Porthcawl Lifeboat Station

Porthcawl Lifeboat Station
Porthcawl Lifeboat Station
Gorsaf Bad Achub Porthcawl
	Porthcawl Lifeboat Station
	Location within Bridgend
General information
Type	RNLI Lifeboat Station
Location	The Esplanade, Porthcawl, Bridgend, Wales, CF36 3YR, United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°28′26″N 3°42′06″W / 51.47389°N 3.70167°W
Opened	1860–1902; 1965–present;
Owner	Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Website
	Porthcawl RNLI Lifeboat Station

Porthcawl Lifeboat Station (Welsh: Gorsaf Bad Achub Porthcawl) is located at The Esplanade, in the town of Porthcawl, on the South Wales coast, in Bridgend, Wales.

A lifeboat station was established at Porthcawl in 1860, by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), but closed in 1902, when Porthcawl Dock closed. The station was reopened in 1965 as an Inshore Lifeboat Station.^[1]

The station currently operates a B-class (Atlantic 85) Inshore lifeboat, Rose of the Shires (B-832), on station since 2009, and the smaller D-class (IB1) lifeboat, Hugo Missen (D-861), on station since 2022.^[2]

History

Ever since its founding in 1824, the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNIPLS), later to become the RNLI in 1854, would award medals for deeds of gallantry at sea, even if no lifeboats were involved. In just a four-year period between 1856 and 1860, no fewer than nine RNLI Silver Medals were awarded for rescues in the Porthcawl area.^[3]

At a meeting of the RNLI committee of management on Thursday 6 October 1859, following a visit and recommendation by the RNLI District Inspector, and in receipt of a letter from Capt. Crewe Read and Rev. E. P. Nicholl, highlighting the need for a lifeboat on the Glamorganshire coast, it was decided that a station be established at Porthcawl.^[4]

The station opened in April 1860, when the 30-foot self-righting 'pulling and sailing' (P&S) lifeboat, one with (6) oars and sails, The Good Deliverance, was placed here. A boathouse costing £120 was constructed on the promenade, at the entrance to Knights Arms Square.^[5]

On 5 December 1869, the Porthcawl lifeboat rescued 11 crew, the Master's wife, and the Pilot, from the schooner Loretta of Bilbao.^[6]^[7]

After 12 years service, the 6-oared lifeboat was replaced in 1872. The lifeboat had been launched 17 times, saving 26 lives.^[8]

A larger 32-foot 10-oared lifeboat, costing £248, along with a new launch carriage, at a further cost of £100, was provided to the station. The expenses were covered by the donation of £680 from Miss J. E. Chafyn Grove of Wiltshire, in memory of her brother, a benefactor of the Institution. The lifeboat arrived in March 1872, and after a procession to Newton Sands, avoiding heavy snowstorms on the day, the lifeboat was named Chafyn Grove by the donor.^[9]^[10]^[11]

The existing boathouse was enlarged, and a harness room was also included, to store equipment, for the six horses needed to launch and recover the lifeboat. The Chafyn Grove would serve until 1887, launching eight times, and saving the lives of 28 people.^[8]

In 1887 the station received another new lifeboat, Speedwell (ON 127). The lifeboat was funded by an anonymous gift of £700 from a 'Lady'. The lifeboat was used very little in the following 15 years, with only nine launches, and two lives saved.^[8]^[12]

Porthcawl Lifeboat Station was closed in 1902, due to the cessation of commercial traffic to the Docks. Since the majority of the lifeboat launches were for commercial traffic, it was deemed unnecessary to have a lifeboat station, and the boathouse was sold. The lifeboat on station at the time of closure, Speedwell (ON 127), was transferred to West Hartlepool, but served just one year, before being broken up in 1904.^[13]

In 1965, the RNLI re-established a station at Porthcawl, and placed a D-class (RFD PB16) Inshore lifeboat on service. This lifeboat was one of the first D-class lifeboats, designed to give a rapid response to recreational water users around the coast. Due to the RNLI selling the old boathouse, the new lifeboat was housed in a lean-to, next to Jennings building, and the crew were recruited using adverts in the local press.^[14]

On 30 December 1994, the station was alerted to a windsurfer in difficulty, caught in a riptide. Even thought the conditions were well beyond the operational limits of the D-class (EA16), Tiger D (D-390) was launched with experience helm Stuart Roberts, along with Carl Evans and Wayne Evans. When the surfer was finally pulled aboard, he was still attached to his board by an elastic cord, which shot into the lifeboat, hitting Roberts on his 'bump cap', which was dented. Helm Stuart Ian Roberts was awarded the RNLI Silver Medal.^[3]

In 1996, it was decided that Porthcawl needed a larger lifeboat and a new, purpose built boathouse was constructed to house a brand new B-class (Atlantic 75) lifeboat, along with a new Talus MB-4H Hydrostatic launch tractor and Talus Atlantic Drive Off / Drive On launch carriage.^[1]^[15]

In 2022, D-class (IB1) lifeboat (D-861) Hugo Missen replaced relief lifeboat (D-776) Super G II, based at Porthcawl since 2020. The lifeboat was named in memory of Hugo Joseph Missen, son of Helm Joseph Missen and his fiancé Jessica Entwistle, who died of cancer in December 2016 aged 15 months. Hugo was also the grandson of Porthcawl RNLI’s Lifeboat Operations Manager, Philip Missen MBE. ^[16]

Station honours

The following are awards made at Porthcawl:^[1]^[3]

RNLI Silver Medal
Capt. Charles Taw, of the schooner Devonport – 1856

John Jones, Pilot – 1857

James Pearse, Pilot – 1857

Thomas Pearse, Pilot – 1857

George Clark, Pilot – 1857

James Collopy, Boatman, H.M. Coastguard, Porthcawl – 1858

Daniel Shea, Chief Officer, H.M. Coastguard, Porthcawl – 1858

Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot, MP - 1860

John Williams, Farmer - 1860

Daniel P. Davies, Pilot's Apprentice – 1914

Stuart Roberts, Helm – 1995

RNLI Bronze Medal
William H. B. Cotton – 1929

Nick Beale, Helm – 2002^[17]

Aileen Jones, Helm – 2004^[18]

(Aileen was the first female lifeboat crew member to be awarded an RNLI medal.)

The Maud Smith Award 1994
(for the bravest act of lifesaving during the year by a member of a lifeboat crew)
Stuart Roberts, Helm – 1995

Lady Swaythling Trophy
presented by The Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Royal Benevolent Society, for outstanding seamanship
Nick Beale, Helm – 2002

Emile Robins Award
presented by The Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Royal Benevolent Society
Aileen Jones, Helm – 2004 (first female recipient of the award)

The Walter and Elizabeth Groombridge Award
for the outstanding inshore lifeboat rescue of the year
Nick Beale, Helm – 2002

The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum
Carl Evans, crew member – 1995

Wayne Evans, crew member – 1995

Timothy Morgan, Helm – 2002

Riccardo Rava, crew member – 2002

Stephen Knipe, crew member – 2002

Simon Emms, crew member – 2004

A Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution
L. S. Knipe – 1968

J. Lock – 1968

R. A. Comley – 1968

John Williams, Honorary Secretary – 1995

Philip Missen, Helm – 1997

Steve Jones, crew member – 1997

Philip Missen, Helm – 1998

Ross Martin, crew member – 1998

Riccardo Rava, crew member – 2002

Carl Evans, crew member – 2002

Stephen Jones, Helm – 2002

Christopher Missen, Helm – 2020

Commendation by the Lifesaving Operations Director of the Institution
Christopher Kitney, crew member – 2020

Angharad Masson, crew member – 2020

Ryan Lecraw, crew member – 2020

Member, Order of the British Empire (MBE)
Philip Leonard Missen, Inshore Lifeboat Crew – 1998QBH^[19]

Christine Aileen Jones – 2016QBH^[20]

British Empire Medal
Ian Stroud, Chair, Porthcawl Lifeboat Management Group – 2026KBH^[21]