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.
Palmer lifeboats Name Built Builder Cost In service Station Length Oars Comments — Mariner's Friend 1827 Tredwen, Padstow £50 4 — 1827 Shore, Blackwall £95 1832–1838 6 1838–1851 Pre-128 — 1828 1828–1841 Pre-131 — Taylor, Blackwall £55 1828–1853 5 or 6 1853–1859 — — 1828 Harton, Limehouse £56 1828–1851 6 Pre-133 — 1828 Taylor £55 1828–1836 6 — — 1829 Harton 1829–1843 6 Pre-144 — May 1829 McVeagh, Holyhead £60 1828–1858 8 Palmer design modified by Sparrow. Pre-145 — May 1829 McVeagh £60 1830 6 Palmer design modified by Sparrow. 1830–1853 Pre-149 — 1829 Harton £55 1829–1843 6 Pre-150 Assistance 1830 Harton £57 1832–1857 6 Pre-151 — 1830 Harton £60 1831–1848 5 or 6 1848–1853 1853–1865 Pre-155 — 1831 Harton £60 1832–1842 6 Pre-156 — May 1831 Harton £59 1832–1856 6 Pre-161 — 1833 Harton £60 1836–1838 Pre-165 — 1834 Harton £65 1835–1843 Laugharne Pre-166 — 1834 Harton £63 1835–1852 6 Pre-168 — 1835 Harton £62 1835–1851 — — 1835 Harton £62 1836–1851 Swansea 6 — — 1836 Taylor £67 1836–1846 6 For the port of Bridgwater. — — 1837 Taylor £70 1837–1858 10 Operated by the Brighton Humane Society. Pre-178 Victoria 1837 Taylor £68 1837–1859 6 — — 1839 Taylor £76 1839–1857 6 Pre-184 Heroine 1839 1839–1851 Initially with no name, later becoming Heroine. 1851–1857 Hornsea Pre-187 — 1839 Taylor £70 1839–1855 5 — — 1839 Harton 1839–1855 Pre-196 — May 1840 Taylor £76 1840–1861 5 or 6 Pre-197 — 1840 Taylor £77 1844–1855 Derrynane 5 or 6 — — 1843 Taylor £77 1844–1855 6 Pre-208 — 1844 Taylor £72 1844–1853 6 — — 1847 Taylor £73 1847–1857 Kilmore 5 or 6 Pre-224 — 1848 Costain, Liverpool 1848–1857 6 — — 1852 Teasdel, Yarmouth 1852–1858 — — — —
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continued to be provided to stations where there was a need for a small boat, the last being built in 1910 and withdrawn in 1938.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 Comments 280 Henley 1889 1890–1893 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
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