Kessock Lifeboat Station is located directly under the A9 Kessock Bridge, on the north shore of Beauly Firth at Craigton Point, North Kessock, north of Inverness, in the Highland region of Scotland.

A lifeboat station was established at North Kessock in 1993 by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

The station currently operates a Inshore lifeboat, Robert and Isobel Mowat (B-873), on station since 2014.

History In 1822, the Caledonian Canal was constructed by Thomas Telford. This route up the Great Glen Fault between Oban and Inverness allowed vessels of a modest size to cut off the dangerous route around north-west Scotland through the Pentland Firth and around Cape Wrath, instead emerging out onto the Beauly and Moray Firth to the North Sea.

For many years, the waters around the northern entrance to the canal had been served by lifeboats stationed at , and , but these had been successively closed as demand for the service declined, the last one closing in 1968. In 1992, with leisure traffic increasing both locally and on the Caledonian canal, with the nearest (All-weather) lifeboat some away at , the RNLI Management Committee decided to establish a new Inshore lifeboat station at North Kessock. This was ideally situated between the Beauly and Moray Firths, just to the east of the Caledonian Canal sea lock at Clachnaharry.

On 5 June 1993, the RNLI placed the relief lifeboat (D-396) at North Kessock, for a one-year evaluation period. The Kessock Ferry ceased operating in 1982, following construction of the Kessock Bridge, and the lifeboat was stored on the old slipway, with the former ticket office on Main Street being used for crew kit. Initially, the lifeboat was on station for the summer season.

The following year, North Kessock Lifeboat Station was established as a permanent all-year-round station, and a new lifeboat arrived on 10 May 1994. Funded by the late Ronald W. J. Wood, the boat was named Margaret and Fiona Wood (D-459) at a ceremony on 17 September 1994.

After eight years of operations, a purpose built boathouse was constructed a little further to the east at Craigton Point, designed to accommodate a much larger twin-engined Atlantic-class lifeboat and its Talus MB-764 County launch tractor. Also providing much improved crew facilities, the building was completed in September 2001, at a cost of £481,500. The station would then receive the relief lifeboat Lucy Beryl (B-709) for a period of training, which arrived on station on 18 October 2001. Completing a decision dating back to 1999, the station name was changed to Kessock Lifeboat Station.

At a ceremony on Friday 7 June 2002, Kessock boathouse was officially opened, and the new lifeboat was named Moray Dolphin (B-771). The lifeboat was funded by an anonymous donor from Inverness.

On 11 January 2014, Moray Dolphin (B-771) was withdrawn to the relief fleet, and Kessock received the new larger lifeboat. A naming ceremony was held on Saturday 7 June 2014. Funded from a bequest of £200,000 from the late Dr Isobel Stewart Fenton, the lifeboat was named Robert & Isobel Mowat (B-873), in memory of her father and mother.

The 25th anniversary of the station was celebrated in 2018. In that period, the lifeboat had been launched 700 times, rescued 320 people, and saved 36 lives.

Kessock lifeboat crew were called out three times on one day in 2021. At 05:42, the lifeboat was called to assist in a multi-agency search. Then at 14:05, the lifeboat was launched to the aid of a yacht with a fouled propeller, and shortly afterwards, it was called out for a third time, to another yacht, which was aground near Longman Beacon.

Kessock lifeboats Inshore lifeboats D class Op.No. Name Class Comments D-396 1993−1994 1994−2001

B class Op.No. Name Class Comments B-709 Lucy Beryl 2001−2002 B-771 The Moray Dolphin 2002−2014 2014−

Launch and recovery tractors Op.No. Reg.No. Type Comments TW34 M71 RUX Talus MB-764 County 2002–2015 TW03 2015–2016 TW34 M71 RUX Talus MB-764 County 2016–

See also List of RNLI stations List of former RNLI stations Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboats

References

Sources

External links Kessock RNLI Lifeboat Station