RNLI at 200: Tynemouth Lifeboat Station celebrates two centuries of saving lives at sea

Tynemouth RNLI crew and volunteers gathered to mark the double anniversary on Monday 4 March. Credit: ITV Tyne Tees

As the RNLI marks its 200th year of saving lives at sea nationwide, there is only one station in the country to have reached the same milestone age.

Tynemouth Lifeboat Station has actually been in operation for longer than the RNLI itself. Its roots began in the 1700s when fishermen would volunteer to row out on rescues along the Tyne and up and down the North Sea coast.

The RNLI then took on the lifeboats and made the station what it is today.

Now, 27 crew members continue to make the same sacrifices that those fishermen did two centuries ago.

Coxswain Sam Clow told ITV Tyne Tees: "It's great to be a little part of a 200-year history.

"We refer to the lifeboat men of old as steel men in wooden boats that used to don their cork lifejacket and row out into a storm.

"Obviously things have come on leaps and bounds since then, but it's great to sort of continue their legacy, continue their work, and hopefully forge a way forward so we can continue for 200 more years to come."

George William, volunteer crew member, said the difference between the equipment used 200 years ago and now is stark.

The crew of the RNLI's first motor lifeboat, Henry Vernon. Credit: RNLI
The RNLI relies on donations and vessels like this one costs around £2.5m alone. Credit: ITV Tyne Tees

"I think with our piece of kit like this, all the rescues wouldn't be possible, the vessels have never been this safe", he said. "And we're wearing full, proper life jackets."

Mr William was inspired to join the RNLI by his grandfather who was a fisherman and says it was a privilege to know anyone in the RNLI in those days.

The station that stands on the Fish Quay in Tynemouth today was built in the 1990s, after the original was bombed in World War Two.

The RNLI is a charity and is run on donations.

The cost of lifeboats can range from £100,000 for a small D class lifeboat to £2.5 million for the all-weather Severn class which is the biggest and most equipped vessel that they have on the Tyne.

Crews are made up of volunteers who risk their own lives to try and save others in trouble at sea.

Volunteer crew member Paul King said: "Our mission is, you know, saving lives. When we save somebody, it's the best feeling in the world."

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