Aldeburgh Lifeboat Station

The Suffolk Association for Saving the Lives of Shipwrecked Seamen placed the 24-foot lifeboat Grafton at Sizewell Gap in 1826, but this was crewed by men from Aldeburgh. The boat was moved to a new station at Aldeburgh, shortly after the RNLI took over in 1851.^[4]

A new 32-foot unnamed boat was stationed at Aldeburgh in 1853, later to be named Pasco in 1867, after Capt. Montague G. C. Pasco, RN, collected £451 for the RNLI. ^[5]

The All-weather Mersey-class lifeboat 12-34 RNLB Freddie Cooper (ON 1193) was placed on station in November 1993. The 12 metres (39 ft) self-righting lifeboat was powered by two 285-hp turbo-charged Caterpillar 3208T diesel engines, capable of 16 knots, with a range of 140 nautical miles. She was purchased using a bequest to the RNLI from the late Mrs Winifred Cooper, in memory of her husband Freddie. She was retired to the reserve fleet in 2024.

The current lifeboat station was built in 1994, to replace a smaller older one on the same site. For the first time, protective cover was provided, for both the station lifeboat and the Talus MB-H launch tractor. Incorporated into the design is a public viewing platform. The station has showers and toilet facilities for the crew, and a heated store for their foul weather suits. There are also further equipment storage rooms. This new boathouse was built using part of the 'Penza' bequest of Mrs Eugenie Boucher, who left £4 million to the RNLI when she died in 1992, specifically for the construction of new boathouses.

In 2007, Aldeburgh received the new D-class (IB1) lifeboat Christine (D-673). This boat was funded by the bequest of Florence Winifred Kemp, in memory of her daughter.^[2]

The RNLI announced in 2016, that Aldeburgh would be getting a new Shannon-class lifeboat to replace the Mersey-class lifeboat, due in 2021. In July 2023, the RNLI announced that the Mersey-class All-weather lifeboat (ALB) at Aldeburgh would be replaced by an B-class (Atlantic 85) Inshore lifeboat.^[6]

Christine was replaced with a new D-class (IB1) Inshore boat in 2017, and named Susan Scott (D-808) at a ceremony on Saturday 10 June 2017.^[7]

On 14 October 2024, Mersey-class lifeboat 12-34 Freddie Cooper (ON 1193) was withdrawn to the relief fleet. The All-weather lifeboat was replaced by the B-class (Atlantic 85) Inshore lifeboat Howard Bell (B-899).^[8]

On 7 December 1899, the lifeboat Aldeburgh (ON 304) was launched to reports of a vessel aground on Shipwash Sands. Amidst a raging gale and extremely heavy seas, the lifeboat was savagely struck by two huge waves in quick succession, causing her to capsize and hurling her 18-man crew into the tumultuous waters.^[9]

Unable to right itself, the lifeboat was driven bottom upwards onto the shore with six crewmen trapped underneath. Those who had escaped injury tried frantically to free their trapped crew mates, but with the boat weighing over 13 tonnes, and the tide rushing in, it proved to be an impossible challenge. Three hours passed until a hole could be smashed through the upturned hull, but it was too late. Tragically, all six men - John Butcher, Charles Crisp, Thomas Morris, Walter George Ward, Herbert William Downing, and James Miller Ward - had drowned. Another member of the crew, Allan Arthur Easter, would succumb to injuries sustained in the disaster three weeks later. It remains one of the gravest tragedies in the history of the RNLI.^[9][10]

A relief fund was started by the local community to support the bereft families and ensure a fitting permanent memorial would be raised to remember the self-sacrifice of those who perished in the service of others. Accordingly, a marble monument was placed in the churchyard of St Peter and St Paul's Church in Aldeburgh, where all seven lifeboatmen were laid to rest in a single plot, each with their own cross-shaped marker stone that both faces the main memorial and looks out to sea. A copper memorial tablet was also placed inside the church.^[10]

The marble memorial in the churchyard bears the following inscription:

"On December 7th 1899, in response to signals of distress, a crew of 18 brave men manned the lifeboat "Aldeburgh" which was speedily launched in the teeth of an easterly gale and a heavy rolling sea. At duties call to rescue others with their own lives in their hands, these brave men went afloat, when alas! the boat capsizing seven of them met their end and lie buried here. By a large fund promptly raised to provide for those suddenly bereft, as well as by the monument, fellow townsmen and fellow countrymen near and far paid tribute to an example of noble self-forgetfulness."

For his bravery and dogged determination in rescuing two of his comrades, Coxwain Charles Ward was awarded a Silver Medal by the RNLI in 1900 - his second Silver Medal for Gallantry.^[10]

Among the 11 crewmen to survive the disaster was Augustus Mann, who attributed his lucky escape to the three acorns he had been carrying in his pocket for good luck. Preserved with varnish and kept in a glass-fronted box, those same acorns have been carried onboard Aldeburgh's lifeboats ever since. Until her retirement in 2024 they could be found mounted inside the wheelhouse of the lifeboat Freddie Cooper. True to the superstition, whenever the station gets a relief boat, the acorns - and the luck they bring - are dutifully transferred over.^[10]

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  Memorial plaque in Aldeburgh church commemorating the 1899 lifeboat disaster
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  Memorial in Aldeburgh churchyard commemorating the 1899 lifeboat disaster (front)
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  Memorial in Aldeburgh churchyard commemorating the 1899 lifeboat disaster (rear)
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  Graves in Aldeburgh churchyard of the seven crewmen killed in the 1899 lifeboat disaster

The following are awards made at Aldeburgh^[2][11]

• RNIPLS Silver Medal

Joseph Foster, Boatman, H.M. Coastguard, Sizewell Gap – 1824

Henry Hutchinson, Chief Officer, H.M. Coastguard, Orford Ness Lighthouse – 1825

Mr William Smith, fisherman – 1828

Mr Simon Fisher, Master of the Smack Alert – 1840

• RNLI Silver Medal

James Cable, Coxswain – 1891

William Mann, Second Coxswain – 1891

James Cable, Coxswain – 1893 (Second-Service clasp)

Charles Edward Ward, Bowman – 1894

Charles Edward Ward, Bowman – 1900 (Second-Service clasp)

James Cable, Coxswain – 1900 (Third-Service clasp)

• RNLI Bronze Medal

George Chatten, Coxswain – 1938

Reuben Wood, Coxswain – 1972

John Marjoram, Helm – 1977

Ian Firman, Coxswain/Mechanic – 1996

Ian Firman, Coxswain/Mechanic – 2000 (Second-Service clasp)

• The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum

Nigel Saint, Motor Mechanic – 1972

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

Reuban Wood, Coxswain – 1977

Lee Firman, Coxswain – 2004

David Cook, crewman – 2004

• Binocular glass

W. J. Osborne, Honorary Secretary for 25 years – 1886

• Letter of appreciation and a monetary reward from the Committee of Management

John Sharman (16) – 1955

• Medals awarded by the Norwegian Government

Aldeburgh Lifeboat Crew – 1892

• Silver cup from the Imperial Government of Russia

James Cable, Coxswain – 1895

• Monetary Award from the Imperial Government of Russia

Aldeburgh Lifeboat Crew – 1895

• Silver Watch from The German Emperor

Coxswain – 1903

Second coxswain – 1903

Bowman – 1903

• Monetary Award from The German Emperor

Aldeburgh Lifeboat Crew – 1903

• Member, Order of the British Empire (MBE)

Lee Firman – 2017NYH^[12]

• British Empire Medal

Nigel Anthony Saint, Motor Mechanic – 1985NYH^[13]

In memory of those lost whilst serving Aldeburgh lifeboat.^[9]

• • Lost when the lifeboat Aldeburgh (ON 304) capsized on service, 7 December 1899^[14]

John Pearce Butcher (52)

Charles Alfred Crisp (51)

Herbert William Downing (23)

Allen Arthur Easter (28)

Thomas Morris (36)

Walter George Ward (33)

James Miller Ward jr. (21)

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

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