Whitby Lifeboat Station
Whitby Lifeboat Station is a Royal National Lifeboat Institution RNLI lifeboat station located in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England. It is one of nine situated along the Yorkshire coast and is home to both an All-Weather Lifeboat and an Inshore Lifeboat. A lifeboat station has been in existence in Whitby since 1802, with responsibility for the lifeboats being part of the RNLI since 1861. In its 200 plus year history, Whitby has had five different lifeboat stations. A sixth lifeboat and station was located at, just up the coast from Whitby, and whilst it was considered separate from Whitby, it was crewed by men from the Whitby lifeboat.
The present day station and its two lifeboats, cover a huge swathe of the northern coast from the Humber to Hartlepool, and is regularly listed as the busiest in the north of England. The station has two lifeboats; the All-Weather Lifeboat George and Mary Webb and the Inshore Lifeboat Warter Priory.
History
The first lifeboat to be stationed at Whitby was in 1802 on the west side of the river. This had been paid for by a combination of local finance and an offer from Lloyds of London who contributed £50 of the £160 needed for a lifeboat. In 1822 an east side station was opened and also in 1865 another in Upgang; by the end of the 1865, Whitby had four lifeboats under the command of the harbour master. Two of these were the Upgang Lifeboats, which were housed on a stretch of beach at Upgang, up the coast towards Sandsend. The RNLI always regarded Upgang as being a different lifeboat station, despite its proximity to Whitby, and the fact it was crewed by the men from the Whitby station.The lifeboat stations in Whitby are detailed as follows;
| Name | Opened | Closure | Location | Notes |
| Whitby West Pier | 1802 | 1847 | West side of the river | Closed when the Khyber Pass was cut in the town, so the lifeboat house was moved further south |
| Whitby East Pier | 1823 | 1863 | East side of the river | |
| Upgang | 1865 | 1919 | Upgang was located a little to the west of Whitby | After closure, the boat at Upgang was transferred to Whitby |
| Whitby Landward Pier | 1847 | 1957 | On the west side of the river, opposite the Old East Pier | Now the Whitby Lifeboat Museum |
| Whitby | 1919 | 2006 | Closed and razed to the ground in 2006; new lifeboat station built on the same site | |
| Whitby | 2007 | East bank of the river in Whitby Harbour | Built on the site of the former 1919 Motor boat lifeboat station |
The lifeboat stations have always been in different locations in Whitby on the mouth of the River Esk; between 1822 and 1863, it was located on the original East Pier on the east bank of the river. The present day lifeboat station is also on the east side of the river and was opened in 1919, although another building housed a second lifeboat on the west side of the river between 1895 and 1957. This building has since been re-opened as the Whitby Lifeboat Museum.
The lifeboat disaster of 1861, where twelve of the lifeboatmen died, prompted a local fund-raising effort for the widows and children of those who died. This eventually raised over £8,000, but the trustees of the money thought that supplying the money to the widows and orphans of the disaster might give them ideas above their station, so a grand memorial was paid for instead to be installed in the parish Church of St Mary in the town. Soon after the tragedy, the local lifeboat committee agreed to the RNLI taking over responsibility for the Whitby lifeboats.
In 1881, a ship foundered during a heavy snowstorm in Robin Hood's Bay. The lifeboat stationed in that village was deemed to be unseaworthy and so a telegraph was sent to launch the Whitby lifeboat, the Robert Whitworth. Due to the heavy seas, this had to be taken over land through blizzards and snowdrifts. A similar situation occurred in April 1834, when the lifeboat from Whitby was carried overland to Robin Hood's bay to rescue two women in difficulty.
The sinking of the Rohilla in 1914 was attended by six lifeboats in all, but the motorised lifeboat from was the only one that could get near to the Rohilla due to the swell and the pull of the waves on the other lifeboats which were using oars. After this, most RNLI crews were persuaded about the efficacy of using motorised boats over ones with oars; previously, a lot of the crews were suspicious about the motorised lifeboats. The first motorboat delivered to Whitby was the Margaret Harker-Smith in 1919. She only had a single engine and so was fitted sails and additionally had the capacity for men to row her with oars.
Despite this, Whitby retained a rowing lifeboat until 1957, which was the last rowing boat to be officially operated by the RNLI. This boat is now on display in the RNLI museum in Whitby.
In 1966, the first Inshore Lifeboat was launched at Whitby. The ILB is useful for rescues where the all-weather lifeboat has difficulty getting to.
On 7 September 2007, the Duchess of Kent formally unveiled a new £1 million lifeboat station in Whitby. The new station was built on the site of the old motor lifeboat station, which had become life-expired but was known to the crews as the Tin Shed. Whilst the new lifeboat station was being constructed, the old No 1 lifeboat station, now the museum, was resurrected as the lifeboat house for one year from 2006 to 2007.
In 2018, two crew members from Whitby were sacked after a picture of a fellow crew member was superimposed upon a pornographic image. This doctored photo was then printed upon a mug that one of the crew members kept on the boat. Despite heavy criticism from those sacked, as well as supporting parties, the RNLI upheld the dismissals after an appeal.
Notable incidents
Between 1802 and 2009, 24 lifeboat crew members have been lost from Whitby. Their names are commemorated in the RNLI memorial at Poole in Dorset.Lifeboat disaster (1841)
On 6 October 1841, the east-side lifeboat was on her way to the rescue of two yawls foundering in Whitby Bay. The lifeboat capsized and four lifeboatmen lost their lives.Lifeboat disaster (1861)
On 9 February 1861, a severe storm struck the east coast of England which resulted in 200 ships being wrecked. The crew had already been out and responded to five ships in distress, when responding to the sixth, a huge wave capsized their vessel. The only survivor of the incident was Henry Freeman who was also the only member of the crew who was wearing a cork lifejacket at the time; the other crew members were wearing their traditional ballast filled lifebelts. The other twelve lifeboat crewmen, were drowned.''Agenoria'' (1877)
The schooner Agenoria which was transporting coal from Hartlepool to Whitby ran aground just outside Whitby harbour on 10 January 1877. The Whitby lifeboat Harriet Forteath launched to try and effect a rescue. During the swell, she capsized and all but one of her 12 crew were thrown into the water. One swam ashore, seven got back into the vessel, but three members of the RNLI crew died by drowning, with their bodies washing up on the beaches around Whitby in the following days.''The Visitor'' (1881)
The brig Visitor foundered in the bay of Robin Hood's Bay in November 1881, and after the hold was flooded with of water, the crew abandoned ship into their lifeboat. The Robin Hood's Bay RNLI lifeboat station had been closed in 1855, and the unofficial lifeboat in the village was deemed "unseaworthy" and so a telegraph was sent to launch the Whitby Lifeboat. The seas were too rough to launch from Whitby and row around the coastline, so a decision was made to haul Robert Whitworth the overland to Robin Hood's Bay through blizzards and snow drifts, some as deep as. This took two hours to achieve using the combined strength of 18 horses and 200 men. When the lifeboat and crew arrived, they launched the boat and spent 90 minutes in effecting a rescue of the people still stranded at sea. All survived and a commemorative plaque now memorialises the rescue in the village of Robin Hood's Bay.The events of The Visitor prompted the RNLI to re-open the lifeboat station at Robin Hoods Bay.
''SS Rohilla'' (1914)
Rohilla was launched in 1906 for the British India Steam Navigation Company. She was pressed into war service in 1914 as HMHS Rohilla. Whilst sailing from the Firth of Forth to Dunkerque to evacuate wounded soldiers, she ran aground on Saltwick Nab reef, which is just south of Whitby Harbour. Despite being only a short distance from the shore, high seas and gale force winds prevented a successful rescue from the beach, although the Whitby RNLI contingent did try one by hauling their boat over an wall, then lowering it down the cliff before launching from the beach opposite the wreck.In all, six lifeboats were launched to try and rescue the 229 people on board over the course of three days. During the grounding of the vessel, she broke her back and several attempts were made to safely remove those onboard. In all, 83 people died in the sinking. Of the six lifeboats launched, only two were motorboats, and because of the perilous waves, only the motorboats could get close enough to rescue survivors. This prompted lifeboat crews to demand motorised rescue vessels and spelt the end for the traditional rowing boat.