Stornoway (Lewis) History
1887 The lifeboat station was established and a boathouse and 43m slipway were built at a cost of £1,000.
1929 The station’s first motor lifeboat arrived and was kept afloat on moorings in the harbour. The first radio-telephone in the RNLI fleet was fitted to this lifeboat.
1949 The Swedish Lifeboat Society awarded the RNLI its Plaque of Merit and a Diploma of Gratitude for the service on 28 January when the Stornoway lifeboat landed 20 men from the motor vessel Hervor Bratt.
1952 A Bronze Medal was awarded to Coxswain Malcolm MacDonald for rescuing four men stranded on Sulisker Rocks. The rescue had taken over 21 hours.
1955 The lifeboat James and Margaret Boyd was named by Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, President of the Institution, on her first visit to the Hebrides. The helicopter that landed at Stornoway to collect her baggage was the first ever seen in the Isle of Lewis.
1962 A Silver Medal was awarded to Coxswain Malcolm MacDonald and Bronze Medals were awarded to Mechanic J MacLeod and Assistant Mechanic John MacDonald for rescuing two people from the fishing vessel Maime, which had engine failure and had drifted onto the rocks off Battery Point in storm force winds, rough sea, rain and sleet on 30 January.
1981 A Silver Medal was awarded to Coxswain/Mechanic Malcolm MacDonald and the Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum was awarded to the crew after they rescued 29 crew from the fishing vessel Junella, which had gone aground on 29 September 1980.
1984 The Solent class lifeboat was withdrawn and replaced by an Arun class lifeboat.
1987 A new crew facility, known as the Sir Max Aitken House, was built.
A Centenary Vellum was awarded to station.
1989 A Bronze Medal was awarded to Coxswain/Mechanic Malcolm MacDonald for the rescue of two crew from the fishing vessel Westward in a force 12 hurricane.
1993 The Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum was awarded to Coxswain/Mechanic Malcolm MacDonald when the lifeboat Sir Max Aitken II rescued the two crew and saved the yacht Emma on 11 September 1992. This service lasted 20 hours.
A collective Framed Letter of Thanks was presented to Coxswain/Mechanic Malcolm MacDonald, Second Coxswain Donald MacLeod, Assistant Mechanic Robert Hughson, Crew Members John MacLennan, Murdo Campbell, John MacDonald and Angus MacIver for the service on the 11 January, when the lifeboat went to the assistance of the fishing vessel Alvor, which was in difficulties in winds gusting to force 10.
1995 A new mooring berth was built with a mooring pontoon and access bridge.
1999 The Severn class lifeboat Tom Sanderson arrived at the station.
2005 Lifeboat Medical Adviser Brian Michie was awarded the MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
Station honours
At Stornoway lifeboat station the following awards have been made:
Framed Letter of Thanks 1
Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum 2
Bronze Medal 4
Silver Medal 2
