Royal National Lifeboat Institution

link_to_french_translationThe Royal National Lifeboat Institution

The RNLI is the charity which provides lifeboats around the coast of the British Isles. The boats are crewed by volunteers who will interrupt work or family life to respond to emergencies at any time, in any weather. They are supported by volunteer shore crew. The RNLI also provides seasonal lifeguards on popular beaches. It is not funded by government, but depends on donations by members of the public and legacies.

Every lifeboat station in Wales is featured on HistoryPoints. You can read each station's interesting history and tales of bravery by selecting a station from the list below, or by scanning the QR codes at the relevant station or RNLI shop.

Website of the RNLI

HiPoints collection:
Flint lifeboat station - once tested a hovercraft lifeboat
Rhyl lifeboat station - crew made the world's first lifeboat rescue from a hovercraft
Llandudno lifeboat
- the first coxswain, a copper miner, was called out by tapping pipes at the top of the mineshaft
Conwy lifeboat station - bravery awards given to crew for a daring rescue off the Great Orme
Beaumaris lifeboat station - sailed 31km through a storm because the nearest lifeboat was already at a shipwreck
Moelfre lifeboat station - where gold medals have recognised heroic rescues
Seawatch Centre, Moelfre - run by RNLI and features a retired lifeboat of a classic type
Holyhead lifeboat station - crew members have received many medals for bravery, and even a case of rum
Trearddur Bay lifeboat station - naming the lifeboat was a royal couple's first official engagement together
Porthdinllaen lifeboat station - where passing car headlights once led to an epic rescue
Abersoch lifeboat station - got its first silver medal for bravery just a year after it opened
Pwllheli lifeboat station - rescued 50 sailors from 17 racing dinghies caught in a storm
Criccieth lifeboat station - first station with an Arancia lifeboat for shallow-water rescues
Barmouth lifeboat station - where four children were once rescued but another five died
Aberdyfi lifeboat station - closure from 1931 to 1963 didn't stop one former crew member saving lives
Borth lifeboat station - the helmsman once rescued the helmsman of another lifeboat
Aberystwyth lifeboat station - first in Britain to receive an inshore lifeboat
New Quay lifeboat station - once home to the RNLI's last sail-powered lifeboat
Cardigan lifeboat station - scene of Wales' first all-woman lifeboat rescue mission
Fishguard lifeboat station - the first women in Britain to get lifeboat bravery awards were here
St Davids lifeboat station - just look at all those bravery awards (including on the footnotes page)
Little and Broad Haven lifeboat station - reopened 1967
Angle lifeboat station - given extra work when oil tankers started entering Milford Haven
Tenby lifeboat station - once rescued the crew of a lightship
Burry Port lifeboat station - opened 1887 with a 12-oar lifeboat
Horton and Port Eynon lifeboat station - three crew members drowned in 1916
Mumbles lifeboat station - a station with a long history of bravery and tragedy
Port Talbot lifeboat station - saved life of ore-carrier crewman who'd fallen overboard into huge waves
Porthcawl lifeboat station - the first lifeboat woman to receive a RNLI bronze medal for 116 years was here
Atlantic College lifeboat station - where the Atlantic lifeboat class was prototyped
Barry Dock lifeboat station - saved the last crewman of a French schooner seconds before it was wrecked
Penarth lifeboat station - closed for 75 years but now providing vital emergency cover