Donaghadee Lifeboat Station
| All-Weather Lifeboat | |
|---|---|
| Launch Method | Afloat |
| Address | The Parade, Donaghadee, County Down BT21 0DG |
| Telephone | 028 9188 8556 |
Explore two centuries of RNLI lifeboat history, heroic rescues, and the enduring tradition of saving lives at sea.
Donaghadee Lifeboat Station, founded in 1910 on the south-eastern approaches to Belfast Lough, is one of the most important stations on the Irish coast. It guards the narrow North Channel between County Down and Scotland, crossed daily by ferries and shipping. The station is forever associated with the loss of the car ferry Princess Victoria in 1953, when its crew rescued survivors in one of the great services in RNLI history. It operates a Trent-class all-weather lifeboat.
In 1907 the RNLI received the bequest of Mrs A. W. Clarke Hall, who asked that a lifeboat be provided for the north coast of Ireland; it was decided to place it at Donaghadee, established in August 1910.
At a time when most stations still used pulling-and-sailing boats, Donaghadee’s first lifeboat, William and Laura, was one of the earliest motor lifeboats in the fleet. The station has long been associated with the Nelson family: at least four Nelsons served as coxswain, two of them awarded medals for gallantry. The famous Watson-class Sir Samuel Kelly, gift of Lady Mary Kelly, arrived in 1950 and served through the Princess Victoria disaster; she is now preserved at the harbour.
A succession of Waveney and Arun-class lifeboats followed, before the Trent-class Saxon arrived in 2003. When Saxon was withdrawn for repair in 2023, the relief Trent 14-21 MacQuarie was placed on service and has since become the station’s permanent all-weather lifeboat. Over its history the station’s boats have saved well over 230 lives, and Donaghadee remains one of the few stations whose record is bound up with a national disaster as well as decades of quieter service to fishermen and yachtsmen in the North Channel.
