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, 13-44 George and Frances Phelon (ON 1351), on station since 2026, and a Inshore lifeboat, John Rowntree (B-925), on station since 2021.
History Great Yarmouth 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. Its 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 £375, (). 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 £620 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.
Gorleston
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 £50 from the RNLI, were able to order a 40-foot lifeboat, built by Beeching of Great Yarmouth, at a cost of £200.
Following the capsize of the private lifeboat Rescuer on 13 January 1866,The 1866 disaster occurred on 13 January 1866. The Gorleston Parish burial register confirms this date. Researchers beware! On the British Newspaper Archive are scans of 4 newspapers: the Westminster Times (9 Dec. 1865); the Hammersmith Advertiser (23 Dec. 1865); the West London Times (23 Dec. 1865); and the London & Provincial News & General Advertiser (23 Dec. 1865); all of which APPEAR to report news of the disaster in December 1865. The first thing to say is that the relevant page (in each newspaper) is identical in every way. None of them feature a date at the top of the page or a newspaper title. On further analysis it is evident that the page has been saved in the wrong digital copy of the newspapers. On the same page are at least two other stories that are both definitely from January 1866. I have made contact with the British Newspaper Archive to notify them of this issue. 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 £329 () 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.
Great Yarmouth and Gorleston 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 ‘working together’.
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, being a training boat at , and from December 2025, 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.
With a new mooring site now established, 13-44 George and Frances Phelon (ON 1351) returned to station on 11 April 2026, and took over operations from the All-weather lifeboat 14-10 Samarbeta (ON 1208) at 13:44 on Saturday 13 June 2026.
Notable rescues 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.
Station honours The following are awards made at Gt Yarmouth and Gorleston:
Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Gallantry (EGM) William George Fleming – 1924
George Cross, William George Fleming, Coxswain – 1941
RNIPLS Gold Medal Capt. Chaplin, master of the steam packet Royal William – 1833
RNLI Gold Medal William George Fleming, Coxswain – 1922
RNLI Silver Medal Charles Salmon, Fisherman – 1855 George Fleming, Fisherman – 1855 Cmdr. Thomas Kisbee, RN, Chief Officer, H.M. Coastguard, Great Yarmouth – 1855 William Johnson – 1858 Capt. Thomas Davies, RN, Inspecting Commander, H.M. Coastguard, Great Yarmouth – 1860 George Milligan, Coxswain – 1860 Capt. David Robertson RN, Asst. Inspector of Lifeboats – 1870 Edgar West Woods, Coxswain, Gorleston No.1 lifeboat – 1891 William Todd, Coxswain, Gorleston No.2 lifeboat – 1898 Sydney James Harris, Coxswain – 1904 James Sclanders, Chief Engineer of the steam lifeboat – 1904 Sydney James Harris, Coxswain Superintendent – 1905 (Second-Service clasp) Sydney James Harris, Coxswain Superintendent – 1909 (Third-Service clasp) Ellery Harris, Second Coxswain, Gorleston No.1 lifeboat – 1909 James Cowie, Fisherman – 1910 Sydney James Harris, Coxswain Superintendent – 1912 (Fourth-Service clasp) Sydney James Harris, Coxswain Superintendent – 1916 (Fifth-Service clasp) Edward Bensley, crew member – 1916 William George Fleming EGM, Coxswain – 1927 Charles Ambrose Johnson, Coxswain – 1941
RNLI Bronze Medal Samuel B. Parker (Jr), Second Coxswain – 1922 Charles W. Chilvers, Bowman – 1922 James Fleming, crew member – 1922 William Gosling, crew member – 1922 Walter Halfnight, crew member – 1922 Arthur Harris, crew member – 1922 Ellery Harris, crew member – 1922 George Arthur Harris, crew member – 1922 Charles Ambrose Johnson, crew member – 1922 Harry Leggett, crew member – 1922 Thomas Morley, crew member – 1922 Albert Newson, crew member – 1922 William Newson, crew member – 1922 Ernest Stubbs, crew member – 1922 James Stubbs, crew member – 1922
William George Fleming EGM, Coxswain – 1926 Charles Ambrose Johnson, Coxswain – 1938 (Second-Service clasp) Charles Ambrose Johnson, Coxswain – 1940 (Third-Service clasp) George Frederick Mobbs, Motor Mechanic – 1941 Charles Ambrose Johnson, Coxswain – 1941 (Fourth-Service clasp) John Bryan, Coxswain/Mechanic – 1970 John Bryan, Coxswain/Mechanic – 1975 (Second-Service clasp) Richard John Hawkins, Coxswain/Mechanic – 1980 David Victor Mason, Coxswain – 1996
Medal Service Certificate David Bennington, Second Coxswain – 1975 Brian Coleman, crew member – 1975 Herbert Appleton, crew member – 1975
The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum Each of the crew of the Gorleston No.1 lifeboat – 1922 Tugboat George Jewson – 1922 A. B. Snell, Honorary Secretary (temp), Gorleston – 1922 (plus a set of Binoculars) David Bennington, Acting Coxswain – 1974 Richard J. Hawkins, Coxswain/Mechanic – 1982 Richard J. Hawkins, Coxswain/Mechanic – 1987 Richard J. Hawkins, Coxswain/Mechanic – 1991 Stephen Bartram, Assistant Mechanic – 1996
A Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution Coxswain and Crew – 1966 Paul Carter, crew member – 1982 David Victor Mason, Second Coxswain – 1991 Bob Keegan – 1998 Steve Gowing – 1998 Simon Phillips – 1998 Stephen Bartram, Coxswain – 2005 Kevin Bennington, crew member – 2005
A Collective Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution Richard Hawkins, Coxswain/Mechanic – 1996 David Mason, Second Coxswain – 1996 Patrick Lee, Assistant Mechanic – 1996 David Beale, crew member – 1996 Ian Everson, crew member – 1996 Geoffrey Wing, crew member – 1996
Freedom of the Borough of Great Yarmouth More than 100 Great Yarmouth lifeboat crew – 1983
American Cross of Honour