St Mary’s Lifeboat Station
St Mary’s Lifeboat Station overlooks the harbour at Carn Thomas in Hugh Town, on St Mary’s, the main island of the Isles of Scilly. Its crews cover all of Scilly and the open Atlantic around it, one of the largest and most demanding areas of any lifeboat station in Britain.
History
Scilly’s reefs have wrecked countless ships, and lifeboatmen here have won many awards for gallantry. A lifeboat was first stationed on St Mary’s in 1837; it was kept in a boathouse on the town beach until the station closed in 1855. The RNLI reopened it in 1874, with a boathouse at Porth Cressa, and in 1899 a new boathouse and slipway were built at Carn Thomas, where the first motor lifeboat arrived in 1919. The station’s crews have earned 26 RNLI medals for bravery. Since 1997 it has operated a Severn-class all-weather lifeboat, The Whiteheads.
Visiting
The lifeboat is moored in the harbour at Hugh Town and the boathouse stands above the quay. The crew often hold open days and fundraising events in summer.
About island lifeboat stations
All lifeboat stations →On islands, the lifeboat is often the only help that can reach someone in trouble at sea, and island lifeboat crews cover some of the most exposed waters around Britain and Ireland. Here you will find the lifeboat stations on the islands we cover, with their history and the boats they launch.
