Ramsgate History
1802 The first lifeboat, built by Henry Greathead, was provided by the Trustees of Ramsgate Harbour.
1851 The station, which had lapsed sometime before 1824, was re-opened.
1865 The RNLI took over joint control of the station with the Board of Trade.
1873 Crew Member William White was washed out of the lifeboat whilst on service to the barge Sarpsborg on 2 February.
During the 120 years before the RNLI took over the lifeboat station many ships were wrecked off the coast, often on the infamous Goodwin Sands. Two Gold Medals and 36 Silver Medals were awarded for services carried out in atrocious weather conditions and heavy seas. One of these rescues took place in 1881.
1881 A Gold Medal was awarded to Coxswain Charles Fish and 18 Silver Medals to members of the lifeboat crew and crew of the tug Vulcan for a long and arduous service lasting 26 hours on 5–6 January when they rescued 12 of the 29 crew of the barque Indian Chief which was wrecked on the Long Sand while on passage to Yokohoma from Middlesborough. This was one of the finest services in the RNLI’s history.
1922 The RNLI took over full control of the lifeboat station.
1931 A Centenary Vellum was awarded to the station.
1940 The station's outstanding service of the War took place on the beaches of Dunkirk. For over 30 hours, and for most of the time under enemy fire, the lifeboat Prudential brought off some 2,800 men of the British Expeditionary Force. Coxswain Howard Primrose Knight was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.
On 24 August the station was closed. Ramsgate was bombed from the air that day and the whole lifeboat crew of nine took shelter in a cellar near the harbour. A bomb exploded just outside and six men were wounded.
The station re-opened on 11 October.
1952 A Bronze Medal and The Maud Smith Award for the bravest act of lifesaving in 1952 were awarded to Coxswain Douglas S Kirkaldie for rescuing five men from the steamer Western Farmer.
1968 The Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum was awarded to Coxswain Thomas JH Cooper for saving the yacht Lungta and rescuing her four crew.
1969 An inshore lifeboat (ILB) station was established.
1975 Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum were awarded to Crew Members Michael Petts and Timothy Hurst for entering the sea to escort four people from the yacht Albas on Goodwin Sands to the lifeboat.
1980 Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum were awarded to Malcolm Llewellyn and Bryan Morgan of the Trinity House pilot vessel Versatile for rescuing an angler washed off the East Pier, Ramsgate.
1983 A Framed Letter of Thanks was awarded to the Coxswain and five crew for rescuing the six crew from the yacht Mer Gaspard.
1984 A Framed Letter of Thanks was awarded to the Coxswain and five crew when the lifeboat rescued two crew and towed the trawler Nancy to Ramsgate.
1984 A Framed Letter of Thanks was awarded to Crew Member Timothy Hurst after he leapt four feet across from the lifeboat onto the motor cruiser Kalavala to secure a towline and calm the four people on board.
1984 A B class Atlantic 21 was placed on service.
1985 The Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum was awarded to Helmsman Timothy Hurst for rescuing the two crew and saving the cabin cruiser Hide and Seek as she was pounded against the breakwater during a storm.
1986 A Silver Medal and the Maud Smith Award for the bravest act of lifesaving in 1985 were awarded to Coxswain/Mechanic Ronald N Cannon for towing the fishing vessel Gloire A MarieII and her seven crew to deep water during a hurricane and 20ft breaking seas on 26 December 1985.
1995 The Trent class lifeboat, ON-1197 Esme Anderson, was placed on service on 24 August.
1998 A new ILB boathouse and a pontoon mooring for the all weather lifeboat were completed, which also provided improved crew facilities.
2000 A Framed Letter of Thanks was awarded to Coxswain/Mechanic Ronald N Cannon for rescuing eight people from the yacht Kings Legend on 24 October 1999.
For a service on 9 November 1999 when the yacht Rasmus and her three crew were saved from the Goodwin Sands in atrocious weather conditions the following awards were made:
Coxswain/Mechanic Ronald N Cannon
Silver Medal
Maud Smith Award for the bravest act of lifesaving in 1999
James Michael Bower Endowment Fund Award for 1999
Lady Swathling Trophy for outstanding seamanship from The Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners’ Royal Benevolent Society
Emergency Mechanic Timothy Hurst and Crew Member Lance Oran
Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum
The new inshore lifeboat, the B class Atlantic 75 B-765, was named Bob Turnbull on 9 September.
2002 A Vellum was awarded to commemorate 200 years as a lifeboat station.
Station honours
At Ramsgate lifeboat station the following awards have been made:
Framed Letter of Thanks
Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum 8
Bronze Medal 1
Silver Medal 39
Gold Medal 2
