Alderney Lifeboat Station

Alderney Lifeboat Station is located at Braye Harbour, on the island of Alderney, the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency.

Alderney Lifeboat Station
Alderney, Channel Is.
General information
Type	RNLI Lifeboat Station
Address	Braye Harbour
Town or city	Alderney, GY9 3XX
Country	Channel Islands
Coordinates	49°43′26.5″N 2°12′00.6″W
Opened	1869 / 1984
Closed	1884
Owner	Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Website
Alderney RNLI Lifeboat Station

A lifeboat was first stationed at St Anne on Alderney by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in 1869, but was closed in 1884. The station was re-established 100 years later at Braye harbour in 1984.

The station currently operates an Trent-class All-weather lifeboat, 14-29 Inner Wheel II (ON 1245), on station since 2024.

History

On 19 October 1865, before the establishment of a lifeboat station at Alderney, Gunner James Moore of the Coast Brigade, Royal Artillery, was awarded the RNLI Silver Medal, when along with two colleagues, rescued all 17 men from the French vessel Carioca, on passage from Le Havre to Rio de Janeiro, when it struck the rocks at Point d'Else.

The RNLI decided to establish a lifeboat station at St Anne on Alderney in 1869. A boathouse was constructed at a cost of £235. A 33-foot Self-righting 'Pulling and Sailing' (P&S) lifeboat, one with both oars and sails, was placed on service, and named Mary and Victoria. In 15 years, the lifeboat was never required. With many fishermen leaving the island in the 1880s, it became impossible to maintain a crew, and the station was closed in 1884. The lifeboat was relocated to St Helier on Jersey.

In January 1984, a station was re-established at Alderney, and the new design Brede-class lifeboat 33-08 Foresters Future (ON 1090) was sent there, initially for a 12-month evaluation period. A new station was officially opened on 10 May 1985 by H.R.H. The Duchess of Kent, who presented 'The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum' to John Kay-Mouat, President of the States of Alderney, for the life-saving work carried out by private boats during the previous 100 years, when there was no lifeboat on the island.

During a remarkable period of four months in 1986, Alderney would see the award of three bronze medals, and five crew members accorded 'The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum'. On 4 May, four people and the yacht Sea Victor were saved after suffering engine difficulties in a southerly gale. Six people and the yacht Seylla II were saved in a force 10 gale on 25 August, and the following day, one person and the yacht Gypsy Rover were saved in another force 10 gale. Coxswain Stephen Shaw and Second Coxswain Martin Harwood would both received the RNLI Bronze Medal, with Shaw awarded a second medal (second-service clasp).

The Waveney-class lifeboat 44-019 Louis Marchesi of Round Table (ON 1045) replaced Foresters Future in 1986, serving at Alderney for the next eight years. In 1994, Alderney would be the first station to receive the new Trent-class lifeboat. Relief and trial lifeboat 14-01 Earl and Countess Mountbatten of Burma (ON 1180) was placed on service temporarily on 7 March 1994, awaiting the arrival of a new production version lifeboat.

Mr Fredrick Roy Barker (1909–1992), known as Roy, was the only son of a Lincolnshire farming family, and after studying animal medicine and husbandry at university, followed by a business degree in the US, he went on to become the managing director and Chairman of Banbury Stockyard in Oxfordshire, the largest livestock trading centre in Europe. Selling the company in the early 1970s, he moved to Jersey, where he was able to fully enjoy his love for sailing and the sea. He left his entire estate to the RNLI, with the request that the income received from the fund be known as the Roy Barker Memorial Fund. The Roy Barker Memorial Fund has helped fund the Tamar-class lifeboat and boathouse at The Mumbles, a Shannon-class lifeboat at New Quay, and three other Trent-class lifeboats, including ones at Wick in Scotland, and Howth in Ireland. It has also funded the SLARS tractor unit at Llandudno.

The first of the Trent-class life boats funded by the Roy Barker Memorial Fund, was named 14-04 Roy Barker I (ON 1199), arriving at Alderney on 21 July 1995.

Alderney would receive a second lifeboat in 1997, when the D-class (EA16) Inshore lifeboat Bacchus (D-410) was placed at the station. Two years later, the Inshore lifeboat was replaced with another D-class (EA16) boat, Spirit of Alderney (D-551).

On 9 August 2002, a 13-year-old was swept into the sea at the Fort Clonque causeway, followed by her 16-year-old friend and a passer-by, in their attempts to help the girl. Awards were made to five members of Alderney lifeboat station, for their exceptional efforts in the rescue of all three people. Helm of the Inshore lifeboat Philip Murray was awarded the RNLI Bronze Medal.

In 2008, towards the end of her 10-year service, it was decided not to replace the Inshore lifeboat, and Spirit of Alderney (D-551) was withdrawn in 2009. The station maintains a former D-class (IB1) lifeboat with reduced equipment levels as a boarding boat, Ollie Naismith (D-741-BB) (2022–), which can still be used as an Inshore lifeboat if required.

In September 2024, after 30 years service, Roy Barker I was retired. Her replacement is a later Trent-class lifeboat, a 24-year-old boat built in 2000. RNLB 14-29 Inner Wheel II (ON 1245) had previously served at Barry Dock in South Wales.

Station honours

The following are awards made at Alderney.

• RNLI Silver Medal

Gunner James Moore, Coast Brigade, Royal Artillery - 1865

• RNLI Bronze Medal

Capt. Arthur Daniel Jennings, Harbour Master - 1962

Stephen Eric Shaw, Coxswain - 1986

Stephen Eric Shaw, Coxswain - 1986 (Second-Service clasp)

Martin John Harwood, Second Coxswain - 1986

Philip Murray, Helmsman - 2002

• The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum

Stephen Shaw, Coxswain - 1985

John Kay-Mouat, President of the States of Alderney - 1985
for the life-saving work carried out by private boats in Alderney during the 100 years in which there was no lifeboat on the island.

Michael O’Gorman, Assistant Mechanic - 1986

Nigel Rose, Mechanic - 1986

Michael O’Gorman, Assistant Mechanic - 1986

James McDonald, crew member - 1986

Stephen Shaw, Coxswain - 1986

Martin Harwood, Second Coxswain - 1986

Stephen Shaw, Coxswain - 1997

Martin Harwood, Second Coxswain - 1997

Mark Gaudion, crew member - 2002

David McAllister, Station Honorary Secretary - 2002

Declan Goudion, Coxswain - 2007

Steven Wright, Deputy Second Coxswain - 2007

Dean Geran, crew member - 2007

• A Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution

Francois Jean - 2002

Wayne Chandler - 2002

• Officer, Order of the British Empire (OBE)

John Kay-Mouat, President of the States of Alderney, and Alderney RNLI Branch Chairman - 1994QBH

• Member, Order of the British Empire (MBE)

Stephen Eric Shaw, Coxswain - 2002QBH

Alderney lifeboats

All-weather lifeboats

ON	Op. No.	Name	In service	Class	Comments
Pre-532	–	Mary and Victoria	1869–1884	33-foot Self-righting (P&S)
Station Closed 1884–1984
1090	33-08	Foresters Future	1984–1986	Brede
1045	44-019	Louis Marchesi of Round Table	1986–1994	Waveney
1180	14-01	Earl and Countess Mountbatten of Burma	1994–1995	Trent
1199	14-04	Roy Barker I	1995–2024	Trent
1245	14-29	Inner Wheel II	2024–	Trent

Pre ON numbers are unofficial numbers used by the Lifeboat Enthusiast Society, to reference early lifeboats not included on the official RNLI list.

Inshore lifeboats

Op. No.	Name	In service	Class	Comments
D-410	Bacchus	1997–1999	D-class (EA16)
D-551	Spirit of Alderney	1999–2009	D-class (EA16)

Inshore lifeboat withdrawn in 2009

See also

• List of RNLI stations
• List of former RNLI stations
• Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboats

External links

• Alderney Lifeboat Station