Historic Lifeboat Collection - Chatham

17/10/2026

For any upcoming visitors, don’t worry about the scaffolding, we’re still open to visitors & look forward to seeing you 😊

10/10/2026

We will always appreciate the support the Historic Dockyard has provided us over the years, to us specifically as the collection, and to the RNLI as a whole ❤️💙

07/09/2026

Did you know?

On this day in 1838, Grace Darling became a national heroine when she helped rescue passengers from SS Forfarshire.

Grace was just 22 years old when she had been keeping watch whilst her father, keeper of Longstone Lighthouse, rested during a storm.

At 4.45am, Grace spotted a ship wrecked on the Harcar Rock about a kilometre away. The SS Forfarshire was a luxurious passenger ship with about 60 people on board. Most of the passengers and crew were swept away when the ship broke in two, but the bow was stuck on the rock with 12 people clinging to the wreckage.

Grace was just 22 years old when she was keeping watch whilst her father, keeper of Longstone Lighthouse, rested during a storm. The whole situation was fraught with danger, but they managed to rescue nine people from the shipwrecked paddle steamer.

The rescue by Grace and her father was reported in many newspapers. Grace was given many awards recognising her bravery, including an RNLI Silver Medal for Gallantry – the first woman to receive the award.

Just four years later, on 20 October 1842, Grace died of consumption at 26 years old.

In the RNLI Historic Lifeboat Collection, you can see the GRACE DARLING, a Liverpool-class lifeboat, fitted with twin FKR 3 engines. She was based at North Sunderland from 1954 to 1967 and then at Yougal from 1971 to 1984. The ship was launched 106 times in total and saved 34 lives.

28/05/2026

For anyone that enjoys reading the RNLI’s news, they’ve just released this article about our awards ceremony from Monday! Please feel free to have a read!

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s (RNLI) National Collection of Historic Lifeboats received an IMechE Heritage Award at Chatham’s Historic Dockyard, recognising 200 years of the lifesaving charity’s engineering innovation.

26/05/2026

Thank you Historic Dockyard Chatham for celebrating with us on such an important day! Your support means the world to us all

25/05/2026

Today was a very exciting day for the Historic Lifeboat Collection. First, we were celebrating 30 years to the day since we opened the doors to the public and began our journey of preserving history as well as teaching the next generation about the incredible work done by the RNLI, which leads to the 2 other big events of the day.
Friends, family and other wonderful guests joined us to celebrate us being presented with the IMechE Engineering Heritage award in recognition of 'improving the world through engineering', which is an incredible honour for us. Thank you to The Institution of Mechanical Engineers for this. After this plaque unveiling, we presented one of our own volunteers Dave Cox with his Long Service Award for 60 years of RNLI service, which is such an incredible achievement and we are all very proud of him, as is his wife Margaret, whose support has been so important.
A beautiful day, and thank you to Historic Dockyard Chatham for joining us and for hosting us for so many years, let us hope there will be many more!

16/05/2026

The entrance to the Historic Lifeboat Collection is looking good with our signage! We hope this is able to draw attention & encourage new visitors 😊

02/05/2026

This year we’re celebrating 25 years of RNLI lifeguards!
To commemorate this, we have a display showcasing the important work each Life Guard does. We even have a jet ski that visitors can go on!

28/04/2026

Good morning everyone!
Here at the Historic Lifeboat Collection, we want to say an absolutely huge thank you for 900 followers here on our page!
Your continued support means the absolute world to us ❤️

04/04/2026

A current work in progress, but we have some displays going up! These are behind Spirit of Lowestoft and are visible as you go up the walkway to gain access onboard!
These will be shuffled around over time to find the best view, but we’re so pleased to have them out and visible once again