Palmer-class lifeboat explained

The Palmer-class lifeboat was an early design of small lifeboat used by the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNIPLS) in the middle years of the nineteenth century.

Design

George Palmer was a London businessman. He joined the committee of the RNIPLS in 1826, just two years after its founding, and later became its deputy chairman. One of the organisation's activities was to provide lifeboats and it bought them from several sources. Palmer offered a design based on a whaleboat, narrow and pointed at both ends. It was given extra buoyancy by the use of cork fittings and air chambers.^[1]

Palmer lifeboats

The numbers in this list are unofficial "pre-ON" numbers created by the Lifeboat Enthusiast Society to reference early lifeboats not included on the RNLI Official Number list which was used from 1884.

Number	Name	Built	Builder	In service	Station	Length	Oars	class=unsortable	Comments
—	—	1828	Harton	1828–1853			6	^[2]
128	—	1828		1828–1841
—	—	1828	Taylor	1828–1840			6	^[3]
—	—	1828	Harton	1829–1840			6	^[4]
131	—	1828	Harton	1828–1853 1853–1859			5/6	^[5]
144	—	1828	McVea	1828–1858				Palmer designed modified by Sparrow.
145	—	1828	McVea	1830–1853			6	Palmer designed modified by Sparrow.
150	Assistance	1831	Harton	1832–1857			6	^[6] ^[7]
151	—	1830	Harton	1831–1848 1848–1853 1853–1865			5	^[8]
155	—	1831	Harton	1832–1842			6	^[9]
156	—	1831	Harton	1832–1856			6
161	—	1836		1836–1838
166	—	1834	Harton	1835–1852			6	^[10]
—	—	1835	Harton	1835–1851				^[11]
178	Victoria	1837	Taylor	1837–1859			6	^[12]
—	—	1837	Taylor	1837–?				Operated by the Brighton Humane Society.^[13]
—	—	1839	Taylor				5
184	Heroine	1839		1839–1851 1851–1857				Initially with no name, later becoming Heroine.
—	—	1839	Harton	1839–1855
196	—	1840	Taylor	1840–1861			6
208	—	1844	Taylor	1844–1853	Penrhyn Du		6
—	—	1844	Taylor				5
—	—	1847	Taylor		Kilmore		5
—	—							For the port of Bridgwater.
—	—
—	—
—	—
—	—				Swansea
—	—

Later whale boats

Most lifeboats built from the 1850s were of the self-righting type but some whale boat lifeboats continued to be provided to stations where there was a need for a small boat, the last being built in 1910 and withdrawn in 1938.

	Name	Built	Length	In service	Station	class=unsortable	Comments
280	Henley	1889		1890–1893		^[14]
376	Captain Hans Busk	1869		1869–1905		Retained as a boarding boat until 1910.
481	Richard Cresswell	1902		1902–1910
				1910–1931
551	Selina	1905		1905–1923		Sold in 1923 and now awaiting restoration.
615	John Watson Wakefield	1910		1910–1938

See also

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

Notes and References

1. Book: Cameron . Ian . Riders of the Storm . 2009 . Orion Books . 978-0-7528-8344-1 . 41.
2. Book: Morris . Jeff . The Story of the Barmouth Lifeboats . December 2004 . Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society . 1.
3. Book: Morris . Jeff . Peel Lifeboats 1828-2003 . 2003 . 1.
4. Book: Morris . Jeff . Ramsey Lifeboats 1829-2004 . 2004 . LBES . 1.
5. Book: Morris . Jeff . The Closed Lifeboat Stations of Anglesey . July 1986 . Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society . 1–38.
6. Life-boat . 1852 . 1 . 4 . 66–72 . North Devon Humane Society .
7. Life-boat . 1872 . 8 . 83 . 2 . The late George Palmer, Esq. .
8. Life-boat . 1852 . 1 . 2 . 26–27 . County associations .
9. Book: Morris . Jeff . The History of the Tynemouth Lifeboats . May 1995 . Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society . 1.
10. Book: Morris . Jeff . The History of the Berwick-upon-Tweed Lifeboats . April 2000 . Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society . 1.
11. Book: Morris . Jeff . The Closed Lifeboat Stations of North Wales . May 2006 . Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society . 1–36.
12. Life-boat . 1855 . 1 . 3 . 40 . State and condition of the several life-boats, boathouses, etc. .
13. Book: Morris . Jeff . The History of the Brighton Lifeboats . July 2001 . Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society . 1 . 2nd.
14. Book: Leonard . Richie . Denton . Tony . Lifeboat Enthusiasts Handbook 2024. 2024 . Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society . 14–15.