Port Erin Lifeboat Station

At a meeting of the RNLI Management Committee on 7 September 1882, it was agreed to form a Lifeboat Station at Port Erin.^[3]

On 28 August 1883, a 32-foot 'Pulling and Sailing' (P&S) lifeboat, one with sails and (10) oars, was drawn on its carriage by eight horses, in grand procession from Douglas to the shore at Port Erin, where a Brass Band was in attendance. The cost of the lifeboat and its equipment had been defrayed from the legacy of the late Mr Richard Roberts of Blackley, Manchester.^[4]

On arrival at Port Erin, the ceremony commenced with an address by Henry Loch, Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man. After the lifeboat was handed to the care of the local lifeboat committee, and accepted by branch president Dr. R. Radcliffe, the lifeboat was named Ann and Mary of Manchester, in accordance with the wishes of the benefactor. The lifeboat was then launched for a demonstration to the assembled crowd.^[4]

A boathouse was constructed in 1884, opposite the Raglan Pier, at a cost of £250.^[1]

Ann and Mary of Manchester saw her first service on 4 January 1888, launching at 08:45 to the schooner Lyra, which had struck Carrick Rock whilst on passage from Liverpool to Dublin, and was wrecked in Port St Mary bay. The Master had been washed overboard and lost, but the lifeboat rescued the three remaining crew.^[5][6]

In accordance with the wishes of the Coxswain and crew for a larger lifeboat, Ann and Mary of Manchester was replaced in 1892, and a 37-foot 12-oared lifeboat was provided to the station, arriving in January that year. The cost of the lifeboat was defrayed from the legacy of the late Miss L. C. Sargenson of New Bond Street, London, and in accordance with her wishes, the lifeboat was named William Sugden (ON 321). The boat served Port Erin for 20 years, and saved 12 lives.^[7]

To make launching easier, a slipway was constructed in 1900, at a cost of £1000.^[1]

10 August 1925 saw the arrival of a 40-foot self-righting motor powered lifeboat on station, Ethel Day Cardwell (ON 647), previously on service at Tynemouth. This was the same year that a new boathouse was constructed along the breakwater road, a building still in use today. It is notable by its very steep 1:4 slipway, still regarded as the steepest incline of any RNLI lifeboat station.^[8]

The naming ceremony of the sixth lifeboat for Port Erin, a 37-foot Rother-class named Osman Gabriel after her donor, Major Osman Gabriel, was held on 4 August 1973.^[9] Between 1973 and 1992, she was launched 70 times, and saved 55 lives.

In 1990, a coastal review determined that a Mersey-class All-weather lifeboat would be placed at Peel, replacing their B-class (Atlantic 21), whilst Port Erin would receive an Atlantic 21 Inshore boat, to replace their Rother-class All-weather lifeboat.^[10]

On 24 June 2025, Port Erin received a new B-class (Atlantic 85) Inshore lifeboat. The lifeboat has been funded by the Gough Ritchie Trust, one of five lifeboats provided by the trust for the island, and named Neil Crowe (B-951), after one of their founding trustees, on 12 July 2025.^[2]

Just after 06:00 on the 9 September 1970, the Port Erin All-weather lifeboat Matthew Simpson (ON 823) was launched into a very rough sea and SSW gale, to reports of the coaster Moonlight in difficulties, 5 miles (8 km) north of Chicken Rock. A life-raft located by aircraft was found to be empty. At 11:00, a second life-raft was spotted, and found to contain just two survivors from the Moonlight. The two men were landed at Port Erin by the lifeboat at 13:00. For this service, Coxswain Alfred Dennis Maddrell BEM was awarded the RNLI Bronze Medal.^[11]

The following are awards made at Port Erin^[12][11]

• RNLI Bronze Medal

Alfred Dennis Maddrell BEM, Coxswain – 1970

• The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum

Peter Woodworth, Coxswain – 1978

• British Empire Medal

Alfred Dennis Maddrell, Coxswain – 1969QBH^[13]