St Davids Lifeboat Station

At a meeting of the RNLI committee of management on 5 November 1868, it was decided to dispatch the Inspector of Lifeboats to visit St David's, Pembrokeshire, following a letter from H. Hicks, surgeon, who had stated the necessity of a lifeboat in the area. At a later meeting on 3 December 1868, on receipt of the Inspector's report, it was decided to establish a station at St David's, "where it would be in a central position, and command the whole of St. Bride's Bay; and where it could be launched from several beaches on either side of St. David's". It was also decided to appropriate to the station, the sum of £420, presented to the Institution by the Earl of Dartmouth and his tenantry, for the purchase of a lifeboat.^[4][5]

In April 1869, a new 32-foot self-righting 'Pulling and Sailing' (P&S) lifeboat, one with sails and (10) oars, was transported to Pattingham in Staffordshire, to be exhibited at Patshull Hall, home of the Earl of Dartmouth. There the lifeboat was named Augusta, after Augusta Legge, Countess of Dartmouth, before being launched on trial in the 75-acre Great Lake. The lifeboat was then transported to Haverfordwest, first being launched on display at Solva, before arriving at St David's.^[6]

It was also resolved to establish a lifeboat station at both St David's and at Solva, both managed by the St David's lifeboat committee. Each was to use the same crew, to be exercised in alternate quarters.^[6]

A boathouse was built at the bottom of the cliff at St Justinian, at a cost of £179-10s, but wasn't completed before the lifeboat arrived. During construction, the lifeboat was kept in premises in the town.^[5][6]

St David's lifeboat Augusta was launched about 13:00 on 15 October 1880, to reports of the brigantine Messenger of Exeter drifting, with her sails blown away. The vessel, on passage from Teignmouth to Runcorn with a cargo of clay, struck the Wain Garrig rock, 2 mi (3.2 km) north of Ramsey Island. Three crew scrambled onto the rocks, only for the vessel to come free, and drift away, with the Master and two crew still aboard. The lifeboat rescued the three men from the rock, but there was no sign of the Messenger. It was later discovered that the vessel had foundered whilst making for Milford Haven, but the three men aboard had landed safely at St Ann's Head.^[7]

Augusta remained in service until 1885, saving 23 lives.^[8]

In 1860, the RNLI decided to issue Barometers to lifeboat stations. The idea was simple; prevention was better than cure. If the local seafaring population could be advised that the weather was likely to turn, they would be less inclined to set sail, and therefore be less likely to need rescuing. There was no requirement for a barometer at St Justinian, but a barometer was issued to Solva in 1871, where there was a harbour. It is not known when the barometer was relocated, likely sometime after the Solva lifeboat station closed in 1887, but it now sits in a special cabinet, in the centre of St David's.^[9]

From 1885 to 1910, 16 lives were saved by the crew of the station's new lifeboat, Gem (ON 59). The lifeboat was wrecked on The Bitches reef during a rescue on 13 October 1910, and three crewmen drowned: Coxswain John Stephens, and lifeboatmen Henry Rowlands and James Price. Papers concerning the loss are held at Pembrokeshire Record Office (Ref:DX/93/11).^[10]

A temporary lifeboat, Charlotte (ON 46), was stationed at Porthclais for two years, whilst a new station and slipway were constructed to accommodate the station's first motor-powered lifeboat, General Farrell (ON 614), which arrived on station in 1912.^[8][11]

General Farrell remained on station until 1936, her crew saving 17 lives in the intervening years. She was replaced by Civil Service No.6, later to be named Swn-y-Mor (Civil Service No.6), which saw one of the busiest periods in the station's history, her crews saving 108 lives in her 26 years of service, although marked by the loss of lifeboatman Ieuan Bateman in 1956. A couple of years earlier, on the 27 November 1954, the tanker World Concord broke in two in hurricane-force winds; a combined effort by the lifeboats from St Davids and Rosslare Harbour saw 42 people rescued from the tanker.^[12]

Swn-y-Mor had been donated by the Civil Service Lifeboat Fund, and the same organisation donated the next lifeboat, Joseph Soar (ON 971), in 1963. Already fitted with some innovative equipment, she was converted for self-righting in 1974, and during her tenure the crew saved 45 lives.^[8]

Joseph Soar had been named in honour of Dr. Joseph Soar, MBE, former footballer with Derby County F.C., organist at St Davids Cathedral, Honorary Secretary and crew member of St David's lifeboat, and holder of the RNLI Bronze Medal.^[13] The lifeboat was transferred to Dunbar in 1985, and sold by the RNLI in 1992, when she was given a civic send-off at Poole. Undergoing a complete 18-month refit in 2012–2013, the boat is still operating as a pleasure craft based in Northern Ireland. She is now almost exclusively used in promotion and fundraising for the RNLI, visits dozens of RNLI Stations each year.^[14][15][16]

From 1985 to 1988, the station's All-weather lifeboat was Ruby and Arthur Reed (ON 990), formerly on station at Cromer, where she had already been involved in saving 58 lives. A further nine lives would be saved at St Davids. She was replaced by 47-026 Garside (ON 1139), a new Tyne-class lifeboat which, until superseded in 2013 by the Tamar-class lifeboat Norah Wortley,^[17] had been launched more than 160 times.

After the withdrawal of the RAF Rescue Service helicopter from nearby RAF Brawdy, St Davids trialed an Inshore lifeboat in 1997, and the following year took possession of a permanent addition to the station of a D-class ILB, Dewi Sant (D-543) (Saint David). This was replaced in 2008 by Myrtle & Trevor Gurr (D-704). The lifeboat station and slipways were modernised extensively in the 1990s.^[8] In April 2013, St. David's new Tamar-class lifeboat was placed on station, temporarily moored afloat, pending construction of the new boathouse and slipway. In certain weather conditions, the Tamar had to be removed to a safe anchorage and for this reason the Tyne class Garside remained on station in the 1912 boathouse, with St Davids in the unusual situation of operating two ALBs at the same time.^[18]

In 2014, construction started on a new larger lifeboat house and slipway capable of accommodating the Tamar, with improved access for bringing in equipment and evacuating casualties and more extensive modern facilities; the cost is in the region of £9.5 million. The new facility is a short distance from the existing boathouse which remained in service until the new boathouse was completed.^[19]

With completion of the new boathouse, Garside was launched down the slipway of the old boathouse for the last time on 21 October 2016, before heading back to the RNLI headquarters at Poole to join the relief fleet.^[20]

The new Tamar-class all-weather lifeboat, 16-26 Norah Wortley (ON 1306), was launched from the new station for the first time on 21 October 2016;^[21] her naming ceremony took place on 14 March 2017 on the occasion of the official opening of the new station.^[22]

The station employs two full-time members, Coxswain and Mechanic. The remaining crew, all volunteers, and who all live within about 3 miles (4.8 km) of the station, are contacted by pager when needed.^[23] Neighbouring lifeboat stations are Fishguard to the north, Little and Broad Haven to the south and Rosslare Harbour in Ireland to the west.

The lifeboat station is the embarkation point for ferries to Ramsey Island.

The following are awards made at St Davids:^[24][25]

• RNLI Silver Medal

  David Hicks, Coxswain – 1892

  William Narbett, Acting Coxswain – 1903

  Sidney Mortimer, fisherman – 1910

  William Watts Williams, Coxswain – 1955

• Silver Medal - first class, awarded by the French Government

  Ieuan M. Bateman, crew member – 1956 (posthumous)

• RNLI Bronze Medal

  Dr Joseph Soar, DMus, Honorary Secretary – 1943

  Gwillym Jenkin Davies, crew member – 1943

  William Watts Williams, Coxswain – 1943

  George G. Jordan, Motor Mechanic – 1955

  Gwillym Jenkin Davies, Assistant Mechanic – 1955

  David John Lewis, Coxswain – 1956

  William Thomas Morris, Coxswain – 1978

  Frederick George John, Coxswain – 1982

  David Chant, Coxswain/Mechanic – 1989

• Bronze Medal, of the French Lifeboat Society

  Ieuan M. Bateman, crew member – 1956 (posthumous)

• The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum

  David Lewis, Second Coxswain – 1955

  William Rowlands, Acting Bowman – 1955

  Howell H. Roberts, Emergency Mechanic – 1955

  William Morris, crew member – 1955

  Richard Chisholm, crew member – 1955

  Frederick John, Coxswain/Mechanic – 1985

  Frederick John, Coxswain/Mechanic – 1987

  Malcolm Gray, Coxswain – 1999

  Malcolm Gray MBE, Coxswain – 2005

  David John, Coxswain – 2008

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

  Neil Thomas, Helm – 2005

  Clive Hayes, Second Coxswain – 2008

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

  Nicholas Phillips, Helm – 2008

  Simon Thornton, Helm – 2008

  Simon Twitchen, crew member – 2008

  Gareth Morris, crew member – 2008

• Member, Order of the British Empire (MBE)

  Dr Joseph Soar, DMus, FRCO, ARCM – 1947NYH^[26]

  Malcolm Colborne Gray, Former Coxswain – 2005NYH^[27]

In memory of those lost whilst serving St Davids lifeboat:^[24]

• Lost from the lifeboat Gem (ON 59), wrecked on service, 13 October 1910.

  John Stephens, Coxswain (63)

  Henry Rowlands (51)

  James Price (48)

• Lost overboard from the lifeboat, on service to the French trawler Notre Dame de Fatima, 8 November 1956.

  Ieuan M. Bateman (21)

• List of RNLI stations
• List of former RNLI stations
• Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboats
• List of Lifeboat Disasters in the British Isles