Blyth Lifeboat Station

Blyth Lifeboat Station
RNLI Lifeboat station
Country	UK
State	Northumberland
Town	Blyth
Location	Blyth Lifeboat Station, Quayside, South Harbour, Blyth, Northumberland, UK
- coordinates
Founded	1808
Owner	Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Visitation	Summer Months only
Blyth, Northumberland <div style="position:absolute; left:88%; top:%; padding:0;"> Blyth, Northumberland

Blyth Lifeboat Station is operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and currently operates a D Class (IB1) “Jennie B”.

In 2007 the inshore lifeboat was launched on service 22 times, 11 people were rescued and £31,800 worth of craft were recovered.

History

A lifeboat had first been based at Blyth in 1808, privately sponsored by Sir Matthew Ridley. This boat was wrecked on service in 1810 and was not replaced. In 1826 the Port of Newcastle Shipwreck Association funded a new Blyth lifeboat and in 1866 the RNLI took over the running of the station. In 1920, for the station's first motor lifeboat, the RNLI built a new boathouse and slipway which, with modifications over the years, is still in use for the "D" class inflatable today. The various motor lifeboats over the years were slipway launched until October 1982 when a Waveney-class fast afloat boat was allocated to the station. The Waveney served until replaced by a new 25knot Trent-class boat in December 1995 (in fact, unusually, all of Blyth's motor lifeboats had been built new for the station). However, a review of lifeboat provision in the North East led to the decision to withdraw the all weather lifeboat from Blyth and the station became inshore only on July 16th 2004. Inevitably, decisions to close or downgrade stations often lead to local concerns and following the RNLI's decision the Blyth Volunteer Lifeboat Service was set up and purchased a 38ft 6in Lochin lifeboat which had been built in 1990 for the Caister Volunteer Rescue Service ( a body similarly set up after withdrawal of an RNLI all weather boat). The boat, named Spirit of Blyth and Wansbeck went into service in 2005

Fleet

All Weather Boats

Dates in service	Class	ON	Op. No.	Name	Launches/Saved	Comments
1921–1948	45ft Watson-class	ON 654		Joseph Adlam	82/74
1948–1979	46ft 9in Watson-class	ON 853		Winston Churchill (Civil Service No.8)	68/39
1979–1982	Rother-class	ON 1054	37-36	Shoreline	9/1
1982–1995	Waveney-class	ON 1079	44-022	The William and Jane	136/43	Last Waveney built
1995–2004	Trent-class	ON 1204	14-06	Windsor Runner (Civil Service No. 42)	95/15

Inshore Lifeboat

Dates in service	Class	Op. No.	Name
1965–1986	D-class (RFD PB16)
1986–1994	D-class (EA16)	D-324
1994–2003	D-class (EA16)	D-464	Wren
2003–2012	D-class (IB1)	D-606	Jennie B
2012–present	D-class (IB1)	D-746	Alan and Amy

See also

• Blyth, Northumberland

External links

• Blyth Lifeboat Station
• RNLI Official Site
• Maritime Coastguard Agency