Ruby and Arthur Reed (RNLI Official Number 990) was an lifeboat

Lifeboat (rescue)

A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crewmen and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine...

 of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution

Royal National Lifeboat Institution

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as on selected inland waterways....

 (RNLI) stationed at Cromer

Cromer lifeboat station

Cromer Lifeboat Station is an RNLI station located in the town of Cromer in the English county of Norfolk. The station operates two lifeboats - one for inshore work and the other for offshore work....

 in the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 county of Norfolk from the 30 April 1967 and was the No 1 lifeboat between various relief’s until she was replaced after 17 years service by the Ruby and Arthur Reed II

Cromer Lifeboat Ruby and Arthur Reed II ON 1097

Ruby and Arthur Reed II was a Tyne-class lifeboat stationed at Cromer in the English county of Norfolk from the 16th of December 1985 and was the No 1 lifeboat between various relief’s until she was replaced after 21 years service by the Tamar-class Lester ON 1287 in December 2007...

 on the 16 December 1985. During the time that the Ruby and Arthur Reed was on station at Cromer she performed 125 service launches, rescuing 58 lives.

Design and construction

Ruby and Arthur Reed was built in 1966 at the yard of William Osborne at Littlehampton

Littlehampton

Littlehampton is a seaside resort town and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England, on the east bank at the mouth of the River Arun. It lies south southwest of London, west of Brighton and east of the county town of Chichester....

, West Sussex

West Sussex

West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...

 . She was an Oakley class self-righting design which combined great stability with the ability to self-right in the event of the lifeboat capsizing. This was achieved by a system of shifting water ballast. The system worked by the lifeboat taking on one and half tons of sea water at launching in to a tank built into the base of the hull. If the lifeboat then reached a crucial point of capsize the ballast water would transfer through valves to a righting tank built into the port side. If the capsize was to the starboard side of the lifeboat, the water shift started when an angle of 165° was reached. This would push the boat into completing a full 360° roll. If the capsize was to the port side, the water transfer started at 110°. In this case the weight of water combined with the weight of machinery aboard the lifeboat usually managed to stop the roll and allow the lifeboat to bounce back to upright.

Hull construction

The hull of the Ruby and Arthur Reed was constructed from Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

n mahogany

African Mahogany

African Mahogany is the common name for at least two types of trees:* genus Khaya of the family Meliaceae* genus Afzelia of the family Fabaceae...

built with two skins. Each skin was diagonally laid with a layer of calico laid between the skins. The outer skin was ⅜ of an inch thick with the inner skin being ¼ of an inch thick. The keel

Keel

In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...

 was iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

 and weighed 1.154 tons. The hull was divided into eleven watertight compartments. The lifeboat was 48 in 6 in (14.78 m) in length and 14 in 0 in (4.27 m) in beam and displaced 12 tons 1cwt, when fully laden with crew and gear. She was fitted with twin 110 hp Gardner 6LX six cylinder diesel engine

Diesel engine

A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...

s, which moved her over the water at 9 Knots. Ruby and Arthur Reed’s aluminium wheelhouse was positioned amidships and was fully enclosed which provided welcome crew protection from the elements. Aft of the lifeboat there was another cabin which served as the chartroom and also housed all the lifeboats electronic equipment.

Equipment

The lifeboat was fitted with Decca 060 radar

Decca Radar

The Decca Company, a British gramophone manufacturer that, as Decca Records, released records under the Decca label, contributed to the British war effort during the Second World War...

 and all she carried Pye Westminster VHF

Very high frequency

Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...

 and an Ajax MF

Medium frequency

Medium frequency refers to radio frequencies in the range of 300 kHz to 3 MHz. Part of this band is the medium wave AM broadcast band. The MF band is also known as the hectometer band or hectometer wave as the wavelengths range from ten down to one hectometers...

 Radiotelephone

Radiotelephone

A radiotelephone is a communications system for transmission of speech over radio. Radiotelephone systems are not necessarily interconnected with the public "land line" telephone network. "Radiotelephone" is often used to describe the usage of radio spectrum where it is important to distinguish the...

. In addition a radio Direction Finding set

Radio direction finder

A radio direction finder is a device for finding the direction to a radio source. Due to low frequency propagation characteristic to travel very long distances and "over the horizon", it makes a particularly good navigation system for ships, small boats, and aircraft that might be some distance...

 was carried, which gave a magnetic bearing

Bearing (navigation)

In marine navigation, a bearing is the direction one object is from another object, usually, the direction of an object from one's own vessel. In aircraft navigation, a bearing is the actual compass direction of the forward course of the aircraft...

 to a transmitting station. The electric searchlight was standard along with Pains Wessex speedlines.

Service

Ruby and Arthur Reed was on station at Cromer for seventeen years and during that time she was launched 125 times and she saved fifty eight lives. Her first service took place on the fourth of July 1967 to a motor fishing vessel called Renovate. The fishing boat’s engine had failed and she was at anchor two miles east of Haisborough Sands

Haisborough Sands

Haisborough Sands is a sandbank off the coast of Norfolk, England at Happisburgh. The shoal is long and wide and lies parallel to the North east coast of Norfolk. The shoal is marked to the north-west by north by the Haisbro Light Buoy, North cardinal...

. Two engineers from the Royal Naval minesweeper

Ton class minesweeper

The Ton class were coastal minesweepers built in the 1950s for the Royal Navy, but also used by other navies such as the South African Navy and the Royal Australian Navy...

 HMS Belton

HMS Belton (M1199)

HMS Belton Ton-class minesweeper of the Royal Navy, launched on 3 October 1955. The Belton ran aground in the Hebrides in October 1971. She was eventually re-floated and taken to Greenock in Scotland but was found to be beyond economical repair...

 were put aboard to try to repair her. Coxswain Henry Shrimp Davies

Henry Thomas Davies

Henry "Shrimp" Thomas Davies BEM was a famous lifeboatman from Cromer on the north coast of Norfolk, England. “Shrimp” Davies, as he was affectionately known was one of Cromer Lifeboat's longest serving coxswain. He retired as coxswain in February 1976. He had joined the crew of the Cromer...

  and his Lifeboat stood by through the night until the boats engines were once again working.

Service and rescues

Date	Casualty	Lives saved
1967
July 4	Motor fishing vessel Renovate, stood by
January 20	Motor vessel Alme of Meppel Meppel Meppel is a municipality and a city in the northeast of the Netherlands, in the south-west of the province Drenthe.It developed in the 16th century as a transport and distribution inland harbour for turf... , took out doctor
September 3	Haisborough Lightvessel ,landed a sick man
October 10	Crab boat Lewis James of Cromer, gave help
December 19	Trawler Rotha of Lowestoft Lowestoft Lowestoft is a town in the English county of Suffolk. The town is on the North Sea coast and is the most easterly point of the United Kingdom. It is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and south-east of Norwich... . Landed a sick man	1
1968
February 4	Dinghy, saved dinghy	3
March 2	Motor launch Pinnace, of Poole Poole Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council...  saved launch	2
March 31	Steamship Alice Bowater of London London London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its... , landed a sick man	1
May 11	Fishing boat Provider of Cromer, saved boat	2
May 13	Tug Workman of Hull Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...  stood by tug with warhead on board
June 30	Cabin cruiser She’s a Lady. Assisted to save cruiser	3
July 11	Motor vessel Ramso of Copenhagen Copenhagen Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region... , escorted
August 23	Trawler Filby Queen of Lowestoft, landed a sick man
August 30	Yacht Stilalisanin landed 1 and saved yacht
September 18	Trawler Rock Fish of Lowestoft, took out doctor
November 15	Gas Rig Hewitt Alpha , gave help
1969
January 3	Motor vessel Friederike of Brake Brake A brake is a mechanical device which inhibits motion. Its opposite component is a clutch. The rest of this article is dedicated to various types of vehicular brakes.... , landed a sick man
January 14	Trawler Suffolk Kinsman of Lowestoft. Landed a sick man
January 22	Motor fishing boat Thistle, saved boat	3
May 10	Motor fishing vessel Kindly Light, gave help
May 21	Pipe laying vessel WD Tideway, landed a sick man
1970
June 26	Motor fishing vessel Normanby of Bridlington Bridlington Bridlington is a seaside resort, minor sea fishing port and civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It has a static population of over 33,000, which rises considerably during the tourist season... , gave help
November 12	Fishing boat My Beauty of Cromer, give escort
1971
May 15	Cabin cruiser Nadine Leah, gave help
June 13	Yacht Gentle Nimbus, gave help
1972
May 5	Two fishing boats, stood by
May 20	Trawler Boston Viscount of Lowestoft, landed injured man
August 21	Fishing boat Cossack, saved boat	4
September 12	Cabin cruiser New Prince of Wales, saved cruiser	3
October 25	Fishing boat Provider of Cromer. Saved boat	4
1973
March 22	Motor vessel Silver Sands, landing a sick man	1
1973 to August 1974 of station for refit
1974
August 31	Lightvessel LV.22, landed sick man
September 10	Motor vessel Langstone Tern, escorted boat
November 1	Motor vessel Dutch Sailor, landed an injured man
1975
February 21	Cargo vessel Fortuna II, landed an injured man
May 22	Royal Naval ship HMS Shevington, sick man gave help
September 8	Yacht Irishman, saved boat	10
October 26	Cruiser Andruss, saved boat	2
December 12	Freighter Alexandria, stood by vessel
December 14	Freighter Alexandria, stood by vessel
1976
February 6	Trawler Suffolk Conquest, took out Doctor to injured man
June 23	Cargo vessel Garden Saturn, stood by vessel
August 7	Fishing vessel Albert, saved vessel	2
August 18	Haisborough Lightvessel, landed an injured man
September 15	Yacht Mr Micawber, saved boat	2
October 18	Fishing boat Sea Green, gave help
1977
February 19	Cargo vessel Atlantic Duke, stood by vessel
February 22	Catamaran Katabatic, gave help
February 24	Chemical carrier Thorodland of Panama Panama Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The... , stood by vessel
March 18	Cargo vessel Femmy Lian, of Cyprus Cyprus Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the... , gave help
April 18	Cargo vessel Star River of France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... , gave help
July 27	Cargo vessel Heye-P of Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... , injured man gave help
September 9	Yacht Autumn Liz, gave help
November 14	Cargo vessel Nimrod, of Jersey Jersey Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and... ,	1
December 24	Cargo vessel Rafaela of Panama Panama Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The... , stood by vessel
1978
August 16	Fishing boat, gave help
September 4	Fishing boat Charles Perkins, gave help
1978 to May 1979 of station for refit
1979
May 22	Fishing boat Concorde II, missing crewman, landed body
June 6	Yacht Victoria George gave help
June 6	Tug Englishman, stood by vessel
June 20	Oil rig standby vessel Boston Hornet, took out Doctor, landed a sick man
1980
January 5	Fishing vessel Ellen, of Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea... , gave help
January 17	Cargo vessel Lendoudis Evangelos of Greece Greece Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe.... , gave help
April 8	Fishing boat, escorted home
May 3	Motor fishing vessel Bess of Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... , saved boat	4
June 23	Motor vessel Jenny Glen of Kings Lynn, saved boat	2
1981
January 30	Cargo vessel Ems of West Germany West Germany West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....  after collision, recovered life raft
January 30	Cargo vessel Undine of Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...  after collision, recovered life raft
June 2	Fishing boat Provider of Great Yarmouth, gave help
August 2	Cabin cruiser Lancer, gave help
August 2	Cabin cruiser Falcon, gave help
August 13	Helicopter, gave help
November 30	Oil rig supply vessel The Cuttlefish	2
1982
September 17	Skin Diver, gave help
September 21	Fishing boat Provider of Cromer, escorted
September 21	Fishing boat Elizabeth Kathleen of Wells-next-the-Sea Wells-next-the-Sea Wells-next-the-Sea, known locally simply as Wells, is a town, civil parish and seaport situated on the North Norfolk coast in England.The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 2,451 in 1,205 households... , escorted
December 12	Motor boat Trade Winds, saved boat	2
1983
July 12	Fishing boat Ventura of West Runton West Runton West Runton is a village in North Norfolk, England, approximately ¼ of a mile from the North Sea coast.-Overview:West Runton and East Runton together form the parish of Runton. The village straddles the A149 North Norfolk coast road and is 2½ miles west of Cromer and 1½ miles east of Sheringham... , landed injured man
1984
February 15	Cargo vessel Camilla Weston, of London, landed 5
May 9	Cargo vessel Marie Anne of Germany, landed sick man
July 12	Aircraft, recovered the wreckage
July 13	Fishing boat G.N.D., of Great Yarmouth, saved boat	2
August 15	Cargo vessel Emily P.G., of Shorham landed injured man
September 4	Fishing boat Provider of Great Yarmouth, escorted
September 1984	Retired from Cromer