Arbroath History
1803 Arbroath lifeboat station was established and is one of the oldest in Scotland. The first lifeboat was built by Henry Greathead who, in 1789, had built the Original, which was the first boat to be designed and built for the purpose of saving life from shipwreck.
1827 A Gold Medal was awarded to Coastguard Lieut Christopher Jobson RN, for saving seven people from the Clyde Packet when she was wrecked at Arbroath Harbour entrance on 2 January.
A Gold Medal, in the form of a gold lifeboat, was awarded to Lieut Jobson RN for rescuing the master of the vessel Alice that was driven ashore near Arbroath on 8 March.
1865 The station was taken over by the RNLI and a new boathouse was built at East Grimsby.
1911 On 24 September Bowman Peter Swankie fell beneath the carriage when the lifeboat was being taken to the slipway to be launched on service and was killed.
1928 A Centenary Vellum was awarded to the station.
1932 A new boathouse and slipway were built on the south side of the harbour for the station’s first motor lifeboat.
1940 A Bronze Medal was awarded to Coxswain William Swankie for rescuing seven survivors from the barge Foremost that was being attacked by a German aircraft on 9 February. As the lifeboat approached, the attack continued with machine-gun fire and bombs. The men were safely landed at Arbroath. Coxswain Swankie was also awarded the British Empire Medal.
1953 After launching to reported flares on 27 October, and while crossing the Harbour Bar, the lifeboat capsized with the loss of six of her seven crew. Several memorials can be seen – a memorial bronze plaque on the wall of the boathouse; a stained glass window in St John’s Methodist Church in memory of Coxswain David Bruce, and a memorial plaque in the Old Church to the six men, gifted by Mr and Mrs Cargill who lost two sons.
A 150th Anniversary Vellum was awarded to the station.
1968 An inshore lifeboat station was established in August with a D class lifeboat.
1986 An extension to the boathouse was completed, providing a new boat store for the D class and improved crew facilities.
1987 Dredging was carried out off the slipway to improve launching.
1993 The boathouse and slipway were modified for the station’s new Mersey class lifeboat.
A Mersey class lifeboat arrived in August, replacing the Rother class lifeboat.
A new D class lifeboat was placed on service on 19 October.
1997 A 10m extension to the slipway was completed.
2001 Framed Letters of Thanks were presented to Mechanic Allan Russell, Second Coxswain Thomas Yule and Crew Member Peter Willis for saving three crew from the yacht Grouse that was aground at Danger Point in fog.
2003 The station was awarded a Vellum to commemorate 200 years of lifeboat service.
2005 A new D class Inshore Boat 1 (IB1) was placed on service on 23 April.
Station honours
At Arbroath the following awards have been made:
Framed Letter of Thanks 3
Bronze Medal 2
Gold Medal 2
