Dunbar Lifeboat Station
| All-Weather Lifeboat | |
|---|---|
| Inshore Lifeboat | |
| Launch Method | Afloat |
| Address | Victoria Harbour, Dunbar, East Lothian EH42 1JP |
| Telephone | 01368 863966 |
Explore two centuries of RNLI lifeboat history, heroic rescues, and the enduring tradition of saving lives at sea.
Dunbar is one of the oldest lifeboat stations in Scotland, with a lifeboat first kept in the East Lothian harbour town in 1808 — 16 years before the RNLI was founded. Standing on the south side of the mouth of the Firth of Forth, the station has a long and at times tragic history, and a gallantry record reaching from an 1827 coastguard rescue to a modern Bronze Medal of 2009. It operates a Trent-class all-weather lifeboat, moored at Torness, and a D-class inshore boat from Dunbar harbour.
A lifeboat was kept at Dunbar from 1808, and in December 1810 the boat saved between 40 and 50 men from HMS Pallas in two trips; on a third trip she was overcrowded and capsized, with the loss of ten of the warship’s men and a lifeboat crewman. After the early service lapsed, the station was re-established by the RNLI in 1864. Through the 19th and 20th centuries Dunbar ran pulling, sailing and then motor lifeboats.
An all-weather mooring was later provided at Torness, about four miles south of Dunbar, and an inshore D-class station was added. In March 2008 the station’s Trent-class lifeboat broke free of her moorings in severe weather and was wrecked beyond repair on the harbour rock armour; the Trent 14-35 John Neville Taylor became the station lifeboat in her place. Today the all-weather boat is moored afloat at Torness, while the D-class David Lauder (D-844) launches from Dunbar’s Victoria Harbour, placed on service in 2019.
The Trent took up service after the previous all-weather lifeboat, the Sir Ronald Pechell BT, was lost in the 2008 mooring break, and the station has long been a family affair: the Fairbairn and Brunton families between them have provided coxswains, medal-winners and crew across several generations, a tradition that continues on the current crew.
