Portpatrick History
1877 Portpatrick lifeboat station was established at the request of the local residents and a boathouse was built at a cost of £280. The lifeboat was moved out of the boathouse on rollers and lowered into the harbour by a crane. The crew then used a ladder to get into the lifeboat once it was afloat.
1899 On 19 December the lifeboat was being lowered into the water by the crane when the hook of the crane broke and the boat fell 14ft sustaining serious damage.
1900 After the crane accident the new lifeboat was kept afloat in the harbour in the winter and in the boathouse during the summer.
1907 A new crane was provided at a cost of £275 to lift the lifeboat into and out of the water.
1914 A Silver Medal was awarded to Coxswain James Smith Jnr for rescuing five crew from the steamship Dunira of Glasgow, which was wrecked off Portpatrick in a very rough sea on 15 December 1913.
1922 The station’s first motor lifeboat was placed on moorings in the harbour. The lifeboat has been kept afloat ever since.
1932 A Bronze Medal was awarded to Coxswain John Campbell for his skill and courage in rescuing the eight crew of the Belfast steamship Camlough on 14 January 1932. This service lasted nearly 12 hours, with the coxswain at the wheel the whole time.
1953 Lifeboats from Portpatrick, Donaghadee, Cloughey and Newcastle launched to the scene of the worst peacetime disaster in 25 years involving a British merchant vessel. The Princess Victoria was bound for Larne, with 176 people on board, in a full northerly gale increasing to hurricane force, with snow squalls and a very rough sea. The punishing seas had burst open her rear car-deck doors and flooded in. 133 lives were lost.
A Bronze Medal was awarded to Portpatrick’s Coxswain, William McConnell, and the Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum was awarded to Mechanic James Mitchell. Coxswain William McConnell was also awarded the British Empire Medal as well as the Mrs GM Porter Award for the bravest deed in 1953 for this service.
1976 A Centenary Vellum was presented to the station.
1989 The Solent class lifeboat was withdrawn and replaced by the Tyne class lifeboat, ON-1151 Mary Irene Millar.
1992/93
An extension to the boathouse was built and, with alterations, provided a souvenir outlet, a galley, a general-purpose store and a training room and improved crew facilities.
1996 A collective Framed Letter of Thanks was awarded to Coxswain/Mechanic Robert Erskine, Second Coxswain Quentin McKie, Assistant Mechanic Colin Atkinson and Crew Members Kevin Shuttleworth, Calum Currie, Cameron Ritchie and Thomas Monteith for their teamwork, seamanship and determination when three crew were saved from the fishing vessel Mourne Endeavour in very heavy seas and winds gusting to force 10 on the evening of 23 November 1995.
Station honours
At Portpatrick lifeboat station the following awards have been made:
Framed Letter of Thanks 1
Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum 1
Bronze Medal 2
Silver Medal 1
