Porthcawl Lifeboat Station

Last Updated On: 31 January 2004

"The Good Deliverance".

The first lifeboat station in Porthcawl was built on the promenade at the entrance to the Knights Arms Square. This was completed in April 1860 at a cost of £120; this is currently an Indian restaurant. This building housed the first Porthcawl lifeboat "The Good Deliverance", which was a 30ft pulling and sailing lifeboat. It had 6 oars and a crew of nine and cost £135, 7 shillings and 2 pence. This boat was launched with the aid of horses. It launched 17 times and saved 26 lives.

• 1870 "Chafyn Grove" was a 32ft pulling and sailing lifeboat with 10 oars and a crew of 13, its cost was £248, 7 shillings and 6 pence. Alterations were carried out to accommodate the larger boat and a harness room were created to store tack for six horses. The costs were £12, 10 shillings and £21 and 5 shillings respectively. A scale model built in 1872 of this boat is now on display in the station. This lifeboat launched 8 times and saved 28 live.
• 1873 A roadway was built to the east of the station to assist launching into Porthcawl creek. The cost of this was £21 and 12 shillings.
• 1878-1879 The R.N.L.I. yet again improved their launching facilities by constructing a slipway along side the breakaway at a cost of £337 and 10 shillings. Although widened in 1950 by the military the basic slipway is still in use by the R.N.L.I. today.
• 1887 "Speedwell". A 34ft pulling and sailing lifeboat with10 oars and a crew of 13. It cost £480, 10 shillings and 6 pence. "Speedwell" launched 9 times and saved 2 lives.
• 1902 The port mainly exported coal and commercial trade ceased in this year. In those days the lifeboat was needed almost exclusively for commercial shipping, as there was little if any recreational boating activity. The boathouse was sold for £160 and became a club.

• April 1965 The R.N.L.I. placed one of its first experimental 16ft D-Class inflatable inshore lifeboats at Porthcawl. It was designed to give rapid response to people in difficulties using the sea and coastline for recreational purposes, from Nash Point in the East, to west of the river Kenfig, a distance of approximately 16 miles.

It was housed in a temporary lean to building adjacent to Jennings building, with the use of the old R.N.L.I. slipway for launching. Adverts were placed locally and a crew of 14 man crew was formed. The boat operated from April to September in daylight hours only in sea conditions up to force 5.The concept proved successful with various alterations to the building and it remained like this for the next 31 years. Each year the lifeboat saved an increasing number of lives, launching up to fifty times in some of the later years.

In December 1995 The lifeboat rescued a wind surfer in a force 10 gale resulting in a R.N.L.I. silver medal being awarded to the crew and helmsman for this daring rescue.
• January 1996 A new purpose built lifeboat station to house the latest Atlantic 75 was opened. This involved an investment of over £500,000. The craft has a top speed of over 30 knots. It can operate day or night in sea conditions up to force 7. The new station has rapidly become one of the premier stations on the West Coast and boasts the first female crew member to become a qualified helms person in Wales.

  Crewmen from this station attend a training course in the R.N.L.I.'s own school on the Isle of Wright, where they are put through an intensive week of training.

  Crews from this station have been called at short notice to aid people in distress in their own homes when in 1999 floods struck the towns of Hereford, Budely and Kidderminster. The crews slept in the Fire Stations of the towns and worked with the Salvation Army in helping townsfolk in distress. More recently, the R.N.L.I. has saved lives as far afield as Mozambique.