Mersey class lifeboats are all-weather lifeboats

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...

 operated by 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) from stations around the coasts of Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 and Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. They are capable of operating at up to 17 knots (33.3 km/h) and can be launched from a carriage.

The class name comes from the River Mersey

River Mersey

The River Mersey is a river in North West England. It is around long, stretching from Stockport, Greater Manchester, and ending at Liverpool Bay, Merseyside. For centuries, it formed part of the ancient county divide between Lancashire and Cheshire....

 which flows into the Irish Sea

Irish Sea

The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...

 in north west England.

History

During the 1960s and 1970s the RNLI introduced fast lifeboats capable of considerable greater speeds than the 8 knots (15.7 km/h) of existing designs. The first of these were only able to be kept afloat as their propellers would be damaged if launched using a slipway or carriage. In 1982 the steel-hulled came into service which could be launched down a slipway but weighed 25 tons so was not suitable for being moved across a beach on a carriage. The answer was to build a smaller boat with an aluminium hull, which became the Mersey Class.

The first, unnamed, Mersey was built in 1986 and undertook trails during 1987 and 1988. It was then taken out of service and sold the following year. It was working as a trip boat in Westport

Westport, County Mayo

Westport is a town in County Mayo, Ireland. It is situated on the west coast at the south-east corner of Clew Bay, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean....

, County Mayo

County Mayo

County Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...

 in 2008 carrying the name Spirit. Two more boats were built in 1988, with the first one to take up active service going to Bridlington Lifeboat Station the following year.

In 1989 12-11 Lifetime Care was built with a fibre-reinforced composite (FRC) hull. Boats built in 1990 continued to use aluminium but from 1991 FRC became the standard hull material.

Description

The Mersey is designed to be launched from a carriage, but can also lie afloat or be slipway launched when required. Its propellers are fully protected from damage when launching or in shallow water by partial tunnels and two bilge keels. Its low height can be further reduced by collapsing its mast and aerials which then allows it to be stored in a boathouse. A sealed cabin gives it a self-righting ability.

Power comes from two Caterpillar 285hp turbo-charged engines. It carries 1110 litre of fuel to give it a range of 240 nautical miles (444.5 km). It has a crew of six and can carry a X Boat

X class lifeboat

The X class lifeboats is a class of small inflatable boat operated by the RNLI of the United Kingdom and Ireland.The X-Class Lifeboat is used as a small tender carried on board the RNLI All Weather lifeboats that serve the shores of the UK....

 inflatable which it can deploy at sea. Its survivor compartment can carry 43 people, but more than 21 prevents self-righting should the boat capsize.

Fleet

ON	Op. No.	Name	In service	Station
1119	–	–	1987–1988	Sold 1989
1124	12-001	Peggy and Alex Card	1988–	Relief fleet
1125	12-002	Sealink Endeavour	1987–	Hastings Hastings Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
1161	12-003	Doris M Mann of Ampthill	1990–	Wells 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...
1162	12-004	Royal Shipwright	1990–	Relief fleet
1163	12-005	Lady of Hilbre	1990–	Hoylake Hoylake Hoylake is a seaside town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, on Merseyside, England. It is located at the north western corner of the Wirral Peninsula, near to the town of West Kirby and where the River Dee estuary meets the Irish Sea...
1164	12-006	Andy Pearce	1990–	Llandudno Llandudno Llandudno is a seaside resort and town in Conwy County Borough, Wales. In the 2001 UK census it had a population of 20,090 including that of Penrhyn Bay and Penrhynside, which are within the Llandudno Community...
1165	12-007	Spirit of Derbyshire	1990–
1166	12-008	Lincolnshire Poacher	1990–	Skegness Skegness Skegness is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. Located on the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, east of the city of Lincoln it has a total resident population of 18,910....
1167	12-009	The Princess Royal (C.S. No. 41)	1990–
1168	12-010	Lily and Vincent Anthony	1991–	Pwllheli Pwllheli Pwllheli is a community and the main market town of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It has a population of 3,861, of which a large proportion, 81 per cent, are Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the place where Plaid Cymru was founded. It is the birthplace of Albert Evans-Jones -...
1148	12-11	Lifetime Care	1989–	Relief fleet
1169	12-12	Marine Engineer	1991–	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...
1170	12-13	Keep Fit Association	1991–	Filey Filey Filey is a small town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the borough of Scarborough and is located between Scarborough and Bridlington on the North Sea coast. Although it started out as a fishing village, it has a large beach and is a popular tourist resort...
1171	12-14	Ann and James Ritchie	1991–	Ramsey Ramsey, Isle of Man Ramsey is a town in the north of the Isle of Man. It is the second largest town on the island after Douglas. Its population is 7,309 according to the 2006 census . It has one of the biggest harbours on the island, and has a prominent derelict pier, called the Queen's Pier. It was formerly one of...
1172	12-15	Frank and Lena Clifford of Stourbridge	1992–	New Quay New Quay New Quay is a seaside town in Ceredigion, West Wales with a resident population of around 1,200 people. Located on Cardigan Bay with a harbour and large sandy beaches, it remains a popular seaside resort and traditional fishing town.-History:...
1173	12-16	Grace Darling	1991–	Seahouses Seahouses Seahouses is a large village on the North Northumberland coast in England. It is about 20 km north of Alnwick, within the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.Seahouses attracts many visitors, mainly from the north east area...
1174	12-17	Kingdom of Fife	1991–	Anstruther Anstruther Anstruther is a small town in Fife, Scotland. The two halves of Anstruther are divided by a small stream called Dreel Burn. Anstruther lies 9 miles south-southeast of St Andrews. It is the largest community on the stretch of north-shore coastline of the Firth of Forth known as the East Neuk,...
1175	12-18	Fanny Victoria Wilkinson and Frank Stubbs	1991–	Scarborough
1176	12-19	The Four Boys	1991–	Amble Amble Amble is a town, civil parish and seaport on the North Sea coast, in Northumberland, England. It lies at the mouth of the River Coquet, and the nearby Coquet Island is clearly visible from its beaches and harbour. The civil parish, which has town status, is called Amble by the Sea, and has a...
1177	12-20	Leonard Kent	1991–	Margate Margate -Demography:As of the 2001 UK census, Margate had a population of 40,386.The ethnicity of the town was 97.1% white, 1.0% mixed race, 0.5% black, 0.8% Asian, 0.6% Chinese or other ethnicity....
1178	12-21	Margaret Jean	1992–
1181	12-22	Ruby Clery	1992–	Peel
1182	12-23	Robert Charles Brown	1992–	Swanage Swanage Swanage is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is situated at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck, approximately 10 km south of Poole and 40 km east of Dorchester. The parish has a population of 10,124 . Nearby are Ballard Down and Old Harry Rocks,...
1183	12-24	Lil Cunningham	1992–	Rhyl Rhyl Rhyl is a seaside resort town and community situated on the north east coast of Wales, in the county of Denbighshire , at the mouth of the River Clwyd . To the west is the suburb of Kinmel Bay, with the resort of Towyn further west, Prestatyn to the east and Rhuddlan to the south...
1184	12-25	Bingo Lifeline	1992–	Relief fleet
1185	12-26	Moira Barrie	1992–	Barmouth Barmouth Barmouth ; Y Bermo ) is a town in the county of Gwynedd, north-western Wales, lying on the estuary of the River Mawddach and Cardigan Bay.The town is served by Barmouth railway station.- History :...
1186	12-27	Pride and Spirit	1992–	Dungeness
1187	12-28	Mary Margaret	1992–	Relief fleet
1188	12-29	Eleanor and Bryant Girling	1993–	Newcastle
1189	12-30	Her Majesty The Queen	1993–	St Annes
1190	12-31	Doris Bleasdale	1993–	Clogher Head
1191	12-32	Joy and Charles Beeby	1993–	Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed or simply Berwick is a town in the county of Northumberland and is the northernmost town in England, on the east coast at the mouth of the River Tweed. It is situated 2.5 miles south of the Scottish border....
1192	12-33	Fisherman's Friend	1993–	Relief fleet
1193	12-34	Freddie Cooper	1993–	Aldeburgh Aldeburgh Aldeburgh is a coastal town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England. Located on the River Alde, the town is notable for its Blue Flag shingle beach and fisherman huts where freshly caught fish are sold daily, and the Aldeburgh Yacht Club...
1194	12-35	Inchcape	1993–	Arbroath Arbroath Arbroath or Aberbrothock is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus in Scotland, and has a population of 22,785...
1195	12-36	Royal Thames	1993–	Eastbourne Eastbourne Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
1196	12-37	Sylvia Burrell	1993–	Girvan Girvan Girvan is a burgh in Carrick, South Ayrshire, Scotland, with a population of about 8000 people. Originally a fishing port, it is now also a seaside resort with beaches and cliffs. Girvan dates back to 1668 when is became a municipal burgh incorporated by by charter...

'ON' is the RNLI's Official Number; 'Op. No.' Is the operational number carried on the hull. Stations given correct in 2009 unless otherwise stated.

External links

• RNLI Fleet: Mersey Class