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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Filey Lifeboat Station
Filey Lifeboat Station is a Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) lifeboat station located in the town of Filey, North Yorkshire, England. It is one of eight operational RNLI lifeboat stations situated on the Yorkshire Coast.

Filey's first lifeboat was stationed in the town in 1804 and it became an RNLI asset in 1852. Filey is home to two lifeboats; a B-class (Atlantic 85), Marjorie Shepherd (B-928), and a D-class (IB1), The Rotarian (D-859).

History

A lifeboat station was first established at Filey in 1804. The station was taken over by the RNLI in 1852 and they erected a new lifeboathouse. In 1890, the third lifeboathouse to be built in Filey was opened.

In the late spring of 1860, a hurricane hit Filey and destroyed all the boats and nets of the local fishermen. As the damaged items belonged mostly to the men who manned the lifeboat, an appeal was made in The Times to aid in the support of the fishermen's loss of livelihood. One of the letters written to the paper was by a local resident doctor who noted that the Filey Lifeboat [up until that point] had saved more lives at sea than any other station belonging to the RNLI in England.

In 1966, when the first D-Class Inshore Lifeboats (ILB) were being introduced, D-86 was sent to Filey and operated from a separate lifeboathouse to the All-Weather Lifeboat (ALB). In 1991, the main lifeboathouse was rebuilt again (on the same site as the 1890 lifeboathouse) so that it could accommodate both a large All-Weather Lifeboat (ALB) and an Inshore Lifeboat (ILB) together.

The station's Mersey-class All-weather lifeboat was replaced with a fast response Atlantic 85-class Inshore lifeboat in 2021.

Notable incidents

  • 24 September 1935 – a trawler named Skegness ran aground just by the cliffs at Speeton. Initially the captain of the vessel said that all was fine and he would await the high tide to re-float the ship. But unfortunately, before high tide arrived, the weather deteriorated. Within an hour, the wind had strengthened to gale force from the east and was driving the sea to the shore. At 11:10 pm, the skipper of the Skegness was calling for help and the Filey Lifeboat was launched. Due to the swell, they couldn't get near, so the Scarborough Lifeboat was launched, but they were given the wrong location and headed for Filey Brigg. The Flamborough Lifeboat was also launched, but just like the Filey Lifeboat, she couldn't get near enough. The Rocket Brigade (a volunteer unit that would fire rockets with lines to drag people off stricken ships) tried firing their rockets to the ship, which was only 420 feet (130 m) below them, but the fierce wind forced the rockets back onto the cliff; in fact the wind was so strong, that the Rocket Brigade crew had to crawl to the clifftop on their hands and knees. The lights on the ship were observed going out at 1:30 am the following morning. In all, eleven sailors died, some of their bodies washed up onto the shore in the days after the tragedy, but most were never found.
  • 23 June 1974 – the motor mechanic on the station collapsed and died during a launch.
  • 15 June 1998 – a Tornado aircraft of No. 29 Squadron RAF crashed into the sea, 30 miles (48 km) away from Flamborough Head. The Filey all-weather boat, alongside the same type of vessel from Bridlington, searched for 13 hours for the two aircrew.

Station honours

The following are awards made at Filey

John Ruddock, Boatman - 1859
William Robinson, Second Coxswain - 1919
George Boynton, Fisherman - 1919
Michael Farline, Helmsman - 2004
  • The Emile Robin Award for 2003
    awarded by The Shipwrecked Fishermen & Mariners Royal Benevolent Society
Michael Farline, Helmsman - 2004
  • The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum
Frank Jenkinson, Coxswain - 1983
Malcolm Johnson, crew member - 1984
  • A Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution
Malcolm Johnson, Coxswain - 2001
Michael Farline, Helmsman - 2004
  • The Royal Humane Society Resuscitation Certificate
Richard Johnson, Third Mechanic - 2001

Filey Lifeboats

All-weather lifeboats

ON Op. No. Name In Service Class Comments
– – Unknown 1804–1824
– – Unnamed 1823–1863 29-foot North Country (P&S)
– – Hollon 1863–1884 34-foot 4in Self-righting (P&S)
8 – Hollon the Second 1884–1907 33-foot Self-righting (P&S)
570 – Hollon the Third 1907–1937 35-foot Self-righting (P&S)
650 – Thomas Masterman Hardy 1937–1940 35-foot Self-righting (P&S) Served at Filey as part of the reserve fleet until her new boat, The Cuttle, was ready.
833 – The Cuttle 1940–1953 Liverpool Was the first motorboat to serve at Filey.
917 – Isa and Penryn Milstead 1953–1968 Liverpool Was one of a handful of lifeboats that entered service during the Second World War.
966 37-04 Robert and Dorothy Hardcastle 1968–1991 Oakley
1170 12–13 Keep Fit Association 1991–2021 Mersey Withdrawn 29 April 2021 and replaced by an Atlantic 85-class ILB.

Inshore lifeboats

D-Class

Op. No. Name In Service Class Comments
D-86 Unnamed 1966–1968 D-class (RFD PB16)
D-49 Unnamed 1970–1972 D-class (RFD PB16)
D-202 Unnamed 1972–1986 D-class (RFD PB16)
D-320 Filey Lion 1986–1993 D-class (EA16)
D-446 Holme Team 1993–2001 D-class (EA16)
D-563 Rotary District 1120 2001–2008 D-class (EA16)
D-570 Roger B Harbour 2008–2010 D-class (IB1)
D-728 Braund 2009–2021 D-class (IB1)
D-859 The Rotarian 2021– D-class (IB1)

B-Class

Op. No. Name In Service Class Comments
B-913 Pride of Fred. Olsen 2020–2021 Atlantic 85-class
B-928 Marjorie Shepherd 2021– Atlantic 85-class

Launch and recovery tractors

Op. No. Reg. No. Type In service Comments
T9 BE 9914 Clayton 1931–1937
T16 YW 3377 Clayton 1937–1940
T36 FYM 853 Case L 1940–1957
T29 FGC 64 Case L 1957–1964
T48 KGP 853 Case LA 1964–1967
T78 BYN 568B Case 1000D 1967–1968
T80 DLB 482C Case 1000D 1968–1979
T77 BGO 681B Case 1000D 1979–1986
T74 136 HLC Case 1000D 1986–1990
T109 G296 KUX Talus MB-H Crawler 1990–2003
T113 J794 VUX Talus MB-H Crawler 2003
T106 F760 BUJ Talus MB-H Crawler 2003–2013
T102 E387 VAW Talus MB-H Crawler 2013–2019
T104 E269 YUJ Talus MB-H Crawler 2019–
  1. ^ ON is the RNLI's Official Number of the boat.
  2. ^ Op. No. is the RNLI's Operational Number of the boat carried on the hull.

See also

References

  1. ^ "RNLI official charity for Tour de Yorkshire 2016 | SCARBOROUGH.GOV.UK". www.scarborough.gov.uk. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Filey's lifeboats". rnli.org. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  3. ^ "Filey Lifeboat Station crew is always ready for emergency call". Yorkshire Evening Post. 13 November 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  4. ^ "Nostalgia on Tuesday: Brave Tradition". The Yorkshire Post. 20 May 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  5. ^ Chrystal 2012, p. 60.
  6. ^ Chrystal 2012, p. 61.
  7. ^ Leach 2018, p. 128.
  8. ^ Leach 2018, p. 126.
  9. ^ Fitton, Sarah (22 April 2021). "Filey prepares to bid farewell to its all-weather lifeboat after final training exercise". The Scarborough News. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  10. ^ "Survey of the wreck of the steam trawler "Skegness" H 14". www.fileybay.com. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  11. ^ Booth, Phil (29 August 2014). "Wreck's Tale of Tragedy". The Yorkshire Post. p. 13.
  12. ^ Allen & Todd 1985, p. 75.
  13. ^ Howarth, Patrick, ed. (Summer 1975). "Lifeboat People". The Lifeboat. 44 (452). Poole: RNLI: 22. ISSN 0024-3086.
  14. ^ Newton, Grace (30 April 2021). "Town bids farewell to lifeboat after three decades of service". The Yorkshire Post. p. 6. ISSN 0963-1496.
  15. ^ Ranter, Harro. "Accident Panavia Tornado F3 ZE732, 15 Jun 1998". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  16. ^ "Filey's station history". RNLI. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  17. ^ Cox, Barry (1998). Lifeboat Gallantry. Spink & Son Ltd. ISBN 0-907605-89-3.
  18. ^ Leonard, Richie; Denton, Tony (2021). Lifeboat Enthusiasts Handbook 2021. Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society. pp. 2–18.
  19. ^ Leach 2018, p. 24.
  20. ^ Allen & Todd 1985, p. 72.
  21. ^ Leach 2018, p. 40.
  22. ^ "RNLI lifeboat leaves Filey station for last time". BBC News. 29 April 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  23. ^ Leonard, Richie; Denton, Tony (2024). Lifeboat Enthusiasts Handbook 2024. Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society. pp. 4–132.
  24. ^ Leach 2018, p. 47.
  25. ^ Floyd, Mike, ed. (Winter 1993). "Donate a house?". The Lifeboat. 53 (526). Poole: RNLI: 124. ISSN 0024-3086.
  26. ^ "The Rotarian - a new D-859 RNLI Lifeboat at Filey". Rotary International. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  27. ^ "Filey RNLI officially launch new lifeboat paid for entirely by supporter who left money in her will". The Yorkshire Post. 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 October 2021.

Sources

  • Allen, Irene; Todd, Andrew (1985). Filey: a Yorkshire fishing town – Filey fishing families over the last two centuries. Bury: Allen & Todd. ISBN 0-948781-00-9.
  • Chrystal, Paul (2012). Lifeboat Stations of North East England; From Sunderland to The Humber, Through Time. Stroud: Amberley. ISBN 978-1-4456-1376-5.
  • Leach, Nicholas (2018). The Lifeboat Service in England; the North East Coast, Station by Station. Stroud: Amberley. ISBN 978-1-4456-6832-1.
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