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 nine operational RNLI lifeboat stations situated on the Yorkshire Coast.[1]

Filey Lifeboat Station
Filey Lifeboat Station
General information
TypeRNLI Lifeboat Station
LocationFiley, North Yorkshire
CountryEngland
Coordinates54.2113°N 0.2834°W / 54.2113; -0.2834
Opened1991
OwnerRoyal National Lifeboat Institution
Website
Official website

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; the Keep Fit Association, a Mersey-class lifeboat and the Braund, an Inshore Lifeboat.[2]

History

A lifeboat station was first established at Filey in 1804.[3] The station was taken over by the RNLI in 1852 and they erected a new lifeboathouse.[4] In 1890, the third lifeboathouse to built in Filey was opened.[5]

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.[6]

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).[7] 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.[8]

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,[9][10] but most were never found.[11]
  • 23 June 1974 – the motor mechanic on the station collapsed and died during a launch.[12]

Fleet
Dates in service Class ON[lower-alpha 1] Op. No.[lower-alpha 2] Name Comments
1804–1824 Unknown [13]
1824–1863 Unknown [13]
1863–1884 Hollon [13]
1884–1907 Hollon the Second [13]
1907–1937 570 Hollon the Third [14]
1937–1940 Thomas Masterman Hardy Served at Filey as part of the reserve fleet until her new boat, The Cuttle, was ready.[13]
1940–1953 The Cuttle Was the first motorboat to serve at Filey.[13][15]
1953–1968 Liverpool-class 833 Isa and Penryn Milstead Was one of a handful of lifeboats that entered service during the Second World War.[13][16]
1966–1969 D-86 [7]
1968–1991 Oakley-class 966 37-04 Robert and Dorothy Hardcastle [13]
1972–1986 D-202 [17]
1991– Mersey-class 1170 12–13 Keep Fit Association [13][18]
1993–2001 D-class D-446 Holme Team [19]
2001–2010 D-class D-563 Rotary District 1120
2010– D-class D-728 Braund [20]

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 8 March 2019.
  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. "Survey of the wreck of the steam trawler "Skegness" H 14". www.fileybay.com. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  10. Booth, Phil (29 August 2014). "Wreck's Tale of Tragedy". The Yorkshire Post. p. 13.
  11. Allen & Todd 1985, p. 75.
  12. Howarth, Patrick, ed. (Summer 1975). "Lifeboat People". The Lifeboat. Poole: RNLI. 44 (452): 22. ISSN 0024-3086.
  13. "New Page 1". www.fileybay.com. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  14. Leach 2018, p. 24.
  15. Allen & Todd 1985, p. 72.
  16. Leach 2018, p. 40.
  17. Leach 2018, p. 47.
  18. "Safety call after lifeboat incidents". The Filey Mercury. 21 August 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  19. Floyd, Mike, ed. (Winter 1993). "Donate a house?". The Lifeboat. Poole: RNLI. 53 (526): 124. ISSN 0024-3086.
  20. "Lifeboat named in honour of benefactor". The Filey Mercury. 12 July 2010. Retrieved 28 February 2019.

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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