Falmouth Lifeboat Station
| All-Weather Lifeboat | |
|---|---|
| Inshore Lifeboat | |
| Launch Method | Moored afloat |
| Address | Tinners Walk, Port Pendennis, Falmouth, Cornwall, TR11 3XZ |
| Telephone | 01326 318375 |
Explore two centuries of RNLI lifeboat history, heroic rescues, and the enduring tradition of saving lives at sea.
On the Carrick Roads, one of the largest natural harbours in the world, Falmouth is the busiest lifeboat station in Cornwall, running a Shannon-class all-weather lifeboat moored afloat and a fast Atlantic 85. Established in 1867 after several wrecks in the vicinity, its crews have earned eleven gallantry medals, including two Gold Medals from rescues that predate the station.
Falmouth grew as a packet-boat port and, from 1860, a commercial dockyard. A committee was formed in 1865 to ask the RNLI for a lifeboat, and a wooden boathouse was built near the new docks, opening on 28 August 1867; the first lifeboat, the City of Gloucester, was a 33-foot pulling boat that served until 1887.
From 1918, as the docks expanded, the lifeboats were kept afloat in the harbour, with a station based at Custom House Quay. Falmouth’s boats worked the approaches to the Carrick Roads and the wider Cornish coast, attending many notable wrecks — among them the SS Paris in 1899 and the German sailing ship Hera in 1914.
The present station building, which also houses the Coastguard, opened in 1993–94. Falmouth now operates a Shannon-class all-weather lifeboat alongside an Atlantic 85, the two boats covering everything from shipping and large yachts in trouble well offshore to leisure craft and swimmers within the great harbour. As the busiest station in Cornwall, it answers a heavy and varied workload across the Roads, the Helford and the open Channel coast.
