Teignmouth Lifeboat Station is the base for Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) search and rescue operations at

Teignmouth Teignmouth ( ) is a seaside town, fishing port and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is situated on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign, about 12 miles south of Exeter. The town had a population of 14,749 at th ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

in England. The first

lifeboat Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen ...

was stationed in the town in 1851 but the station was closed from 1940 until 1990. Since 2006 it has operated an inshore lifeboat (ILB).

History

The Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Royal Benevolent Society sent a lifeboat to Teignmouth in 1851. It was kept near the Custom House in an earlier boathouse on the beach. In 1854 the Benevolent Society transferred its lifeboats to the RNLI. A new boathouse was provided on The Den with the doors facing the harbour and the

River Teign The River Teign is a river in the county of Devon, England. It is long and rises on Dartmoor, becomes an estuary just below Newton Abbot and reaches the English Channel at Teignmouth. Toponymy The river-name 'Teign' is first attested in an An ...

. On 10 October 1907 the lifeboat ''Alfred Staniforth'' was launched to aid the schooner ''Tehwija'' which had run aground near the mouth of the river with eight crewmen on board. It took the lifeboat crew two attempts to row out over the bar at the mouth of the river into the heavy seas. The ship's crew were pulled off but within fifteen minutes the storm had completely wrecked the grounded ship. W.J. Burden, the Honorary Secretary of the lifeboat station, had gone out in the lifeboat to steer it while

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 boa ...

George Rice and the bowman added extra power to the oars. Burden and Rice were both awarded RNLI Silver Medals for their work that day. The RNLI started to deploy motor lifeboats after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

which allowed stations to cover larger areas. Brixham Lifeboat Station received theirs in 1922 and in 1933 but the 'pulling and sailing' boat at Teignmouth was retained until 6 November 1940. The ''Henry Finlay'' was then left in the boathouse on standby through

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

but the station was closed permanently in July 1945. On 3 November 1990 the RNLI reopened Teignmouth as an inshore lifeboat station. The old boathouse had been used as a café for a few years but was available for conversion back into a boathouse, which was completed in 1991.

Description

The boathouse is a single storey masonry building. The slate roof overhangs both sides by a considerable extent and is supported on upright posts. When it was refurbished for its 1991 reopening, a fund-raising gift shop was installed under the eastern overhang. Large doors open onto the road. When the lifeboat is to be launched, a small County tractor (RNLI No. TA21; registration WCL 764X) pushes it on its 'bedstead' carriage down the road opposite to a slipway on the harbour.

Area of operation

The can go out in Force 6/7 winds (Force 5/6 at night) and can operate at up to for 2½ hours. Adjacent lifeboats – both ILBs and larger all-weather lifeboats – are stationed at to the east, and to the west.

Lifeboats

'ON' is the RNLI's sequential Official Number; 'Op. No.' is the operational number painted onto the boat.

Pulling and sailing lifeboats

Inshore lifeboats

References

Bibliography

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External links

Official station website

RNLI station information
{{Lifeboat stations in Dorset and South Devon Lifeboat stations in Devon Teignmouth