East Coast at Easter

Travelling during the longest bank holiday period of the year seems like a daft thing to do but it does give us 4 days that do not require annual leave from work.

We left home on Thursday at midday with a plan of arriving for an over-night stop just outside Newcastle upon Tyne at around 6pm. Ordinarily that would be ample even with a lunch and toilet stop along the way. Unfortunately, we got off to a bad start as it took us 3 hours to do 32 miles due to one of the Dartford Crossing tunnels being blocked. It was so tempting to turn around and abandon the trip. That delay kind of set the tone for the rest of the journey but we finally arrived at our friends house in Newcastle, 8 hours later.

Good Friday had 4 station visits scheduled as we worked our way from Cullercoats to Hartlepool.

Cullercoats Lifeboat Station

Our first stop was the beautiful Whitley Bay / Tynemouth area east of Newcastle and Gateshead. Here, sat the striking Cullercoats Lifeboat Station. When we arrived at 9:30am, the area outside the station was busy with cold water swimmers preparing themselves for some exhilaration.

Unfortunately, we had not managed to make contact with the team at Cullercoats and the station & shop were closed. The boathouse was built in 1896 and further extended in 2007 to accommodate larger boats and provide improved crew facilities. It is a stunning building with unusual features including a Turret. Assigned to the station is an Atlantic 85 called Daddy’s Girl (B-935) which arrived on service in December 2022.

We took our evidence photo and headed to our next stop just 2.5 miles away.

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Fiddler's Green

Tynemouth Lifeboat Station

Parking in a nearby carpark we took a slow amble to the station as we were a little earlier than our scheduled arrival time. We stopped by a remarkable statue called Fiddlers Green, erected to the memory of those Fishermen who have lost their lives at sea.

Arriving at the station gates we were greeted by several crew members who invited us up to the crew room for a cup of tea and biscuits. Here we met more crew who had generously given up their time to come and meet us.

Helm James and others gave us a fantastic tour of the crew room describing the key moments in the stations history and the incredible archive photos, certificates and paintings.

Tynemouth is famed for having the countrys first purpose built lifeboat, referred to as the "Original". It was kept in a nearby boathouse from 1789 until 1830.

On 10th April 1941, the old station and the lifeboat were destroyed by a German bombing raid. That same year saw one of the stations most dramatic rescues which earned Gallantry Medals for several crew. Gold Medals were awarded to Captain H E Burton and Coxswain Robert Smith, and Silver Medals to Second Coxswain James Brownlee and Lt Basil Hall, Lifeboat Inspector, for rescuing the last 50 survivors from the hospital ship Rohilla that, at 4am in a terrific east-south-easterly gale, ran on to a dangerous reef at Saltwick Nab on 31st October.  The lifeboat battled 45 miles down an unlit coast against the gale and took nine hours to reach the wreck near Whitby. The station also holds the record for the longest distance rescue in RNLI history, traveling 110 nautical miles (204 km) to rescue a fishing boat in distress. This involved a round trip of 220 nautical miles. The lifeboat was able to reach the distressed vessel, tow it back, and save six people. The range of the Severn class lifeboat is approximately 250 nautical miles.

The current station was completed in 1997 and houses their crew room and changing facilities. Their D-Class, Little Susie (D-829) is housed in a boatshed on the pier. Their Severn Class, Osier (17-34) is berthed alongside the pier. Due to the exposed location and the tidal surges, the Severn is moored away from a pontoon to prevent any damage caused by the boat rocking in the currents. To get to the Severn, the crew have an ex D-Class Boarding Boat (BB-719) which is lowered by Davit. One of the shortest boarding boat journeys in the fleet.

Whilst visiting the impressive crew changing facilities, James gave us a very detailed insight into the kit that is worn for both inshore and all-weather lifeboats. This led to him offering Helen the chance to try the ILB drysuits. James estimated that experienced crew would be able to put on this suit in about 60 to 90 seconds. Work in progress for Helen who took roughly 5 times that amount to put it on and then a good struggle to get it off again. It certainly gave us an idea of what the crew are required to achieve when their pagers go off.

Following a photo with the crew they said their goodbyes and left us with James who showed us the D-Class and allowed Helen to sit in the boat as we chatted.

An absolutely fascinating visit and we are so grateful to James and the rest of the crew, Alistair, Poppy, Dave, Andy and Gordon, for taking time out of their Good Friday to make us so welcome.

After taking our evidence photo we headed back to the car and onto our next station.

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Sunderland Lifeboat Station

Sunderland Lifeboat Station is one of the oldest in the country and has a long complicated history. The station was opened in 1800 and was taken over by the RNLI in 1871.

Sunderland have two boat houses. The first, incorporating the shop, is located on the promenade and houses their D-Class Thee Andy Cantle (D-879). The other is located in the marina and houses their Atlantic 85, Seagil (B-945). This is launched into the marina via a davit.

Unfortunately, the station and shop were closed and we were unable to meet any of the crew. So we took our evidence photo and popped into a lovely café, The Snow Goose, for a bite to eat.

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Hartlepool Lifeboat Station

Our final visit of the day was a few miles down the coast in Hartlepool. We knew this one would be tricky to visit as it is now located within the secure port area and requires specific permission and induction to enter. We got as close as we could on public land and even had a chat with a Police Officer who gave us some ideas on how we could obtain a photo.

I called the station on the off chance that a crew member would be in and may be able to assist us, but the phone rang out. So we used a bit of initiative and walked along the beach and over the dunes to get as close to the station and the boat as we could before encountering fencing.

It was good enough to get a photo of the bears with the station in the background and a photo of their Shannon Class, 13-54 John Sharp. This is one of the newest Shannon’s in the RNLI Fleet and arrived on station on 1st December 2024.

We headed back along the beach to the car and on the way admired the impressive structures that were newly constructed to preserve and research the breeding grounds of Kittiwake gulls.

Heading on to our hotel in Redcar we look forward to visiting three stations and two museums on the North Yorkshire coast on day 2 of our Easter trip.