Teignmouth Lifeboat Station
| Inshore Lifeboats | |
|---|---|
| Launch Method | Carriage |
| Address | The Point, Teignmouth, Devon, TQ14 8BW |
Explore two centuries of RNLI lifeboat history, heroic rescues, and the enduring tradition of saving lives at sea.
At the mouth of the River Teign on the south Devon coast, Teignmouth runs a fast Atlantic 85 over a tricky harbour bar and a busy holiday shore beneath The Ness headland. A lifeboat first served the town in 1851, the RNLI taking over in 1854; the station was closed for fifty years from 1940 and reopened in 1990, returning inshore lifeboat cover to the estuary and bay.
The Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners’ Royal Benevolent Society sent the first lifeboat, The Teignmouth, to the town in 1851, kept near the Custom House on the beach. In 1854 the Society transferred its lifeboats to the RNLI, and in 1862 a new boathouse was built on The Den at a cost of £223; it was later rebuilt with its doors facing the harbour for a quicker launch.
Among the station’s sailing-lifeboat services was the rescue on 10 October 1907, when the lifeboat Alfred Staniforth launched to the schooner Tehwija, aground at the river mouth with eight aboard; it took two attempts to row out over the bar into the heavy seas, but the crew were taken off shortly before the storm wrecked the grounded ship.
With motor lifeboats covering the area from neighbouring stations, Teignmouth closed in 1940. It remained closed for half a century until the RNLI reopened it in 1990 as an inshore station, reflecting the growth of leisure boating along the coast. Since 2006 it has operated an Atlantic 85, with a smaller Arancia-type inshore craft alongside, working the bar, the estuary and the beaches around The Ness — small craft in difficulty, and bathers and walkers caught by the tide.
