St Agnes Lifeboat Station, Isles of Scilly

St Agnes's Lifeboat Station, Isles of Scilly
Former RNLI Lifeboat station
Former St Agnes’ lifeboat station and slipway
Country	UK
State	St Agnes, Isles of Scilly
Island	St Agnes
Location	St Agnes Lifeboat Station, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, UK
- coordinates	GB 49°53′37.09″N 6°21′00.06″W / 49.8936361°N 6.3500167°WCoordinates: GB 49°53′37.09″N 6°21′00.06″W / 49.8936361°N 6.3500167°W
Founded	1890
Owner	Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Visitation	Closed
Isles of Scilly

St Agnes' Lifeboat Station was situated in St Agnes, Isles of Scilly and provided a service for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution from 1891 to 1920. The lifeboat station and slipway still exist, and have been identified by the Isles of Scilly Council as a Building of Local Significance.^[1]

Lifeboats at St Agnes

Dates in service	Class	ON	Op. No.	Name	Comments
1891-1904				James and Caroline
1904-1909	Liverpool Type			Charles Deere James	Built by the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company. 38 feet (12 m) long. 10 feet (3.0 m) broad. She rowed 10 oars and was fitted with two drop keels and two water ballast tanks[2]
1909-1920	Watson Type			Charles Deere James (II)	Built by the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company. 38 feet (12 m) long. 9.33 feet (2.84 m) broad. She rowed 10 oars and was fitted with a drop keel[3]

History

The station opened in 1891 with a single slipway. A new slipway was provided in 1904 at a cost of £5,000 (equivalent to £486,000 in 2015)^[4] to the designs of the Institution’s Architect, W.T. Douglass. From the back of the boat house to the toe of the slip it was 1,068 feet (326 m). It was built of Jarrah wood from Western Australia, bolted to granite and concrete pillars, with the exception of a short piece at the upper end, built on the rocks. Two rails ran the entire length of the slip, on which rested the double bogey trolley that carried the boat. Rails were also laid down the old slip which could be used at high tide.^[5]

Awards

List of achievements of the St Agnes Lifeboatmen

On the 13 December 1907, the Thomas W Lawson of Boston was in distress off Annet. The St Agnes Lifeboat put William Thomas Hicks on board to act as pilot. But the schooner foundered at Minmanueth and he was lost together with fifteen of the vessel’s crew. His son, Frederick Charles Hicks, put off with seven other men in the gig ‘Slippen’ which rescued the schooner’s captain and engineer form Hellweather rock.

Frederick Charles Hicks was awarded the RNLI Silver Medal for bravery, when swimming from a gig to save the captain of the Thomas W Lawson. The United States government gave him a gold watch, and gold medals to all the crewe of the gig ‘Slippen’.

See also

• St Mary's Lifeboat Station (which continues to operate)

References

1. "Isles of Scilly Conservation Area Character Statement Supplementary Planning Document" (PDF). Isles of Scilly Council. Isles of Scilly Council. 8 June 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
2. "New Lifeboat for Scilly". Cornishman. Truro. 4 August 1904. Retrieved 28 September 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
3. "New Lifeboat for Scilly". Cornishman. Truro. 29 July 1909. Retrieved 28 September 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
4. UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Gregory Clark (2016), "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)" MeasuringWorth.
5. "Launch of the St Agnes Lifeboat". Cornishman. Truro. 25 August 1904. Retrieved 28 September 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).