Castletownbere Lifeboat Station is the base for a

Royal National Lifeboat Institution The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest of the lifeboat (rescue), lifeboat services operating around the coasts of the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on s ...

(RNLI) inshore lifeboat at

Castletownbere Castletownbere (), or Castletown Berehaven, is a port town in County Cork, Ireland. It is on the Beara Peninsula by Berehaven Harbour. A regionally important fishing port, the town also serves as a commercial and retail hub for the local hinterl ...

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

on the south west corner of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

History

The west coast of Ireland faces the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

but had sparse coverage from lifeboats until late in the twentieth century. In 1990 there were only four stations but by 2000 seven more had been opened. A lifeboat was sent to Castletownbere in 1997 to evaluate it as a suitable harbour and it was confirmed as a permanent station in October 1998. Poorly-located temporary crew facilities were in use for many years but a new building and moorings were brought into use on 19 May 2013 which significantly reduced the time taken for the lifeboat to put to sea. The lifeboat was launched on 10 October 2018 to aid the ''Clodagh O'', a trawler which had broken down and was being blown onto rocks in a Force 9 storm. The lifeboat crew managed to get a line onto the trawler and towed it back to the harbour, saving its crew of six people. The rescue was led by

coxswain The coxswain ( or ) is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from ''cock'', referring to the wiktionary:cockboat, cockboat, a ...

Dean Hegarty who was awarded an

RNLI bronze medal A number of awards have been established by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) since its creation in 1824. None are approved by the Crown, and are therefore unofficial awards. As such, they do not appear in the official British order ...

, the first Irishman to be recognised in this way in over 10 years.

Area of operation

The RNLI aims to reach any vessel in distress up to from the coast within 2 hours of launching. The

Severn-class lifeboat The Severn class is the largest lifeboat operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). The class, which is long, was introduced in to service in 1996. It is named after the River Severn, the longest river in Great Britain. The l ...

at Castletownbere has a range of and top speed of . Adjacent lifeboats are stationed at to the north and to the east.

Castletownbere lifeboats

RNLI lifeboat at Castletownbere - geograph

References

External links

{{Commons category, Castletownbere Lifeboat Station
RNLI: Castletownbere Lifeboat Station
Lifeboat stations in Ireland 1998 establishments in Ireland Buildings and structures in County Cork 20th-century architecture in the Republic of Ireland

History

Area of operation

Castletownbere lifeboats

See also

References

External links