Rhyl History
1852 The Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Society placed a lifeboat at Rhyl. The boathouse had doors at both ends for launching into the sea and the River Clwyd.
1853 The lifeboat capsized with the loss of six of her crew.
1854 The RNLI took over the station.
1856 A tubular lifeboat arrived at the station. This had a double hull consisting of two floats meeting at each end with a grating deck in between.
1878 A second lifeboat station (No. 2) was established with a self-righting lifeboat.
1897 A new boathouse was built for the tubular lifeboat. The Caroline Richardson was the third lifeboat at Rhyl and the last of the tubular type.
1899 The No.2 station closed.
1951 Coxswain Eric Evans resigned in February when he emigrated to Canada. For 99 years before this the Evans family had been connected with the Rhyl lifeboat.
1952 A Centenary Vellum was awarded to the station.
1955 A new boathouse for the boat, carriage and tractor was built.
1962 The first service ever made by a lifeboat to a hovercraft took place on 17 September. Within minutes of rescuing three crew, the hovercraft, with 250 gallons of kerosene on board, crashed into the promenade.
For this service the following awards were made: Silver Medal to Coxswain H Campini; Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum to each of the seven crew and to Head Launcher Dennis Jones; Framed Letters of Thanks to each of the nine shore helpers; a collective Vellum for the boathouse; and a special Letter of Appreciation was sent to the Honorary Secretary.
1967 An inshore lifeboat (ILB) station was established with a D class lifeboat.
1973 A Bronze Medal was awarded to Helmsman Donald Jones when the ILB rescued two boys cut off by the tide.
1974 Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum were awarded to Helmsman Donald Jones and Crew Members Richard Perrin and James Quinn when the ILB rescued a boy stranded on the west face of the Little Orme cliff.
1983 A boathouse for the ILB was built.
1990 A special framed certificate was presented to the station for working up to 19 hours each day between 26 February and 2 March when the areas of Towyn and Pensarn suffered severe flooding. They helped over 200 people to safety.
1992 The Mersey class lifeboat, ON-1138 Lil Cunningham, was placed on service.
1995 A new D class lifeboat was placed on service.
2001 A Framed Letter of Thanks was awarded to Mechanic Martin Jones when the all weather lifeboat saved four people from the motor boat, Dragonfly. A collective letter of commendation was sent to the station.
2002 The RNLI’s President, HRH The Duke of Kent, presented the lifeboat station with an anniversary Vellum to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Rhyl lifeboat. He also opened the new boathouse.
2004 The D class lifeboat, D-632 Godfrey and Desmond Nall, was placed on service.
Station honours
At Rhyl lifeboat station the following awards have been made:
Framed Letter of Thanks 10
Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum 11
Bronze Medal 1
Silver Medal 1
