Stromness Lifeboat Station
| All-Weather Lifeboat | |
|---|---|
| Launch Method | Moored afloat |
| Address | Pier Head, Stromness, Orkney, KW16 3AA |
| Telephone | 01856 850279 |
Explore two centuries of RNLI lifeboat history, heroic rescues, and the enduring tradition of saving lives at sea.
From Pier Head in the heart of Stromness, the first lifeboat station in Orkney, the crews run a Severn-class all-weather lifeboat over the west of Orkney and the tide-torn waters of Hoy Sound. A lifeboat has served here since 1867, and the crews hold four gallantry medals.
After a Graemsay man drowned trying to save the crew of the Albion in 1866, the RNLI established its first Orkney station at Stromness in 1867. The first boat, Saltaire, was a gift of the Bradford philanthropist Titus Salt.
The crews’ medals came early: a Silver to Coxswain Robert Greig in 1907 for the trawler Shakespeare, wrecked on the Point of Spoil, and a Bronze and Second-Service Clasp to Coxswain William Johnston for the Freesia (1922) and the Carmania II (1929). In 1930 the Stromness lifeboat made an epic 134-mile, 55-hour passage to Shetland in answer to the Ben Doran — a journey that helped prompt the creation of the Shetland stations.
The station also remembers the 1916 loss of HMS Hampshire, mined off Marwick Head with 737 men including Lord Kitchener; the lifeboat was never called. Stromness has run the Severn-class Violet, Dorothy and Kathleen since 1998.
