St Mary's Lifeboat Station sits overlooking Harbour Bay at Carn Thomas in Hugh Town, the primary settlement on St Mary's, the largest and most populous island of the Isles of Scilly, an archipelago off the south-west coast of the county of Cornwall, England.
A lifeboat station was established at St Mary's in 1837, operating until its closure in 1855. The station was re-established by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in 1874.
St Mary's Lifeboat RNLB 17-11 The Whiteheads (ON 1229)
The station currently operates the Severn-class All-weather lifeboat 17-11 The Whiteheads (ON 1229), on station since 1997.
History
Ever since its founding in 1824, the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNIPLS), later to become the RNLI in 1854, would award medals for deeds of gallantry at sea, even if no lifeboats were involved.
In a hurricane on 13 February 1833, the Cherokee-classbrig-sloopHMS Forrester was driven onto Crow Bar, north of St Mary's, drifting onto Crowther Point. At great personal risk, Midshipman Baldwin Arden Wake, RN, swam ashore with a line, allowing the rescue of one officer and 16 men. Wake was awarded the RNIPLS Silver Medal.
In view of this, and other wrecks, Capt. Charles Steel, RN, Inspecting Commander of Coastguard (Isles of Scilly), established a local branch of the RNIPLS, and began to raise funds for the provision of a lifeboat. On 9 May 1837, enclosing the sum of £26-19-6d, he wrote to the headquarters of the Institution with his request, which was read and agreed at a meeting of the committee of management on 21 June. A 20-foot-long (6.1m) lifeboat, constructed by William Plenty of Newbury in 1824, which had previously served at Brighton, but had never been called on service, was transferred to St Mary's, arriving on 11 September 1837. A boathouse was constructed overlooking Town Beach, at a cost of £59. However, no record of any service has been found.
The boat was condemned in 1839, and so a second boat was provided by the RNIPLS, arriving at St Mary's on 20 March 1840. This was a longer 26ft (7.9m) lifeboat, previously serving at Plymouth, and it too had never been called on service.
Just one service is recorded against the second boat. On 4 January 1841, in a severe westerly gale, the steam-packet Thames, on passage to London from Dublin, ran aground on Jacky's Rock. In the terrible conditions, 57 lives were lost from the vessel. For their efforts to save lives, four men were awarded the RNIPLS Silver Medal, with the RNIPLS Gold Medal awarded to Capt. Steel, RN. No further service were recorded. In 1855, the station was closed, and the boat was sold.
Following the wreck of the steamshipDelaware on 20 December 1871, and the wreck of the barqueMinnehaha on 18 January 1874, with the loss of 10 lives, questions were raised about lifeboat provision.
1874 Porth Cressa lifeboat house, now the local public library
With a legacy from the late Mrs S. J. Dundas-Drummond, the Institution decided to re-establish a station at St Mary's, and a 37-foot (11m) 'Pulling and Sailing' (P&S) lifeboat, one with sails and (12) oars, was towed by steamer from Penzance to the island, arriving on 30 July 1874.
On 1 August, the lifeboat was drawn through the streets of Hugh Town on her carriage in grand procession, to her new station at Porth Cressa. A new boathouse had been constructed at a cost of £280 (equivalent to £27,400in 2025)., on a site provided by landowner Thomas Algernon Dorien-Smith. After a service performed by the Rev J. H. White, the lifeboat was named Henry Dundas. It would be the first of four lifeboats at St Mary's to carry the name Henry Dundas.
A second lifeboat station was established in the Isles of Scilly in 1890, at St Agnes.
The same year, a new 42ft (13m) lifeboat was provided to St Mary's. The Henry Dundas (ON 271), arrived in April 1890, but was too large to fit in the boathouse, and was placed on moorings in St Mary's harbour. The boat performed just one service, on 3 May 1890, to the brigantineAntres on Nantes. However, the larger boat did not find favour with the crew, and in 1891, she was reallocated to Beaumaris, and renamed Tom & Jenny. A replacement 38ft (12m) lifeboat again took the name Henry Dundas (ON 313). Launching the lifeboat had always been difficult, requiring at least 30 helpers, and so for the winter months, the lifeboat was placed on the harbour mooring.
1900 Boathouse at Carn Thomas
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, it was decided to place a new 38-foot Watson-class lifeboat at St Mary's. Construction work began on a new lifeboat house with slipway, at a site at Carn Thomas, at a cost of £1,500 (equivalent to £166,700in 2025). The new boathouse was completed in 1900, with the old boathouse sold for £40. In 1902 the slipway was extended 40 feet (12m) by Robert Hicks, to enable the lifeboat to be launched at any state of the tide.
The lifeboat house was modified in 1914, at a cost of £3,155, with £105 donated by Red Star Line in gratitude for services rendered by the lifeboat to the liner Gothland on 23 June. The upgrade was to prepare the boathouse for a new 45-foot Watson-class lifeboat, Elsie (ON 648), the first motor lifeboat to be assigned to St Mary's, but construction of the boat, at the S. E. Saunders factory at Cowes, was delayed until after the end of World War I, with the boat arriving on station in 1919.
Stained glass window at St Mary's New Church, Hugh Town, Isles of Scilly
In 1967, a 15ft (4.6m) tall stained glass window featuring St Mary's 46ft 9in Watson-class lifeboatGuy and Clare Hunter (ON 926), was installed in St Mary's New Church, Hugh Town. The work, created by Alfred L. Wilkinson, of Dovercourt, Essex, was the gift of Jack and Irene Abbot.
The Guy and Clare Hunter (ON 926) would be the last lifeboat to use the slipway at St Mary's, launched for the final time on 7 July 1981.
The replacement lifeboat was the 52ft (16m)Arun-class 52-18 Robert Edgar (ON 1073), which was moored afloat. Robert Edgar served St Mary's for 18 years, being transferred first to Weymouth, before being sold for service in New Zealand.
The Severn-class All-weather lifeboat 17-11 The Whiteheads (ON 1229) arrived on station on 1 December 1997, and is the still the current RNLI lifeboat covering the Isles of Scilly.
Station honours
St Mary's Lifeboat has received fifty-six awards for gallantry, including 26 RNLI medals for bravery, comprising one gold, nine silver and 16 bronze. The most recent was in 2004 when bronze medals were awarded to Coxswain Andrew Howells and crew members Mark Bromham and Philip Roberts, for the rescue of an injured man from a yacht on 29 October 2003.
Matthew Lethbridge (Jr.), BEM, son of Matthew Lethbridge (Sr.), BEM, Lifeboat Coxswain, was a native of the Isles of Scilly. He served with the Royal Air Force in the air sea rescue boats during the World War II. After the war, a succession of jobs led him to find a career in fishing. Second coxswain of St Mary's lifeboat since 1950, he was appointed as Coxswain on 1 July 1956, succeeding his father.
Lethbridge served St Mary's lifeboat as coxswain for 29 years, during which time he was awarded the RNLI Silver Medal three times:
For the rescue of 19 from the yacht Braemar, including an ITN television news crew, sent to cover the return of Francis Chichester aboard Gypsy Moth IV, 1967.
For the rescue of 10 people from the Swedish motor vessel Nordanhav, 1970.
For the seamanship, courage and determination in the attempt to rescue the crew of the French fishing trawler, Enfant De Bretagne, 1977.
He would also be accorded The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum four times, and received the British Empire Medal in 1975.
On a 'reluctant' visit to the London Boat Show on 11 January 1984, for the presentation of his Vellum certificate, Lethbridge was 'doorstepped' by television host Eamonn Andrews, and soon found himself the star of the TV programme This is Your Life. After nearly 40 years of service with the RNLI, Matthew Lethbridge retired on 20 January 1985. The islands' council held a party in his honour, and the entire population of St Agnes subscribed to present him with a gold watch.
45ft 6in (13.87m) motor lifeboat. Given by the Cunard Steamship Company. Two 40hp engines giving a speed of 8.25 knots (9.49mph; 15.28km/h). Cost £8,500 (equivalent to £480,400in 2025).
↑20ft 0in (6.10m) x 6ft 9in (2.06m) (6-oared) non-self-righting lifeboat, funded by the RNIPLS, built by William Plenty of Newbury, Berkshire, costing £100 when new.
↑26ft 0in (7.92m) x 8ft 6in (2.59m) (10-oared) non-self-righting lifeboat, funded by the RNIPLS, built by William Plenty of Newbury, Berkshire, costing £100 when new.
↑37ft 0in (11.28m) x 9ft 0in (2.74m) (12-oared) self-righting (P&S) lifeboat, legacy of Mrs S. J. Dundas-Drummond of London, built by Woolfe of Shadwell, London, costing £438.
↑42ft 0in (12.80m) x 11ft 0in (3.35m) (12-oared) self-righting (P&S) lifeboat, legacy of Mrs S. J. Dundas-Drummond of London, built by Forrestt of Limehouse, London, costing £667.
↑38ft 0in (11.58m) x 8ft 0in (2.44m) (12-oared) self-righting (P&S) lifeboat, legacy of Mrs S. J. Dundas-Drummond of London, built by Woolfe of Shadwell, London, costing £609.
↑38ft 0in (11.58m) x 9ft 4in (2.84m) (12-oared) Watson-class non-self-righting (P&S) lifeboat, legacy of Mrs S. J. Dundas-Drummond of London, built by Thames Ironworks of Blackwall, London, costing £856.
