Anstruther Lifeboat Station is a

Royal National Lifeboat Institution The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. It i ...

(RNLI) station located in the town of

Anstruther Anstruther ( sco, Ainster or Enster ; gd, Ànsruthair) is a small coastal resort town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

. The station has been in operation since 1865, although RNLI activity in the area dates back to 1832. The station houses the all-weather Mersey-class lifeboat ''Kingdom of Fife'' and inshore D-class lifeboat ''Akira.''

History

Prior to the establishment of a station, a number of RNLI medals were awarded to coastguards operating in the area. In 1832 the coastguard Kenneth McCulloch was awarded the silver medal for saving the three crew of the

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

''Vine'' when it was wrecked at

Elie Elie and Earlsferry is a coastal town and former royal burgh in Fife, and parish, Scotland, situated within the East Neuk beside Chapel Ness on the north coast of the Firth of Forth, eight miles east of Leven. The burgh comprised the linked vi ...

harbour on the 6 March that year. In 1834 two separate rescues were recognised. The Gold Medal bar was awarded to Lt Henry Randall and a Silver Lifeboat to Kenneth McCulloch for rescuing the seven crew of the

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

''Wanderer'' when it was wrecked at Elie in a storm in the preceding year. Silver medals were also awarded to two other coastguards, A Murray and J Mason, for saving the five crew of the

''John'' when it got into trouble during bad weather in December 1833. The first station was established in the town in 1865 at the request of local fishermen on land given by the Anstruther harbour board. Between them they subscribed £60 () towards the cost of building the new station. The

RNLI The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. It i ...

supplied the local arranging committee with a 32 foot long pulling lifeboat with 10 oars. This was built from a £600 gift to the institution () from a lady in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

. In 1892 the

local inspector found there was no need to employ a paid bowman for the lifeboat as the station at that time had six volunteer

coxswain The coxswain ( , or ) is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from ''cock'', referring to the cockboat, a type of ship's boat ...

s and a full crew to staff it, by 1899 the number of coxswains had reduced to four. Up until 1897 the station had used a mortar to alert the volunteer crew, however this was deemed too dangerous to vessels in the harbour so a

handbell A handbell is a bell designed to be rung by hand. To ring a handbell, a ringer grasps the bell by its slightly flexible handle – traditionally made of leather, but often now made of plastic – and moves the arm to make the hinged cla ...

was used from that point on. In 1904 a new lifeboat house was constructed costing over £1,600. Around this time a new Coxswain Superintendent was appointed to replace the numerous coxswains who has operated the station before on a rotating basis. In 1965 a new Oakley-class lifeboat was sent to the station. It was named ''The Doctors'' in a ceremony by Princess Alice in memory of the family of Dr Nora Allan who had gifted the cost of the lifeboat. At this time the station was re-adapted for the new lifeboat, a trailer and tractor. ''The Doctors'' was withdrawn from the station after 26 years and was replaced by a Mersey-class lifeboat in 1991 – at this time the slipway was refurbished and the boathouse extended and modernised. Further modifications were made to the boathouse in 1995 with a two-storey extension providing new crew facilities. Two historic lifeboats - geograph

Alongside the all-weather ''Kingdom of Fife'', the D-class lifeboat ''Global Marine'' commenced a 12-month trial in 2003, before remaining on a permanent basis. In 2009 a new in-shore lifeboat ''Akira'' was adopted by the station when the station was again upgraded at a cost of £273,000 to provide permanent housing. In 2013 the volunteer lifeboat

helmsman A helmsman or helm (sometimes driver) is a person who steering, steers a ship, sailboat, submarine, other type of maritime vessel, or spacecraft. The rank and seniority of the helmsman may vary: on small vessels such as fishing vessels and yacht ...

Barry Gourlay, a mechanical engineer, received the

Bronze Medal and volunteer crew members fisherman Euan Hoggan and PhD student Rebecca Jewell received thanks on

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other anima ...

for a rescue of two people in difficult sea conditions. ''MV Princess'' had run onto rocks near

Crail Crail (); gd, Cathair Aile) is a former royal burgh, parish and community council area (Royal Burgh of Crail and District) in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. The locality has an estimated population of 1,630 (2018). Etymology The name ''C ...

in the early hours and was breaking up in a force 5 winds, heavy rain and a three-metre swell. The volunteer crew used the in-shore lifeboat, later transferring the casualties to ''Kingdom of Fife''. The

stated in the award ceremony in London that the volunteer had "undoubtedly" save the lives of the stricken crew. In 2019 it was announced that the

planned to build a purpose-built new facility further along the shoreline that will be capable of housing a

Shannon-class lifeboat The Shannon-class lifeboat (previously FCB2 – Fast Carriage Boat 2) is the latest class of lifeboat currently being deployed to the RNLI fleet to serve the shores of the British Isles. The Shannon class is due to replace the Mersey class carr ...

. The Anstruther crew featured on a

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

documentary ''Saving Lives At Sea'' in 2019.

Fleet

References

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