Fowey Lifeboat Station
| Inshore Lifeboats | |
|---|---|
| Launch Method | Aquadock |
| Address | 11 Passage Street, Fowey, Cornwall, PL23 1DE |
| Telephone | 01726 832156 |
Explore two centuries of RNLI lifeboat history, heroic rescues, and the enduring tradition of saving lives at sea.
On the River Fowey in south Cornwall, Fowey runs a fast Atlantic 85 and a D-class from a berth in the harbour, covering the estuary, St Austell Bay and the open coast around the Gribbin. A lifeboat first served the area from Polkerris in 1859, moving to Fowey in 1922; the station’s crews hold twelve gallantry medals, including a Gold from a celebrated rescue of 1826.
Fowey’s lifeboat station was first established at Polkerris in 1859, a small village on the western side of the Gribbin peninsula, covering St Austell Bay with its busy mineral traffic from Par and Charlestown. Over the years the station carried various names — Fowey, Polkerris, and Polkerris and Fowey — before settling.
The lifesaving record here reaches back further still. In 1826, before the station existed, Lieutenant Else RN won the Gold Medal for the rescue of eight men from the ship Providence, wrecked off Polkerris — launching a 14-foot punt into heavy surf to begin taking the crew off while a coastguard gig brought the rest ashore.
In 1922 the station was relocated to Fowey, and the present boathouse dates from 1997. For decades Fowey operated an all-weather lifeboat — latterly a Trent class — but in 2025–26 the RNLI moved the station to a faster inshore configuration, placing an Atlantic 85 alongside the long-serving D-class. Working with its flanking all-weather stations, Fowey now answers the estuary and the open coast with two inshore boats — leisure craft in difficulty, and people caught out along the cliffs and beaches.
