Tower Lifeboat Station Tour

At the end of November 2024 we visited Tower Lifeboat Station on the River Thames and recorded our 100^th visit of the challenge. At that time it was not possible to access the afloat station due to gangway construction work. Instead we took our evidence photo from the above the station on Waterloo Bridge.

During a conversation with former Tower crew member Stephen Wheatley at a chance meeting at Brighton Lifeboat Station, an end-of-challenge tour of the Tower Lifeboat Station started to take shape. The station was opened to visitors with prior arrangement early in 2026 and following retirement as operational crew, Stephen took on the role of Boathouse Manager and organiser of visits.

The plan was to visit the station the weekend after our final visit at Poole Lifeboat Station and the RNLI College and to present a cheque for the amount we had raised over the two years. So on a wet Saturday morning we headed by train into Blackfriars Station and took the short walk along the Victoria Embankment to the station. Stephen met us at the top of the gangway and welcomed us to the station with some fascinating history of this area of the River and of the original station.

You can read more about this station's history in our 100^th Visit Blog

We entered the visitors area of the station which contained some history boards, a small pop up shop and a presentation area with a panoramic view of the Thames and Waterloo Bridge. Here, Stephen gave us an incredibly insightful and detailed presentation and discussion about the history and operation of the station. Following this we were shown around the crew kit room. Whilst the Tower Lifeboats are classed as Inshore Lifeboats, the crew use the same PPE as All-Weather boat crew. They do also have drysuits which they take with them on taskings incase the nominated crew member needs to enter the water.

We were then fortunate to be able to watch the crew launch their E-Class lifeboat on exercise. Before doing so, Commander Sam talked us through the features of the unique E-Class boat and what they carry on board. We watched them launch from the back of the station and head of up river under Waterloo Bridge from the front of the station.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/7e1f10_86dfb0bf70d24f088e6f8688cb05c8fc/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Launch of E-10 Hearn Medicine Chest

Stephen then showed us the casualty care room which was very much like an emergency room at a hospital. He described the processes for handling casualties and they types of aid they are able to provide in this room.

The station is manned 24/7 365 days a year with a duty crew consisting of fulltime commanders (helms) and some 60 volunteer crew. They operate on 12 hour shifts from 6:30 to 6:30. We were shown the crew bedrooms which looked very comfortable. There was also additional accommodation for crew that are off shift but stay on station. Several crew members live outside of London and so when on shift they stay for a few days.

They crew room contains a superb kitchen and lounge area for relaxing between shouts and a superb training and meeting room. As the crew are not on pagers they are tasked by HM Coastguard via a telephone (affectionately known as the “bat phone”) or the VHF radio located in the crew room. The crew aim to launch within 90 seconds.

Their service board is iconic. Tower is the busiest lifeboat station in the RNLI, responding to 758 taskings in 2024 and 467 taskings in 2025. At the time of our visit the board showed 165 taskings.

By the time the crew had returned from exercise we had completed our tour of this impressive facility. All that was left was the formality of some photos and the handover of a cheque for £5000.

What an incredible way to celebrate the end of our challenge with a personal tour of one of the most iconic RNLI Lifeboat Stations in the Country. We are so grateful to Stephen and the on duty crew for their time. Saying our farewells we headed to a pub for lunch before the return train home.