Lifeboat Service in Wales: Station by Station

For the past two hundred years, lifeboats have been stationed around the coasts of Wales, ready to rescue the shipwrecked. In times past, shipwrecks were much common and there was little provision to help those stranded at sea. Places such as the west coast of Scotland would see hundreds of wrecks per year, from small sailing vessels to large steamers. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, volunteer lifeboats began to be stationed around the coast in the most dangerous areas and soon, the Royal National Lifeboat Association began to provide new stations and lifeboats. With the introduction of these lifeboats, many lives have been saved over the intervening two centuries. Wales has seen more than its fair share of wrecks because of its location, with many vessels foundering after a tortuous journey across the Atlantic, as well as coastal traders lost in storms or accident. War has played a part too, with the Irish Sea being the graveyard of many a torpedoed or mined vessel.

Nicholas Leach tells the story of each Welsh station, both onshore and in the islands, using photographs of the lifeboats, houses and rescues. His book provided a valuable record of two centuries of lifesaving along the Welsh coast.