Kilmore Quay Lifeboat Station

Kilmore Quay Lifeboat Station can be found on Crossfarnogue, close to the harbour in Kilmore Quay, a fishing village approximately 46 km (29 mi) to the east of Waterford, overlooking the Saltee Islands, on a promentory on the south coast of County Wexford, in south-east Ireland.

A lifeboat provided by the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNLIPLS), later to become the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), was placed at Kilmore Coastguard Station in 1847. The station remained in operation for 11 years. The RNLI re-established Kilmore Lifeboat Station in 1884.^[1]

Kilmore Quay Lifeboat Station currently operates a Tamar-class All-weather lifeboat, 16-18 Killarney (ON 1298), on station since 2010.

In the 1840s, Kilmore was little more than a few cottages, and a coastguard station. A small harbour had been constructed. The RNIPLS had been asked to provide a boat to the local coastguard, which arrived on station on 28 July 1847. The boat was a 28-foot-long (8.5 m) non-self-righting lifeboat, designed by George Palmer, and built by Taylor of Blackwall, London, costing 73ドル.^{[2] [3] [4]}

On 18 September 1852, both the Rosslare Fort and Kilmore lifeboats launched to the aid of the emigrant ship Bhurtpoor, with 419 people aboard, which ran ashore on Long Bank, whilst bound for New Orleans from Liverpool. Between a group of vessels, including fishing smacks, a pilot cutter, the oysterboat Teetotaller, 416 people were saved, with the Kilmore lifeboat accounting for 30.^{[5] [6]}

For the rescue of the crew of six from the brigantine Exile on 22 October 1853, five Kilmore coastguards, John Ahern, Donald Gray, Daniel Regan, Henry Smith, and William Cox, were awarded the RNLI Silver Medal. A sixth coastguard, Dennis Donovan, was awarded a Second-Service clasp. A seventh coastguard, J. Barrett, died soon after the rescue, and didn't receive a medal. His widow was granted 2ドル.^{[7] [8]}

For his part in rescuing five people from the brigantine Isabella, which was wrecked during a heavy gale on the rocks of Kilmore on 18 December 1855, Chief Boatman Dennis Donovan received the silver medal. As the medals for the 1853 rescue were only awarded after the 1855 rescue, Donovan would receive the Second-Service clasp, for a rescue he had done first.^[9]

At a meeting of the RNLI committee of management on Thursday 6 September 1855, a letter was read from Capt. Shoveller, RN, Chief officer of the Kilmore Coastguard Station, stating that the boat was needing repair, and that he had been unsuccessful in organising a lifeboat committee at the station. Instructions were given to effect necessary repairs, until a new lifeboat could be placed on station, but it appears that the boat was condemned in 1855, although retained until 1857, when it was broken up.^{[10] [11]}

As confirmed in the Annual Report of 1858, a new 28 ft (8.5 m) 'Pulling and Sailing (P&S) lifeboat, one with both sails and six oars, was constructed by Forrest of Limehouse, and sent to the Kilmore station in 1857.^{[12] [13]}

It was later reported that new boats for a number of stations, including Rosslare and Kilmore, had been destroyed in a fire, at the Forrestt boatyard on 19 June 1858. A further reference in the Annual Report of 1859, noted that a new lifeboat was 'ready to be sent' to Kilmore, but no new boat ever arrived, and Kilmore also disappeared from the list of active stations in the 1859 'Statement of lifeboats and stations'. No records have been found to indicate what became of the 1857 lifeboat.^{[14] [15] [16]}

There is no further record of a lifeboat at Kilmore until 1884, when the RNLI decided, on the recommendations of Lt. Tipping, RN, District Inspector of Life-boats, and of the Divisional Officer of H.M. Coastguard, that it would be desirable to formally establish Kilmore Lifeboat Station, "there being many outlying dangers both inside and outside the Saltee Islands quite inacessible to the rocket apparatus". A boathouse was constructed close to the harbour on Crossfarnogue, at a cost of 320,ドル and a 34 ft (10 m) lifeboat, John Robert (ON 99), built by Woolfe of Shadwell, and costing 363,ドル was placed on station.^{[17] [18] [19]}

On 19 December 1957, the French trawler Augusta Maurice with 10 crew needed the services of the Kilmore lifeboat, during a gale that was gusting up to Force 10. Coxswain Mark Bates led the rescue and was awarded the RNLI Silver Medal and a gift from the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company's 'James Michael Bower Endowment Fund'.^[19]

In 1986, the station was renamed Kilmore Quay Lifeboat Station.

The old 1884 boathouse was demolished in 1992, with a new larger boathouse constructed on the same site, completed in December. This was done to accommodate the station's new Mersey-class lifeboat 12-28 Mary Margaret (ON 1187), as well as housing the Talus MB-H Crawler launch tractor (T107), and included a workshop, crew room and facilities, and a souvenir outlet.^[19]

Coxswain John Devereux was awarded "A Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution", for his skill, judgement and seamanship, while undertaking a six-hour tow of the historic tug Golden Cross, which broke down on 21 December 1999.^[19]

Following the arrival of the Tyne-class lifeboat 47-021 The Famous Grouse (ON 1133) on 7 April 2004, which would remain afloat, a new berth was provided in the harbour, completed in September 2004, at a cost of 17,145ドル.^[19]

At a ceremony at Kilmore Quay harbour on 15 June 2011, Irish President Mary McAleese officially named the new Tamar-class All-weather lifeboat 16-18 Killarney (ON 1298). The lifeboat had arrived at Kilmore Quay on 27 October 2010, and was the first Tamar class lifeboat to be placed in Ireland. The lifeboat, costing 3ドルm, was funded from the bequest of Mrs Mary Weeks from Cheam in Surrey. Mrs Weeks had family connections to the coxswain of Salcombe lifeboat Samuel Distin, and crew member Albert Distin, both lost on service in 1916. She also met her late husband whilst on a cruise, on a boat named Killarney.^[20]

The RNLI aims to reach any vessel in distress up to 50 nmi (93 km) from the coast within 2 hours of launching. The Tamar-class lifeboat at Kilmore Quay has a range of 250 nautical miles (460 km; 290 mi) and top speed of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph).^[21]

Adjacent stations with All-weather lifeboats are Dunmore East to the west, Rosslare Harbour to the north, and St Davids in Wales to the east. There is also an Inshore lifeboat at Fethard between Kilmore Quay and Dunmore East.^[1]

The following are awards made at Kilmore (Quay):^{[19] [28]}

• RNLI Silver Medal

  John Ahern, Boatman, H.M. Coastguard, Kilmore – 1853 (awarded 1856)

  William Cox, Boatman, H.M. Coastguard, Kilmore – 1853 (awarded 1856)

  Dennis Donovan, Boatman, H.M. Coastguard, Kilmore – 1853 (awarded 1856) (Second-service clasp)

  Donald Gray, Boatman, H.M. Coastguard, Kilmore – 1853 (awarded 1856)

  Daniel Regan, Boatman, H.M. Coastguard, Kilmore – 1853 (awarded 1856)

  Henry Smyth, Boatman, H.M. Coastguard, Kilmore – 1853 (awarded 1856)

  Dennis Donovan, Chief boatman, H.M. Coastguard, Kilmore – 1855

  Mark Bates, Coxswain – 1958

  Thomas Francis Walsh, Coxswain – 1977

• James Michael Bower Endowment Fund, awarded by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company

  Mark Bates, Coxswain – 1958

• RNLI Bronze Medal

  John James Devereux, Acting Motor Mechanic – 1977

  Eugene Kehoe, Coxswain – 2022

• The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum

  Kilmore Quay lifeboat crew – 1977

• Special Vellum of the Institution

  Finton Sinnott, crew member (post.)

• Medal Service Certificate

  Kilmore Quay lifeboat crew – 2022

• A Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution

  John James Devereux, Coxswain – 2000

  Eugene Kehoe, Coxswain – 2007

In memory of those lost whilst serving at Kilmore:^[19]

• Died soon after the rescue of six crew from the brigantine Exile, 22 October 1853.

  J. Barrett, Boatman, H.M. Coastguard

• Lost when the lifeboat 37-26 Lady Murphy (ON 997) capsized for the second time, on 24 December 1977.

  Finton Sinnott (20)

• List of RNLI stations
• List of former RNLI stations
• Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboats

• RNLI: Kilmore Quay Lifeboat Station