The Exmouth Lifeboat Station is currently based on two sites - part of the reason we need a new boathouse.  The D class inshore lifeboat "Spirit of the Exe" is housed in the 1903-built boathouse on Queen's Drive, the main seafront road in Exmouth. The boathouse also doubles as a very popular shop, selling a range of lifeboat gifts and souvenirs.

The Trent class all weather boat (ALB) is kept on a swinging mooring near the Exmouth dock entrance.  The ALB office and crew accommodation are housed in two cramped portacabins on the car park near the dock entrance.

• Crew
• Boats
• Launches
• History
• Contact

ILB boathouse and shop

The Crew

The Exmouth crew is 25 strong including 1 woman. All are volunteers and are from very different backgrounds. Some work for other emergency services while others are school teachers, boat builders, sales executives and IT technicians. The minimum age to join a lifeboat crew is 17 (with parental consent) with an upper age of 45 for inshore lifeboats (ILB) and 55 for all weather lifeboats (ALB). 

The reputation and efficiency of any lifeboat station is only as good as its crew. This means that training is a very large part of station life, but this places considerable demands on the crew's time over and above being called out for 'Service Launches'. Training is formalised in 'Competence Based Training' (CoBT) which ensures volunteer crews have differing tasks to learn and perform commensurate with their position within the crew structure i.e. navigators, coxswains, first aiders and mechanics. Once they have been taught or have learnt a 'task' they are assessed as being 'competent' by demonstrating this to an RNLI assessor. Many of the tasks have to be re-validated every three years. 

All lifeboat stations that have ALBs have either a full time Mechanic or Coxswain, or both. At Exmouth the post is combined to a Coxswain /Mechanic. His responsibilities are to ensure the boat is always maintained and ready to go to sea in any weather conditions, with a trained crew to provide the best possible response to a person or vessel in distress 24 hours a day, 356 days a year. 

A typical day involves maintenance on the lifeboat, ordering spare parts, updating maintenance records, monitoring the crew's progress through CoBT and arranging candidates from the station for specialist courses that are run at The Lifeboat College at the Poole Headquarters. Some of these residential courses (if passed successfully) culminate in certification that is recognised outside the RNLI and can often assist in maritime employment. 

The volunteers meet once a month at a formal 'crew meeting' where the past month's operations are discussed and potential new members are introduced to the team. At close of business light refreshment is often taken in a nearby pub!

The Boats

The Trent Class ALB "Forward Birmingham"

Designed to lie afloat, the Trent Class entered service in 1994. It is constructed of fibre reinforced composite, and features twin bilge keels offering good protection to the propellers and rudders

The funds for "Forward Birmingham" were raised by the people of the City of Birmingham through an appeal chaired by Vic Cocker, CEO of Seven Trent plc.

Trent in rescue exercise with helicopter, Dawlish 2005

Trent class bridge

Trents have a comprehensive electronics fit including full MF and VHF DSC radio equipment, DGPS Navigator and electronic chart system, VHF/DF, Radar and weather sensors. 

Length OA 14.00m (45’ 11")

Length BP 12.75m (41’10")

Breadth MLD 4.64m (15’2 ^3/4")

Depth MLD 1.97m (6’5 ^9/16")

Draught 1.295 m (4’04")

Speed 25 knots

Range 250 nm.

SHP 862 @ 2300RPM

Engine Type Twin MAN D2840 LE 401 Diesels

Trent engine

D Class "George Bearman"

The D Class ILB "George Bearman"

For more than 40 years the D class lifeboat has served as the workhorse of the RNLI Inshore Lifeboat (ILB) fleet. Significantly smaller in comparison to the rest of the inshore fleet, the D-class is also the only vessel not to feature a rigid hull. The main aspect of the boat would be both its size and weight. The D-class has been specifically designed as a light and highly manoeuvrable rapid response craft - a title which it gracefully exceeds. 

The current ILB, D669, entered service at Exmouth on 30 September 2006

Recent Launches

Here is a brief summary of the "Service launches" undertaken by the Exmouth lifeboats recently.  These terse summaries can't really do justice to the work done by the lifeboat crew.  Click here to read a more detailed example of a typical rescue. (pdf format - you can get the Adobe Acrobat pdf reader here)

Click here to see a summary of services 2000-2005

History

This is a very brief history of the Exmouth Lifeboat station.  Over the next few weeks and months we will be delving into the archives to tell a bit more about the story of the Exmouth lifeboats and their crews over the years. 

Exmouth lifeboat station was first established in 1803 with its first lifeboat being built by Greathead.  Apparently the station ceased to exist for some years until it was re-established by the Institution in 1858.

Six RNLI medals for gallantry have been awarded, five Silver and one Bronze the last being voted in 1954.

1966. A D class inflatable lifeboat was sent to the station in May 1966.

1985. The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum accorded to Crew Member Geoffrey Ingram in recognition of his meritorious action on 7 April 1985 when he entered the sea from the lifeboat Caroline Finch to give support to two girls who were in considerable difficulty after a speedboat sank one and a half miles east by south of Exmouth.

Sept 1996. Dedication & naming of the new self-righting £1.3 million Lifeboat "Forward Birmingham" by the President of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution HRH the Duke of Kent.  Special thanks to Vic Cocker, chief executive of the Seven Trent plc water co. and chairman of the Forward Birmingham lifeboat campaign and most of all to the people of Birmingham, who paid over £600,000 and also helped pay for the previous boat.

1997. D Class inshore lifeboat Spirit of the Exe funded by the clubs of the River Exe.

Contact

For more information contact:

Tim Mock ,  Coxswain  01395 263579 

Kevin Riley, Lifeboat Operations Manager and 

Brian Cole, Station Speaker 01395 274328

Post:

RNLI Exmouth Lifeboat Boathouse Appeal

RNLI Exmouth

C/O The Store

The Docks

EXMOUTH

Devon EX8 1EB 

email:  cox@exmouth-lifeboat.org.uk 

Queries and suggestions about the website should be sent to webmaster@exmouth-lifeboat.org.uk  

Exmouth relief ALB at speed June 2006