursday 5 July 1855. A lifeboat rowing just six oars and of light weight was requested, due to the low number of competent hands available, but to be capable of good speed in a strong tide. With the promise of local annual subscriptions, and the provision of launching and transporting equipment, it was agreed to establish a branch of the Institution at Padstow.
A Peake-class self-righting 'Pulling and Sailing' (P&S) lifeboat, one with sails and (six) oars, was constructed by Forrestt, at a cost of £133, and arrived at Padstow on 3 June 1856. The existing boathouse at Hawker's Cove was provided to house the boat, and it was planned that two carriages may be made available, one stored on each side of the Camel estuary, for transporting the lifeboat north or south if required. The lifeboat was named Albert Edward after The Prince of Wales.
Albert Edward had a successful eight years at Padstow, launching nine times, and saving 38 lives. A larger lifeboat was provided in 1864, and a new boathouse was constructed alongside the old one at Hawker's Cove. The new lifeboat was funded by the City of Bristol Lifeboat Fund, thanks to the efforts of Capt. Robert Tryon, RN, and in recognition of the good work of the previous boat, was also given the name Albert Edward. The lifeboat, built by Woolfe, and costing £224, was first transported to Bristol free of charge by the Great Western Railway, and placed on display in June 1864. It was then further conveyed to Padstow by the generosity of the Bristol and Exeter, South Devon and Cornwall railway companies.
After the schooner Georgiana was wrecked on the Doom Bar in a gale on 6 February 1867, whilst on passage from Rouen to Cork, the lifeboat was launched, but capsized. The lifeboat self-righted, but five of the lifeboat crew had been lost. The Institution voted £210 to a local fund for dependents, which ultimately raised £2,188, and also paid the funeral expenses. A memorial was placed on the wall of St Petroc's church. All but one of the crew of the Georgiana managed to get ashore after the boat ran aground.
On the 9 August 1879, for reasons unknown, five ladies were being towed in their rowing boat behind a fishing boat. When another small boat was capsized, Miss Ellen Prideaux Brune demanded that her boat be cast off, and rowing through heavy surf to the casualty boat, the ladies managed to save the life of a drowning sailor. Four Prideaux Brune sisters, and a friend, Miss Nora O’Shaughnessy, were each awarded the RNLI Silver Medal. "The Thanks of the Institution on Vellum" was accorded to The Hon. John Gage Prendergast Vereker, and former lifeboat coxswain Samuel Bate, for their rescue of another boy from the same boat.
The lifeboats were often taken overland to alternative launch sites, either because the weather prevented crossing the Doom Bar, or to be nearer to the ship to be aided. A building to house both the lifeboat carriage and the rocket brigade equipment was constructed in 1883 on Trethillick Lane, between Trethillick and Crugmeer, (). When it was required, the carriage was taken to the harbour, with the lifeboat rowed up from Hawker's Cove and loaded onto the carriage. Horses for the carriage were borrowed from farmers.
Steam power and disaster At a meeting of the RNLI committee of management in 1897, with consideration of many unsuccessful rescue attempts due to the exposure of north-west Cornwall and the full force of the Atlantic Ocean, it was decided to place a powerful lifeboat at Padstow, which could operate further from the station or in bad weather.
The steam lifeboat (ON 421) arrived on station in February 1899. Too large to fit in a boathouse, it was moored afloat at the harbour. The P&S lifeboat continued to be kept in the boathouse at Hawker's Cove, and would be known as Padstow No. 1, whilst the new steam-powered lifeboat at the harbour would be Padstow No. 2.
Just over one year later, one event would see the loss of both Padstow lifeboats. On the evening of the 11 April 1900, the ketch Peace and Plenty of Lowestoft dragged her anchor in a gale, and struck the Greenaway Rocks. The Hawker's Cove lifeboat Arab (ON 51) was launched at 20:30, but after dropping anchor and attempting to veer down to the vessel, she was hit by a huge wave, which washed eight lifeboat men overboard, and broke 10 oars. The men all regained the boat, but with no oars, were powerless to do anything. With the boat still anchored, the coxswain kept the boat head to the sea, and let out the line, until it was in a cove, and out of the worst of the breaking sea. All crew members managed to get ashore, but the lifeboat was then wrecked on the rocks.
The Padstow steam lifeboat set out at 21:30. Leaving the harbour, the boat was hit broadside by a heavy swell, and immediately turned over. Second coxswain Oscar French was at the helm, and didn't immediately realise the boat had been rolled over. When he let go of the wheel and surfaced, he was surprised to see the lifeboat capsized, with the propellers still turning. He was one of just three survivors of a crew of 11. The four men in the engine room (John Martin, James Old, Joseph Stephens and Sydney East) were unable to escape and four of the deck crew (David Grubb (coxswain), John Bate, James Grubb and Edward Kane) were also drowned.
The Rocket Brigade set out from the Trebetherick Rocket House, which still stands today next to the convenience stores on Ham Field, and rescued five of the eight crew of the Peace and Plenty. A memorial to seven of the lost lifeboat crew is in Padstow Cemetery, with the eighth man buried at St Merryn. The wrecked steam lifeboat was sold for £50. The Committee of Management voted £1,000 to a local fund for the dependents.
1901–1960
Both stations remained off service until 1901, by which time new crews had been formed. In accordance with their wishes, two self-righting lifeboats were placed at each of the Padstow stations. A lifeboat was sent to Hawker's Cove, again taking the name Arab (ON 472), and a boat, Edmund Harvey (ON 475), was placed at Padstow Harbour. In addition, and a new development for the RNLI, an Steam Tug was placed at Padstow Harbour, Helen Peele (ON 478), to be used in conjunction with either of the two lifeboats. This vessel was specially designed for the purpose by George Lennox Watson, the consulting Naval Architect of the Institution. The first duty of the new steam tug was to tow the new 42-foot lifeboat to Padstow from Southend-on-Sea.
A new 60-foot Barnett-class lifeboat, the fastest and most powerful lifeboat class in the RNLI fleet, with twin 80-hp 6-cylinder Weyburn CE6 petrol engines, replaced the two lifeboats at Padstow Harbour (Padstow No. 2) in 1929. The Princess Mary (ON 715) cost £14,602, and was the gift of the P&O shipping company. Two years later, the P&S lifeboat at Hawker's Cove was replaced with a 35-foot 6in self-righting motor lifeboat, John and Sarah Eliza Stych (ON 743), costing £3,754. To accommodate the new boat, a new boathouse with slipway was constructed on the southern corner of Hawker's Cove.(). In 1938, the Padstow No. 1 station at Hawker's Cove was redesignated as Padstow No. 2, with the Padstow No. 2 station at Padstow Harbour redesignated as Padstow No. 1.
1960s onwards
Hawker's Cove (Padstow No. 2) lifeboat station was closed on 31 March 1962 due to silt build up, which was also making it increasingly difficult to operate the Padstow Harbour (Padstow No. 1) lifeboat. It was decided to undertake a major civil engineering project, and construct a new station at Trevose Head, to the west of Padstow. Access was provided by a new road to the site from the coastguard station, and a new boathouse was constructed on pilings. The roller slipway had an incline of 1 in 5½, and the whole project, costing £114,000, was completed on 23 October 1967. Composer and conductor Malcolm Arnold wrote the 'Padstow Lifeboat March' to mark the occasion.
In 1984, modifications were carried out to the station to accommodate a lifeboat, including an exhaust ducting system, a new fuel storage tank, and improvements to the cliff lift, but by the early 1990s, serious deterioration of the concrete structure required further maintenance.
Now without a lifeboat on the Camel estuary, any casualties here tended to be dealt with by local boats rather than the RNLI. In 1993, the Padstow Harbour Commissioners asked the RNLI if they could provide an Inshore Lifeboat. One was deployed for evaluation in 1994 from a temporary boathouse on the east side of the estuary, and after successful trials, continues today as Rock Lifeboat Station.
A new boathouse was constructed at Trevose Head, and completed on 6 July 2006, at a cost of £6.829,900. The new slipway has an incline of 1 in 5. Demolition of the old boathouse cost a further £400,000. On 17 July 2006, a new All-weather lifeboat, 16-04 Spirit of Padstow (ON 1283) was placed on service at Padstow. Primarily funded by Miss M. Allen, the lifeboat cost £2.5million.
Description
The current lifeboat station was designed by Poynton Bradbury Wynter Cole with Haskoning UK acting as consulting engineers. The building work was contracted to John Martin Construction. Most of the materials arrived by sea and a jack-up barge was used as a work base. The boathouse is elevated above the sea; access from the cliff top is by the steps and hoist that were constructed for the 1967 boathouse. The lifeboat is kept on a tipping cradle so that it can be kept level for maintenance but launched down the 1 in 5, slipway. The boathouse has a C-shaped profile for the copper exterior which is built on a timber frame. Construction cost £6,829,900.
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