Welcome

St Peter Port Lifeboat - Guernsey

Welcome to the friends of the St Peter Port lifeboat website.

Please visit https://rnli.org/find-my-nearest/lifeboat-stations/st-peter-port-lifeboat-station for the official website

The Guernsey lifeboat station is one of only four in the Channel Islands. Operating for over 200 years, the crews of the Guernsey lifeboats have been honoured with several awards for gallantry.

Spirit of Guernsey at speed – photo by Tony Rive

The Station has seen a variety of lifeboats over the years and the current lifeboat is the Severn class ‘Spirit of Guernsey’. The Island has always been proud to support the Lifeboat Station and crews; in 1973 a special appeal raised a considerable sum towards the cost of the Arun Class “Sir William Arnold”.

Twenty years later an appeal was launched to raise £1 million to support the building of “Spirit of Guernsey”. Thanks to the generosity of friends in Guernsey, Sark, Herm and further afield, the target was achieved within one year. The RNLI relies entirely on voluntary donations.

Following a six-month training and familiarisation period, July 2019 saw the introduction of a ‘B’ Class Atlantic 85 Inshore Rescue lifeboat – the Elizabeth and Margaret Milligan (B-889) on a two-year trial for evaluation.

Picture by Brian Green

Distress call from Yacht with power failure

St Peter Port Lifeboat - Guernsey Posted on by

At approximately 0440 hrs on Wednesday 07 January, a Dutch yacht en route to Brest issued a distress call approximately 11 nautical miles south of Guernsey. Initial communication was established between the vessel and CROSS Jobourg, the French Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC). It was determined that the yacht had suffered a complete power failure and was uncertain of its position.

CROSS Jobourg subsequently transferred coordination to Guernsey Coastguard, who established direct communication with the casualty vessel. The yacht reported three persons on board, all intending to sail to Brest. The vessel had lost all electrical power and was unable to sail. Initial updates indicated that the engine had been restarted and the crew intended to seek shelter in St Peter Port.

Routine communication continued until approximately 0540 hrs, when contact with the vessel was lost. Guernsey Coastguard, in collaboration with Jersey Coastguard, CROSS Jobourg, and other vessels in the vicinity, attempted to re-establish communication without success.

With growing concern for the safety of those on board and no confirmed position, the St Peter Port Lifeboat was paged at 0614 hrs, along with Channel Islands Air Search placed on standby. Despite continued attempts, no radio contact was regained.

At 0632 hrs, the St Peter Port Lifeboat launched. By 0645 hrs, clear of St Martin’s Point, the lifeboat reported detecting a radar target approximately 8 nautical miles south of Guernsey and proceeded to investigate. Channel Islands Air Search remained on standby pending confirmation of the target.

At 0708 hrs, the lifeboat located the casualty vessel at the reported position. Radio communication remained unavailable; however, lifeboat crew established direct contact with the yacht’s crew. At 0825 hrs, the vessel was safely escorted into St Peter Port and handed over to marina staff.

S M Granger
Assistant Harbour Master

Two rescued from capsized yacht

St Peter Port Lifeboat - Guernsey Posted on by

At approximately 0040 hours on Sunday 26 October, Guernsey Coastguard received an emergency beacon alert indicating a vessel in distress north of Guernsey. This was swiftly followed by a call from Joburg Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), reporting that a … Continue reading →