Ramsgate Lifeboat Station
Ramsgate Lifeboat Station is an RNLI station located in the Port of Ramsgate in the English county of Kent. The station is one of the oldest to operate in the British Isles and has launched to many notable services. Over the years its crews have won over 50 awards for gallantry the most recent being in 2000.
History
A lifeboat station was first established at Ramsgate Harbour in 1802 by the trustees of the harbour, pre dating the formation of any national lifeboat organisation by more than 20 years. After a lapse in service between 1824 and 1851 a station was re-established by the trustees.In 1865, the lifeboat was taken over by the Board of Trade and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, and was taken over completely by the RNLI, who run the service to this day. The current lifeboat station, on the harbour wall between the inner and outer pools of the main harbour opened in 1998 and services both an onshore lifeboat, the
Dunkirk evacuation
During the evacuation of Troops from Dunkirk in 1940, Lifeboat Prudential, of Ramsgate was the first little ship to the rescue. The Lifeboat left Ramsgate at 2.20 in the afternoon with Coxswain Howard Primrose Knight in command with her own crew of eight men. They had been issued with gas masks, steel helmets and the lifeboat was loaded with four coils of grass warp and cans of fresh water for the troops. She took in tow eight boats, most of them wherries, manned by eighteen naval men, and when she reached Dunkirk her part was to tow the wherries between the beaches and the waiting ships. In total she rescued 2800 troops from the beaches.Fleet
All Weather Boats
| Dates in service | Class | ON | Op. No. | Name | Comments |
| 1851–1865 | Self-Righter | Northumberland | |||
| 1866–1877 | Self-Righter | Bradford | |||
| 1887–1893 | Self-Righter | ON 117 | Bradford | ||
| 1893–1905 | 42ft Self-Righter | ON 350 | Bradford | ||
| 1905–1926 | 43ft Self-Righter | ON 537 | Charles and Susanna Stephens | ||
| 1926–1953 | ON 697 | Prudential | First motor lifeboat at station | ||
| 1953–1976 | ON 901 | Michael and Lily Davis | |||
| 1976–1990 | ON 1042 | 44-016 | Ralph and Joy Swann | ||
| 1990–1994 | ON 1154 | 47-036 | Kenneth Thelwall II | ||
| 1994–present | ON 1197 | 14-02 | Esme Anderson |
All Weather Boat Gallery
Inshore Lifeboats
| Dates in service | Class | Op. No. | Name |
| 1969–1972 | A-500 ' | ||
| 1972–1975 | A-502 ' | ||
| 1975–1984 | A-510 | ||
| 1984–2000 | B-558 | Ramsgate Enterprise | |
| 2000–2014 | B-765 | Bob Turnbull | |
| 2014 – present | B-878 | Claire & David Delves |