Aran Islands Lifeboat Station
| All-Weather Lifeboat | |
|---|---|
| Launch Method | Afloat |
| Address | Kilronan, Inishmore, Aran Islands, County Galway, Ireland |
| Telephone | 099 61166 |
Explore two centuries of RNLI lifeboat history, heroic rescues, and the enduring tradition of saving lives at sea.
Aran Islands Lifeboat Station is based at Kilronan, the main village of Inishmore, the largest of the three Aran Islands at the mouth of Galway Bay on the west coast of Ireland. Established in 1927 as the Galway Bay Lifeboat Station, this remote island station covers some of the most exposed Atlantic waters in the RNLI’s domain. It operates a Severn-class all-weather lifeboat, the largest in the fleet, kept afloat in Kilronan harbour.
Between 1830 and 1851, three Silver Medals were awarded for gallant rescues near the Aran Islands, long before a lifeboat was based there. Following an appeal to the RNLI from the Irish Department of Industry and Commerce, it was decided in 1926 to establish a lifeboat station at Kilronan on Inishmore, at the entrance to Galway Bay, and the Galway Bay Lifeboat Station opened in 1927. For decades the island’s pulling, sailing and then motor lifeboats served this rugged, ironbound coast, where the only crew available lived on the islands.
The station was later renamed Aran Islands. In 1997 it received the Severn-class lifeboat 17-06 David Kirkaldy, which lies afloat at a mooring in Kilronan harbour, the boarding-boat operation and crew facilities improved through a series of projects. Crewed by islanders, many of them fishermen, the station covers the wide mouth of Galway Bay and the Atlantic approaches around all three Aran Islands — Inishmore, Inishmaan and Inisheer — often launching to fishing vessels far offshore and assisting with medical evacuations from the islands, a vital service for these remote communities.
