Fraserburgh Lifeboat Station
| All-Weather Lifeboat | |
|---|---|
| Launch Method | Moored afloat |
| Address | The Harbour, Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, AB43 9BS |
| Telephone | 01346 515162 |
Explore two centuries of RNLI lifeboat history, heroic rescues, and the enduring tradition of saving lives at sea.
From the great fishing port of Fraserburgh, beneath Kinnaird Head, the station runs a Tamar-class all-weather lifeboat into the North Sea. The first RNLI station in Scotland, established in 1858, Fraserburgh holds a proud record of sixteen gallantry medals — and bears the memory of three lifeboat disasters in which thirteen men were lost.
A lifeboat served Fraserburgh privately from 1806, and in 1858 it became the first RNLI station in Scotland. The crews’ gallantry stretches back even further, to two Gold Medals won in 1827 and 1831, and includes a celebrated Silver awarded to Jane Whyte, a farm labourer’s wife, who in 1884 waded into the surf, caught a line from the wrecked steamer William Hope and held it fast around her body so that all six crew could land.
But Fraserburgh’s story is shadowed by tragedy. Three times in the twentieth century the lifeboat capsized with terrible loss: the Lady Rothes in 1919, the John and Charles Kennedy in 1953, and the Duchess of Kent in 1970 — thirteen men in all. After the 1970 disaster the station was closed for eight years; yet each time, new volunteers came forward.
A memorial to the lost crews was unveiled in 2010. The station now runs a Tamar-class lifeboat.
