Brighton Lifeboat Station is a
Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) station located in the town of
Brighton in the
English
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county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
of
East Sussex in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
It was originally established in 1825 as an all-weather lifeboat station. This lifeboat was withdrawn in 1931, and the station now operates as an inshore lifeboat station.
, the current lifeboat is the
Atlantic 85 ''
RNLB Random Harvest (ON 852).
''
Location
The station is located in the marina area of Brighton and is co-ordinated from
HM Coastguards at
Lee-on-Solent
Lee-on-the-Solent, often referred to as Lee-on-Solent, is a seaside district of the Borough of Gosport in Hampshire, England, about five miles (8 km) west of Portsmouth. The area is located on the coast of the Solent. It is primarily a res ...
. Being an inshore station, the majority of the station's services are within two miles of the station. The station is called to an average of sixty rescues a year.
History
The National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, the forerunner of the RNLI, first opened a lifeboat station in Brighton in 1824. The lifeboat for this station was kept in a cave close to the
Chain Pier. The service operated from this cave until 1837, when the construction of the Madeira sea-wall and Madeira Drive was completed.
At that time, the lifeboat was withdrawn from the town, and it was not until 1858 that another station was opened in Brighton.
[For Those In Peril – The Lifeboat Service of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, Station by Station. Author: Leach, Nicholas. Publisher: Silver Link Publishing Ltd, First Issue 1999. Work:Part 2, South Coast of England – Eastbourne to Weston-super-Mare, Page 72, Brighton Lifeboat Station. ]
1858–1931
In 1858, the town council provided an area on the beach for a new boathouse opposite the
Bedford Hotel close to the
West Pier.
[ The station was relocated twice in the next decades, once in 1868 and again in 1886 following improvements to the Brighton seafront.][ After 1886, the station was located on the Western Esplanade between the two piers. The site was used until 1931 when the RNLI withdrew the all-weather boat from the town after nearby Shoreham Station was equipped with a motor lifeboat.]
1965 inshore lifeboat
After 1931, Brighton had no lifeboats of its own until it received an inflatable D-class inshore lifeboat in 1965, funded from public donations. This lifeboat was withdrawn before the winter of 1974 and the station was closed in 1975. In 1978 the station re-opened at the new Brighton Marina
Brighton Marina is an artificial marina situated in Brighton, England. It features a working harbour and residential housing alongside a variety of leisure, retail and commercial activities. The construction of the marina itself took place bet ...
where a pontoon was provided for the RNLI at the cost of £10,000.[ At that point the lifeboat was the ]Atlantic 21
The Atlantic 21 is part of the B class of lifeboats that served the shores of the United Kingdom and Ireland as part of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) inshore fleet. The Atlantic 21 was the first generation rigid inflatable b ...
'' Lions International (B 539),'' which did not become fully operational until 1979. In 1981 a permanent boathouse was constructed and a temporary shelter was installed on the nearby quayside to house the crew facilities. This new permanent station was the RNLI's first floating lifeboat station.[ In 1997 the station was provided with a larger ]Atlantic 75
The Atlantic 75 is part of the B-class of lifeboats that serve the shores of the United Kingdom as a part of the RNLI inshore fleet.
The Atlantic 75 is the second generation Rigid Inflatable Boat
A rigid inflatable boat (RIB), also rigid ...
lifeboat called ''Thelma Glossop (B 737)''.
1999 and 2014 improvements
In 1999 work began on the construction of new shore facilities for the station on the quayside within the marina. The work was completed in 2000 at a cost of £299.775.
Neighbouring Station Locations
References
{{Authority control
Lifeboat stations in East Sussex