Ramsgate lifeboat station
Encyclopedia
Ramsgate lifeboat station is an RNLI station located in the Port of Ramsgate in the English
county of Kent
. The station is one of the oldest to operate in the British Isles and has launched to many notable services. Over the years its crews have won over 50 awards for gallantry the most recent being in 2000.
In 1865, the lifeboat was taken over by the Board of Trade and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution
, and was taken over completely by the RNLI, who run the service to this day. The current lifeboat station, on the harbour wall between the inner and outer pools of the main harbour opened in 1998 and services both an onshore lifeboat, the'Bob Turnbull' and offshore lifeboat, the 'RNLB Esme Anderson' .
to the rescue. The Lifeboat left Ramsgate at 2.20 in the afternoon with Coxswain Howard Primrose Knight in command with a crew of eight men. They had been issued with gas masks, steel helmets and the lifeboat was loaded with four coils of grass warp and cans of fresh water for the troops. She took in tow eight boats, most of them wherries, manned by eighteen naval men, and when she reached Dunkirk her part was to tow the wherries between the beaches and the waiting ships.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. The station is one of the oldest to operate in the British Isles and has launched to many notable services. Over the years its crews have won over 50 awards for gallantry the most recent being in 2000.
History
A lifeboat station was first established at Ramsgate Harbour in 1802 by the trustees of the harbour, pre dating the formation of any national lifeboat organisation by more than 20 years. After a lapse in service between 1824 and 1851 a station was re-established by the trustees.In 1865, the lifeboat was taken over by the Board of Trade and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as on selected inland waterways....
, and was taken over completely by the RNLI, who run the service to this day. The current lifeboat station, on the harbour wall between the inner and outer pools of the main harbour opened in 1998 and services both an onshore lifeboat, the
Dunkirk evacuation
During the evacuation of Troops from Dunkirk in 1940, Lifeboat Prudential, of Ramsgate was the first little shipLittle ships of Dunkirk
The little ships of Dunkirk were 700 private boats that sailed from Ramsgate in England to Dunkirk in France between May 26 and June 4, 1940 as part of Operation Dynamo, the rescue of more than 338,000 British and French soldiers, who were trapped on the beaches at Dunkirk during the Second World...
to the rescue. The Lifeboat left Ramsgate at 2.20 in the afternoon with Coxswain Howard Primrose Knight in command with a crew of eight men. They had been issued with gas masks, steel helmets and the lifeboat was loaded with four coils of grass warp and cans of fresh water for the troops. She took in tow eight boats, most of them wherries, manned by eighteen naval men, and when she reached Dunkirk her part was to tow the wherries between the beaches and the waiting ships.