Isle of Man - Day 1

After an aborted attempt to reach the Isle of Man in October last year, thanks to Storm Amy, we finally arrived on an evening flight from Gatwick to the Irish Sea Island on the 20^th February and settled into our comfortable accommodation in Port St Mary.

Our plan for the weekend was to visit the five RNLI Lifeboat Stations on the Island and experience some of the history of the founding of the Institution.

Port St Mary Lifeboat Station

Our first visit of the weekend was to Port St Mary Lifeboat Station just a few moments away from our accommodation. We arrived a little early and took advantage of the clear skies and dry weather to walk along the waterfront to view the war memorials.

At the station we were met by Lifeboat Operations Manager, Mike who welcomed us to the station. We were shown the D-Class and Boarding Boat and their unique small tractor unit housed in their boathouse. Walking down the slipway we could see the Trent Class lifeboat moored against the Alfred Pier. We took some photographs of the boats before Mike showed us up to the crew room where we were welcomed by several crew members.

Port St. Mary lifeboat station is the youngest of the five on the island, established in 1896. The first lifeboat to be housed at the station was a 35 foot 10 oared, self-righting boat call James Stevens No.1. The station's first motor lifeboat arrived in April 1936 but in 1948 a larger lifeboat was sent to the station. In 1966 Port St. Mary received their first inshore lifeboat and was kept in the boat house, built in 1896. The station now has a D Class lifeboat, Frank Martin ( D-873) which arrived on station in 2023. They also have a Trent Class, Gough Ritchi II (14-15) which joined the station in 1999. To reach the Trent class when it is moored in the harbour the small boarding boat BB747 is used.

In the crew room we had a fabulous discussion with many of the crew and were shown some of the artifacts collected over the years. We then had some photos taken at the front of the station. A huge thank you to LOM Mike, Coxswain and Mechanic Morgan and Gareth, Helm and Coxswain Richard, Crew Brian, Dan, Laura and Lorna, Fundraising Chair Ruth, Launch Authority Tracey and Deputy Lifeboat Press Officer Gav – and not forgetting a special appearance from Spiderman!

We would also like to pass on a massive thank you to Dean and Tracy for an incredibly generous donation which broke our £3000 fundraising milestone. The notification as we headed towards our next visit was such a lovely surprise.

After saying our goodbyes we headed on the short drive across the south of the island to our next visit.

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Port Erin Lifeboat Station

Just to the west of the town of Port Erin lies the 1925 boathouse and slipway of Port Erin Lifeboat Station. Here we visited the shop where we were warmly welcomed before viewing the Atlantic 85 lifeboat in the boathouse viewing area next door.

The Port Erin Lifeboat was established in 1883 to cover the south western tip of the island. Similar to Port St. Mary, their first lifeboat was a 10 oared self-righting boat called Anne and Mary of Manchester. The current boathouse was built on 1925 to house the first of 4 motor lifeboats until 1992 when the station was temporarily closed to allow for modifications.

Further improvements were made in 2006 to welcome their Atlantic 85 lifeboat, Muriel and Leslie (B-813). The B-Class lifeboat is launched from a cradle and winch mechanism down the slipway. Their new B-Class arrived on station in 2025 and is called Neil Crowe (B-951).

We took some photos and purchased some pin badges before heading off in the rain to our final visit of the day.

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Peel Lifeboat Station

Heading north along the west coast of the island we arrived in the beautiful town of Peel. We had time for a bite of lunch and a stroll along the waterfront before heading to the station in the shadow of Peel Castle on a small island connected by a causeway.

We were met by Launch Authority Neil who welcomed us up to the crew room. Tea, biscuits and cake were served as we chatted with numerous crew who had taken time out of their day to come and welcome us. We learnt a lot about the station and the coastline from everyone and it was fascinating to hear their stories.

The lifeboat station was established in 1828 under the name of the Royal National Institute for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNIPLS), the forerunner to the RNLI founded by Sir Willian Hillary. It was Sir William that requested a lifeboat be stationed at both Peel and Ramsey. The station closed in 1843 but was re-established by the RNLI in 1883. A new boathouse was built next to the castle and housed a 37 foot, 12 oared boat. This site has been used ever since. In 1913 a new slipway was built followed by a new boathouse in 1992 to accommodate a Mersey Class All-Weather Lifeboat called Ruby Clery .  

We were shown around the station by LOM Allen and the rest of the crew before having some photos taken with their Shannon Class lifeboat, Frank and Brenda Winter (13-35). The Shannon replaced the Mersey Class in March 2020 following some renovations to the boathouse to accommodate her. This was a challenging time for the station and crew as the Covid Pandemic and various lockdowns delayed the renovations and crew training subsequently leading to a delay getting the boat operational

A huge thank you to LOM Allen, LA Paul who helped with the visit arrangements, to LPO Carol for her photos and social media coverage and to each and every member of the crew that took time out of their Saturday afternoon to come and see us.

We had a little time after our visit to do a little bit of sightseeing but unfortunately the weather was pretty foul and so we headed back to the B&B to relax and record our updates. After a fantastic Italian meal at a restaurant two doors away we retired for the night and prepared for our final day on the island.