New lifeboat launched in Guernsey to celebrate RNLI's 200-year history

The lifeboat will be named after Harold Hobbs, who was killed on a Guernsey lifeboat during World War Two after being shot by a German aircraft. Credit: ITV Channel

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is celebrating its 200th anniversary by launching a new inshore lifeboat for St Peter Port.

The new Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat will be named after Harold Hobbs, who served on a Guernsey lifeboat.

He was shot and killed on the lifeboat by a German aircraft on 29 June 1940.

Harold's great nephew, Jason Hobbs, currently volunteers at St Peter Port RNLI.

He said: "It is an incredibly moving tribute to my great uncle’s memory that our new lifeboat will bear his name, honouring his incredible sacrifice and inspiring our generation to continue doing all we can to save lives at sea, like the generations before us did."

As part of the anniversary celebrations, the RNLI has revealed that they have saved more than 1,500 lives in the Channel Islands since being founded in 1824.

The group currently runs lifeboat stations in Alderney, St Peter Port and two in Jersey; St Catherine and St Helier.

Guernsey's station has saved 612 lives since 1824, the most out of the four.

RNLI Chief Executive, Mark Dowie, said:  "It is through the courage and dedication of its incredible people that the RNLI has survived the tests of time, including tragic losses, funding challenges, two World Wars and, more recently, a global pandemic."