Ramsgate Lifeboat Station
| All-Weather Lifeboat | |
|---|---|
| Inshore Lifeboat | |
| Launch Method | Afloat |
| Address | Western Crosswall, Ramsgate Royal Harbour, Ramsgate, Kent, CT11 9RN |
| Telephone | 01843 580580 |
Explore two centuries of RNLI lifeboat history, heroic rescues, and the enduring tradition of saving lives at sea.
Ramsgate is one of the oldest lifeboat stations in the British Isles, first established by the Harbour Trustees in 1802 — more than twenty years before the RNLI existed. Guarding the notorious Goodwin Sands, its crews have won more than fifty awards for gallantry, including the Gold Medal of Coxswain Charles Fish, and were first to the rescue at Dunkirk.
A lifeboat was first placed at Ramsgate Harbour in 1802 by the Harbour Trustees, pre-dating any national lifeboat organisation by more than twenty years. Re-established in 1851, the station was jointly run by the RNLI and the Board of Trade from 1865, passing solely to the RNLI in 1922.
For decades the Ramsgate lifeboat worked the Goodwin Sands hand-in-hand with the harbour steam tugs, which towed her out to wrecks miles offshore. The present station on the harbour wall opened in 1998.
