Ilfracombe Lifeboat Station

Ilfracombe Lifeboat Station is the base for Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) search and rescue operations at Ilfracombe, Devon in the United Kingdom. The first lifeboat was stationed in the town in 1828 and the present station was opened in 1996. For 29 years a second boat was operated from Morte Bay at Woolacombe. It operates a all-weather lifeboat (ALB), operational number 13-09 and named The Barry and Peggy High Foundation, Ilfracombe also operates a inshore lifeboat (ILB), under the operational number D-717 and named the Deborah Brown ll.HistoryA pilot boat was fitted out as a lifeboat for the town in 1828, and a new lifeboat was bought by local people in 1850 which operated from a boat house in Hiern's Lane near the harbour. The RNLI started its service in Ilfracombe in 1866 when a boat house was built near the pier at the bottom of Lantern Hill with a slipway nearby. Alterations to the pier in 1871 meant that the slipway was lost and the boat then had to be taken along the road to the harbour whenever it needed to be launched. The boat house was demolished in 1893 to allow a larger building be built for the new Co-operator No. 2 which, at 37ft was 3 feet longer than the previous boat. This boat house was used until 1996 when it was replaced by a new facility near the slipway at the harbour.In 1871 a lifeboat was stationed at Morte Bay near Woolacombe, about 6mi south west of Ilfracombe. When the lifeboat was needed west of Morte Point a crew came out from Ilfracombe on a carriage. It proved difficult to launch into strong winds blowing onto its west-facing beach and so the station was closed in May 1900. The lifeboat was transferred up the coast to Watchet; the boat house has since been incorporated into a café known as the Boat House Café.