Ryde Inshore Rescue Service

Ryde Inshore Rescue Service[1] is a voluntary run lifeboat station located in the town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight.[2] Ryde Inshore Rescue is an independent lifeboat station within the United Kingdom. It is not part of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and does not receive funding from the RNLI or the government.

Ryde Inshore Rescue Service
Ryde Inshore Rescue Service lifeboat station
Ryde Inshore Rescue Service is located in Isle of Wight
Ryde Inshore Rescue Service
General information
TypeRNLI Lifeboat Station
LocationAppley Lane, Ryde, Isle of Wight, PO331ND.
CountryEngland
Coordinates50°43′42.2″N 1°08′38.4″W
Opened1956
OwnerThe Ryde Inshore Rescue Service, which is a registered charity
Modern rescue craft on the beach next to the lifeboat station.

The station is on call to the Coast Guard 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.[1] The service operates an inshore lifeboat from its station at Appley Lane.[1]

History

The first lifeboat service in the town started in 1858 and was run on a voluntary basis. On 8 May 1869 the town's rescue volunteers service was supplied with a new lifeboat called The Captain Hans Busk which was kept and launched from a slipway on Ryde Pier. Volunteer Force originator Hans Busk paid for the boat, and it was named after him.[3]

The lifeboat was built by J. Samuel White at Cowes on the Isle of Wight. She was 30 ft (9.1 m) in length, 6 ft (1.8 m) across the beam and had a depth of 2.4 ft (0.73 m). The lifeboat had 24 oars and she was fitted with two sailing masts. She was steered with a galvanised iron tiller. For transit the lifeboat had its own carriage and wheels and could be moved over land if the situation required.[3]

First boathouse

The first station boathouse was constructed on the west side of the town's pier in 1870. In 1894 the station was handed over to the RNLI, who operated it until 1923.[4] The station was closed after a motor lifeboat was stationed at nearby Bembridge Lifeboat Station.[5]

Ryde lifeboat disaster

Early on the afternoon of Tuesday, 1 January 1907, Augustus Jarrett, master of the 56-ton barge Jane, reported that a small boat belonging to the Jane had been stolen. This boat was later seen drifting out to sea with a single occupant. The water was rough and the weather was squally.[6][7]

Around 5:30 that evening, the Ryde lifeboat Selina was launched to assist, with nine crew, including coxswain William John Bartlett at the helm. By this time it had become dark. Selina was a 30 ft (9 m) wooden whaleboat design lifeboat. It had been designed to render assistance in shallow, smooth waters and lacked self-righting capability; it was not intended for rescue in storms or deep waters. The lifeboat searched the area but was unable to locate the small boat.[6][7]

Weather conditions deteriorated, and around 7:45 PM, a sudden heavy squall capsized the Selina, throwing the crew into cold water without any way of signalling for help. The lifeboat drifted across the Solent to Southsea on the south coast of the English mainland. Two of the nine crew had succumbed to exposure.[6][7]

Meanwhile, the small boat belonging to the Jane had managed to row across the Solent, landing opposite Eastney Barracks at Southsea at around 7:00 PM, prior to the capsizing of the Selina. Its occupant turned out to be Augustus Jarrett. Jarrett maintained that the small boat had been stolen and he had later recovered it at the Dover Street Slipway, although later inquiry suggested it may simply have floated away after being poorly secured.[6][7]

An inquest into the accident was held on 4 January 1907. The jury's verdict was that the deaths had been accidental and not the result of negligence.[6]

Formation of Ryde Inshore Rescue

A double drowning incident at the end of Ryde Pier in 1956 prompted the reformation of a rescue organisation to serve the town.[8]

See also

Neighbouring Station Locations

References
  1. "Ryde Inshore Rescue Service". The Ryde Inshore Rescue Service website home page. ©Ryde Inshore Rescue Service - 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  2. OS Explorer Map OL29 - Isle of Wight, Folded Map. Publisher:Ordnance Survey; B2 edition (17 Mar 2008). ISBN 978 0319240151
  3. "The Ryde lifeboat – Hans Busk". Originally from "Isle of Wight Observer". 1 May 1869. Retrieved 25 November 2021 – via Historic Ryde Society.
  4. Leach, Nicholas (1999). "Appendix 7: Closed Lifeboat Stations". For Those in Peril: the Lifeboat Service of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, Station by Station. Kettering: Silver Link. p. 252. ISBN 1-85794-129-2. OCLC 40754667.
  5. Cox, Barry (1998). Lifeboat Gallantry: the Complete Record of Royal National Lifeboat Institution Gallantry Medals and How They Were Won, 1824-1996. London: Spink & Son. p. 421. ISBN 0-907605-89-3. OCLC 40981854.
  6. "Ryde Lifeboat Disaster 1 January 1907". Ryde Social History Group. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  7. "Ryde Lifeboat Disaster, 1st/2nd January 1907". Wootton Bridge Historical Society. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  8. "Lifeboat Station History". The Belmont Hotel. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
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