Flint Lifeboat Station
| Inshore Lifeboat | |
|---|---|
| Launch Method | Carriage |
| Address | Castle Dyke Street, Flint, Flintshire, CH6 5PE |
| Telephone | 01352 735712 |
Explore two centuries of RNLI lifeboat history, heroic rescues, and the enduring tradition of saving lives at sea.
In the shadow of Flint Castle, on the south bank of the River Dee estuary, Flint runs a single D-class inshore lifeboat over a coast of vast mudflats, quicksand and fast tides. The RNLI established the station in 1966; its crews serve at sea and in inland flooding alike.
A tragic accident on the River Dee prompted discussions between the RNLI and local authorities, and in May 1966 inshore lifeboat stations were established at both Flint and West Kirby, on opposite sides of the estuary. Flint’s first D-class was kept in a garage near Flint Castle.
The Dee estuary is a hazardous place — extensive mudflats and quicksand exposed at low water, with fast tides racing across them — and Flint’s crews have answered emergencies on the sands and the water for over half a century. In 2001 the station tested an experimental hovercraft lifeboat on the Dee mudflats, the kind of craft later adopted at flat, muddy stations elsewhere.
The station’s work has extended well beyond the shoreline. In 1990 its crew helped more than 200 people to safety during the Towyn floods, for which the station received a Special Framed Certificate; and it has twice rescued dolphins stranded in the estuary, at Mostyn in 2000 and Saltney Ferry in 2013. The current D-class, the Lady Barbara, continues this varied service.
