St Ives Lifeboat Station is a Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) station in St Ives, a seaside resort on the north-west coast of Cornwall, England. It is at the foot of Lifeboat Hill, next to West Pier.
The first lifeboat was built for the town in 1840. A new station with a new lifeboat was established by the RNLI in 1861.
The station currently operates a all-weather lifeboat (ALB), 13-11 Nora Stachura (ON 1318), on station since 2015, and the smaller inshore lifeboat (ILB), Donald Dean (D-803), on station since 2016.
History St Ives is an historic fishing port in west Cornwall and offers a sheltered harbour for ships in the open waters of the Western Approaches.
On 24 December 1838, the schooner Rival was trying to enter the harbour in a gale, but came to grief on one of its piers. Despite the lack of proper rescue boats and equipment, after much courage and effort by the people ashore, five people were saved. Five pilots ware awarded the RNIPLS Silver Medal.
A meeting was held and it was decided that a proper lifeboat should be built for the town. Local man Francis Adams had recently won a prize from the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, for designing a double-ended, self-righting lifeboat, and he was commissioned to now build one. The Hope entered service in 1840, assisting the Mary Ann of Poole during a storm on 7 April. In 1848 it was reported that the boat was kept in a shed 400 yards from high water mark and was in the charge of Mr Hockin. There is no record of the services rendered by this boat.
By 1860, maybe much earlier, Hope had fallen out of service. The letters of three representatives for St Ives; Mr James Young, Henry Paull, MP, and Lt. Pearson, RN, chief officer of HM Coastguard, requesting that a new lifeboat be stationed at St Ives, and pledging their support, were received by the RNLI, and read at a meeting of the committee of management on Thursday 5 April 1860. With the supporting letter of the Inspector of Lifeboats following his visit to the town, the request was agreed.
A Peake-class self-righting 'Pulling and Sailing' (P&S) lifeboat, one with sails and (10) oars, and costing £157, was placed on service in July 1861. In accordance with the anonymous donor's wishes, the new lifeboat was named Moses. A substantial boathouse was constructed at Porthgwidden near St Ives Head, at the top of Island Road (), at a cost of £142.
Porthgwidden beach should have been an ideal location for launching the lifeboat, but it quickly proved more difficult than expected. It proved equally difficult to negotiate the lifeboat through the narrow lanes of St Ives, such as Fish Street, to take the lifeboat to launch from the harbour. The Porthgwidden boathouse (still standing today as a workshop) was abandoned, with the boat kept on the beach outside the Old Customs House.
On 28 October 1865, the lifeboat was launched to the aid of the French brig Providence, which was wrecked on Hayle bar, whilst on passage to Saint-Malo from Cardiff. During the service, the lifeboat capsized twice, but still continued on to rescue four of the five crew. Gold and silver medals were awarded to the coxswain and crew by Napoleon III, Emperor of France, with coxswain Nicholas Levett also receiving the RNLI Silver Medal. This event also prompted the establishment of Hayle Lifeboat Station in 1866.
In 1866, with the crew expressing a need for a larger boat, a lifeboat with carriage was placed at St Ives, the boat again taking the name Moses. The following year, a replacement boathouse was constructed on Fore Street, at a cost of £190.
The 1867 boathouse may have been located on Fore Street, but Wharf Road didn't exist at the time, and the boat could be launched straight to the sea. In 1893/94, West Pier was constructed, and Wharf Road was built along the waters edge, behind all the seaward buildings of Fore Street. Now to launch the lifeboat, it had to be removed from the boathouse, turned 90 degrees, and hauled a short way along Wharf Road, where a slipway had been constructed. A new boathouse in 1911 on the same site replaced the 1867 boathouse, but further works to widen Wharf Street after World War I resulted in the loss of the slipway. From that time, until the creation of a new boathouse and slipway in 1994, the lifeboat would have to be hauled half way along Wharf Road, to the large slipway at the junction with Back Lane. A Case L launch tractor (T35) was only placed at St Ives on the arrival of a new boat in 1940.
Motor power After the lifeboat station at was closed in 1920, the St Ives boat would now cover a larger area, but this was made easier in 1933 with the arrival of a first motor lifeboat, 24 years after motor-powered lifeboats were first deployed by the RNLI. The boat was the Caroline Parsons (ON 763), costing £3,213, and was essentially a 35-foot 6in self-righting P&S lifeboat, retaining sails and oars, but fitted with a single 35-hp Weyburn AE6 petrol engine.
On 31 January 1938, the Caroline Parsons went out in aid of the SS Alba. 23 people were rescued, but as the lifeboat turned to head home, it was capsized by a large wave. The lifeboat self-righted, but ran aground on the rocks. The lifeboat coxswain and his eight crewmen got ashore safely but five of the rescued men were lost. Coxswain Thomas Cocking was awarded the RNLI Silver Medal, with the rest of the crew, including Thomas' two sons John and Thomas Jr., awarded bronze medals. The Caroline Parsons was withdrawn from service, and soon replaced with another 35-foot 6in self-righting motor-powered lifeboat, John and Sarah Eliza Stych (ON 743).
Disaster
In the early hours of 23 January 1939, in a force 10 storm with gusts of wind at , a large steamship was reported to be in trouble off Cape Cornwall. Due to the state of the low tide, the lifeboat could not be launched. At 03:00, the John and Sarah Eliza Stych was launched from St Ives into the dark. On board was coxswain Thomas Cocking Sr., his son John Cocking, along with Matthew Barber, William Barber and John Thomas, all of which had been in the Caroline Parsons wreck. The three other crew members were Edgar Bassett, Richard Stevens, and William Freeman, but this time, Thomas Cocking Jr. was not on the crew.
AS the lifeboat rounded the St Ives peninsula known as The Island, it met the full force of the storm as it headed westwards. Off Clodgy Point, the boat capsized but self-righted. Of the five men thrown in the water, just William Freeman regained the boat. The engine was restarted, but with a fouled propeller, they drifted back towards The Island. There the anchor was dropped, but the rope parted and the lifeboat capsized and righted a second time. Now with just three crew aboard, the boat now drifted north-eastwards across St Ives Bay towards Godrevy Point, where it capsized for a third time. When it righted, only Freeman was left. He scrambled ashore when the boat was smashed on the rocks.
Eight Bronze medals for gallantry were awarded, seven posthumously. Pensions were granted by the Institution to widows and dependents. The station was closed temporarily, until a new lifeboat Caroline Oates Aver and William Maine (ON 831) arrived on station in 1940. Thomas Cocking Jr. would in turn become Thomas Cocking Sr., and command the lifeboat in the 1970s and 1980s, twice receiving the RNLI silver medal. In 1985, a memorial plaque in stone, formerly placed in the local cemetery, was removed and restored, and re-sited on the external wall of the St Ives lifeboat house.
1960s onwards In 1962, the number of rescues or attempted rescues by all-weather lifeboats in the summer months was 98, with the number of lives rescued being 133. In 1963, in response to an increasing amount of water-based leisure activity, the RNLI began trials of small fast inshore lifeboats, placed at various locations around the country. These were easily launched with just a few people, ideal to respond quickly to local emergencies. This quickly proved to be very successful. In 1963, there were 226 rescues or attempted rescues in the summer months, as a result of which 225 lives were saved.
One of the first places to trial one of the new inshore lifeboats was St Ives, with a inshore lifeboat placed on temporary duty in connection with the St Ives Live-Saving Association. The inshore lifeboat was made a permanent addition to the station in April 1964, and was kept in a building in the Sloop Car Park on West Hill.
In 1990, the new St Ives lifeboat arrived, a all-weather lifeboat 12-009 The Princess Royal (Civil Service No. 41) (ON 1167), costing £445,432, funded by contributions from civil servants and employees of the Post Office and British Telecom, via the Civil Service, Post Office and British Telecom Lifeboat Fund (CISPOTEL). The boat, with its carriage and Talus MB-H amphibious tractor, was too large to fit in the existing boathouse, and so work commenced to plan and build a whole new station and slipway, yards away from the existing station. Building works started on 4 October 1993, and was completed on 27 May 1994. As well as providing a boat-hall large enough for the Mersey-class lifeboat and tractor, along with up-to-date crew facilities, office, workshop, and a souvenir outlet, accommodation was also provided for the inshore lifeboat.
The building, projected cost £1.3million, was funded primarily from a specific bequest from Mrs Eugenie Boucher, a native of Penza in south-east Russia, who left £3.5million for the provision of boathouses. The eight new or refurbished boathouses are known as "Penza" boathouses within the RNLI.
Further work was carried out in 2015, including widening the main doorway, ready for the arrival of a new all-weather lifeboat, 13-11 Nora Stachura (ON 1318), and its SLARS launch vehicle.
The new lifeboat was primarily funded from the legacy of Nora Stachura of Swindon, and was formally named at a ceremony on 15 May 2026. The SLARS unit was funded from the legacy of Kenneth George Fulford, and was named in his honour.
Also in 2016, the station saw the arrival of its latest inshore lifeboat, Donald Dean (D-803). Doctor Donald Dean (1927–2013) spent a career in medicine, although working for BP and later for the UK Chamber of Shipping. After his death, his legacy established the Donald Dean Foundation, which is used for charitable purposes.
In 2025, the 10-year-old SLARS launch vehicle (SC-T08) was sent for a planned refit, with a new unit (SC-T28) sent to the station. In an operation during the high spring tide on 15 February, the two launch vehicles were swapped by sea, with the aid of a landing craft.
Description The lifeboat house is situated at the landward end of West Pier facing a slipway into the harbour. Both boats are kept inside on carriages and launched with the aid of tractors. The building is built in local granite to blend in with its surroundings. A large central portion houses the ALB. It is flanked by two wings, that on the harbour side for the ILB, the one on the town side is used as a fund-raising gift shop.
Area of operation The lifeboat at St Ives has an operating range of and a top speed of . Adjacent all-weather lifeboats are at to the east, and to the west. There is also an inshore lifeboat to the east at .
Station honours The following are awards made at St Ives: Awards of the Institution RNIPLS Silver Medal Capt. James Berriman, master mariner, pilot – 1839 Capt. Michael Welsh, master mariner, pilot – 1839 Capt. Richard Paynter, master mariner, pilot – 1839 Capt. Edward Richards, master mariner, pilot – 1839 Capt. Thomas Richards, master mariner, pilot – 1839
RNLI Silver Medal Paul Curnow, coxswain – 1871 Charles Martin, chief officer, H.M. Coastguard, St Ives – 1873 James Murphy, commissioned boatswain, H.M. Coastguard, St Ives – 1873 James Murphy, second coxswain – 1880 (second-service clasp) Paul Curnow, coxswain – 1889 (second-service clasp) Thomas Stevens, coxswain – 1916