Calshot Lifeboat Station
| Inshore Lifeboats | |
|---|---|
| Launch Method | Carriage |
| Address | Calshot Activity Centre, Calshot, Hampshire, SO45 1BR |
| Telephone | 02380 893509 |
Explore two centuries of RNLI lifeboat history, heroic rescues, and the enduring tradition of saving lives at sea.
On Calshot Spit, where Southampton Water opens into the Solent, Calshot covers the approaches to one of Europe’s busiest commercial ports as well as a crowded recreational coast. Established in 1970, the station once ran a large offshore lifeboat and now operates a fast Atlantic 85 and a D-class from beside the historic Calshot Castle, threading its work among the tankers, container ships and cruise liners bound for Southampton.
Calshot Spit reaches out into the Solent at the mouth of Southampton Water, beneath the Tudor walls of Calshot Castle. It is a strategic spot: every ship bound for Southampton — container vessels, tankers, cruise liners and ferries — passes close by, sharing the water with thousands of yachts and small craft, and the tides and shoals around the spit can quickly catch people out.
The RNLI established a station at Calshot in 1970. For many years it operated a large Arun-class all-weather lifeboat lying afloat, giving offshore cover in the eastern Solent and the Channel approaches; the Arun was withdrawn in 2007 as the pattern of cover around the Solent was reorganised.
Today Calshot is a fast inshore station, running an Atlantic 85 and a D-class from a boathouse by the activity centre. Much of its work is with leisure sailors, divers, paddleboarders and windsurfers, for whom the spit is a popular and exposed launching point. The station works in constant company with the commercial traffic of Southampton Water, and its crews must judge every move around ships that may be a quarter of a mile long and unable to stop or turn aside; the same channels carry a dense summer fleet of yachts, motorboats and windsurfers, so that a quiet stretch can become crowded and dangerous in minutes.
