Gravesend Lifeboat Station

Gravesend Lifeboat Station is situated on the Royal Terrace Pier in Gravesend, Kent, on the lower reaches of the River Thames. It is one of the newest lifeboat stations operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), and one of the first to cover a river rather than the sea or estuarial waters.

Gravesend Lifeboat Station
Lifeboat moored at the end of Royal Terrace Pier, Gravesend
Gravesend Lifeboat Station is located in Kent
Gravesend Lifeboat Station
Gravesend, Kent
General information
TypeRNLI Lifeboat Station
AddressRoyal Pier Road, Gravesend, Kent, DA12 2BG
CountryUnited Kingdom
Coordinates51°26′41″N 0°22′28″E
Opened2002
OwnerRoyal National Lifeboat Institution
Website
Gravesend RNLI
Gravesend's first lifeboat, the Olive Deare, in the RNLI Historic Lifeboat Collection in Chatham, Kent

Establishment

The inquiry set up after the 1989 collision on the Thames in London between the Marchioness and the dredger Bowbelle, that resulted in the loss of 51 lives, recommended a dedicated search and rescue presence on the Thames. As a part of this, the government approached the RNLI, who agreed to provide a rescue service that covered the tidal Thames between Teddington and the Channel. Locations were approved for stations at Teddington, Chiswick, Tower and Gravesend. These all became operational at the beginning of 2002,[1][2] with Gravesend covering the river from the Thames Barrier at Woolwich to the western end of Canvey Island, a distance of 26 miles.[3]

History

Gravesend Lifeboat Station commenced service on 2 January 2002, operating with an E-class Tiger Marine fast response boat named Olive Laura Deare.[4]

In June 2007, the station moved to the end of the Royal Terrace Pier, adjacent to the pontoon where the lifeboat is moored. Previously housed in porta-cabins in a near-by car park, this move improved conditions and helped reduce launch times.[5]

Gravesend has one of the highest lifeboat call out rates in Kent,[6] and is among the busiest stations in the British Isles. In the fifteen years to May 2017 its lifeboat launched 1,500 times, rescuing 797 people and saving 69 lives.[3]

In 2008 a new lifeboat, a B-class (Atlantic 85) named Olive Laura Deare II, was put on service. The original Olive Laura Deare was transferred to the relief fleet until 2012, when she went on display at the RNLI Historic Lifeboat Collection at the Chatham Historic Dockyard. The boats were named after the donor who funded the boats through a legacy.[4][3]

Crew

Since it was established in January 2002, the Gravesend station has been staffed 24 hours a day on a shift system,[7] helping to meet the requirement to reach 90% of incidents within 15 minutes of receiving an alert. The crew is drawn from both full-time staff and a pool of volunteers.[8]

Boats

Gravesend Lifeboat Station's boats have been:[4]

Class Op. No. Name Dates in service
E-class (Mark I) E-002 Olive Laura Deare 2002–2008
B-class (Atlantic 85) B-827 Olive Laura Deare II 2008–

See also

References
  1. RNLI. "2002: Lifeboats on the Thames". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  2. Lister, Sam (3 January 2002). "First Thames Lifeboats Launched". The Times. p. 9.
  3. RNLI (2 May 2017). "15 Years later and 1500 shouts for Gravesend RNLI". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  4. RNLI. "Gravesend station history". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  5. Gravesend Lifeboat Station. "Station history". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  6. Massey, Lizzie (27 January 2016). "Hundreds rescued by RNLI last year, but Gravesend's volunteers launched more times than any other Kent station". kentonline. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  7. "Thames lifeboat service launched". BBC News. 2 January 2002. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  8. Gravesend Lifeboat Station. "Gravesend station patch". Retrieved 1 February 2021.
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