Historic Lifeboat Collection - Chatham

Historic Lifeboat Collection - Chatham The Historic LifeBoat Collection in Chatham Dockyard was founded in 1994.

Well that’s the boats all covered until next year!Thank you all for the love and support for the Historic Lifeboat Colle...
07/12/2024

Well that’s the boats all covered until next year!
Thank you all for the love and support for the Historic Lifeboat Collection this year, it’s been so appreciated by all of us ❤️

Don’t forget it’s the final open weekend for the Dockyard! Feel free to come visit us before we close for the winter ❄️
16/11/2024

Don’t forget it’s the final open weekend for the Dockyard! Feel free to come visit us before we close for the winter ❄️

It's the final weekend that the Dockyard is open for the 2024 season.

Come and see us to explore 400 years of ship-building heritage. Test your sea legs on HMS OCELOT, a Cold War Submarine; explore HMS CAVALIER, a Second World War Destroyer and walk the deck of HMS GANNET, our Victorian Sloop.

Watch our Master Ropemakers at work using centuries-old techniques on our iconic Ropewalk and explore our brand new Ropery gallery.

The Dockyard will re-open in February 2025, in time for the half-term holidays.

If you can't wait until then, don't forget that Mission Christmas is on sale now.

03/11/2024
03/11/2024

Chatham Maritime Trust recently funded new branded workwear for the volunteers that work at the RNLI Museum in the Historic Dockyard Chatham . The volunteers were delighted with their new look projecting a professional image and giving them a sense of identity.

Ian Russell from the RNLI Museum said “A big thank you to CMT for their generous grant to enable us to purchase branded workwear for our volunteer crew. This will make a massive difference how professional the crew look, it will make them more easily identifiable by the visitors and has provided us with a real sense of identity.”

The museum celebrated the RNLI’s 200th anniversary this year showcasing the history of the RNLI and the heroic tales of the crew. It’s business as usual in the lifeboat slip, cleaning, polishing and maintaining the fleet for the enjoyment of visitors.

Better late than never! Now some technical difficulties are out of the way, we can share that on the 12th, we at the His...
24/10/2024

Better late than never! Now some technical difficulties are out of the way, we can share that on the 12th, we at the Historic Lifeboat Collection celebrated our 30th anniversary of volunteering and had a little party to celebrate!
It's thanks to volunteers, past and present, that we've been able to keep the collection going for as long as we have, and hope we have many more years ahead of us! It was also a lovely occasion to thank those who have been with us for the whole 30 years!

We’re approaching the end of the month which means there’s not long left to visit the RNLI200 exhibition at Historic Doc...
24/08/2024

We’re approaching the end of the month which means there’s not long left to visit the RNLI200 exhibition at Historic Dockyard Chatham! It’s open until the 1st of September and is included in your dockyard ticket, which means you can see the exhibition and us at the same time! 😊

It’s a fantastic exhibition & we all do truly recommend giving it a visit!

22/07/2024

A fantastic exhibition that we were honoured to see before it opened to the public. We highly recommend it to those who’d love to see more of the RNLI’s history!
And then you’re always welcome to come visit the Historic Lifeboat Collection right opposite and see the UK’s largest collection of historic lifeboats & learn even more 😊

It’s been a beautiful day with a lovely breeze! Perfect weather for cleaning boats!
20/07/2024

It’s been a beautiful day with a lovely breeze! Perfect weather for cleaning boats!

22/06/2024

A little snippet of some of what we do at the collection. We hope it may encourage some of you to potentially join us 😊

14/05/2024
Yesterday was our grand opening of our new walkway! Made possible by ArcelorMittal Kent Wire & Byrne Contractors 😊This w...
08/05/2024

Yesterday was our grand opening of our new walkway! Made possible by ArcelorMittal Kent Wire & Byrne Contractors 😊
This was attended by members/volunteers of the RNLI, Historic Dockyard Chatham & from the two companies who brought this idea to life!
This means that people are now able to go aboard the Spirit of Lowestoft (Lowestoft RNLI), hopefully inspiring future generations to get involved with the RNLI

If you’d like to read more, you can visit the RNLI’s website and read this blog post:

The RNLI 200 exhibition at the Historic Dockyard in Chatham has an exciting new instalment. Generously donated by ArcelorMittal Kent Wire it offers a new perspective to a medal winning lifeboat.

07/05/2024

MAY is LIFEBOATS MONTH at National Historic Ships UK!

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the RNLI we’ve designated May 2024 as Lifeboats Month.

We'll be highlighting a different historic lifeboat each day on social media, from some of the earliest pre-RNLI pulling and sailing lifeboats to those with the highest number of medals and lives saved, as well as class prototypes. We'll also highlight some current lifeboat conservation projects and some which are part of our UK-wide Shipshape Network of maritime heritage projects.

Later in the month, we’ll be launching our own Lifeboats Report, which summarises an in-depth review of the 150+ historic lifeboats on the National Registers. The report is the culmination of more than two years work by our team and a dedicated Working Group of lifeboats experts.

As a bit of fun, we've also put together a lifeboats-themed word search, suitable for both adults and children. School groups, museums, educational workshops, and other groups are welcome to download and print off copies for their visitors. Send us your completed word search by the end of May to be entered into our Prize Draw.

Download the word search from our website:
www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/page/nhs/rnli-200-word-search

Day 6/31: 44-001

Class: Waveney (Prototype)
1964: Built by US Coastguard Yard, Maryland
1964-1966: Shipped to Littlehampton, service trials at Appledore
1966-1996: Stationed at Solent, Barry Dock, Clovelly, Dun Laoghaire, Great Yarmouth & Gorleston, Harwich, Sheerness, Dover, Eyemouth, Whitby, Ramsgate, St Helier, Yarmouth IoW, Fowey, Alderney, & Arklow
Launched 269 times Saved 114 lives
Medals awarded: 1 silver medal for Acting Coxswain James Dougal
1996-present: On display as part of the Historic Lifeboat Collection - Chatham at Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent

Read more:
www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/register/3799/44-001

We would like to offer a huge thank you to Brewers Decorator Centres for their £300 donation to the RNLI! They love to s...
27/04/2024

We would like to offer a huge thank you to Brewers Decorator Centres for their £300 donation to the RNLI!
They love to support local charities, and were who we used for the water based paint on the Lifeboats & helped with colour matching!
We are so grateful for their support 😊

13/04/2024

We recently had an anonymous donation of £200, £1 for every year of the RNLI, and we just wanted to say thank you! Hopefully you’re out there reading this!

Every donation we get for the RNLI means the world to us, and we appreciate every penny 💙

Today at 11am, members of the RNLI, including one of our own volunteers, signed the scroll at the Historic Lifeboat Coll...
29/03/2024

Today at 11am, members of the RNLI, including one of our own volunteers, signed the scroll at the Historic Lifeboat Collection. A beautiful occasion where we witnessed history, as the RNLI pledge to save lives for another 200 years.
This took place in front of RNLB Susan Ashley, who was originally in service at Sennen Cove Lifeboat Station from 1948 to 1973.

This is just a small selection of photos and there are more to come from other sources. What a fantastic day, and it was incredible to witness this moment in history.

Photo credits 📸
Ken S, Nick M & LauraKCald Photography

We are truly honoured that tomorrow at 11am, the RNLI 200 scroll will be signed at The Historic Lifeboat Collection at C...
28/03/2024

We are truly honoured that tomorrow at 11am, the RNLI 200 scroll will be signed at The Historic Lifeboat Collection at Chatham Dockyard.
We hope to see some of you there to celebrate this momentous occasion 😊

This scroll, which began its journey at Westminster Abbey during the thanksgiving celebration, is travelling across the UK & Ireland to be signed by RNLI crew & other members of the charity, with the One Crew pledge, where the RNLI promises to save everyone they can for the next 200 or more years. It is a fantastic way of displaying what the RNLI have achieved so far, and hope for a future where lives can be continued to be saved by the charity, and we would love to see as many of you there as possible.

If you’d like to know more, here’s a link to the RNLI’s website with more info:

https://rnli.org/about-us/our-history/2024/programmes/connecting-our-communities

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The Historic Dockyard Chatham
Chatham

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