Bridlington Lifeboat Station

Established1805

RNLI From1866

Gallantry Medals16

StatusActive 24/7

All-Weather Lifeboat	Shannon Class 13-22 Antony Patrick Jones (ON 1338)
Inshore Lifeboat	D Class Ernie Wellings (D-852)
Launch Method	Carriage
Address	The Spa Promenade, Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, YO15 3JH
Telephone	01262 606332

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Instituted in 1805, Bridlington is the oldest working RNLI lifeboat location in the Yorkshire and Humber region. From a striking Art-Deco-style station opened on the Spa Promenade in 2017, it operates a Shannon-class all-weather lifeboat and a D-class inshore lifeboat, and holds 16 gallantry medals.

A lifeboat was first provided at Bridlington (then Bridlington Quay) in 1805, with a boat supplied by Greathead; management later passed to the RNLI in 1852. It is the oldest working RNLI location in Yorkshire and the Humber.

The present Spa Promenade station opened in 2017, a £3m building close to the sea for faster launching.

10 October

A youth at the harbour mouth

Thomas Frankish, ‘a youth’, was awarded the Silver Medal and £2 for his daring rescue of a man washed out of a coble at the mouth of Bridlington Harbour — lowered over the pier into a boiling surf that threatened to dash him against the pier wall.

10 February 1871

The Great Gale

A sudden hurricane trapped a fleet of sailing ships in Bridlington Bay; some 70 lives were lost and around 30 ships wrecked. The privately owned lifeboat Harbinger capsized with the loss of six of her nine crew. The disaster is still marked by an annual memorial service.

11 July 2000

The yacht Lobo

In atrocious weather, the crew of five and the yacht Lobo were brought to safety; Coxswain Fred Walkington received a Bronze Medal Second-Service Clasp and Assistant Mechanic Andrew Brompton the Bronze Medal — Bridlington’s most recent gallantry awards.

Bridlington holds 16 RNLI medals for gallantry — eleven Silver and five Bronze, the last voted in 2000. The table lists documented recipients.

Recipient	Award	Year	Service
John Usher	Silver Medal	—	Schooner Fox of Montrose
Coxswain Fred Walkington	Bronze Medal (clasp)	2000	Yacht Lobo, severe weather
Assistant Mechanic Andrew Brompton	Bronze Medal	2000	Yacht Lobo, severe weather

* Summary data includes only verifiable awards and distinctions

The RNLI publishes an up-to-date record of this station's recent service launches on its official website, including dates, lifeboats involved and a summary of each call-out. View the latest launches directly on RNLI.org:

View recent launches on RNLI.org

Opens the official RNLI station page in a new tab.

A youth at the harbour mouth

The Great Gale

The yacht Lobo

RNLI Lifeboat Models

Lifeboat Collectables

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