News and media reports on the RNLI or CRBI lifeboat services will be posted here.

If you know of news or an upcoming event and would like it to be in our News and Events page contact the webmaster at irishlifeboats@hotmail.com

02/04/10

Relief Fleet Tyne Class Lifeboat RNLB GEORGE GIBSON arrived at Wicklow on Easter Sunday , She will cover at Wicklow station while RNLB ANNIE BLAKER goes for refit.

25/12/09

 Photo : RNLI/Nathan Williams

The RNLI is sending an SOS message in a bottle, asking people across the UK and Republic of Ireland to support the charity in the run up to its biggest day of fundraising: RNLI SOS Day on Friday 29 January 2010.

The bottle started its journey on 23 December from the RNLI’s Lifeboat College in Poole, Dorset. It will then pop up along the south coast of England, then Wales, up to the north of England, on to Scotland, then Ireland, and will conclude its journey in London in time for RNLI SOS Day on 29 January.

The RNLI hopes that thousands of people will see the message in a bottle and will respond by getting involved with RNLI SOS Day. They will be helping to raise funds to ensure that the RNLI’s lifeboat crews and lifeguards can go on rescuing people and saving lives.

The charity’s 4,500 volunteer crew members are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to help save lives not just at sea, but also inland during floods. The RNLI’s only year-round lifeguards will be also be patrolling the new surf reef in Boscombe, Dorset, throughout the winter season.

Charlie Watson, RNLI National Events Manager, says: ‘There’s lots of exciting ways to get involved, for example, you could make a New Year’s resolution to get fit and organise a sports event - ‘Spotlight on Sport’ - or coordinate a talent competition - ‘Sing our Songs’. Or why not hold a yummy cake sale at school or at work, ‘Sharing our Snacks’? Alternatively, you could attend one of the many events taking place around the UK and Republic of Ireland or simply make a donation to show your support.’

From the RNLI website

4/12/09

Famous actors Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle took time out of a busy filming schedule on Wednesday 2 December to drop in and say hello to Wicklow RNLI lifeboat volunteers and to get a tour of the lifeboat station.

The two stars are in Wicklow filming scenes at the East Pier beside the lifeboat station for a new movie called The guard. Irish actor Brendan Glesson also starred in the drama The lifeboat in the early 1980s, filmed at St Davids in Wales, and US actor Don Cheadle is well known from many films including Hotel Rwanda and Oceans 11.

Tommy Dover, Wicklow's volunteer lifeboat press officer, said:

'The two actors were filming next door and we invited them in to look around. They were very friendly and happily posed for photos with the lifeboat crew. We took great pride in showing them the station and our two lifeboats.

'Wednesday night is the onshore training night for the lifeboat crew so many of the station's volunteers were present for the surprise visit. The two actors also signed the station visit book.'

From the RNLI Website

30/11/09

A major search and rescue operation was launched off the County Wexford coast after a person was reported overboard from the Stena Line ferry Stena Europe shortly after the ferry departed from Rosslare for Fishguard on 30 November.

Rosslare Harbour lifeboat launched at 9.50pm and proceeded east to an area called the South Long Buoy. A Coastguard helicopter, Stena Europe, Irish Ferries’ Isle of Inishmore, and fast craft from both ferries, all under the command of the Rosslare Harbour lifeboat, undertook a thorough search of the area. As the search moved slowly southwards, because of the strength of the tides, Kilmore Quay lifeboat was also required to join the search shortly after 11pm.

The Kilmore Quay lifeboat recovered a body from the water in the early hours of the morning.

22/11/09

Three lifeboatmen had to be rescued after their lifeboat capsized in Wexford Harbour on Sunday morning. Contact with the RNLI D-class inshore lifeboat was lost while it was carrying out an exercise south of Ravens Point, and a search was immediately launched.

Two of the lifeboat's crew managed to stay in contact with the upturned lifeboat and were winched to safety by an Irish Coast Guard helicopter. The third crewmember was recovered safely a mile-and-a-half northeast of the scene by Rosslare RNLI lifeboat.

All three crewmembers were taken to hospital but released after undergoing checks. A full investigation into the incident has been launched by the RNLI in liaison with Wexford Lifeboat Station and the Irish Coast Guard.

Crew members at Portrush lifeboat station are to receive awards in recognition of a rescue that saved the lives of two boys on 5 August. The Portrush inshore and all-weather lifeboat crews went to the aid of the teenagers after they went missing in the Castlerock Downhill area in Northern Ireland. Matthew Forsythe and Rhys Sufferin were exploring a cave when they were trapped by the rising tide.

With support from both lifeboat crews, Lifeboat Mechanic Anthony Chambers managed to swim a lifejacket and helmet into the cave and brought Rhys to safety. He then swam back in and safely took Matthew out too.

Despite suffering from shock and hypothermia, Matthew and Rhys made a full recovery and returned to the lifeboat station to thank Anthony (pictured) and the crew. Now the RNLI has announced that Anthony will receive the charity’s Bronze Medal for Gallantry.

RNLI Divisional Inspector for Ireland, Martyn Smith, says: ‘Having been trapped in the cave for over three hours wearing only shorts and T-shirts on a rising spring tide, there is no doubt that the boys were in very real danger.

‘The actions of Mechanic Chambers in making two entries to the cave to rescue the boys demonstrated selfless courage without regard for his own safety. Entry into the cave required immense physical and mental effort, especially as he was hindered on both occasions by the additional lifejacket and helmet carried for each boy. Swimming continuously for half an hour in surging swells, often colliding the cave walls, Mechanic Chamber’s determination and resourcefulness were critical in saving the boys’ lives that day.’

Inshore lifeboat Helmsman Gerard Bradley repeatedly manoeuvred his craft in the rocky sea area at the mouth of the cave where conditions were turbulent, and Crew Member Karl O’Neill pitched himself against the elements during the first attempt to swim to the boys. For their part in the rescue Helmsman Bradley (42) and Karl O’Neill (21) will be awarded a Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the RNLI’s Chairman.

The rest of both lifeboats’ crews will receive medal service certificates and badges.

From the RNLI website

Larne RNLI D class lifeboat Hannahbella Ferguson was tasked to assist a 22’ Westerly Nomad yacht driven ashore by south-easterly gale force winds in Larne Lough on Friday (9 October).

The sole person on board had tried unsuccessfully to refloat his craft but to no avail due to the combination of high wind and waves.

When the lifeboat arrived on scene, the casualty vessel was seen to be hard aground close to the derelict coal quay. The volunteer lifeboat crew quickly rigged a towline and successfully refloated the vessel, which was then towed to the shelter of Magheramorne Bay and secured to a mooring.

The relieved owner was then landed safely ashore to the care of Larne Coastguard Coast Response Team.

From the RNLI website

THE ROYAL National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has confirmed that Kilrush in Co Clare is to get one of the new generation of high-powered lifeboats for its dangerous Atlantic missions.

Kilrush will be one of only two stations in Ireland and the UK to receive the new boats next year.

On his last visit to Kilrush before he retires, RNLI chief executive Andrew Freemantle confirmed the purchase and delivery of a new Atlantic 85 B Class lifeboat for the RNLI station at Kilrush.

Mr Freemantle said the boat will be delivered to the voluntary crew in Kilrush next June. The Atlantic 85 Rib (rigid inflatable boat) is bigger and more powerful than Kilrush’s existing Rib and is fitted with the latest search and rescue technology.

Following the construction of a new station in 1996, an Atlantic 21 B Class lifeboat was placed on temporary duty at the Kilrush station. It was replaced by an Atlantic 75 lifeboat the following October.

Kilrush lifeboat operations manager John Lamb said: “This is a great vote of confidence in the crew here at Kilrush. It shows that we are doing what is being asked of us and are being rewarded by being entrusted with this, the latest in lifeboat technology and development.”

The crucial task of maintaining the lifeboat in Kilrush falls on mechanic Martin Brew who said, “This is a bigger boat allowing us to carry more equipment, more crew members and more casualties.”

From the Irish Times website

A memorial has been unveiled commemorating 778 RNLI lifeboat men & women who died during rescue operations at sea over the past 200 years.

65 of the names on the memorial, which was unveiled at RNLI Headquarters in Poole in Dorset, are Irish.

Lifeboat crews and their supporters were asked to observe a one-minute silence just after 12pm today in memory of those who lost their lives while helping others.

The RNLI is a joint operation covering British and Irish waters and the memorial in Poole is inscribed with the motto of the RNLI's founder, Sir William Hillary: '... With courage, nothing is impossible’.

The new memorial (below) is a sculpture of a person in a boat saving another from the water.

Relatives attended the ceremony and as the memorial was dedicated, lifeboat stations had their RNLI flags at half-mast.

The RNLI is a volunteer organisation that provides a 24-hour search and rescue service around Ireland and the UK.

It operates over 230 lifeboat stations with 43 in Ireland.

The RNLI is independent of the Coast Guard and the Government and depends on donations to maintain its rescue service.

From the RTE website

It has been confirmed that Kilmore Quay station will receive a new Tamar class ALB during 2010. The Tamar class will replace the stations current lifeboat Tyne class The Famous Grouse 47-021 which came on Kilmore station in 2004.