Tower Lifeboat Station
| Inshore Lifeboat | |
|---|---|
| Launch Method | Afloat |
| Address | Lifeboat Pier, Victoria Embankment, Westminster, London, WC2R 2PP |
| Telephone | 0207 240 3978 |
Explore two centuries of RNLI lifeboat history, heroic rescues, and the enduring tradition of saving lives at sea.
In the heart of the capital, beside Waterloo Bridge, Tower is the busiest lifeboat station in the RNLI — the first to pass 10,000 launches. Established in 2002 after the Marchioness disaster, it is crewed around the clock and runs the fastest boats in the fleet, the 40-knot E-class, on the fast tidal Thames.
In the early hours of 20 August 1989, fifty-one people died when the pleasure boat Marchioness sank after a collision with the dredger Bowbelle. The Thames Safety Inquiry that followed recommended a dedicated rescue service on the river, and in 2002 the RNLI — asked by the Government to cover a river for the first time — opened four stations at Tower, Chiswick, Teddington and Gravesend.
Tower opened at Tower Pier on 2 January 2002, moving in 2006 to the former Waterloo Police Pier at Victoria Embankment; a new floating station opened there in 2023.
