The 41 ft Watson-class was a non self-righting displacement hull lifeboat built between 1931 and 1952 and operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution between 1931 and 1981.
The 41 ft Watson was designed for service at stations which required a larger and more powerful boat than the standard carriage launched types, but which could not accommodate the larger Watson types through boathouse or slipway constraints. This is not to be confused with the earlier 41ft 'Aldeburgh' Beach Motor lifeboat, which was developed from the Norfolk and Suffolk type boat. Production ran from 1933 to 1939 and thirteen boats were completed. Between 1948 and 1952 a further four boats were built before attention turned to the much modified type which appeared in 1954.
The 41 ft Watson had an aft cockpit with a cabin ahead of it containing the engine controls. There was a separate forward shelter and there was room in the two for sixteen people. The boats carried two sails as an auxiliary to the twin Weyburn AE6 6-cylinder petrol engines. The type was put back into production in 1948, nine years after the last had been built, in a revised version with an enlarged cabin which replaced the forward shelter. From 1963 eight of the boats were re-engined with 47 bhp Ford-based Parsons Porbeagle 4-cylinder diesel engines.
| ON | Name | Built | Builder | In service | Stations | Re-engined | Comments[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 751 | Abdy Beauclerk | 1931 | J. Samuel White, Cowes | 1931–1958 | Sold 1959. Renamed St. Ita. February 2010, Houseboat at Rusheen Bay, Galway | ||
| 758 | Rosa Woodd and Phyllis Lunn | 1933 | Groves & Guttridge | 1963 | Sold in 1973. Renamed Dowager. October 2023, at IBTC, Lowestoft. | ||
| 1963–1973 | Relief fleet | ||||||
| 761 | Charles Cooper Henderson | 1933 | 1933–1957 | Sold 1976. March 2023, Charter boat at Mill Green, Caversham, Oxfordshire | |||
| 1957–1974 | Relief fleet | ||||||
| 762 | Charles Dibdin (Civil Service No.2) | 1933 | 1933–1959 | Sold 1959. April 1980, Pilot boat at Dover | |||
| 769 | Duke of York | 1933 | Groves & Guttridge | 1934–1961 | No | Sold in 1961. Reported in December 2023 at Castlebridge, Ireland. | |
| 783 | The Viscountess Wakefield | 1936 | 1936–1940 | Lost at Dunkirk, 31 May 1940 | |||
| 806 | Rachel and Mary Evans | 1936 | Groves & Guttridge | 1937–1968 | No | Wrecked 12 April 1969 after breaking moorings at Weston-Super-Mare. | |
| 1969 | |||||||
| 807 | Inbhear Mor | 1938 | Groves & Guttridge | 1938–1968 | 1963 | Sold in 1974. December 2013, broken up at Ynyslas Boatyard in Borth. | |
| 1968–1973 | Relief fleet | ||||||
| 808 | Mary Ann Hepworth | 1938 | Groves & Guttridge | 1938–1974 | 1963 | Sold in 1975. Purchased 1988, was fully restored as a trip boat at Whitby but by June 2023 was at Caernarfon. | |
| 812 | Edmund and Mary Robinson | 1938 | Groves & Guttridge | 1938–1950 | No.2 | No | Sold March 1964. In February 2016, broken up near Bromsgrove. |
| 1950–1964 | Relief fleet | ||||||
| 813 | Ann Letitia Russell | 1938 | Groves & Guttridge | 1939–1976 | 1963 | Sold April 1977. Under restoration from August 2015 at ABP Marine yard, Fleetwood Dock, and still there in December 2023.[2] [3] | |
| 823 | Matthew Simpson | 1939 | Groves & Guttridge | 1939–1972 | 1963 | Sold in 1976. Renamed Penros. May 2022, unaltered pleasure boat with the Hayling Island Yacht Company. | |
| 1972–1976 | Relief fleet | ||||||
| 824 | John Pyremont | 1939 | Groves & Guttridge | 1939–1941 | No | Destroyed in air raid 9 April 1941. | |
| 856 | Susan Ashley | 1948 | Groves & Guttridge | 1948–1972 | 1963 | Used as an RNLI boarding boat at 1979-1981. On display at Chatham Historic Dockyard from April 1996. | |
| 1973–1979 | No.2 | ||||||
| 857 | Glencoe-Glasgow | 1949 | Morgan Giles | 1949–1960 | 1963 | Sold in 1979. Renamed Vagrant. September 2019, being used as a pleasure boat at Burghead Harbour. | |
| 1960–1961 | |||||||
| 1961–1965 | Relief fleet | ||||||
| 1965–1978 | |||||||
| 858 | R.L.P. | 1949 | Sussex Yacht Co., Shoreham | 1949–1975 | 1963 | Sold August 1981. Renamed Beya. Was a workboat at Millport, Great Cumbrae in June 1989, now believed to have been given to a Sea Cadet group. | |
| 1975–1981 | Relief fleet | ||||||
| 859 | Beryl Tollemache | 1949 | Sussex Yacht Co., Shoreham | 1949–1977 | 1963 | Sold 1979. Renamed Steadfast. August 2022, at Bath, Somerset | |
| 1977–1979 | Relief fleet | ||||||
| 897 | St. Andrew | 1952 | William Osborne | 1952–1959 | Whitehills | 1963 | Sold in 1982. April 2022, a restored pleasure boat at New Ross Boatyard, County Wexford. October 2023, on display at West Wales Maritime Heritage centre, Pembroke Dock. |
| 1959–1961 | Relief fleet | ||||||
| 1961–1968 | |||||||
| 1968–1973 | |||||||
| 1973–1976 | Relief fleet | ||||||
| 1976–1977 | |||||||
| 1977–1982 | Relief fleet |